Editing Lloyd Fredendall (section)

==Early life and military career==
Lloyd Ralston Fredendall was born on December 28, 1883, at [[Fort D. A. Russell (Wyoming)|Fort D. A. Russell]] near [[Cheyenne, Wyoming]]. His father, Ira Livingston Fredendall (December 7, 1846 – February 6, 1935), was on active duty in the [[United States Army]] when Fredendall was born. Ira became [[sheriff]] of [[Laramie County, Wyoming|Laramie County]] before receiving a commission in the [[Quartermaster Corps]] during the [[Spanish–American War]]. The elder Fredendall retired as a [[Major (United States)|major]] in 1914, returned to active duty during [[World War I]] to supervise construction at several bases in the western United States, and retired again as a [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]].

As a result of his father's connections in the service and with local and state politicians, Fredendall secured an appointment from [[Wyoming]] [[United States Senator|Senator]] [[Francis E. Warren]] to enter the class of 1905 at the [[United States Military Academy]] (USMA). Described by a classmate as "a very soldierly little fellow, but extremely goaty in [[mathematics]]," Fredendall performed poorly in math as well as in general deportment, and was dismissed after just one semester.<ref name="ossad">{{cite news |first=Ossad |last=Steven L. |title=Command Failures: Lessons Learned from Lloyd R. Fredendall |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3723/is_200303/ai_n9222724 |work=Army Magazine |date=March 2003 |accessdate=November 20, 2008 }}</ref>{{efn|For West Point underclassmen, the [[United States Military Academy#Goat-Engineer game|"goats"]] are those ranked in the bottom half of the class. For seniors, the "goat" is the cadet ranked last in the graduating class.<ref>{{cite news |date=May 29, 2014 |title=The Curious Tradition of the West Point Goat |url=http://www.wnyc.org/story/cult-goat-west-point-tradition/ |newspaper=WNYC Radio |location=New York, NY}}</ref>}}

His mother persuaded Senator Warren to re-appoint Fredendall the next year, but he dropped out again.{{sfn|Taaffe|2013|p=62}} Although the senator was willing to nominate him for a third attempt, the academy declined to readmit him. Instead, Fredendall attended the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] from 1903 to 1904 as a member of the class of 1907.<ref>{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SIlMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA183 |title=Register of Former Students with an Account of the Alumni Associations, May 1915 |date=1915 |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |language=en}}</ref> He took the officer's qualifying exam in 1906, and scored first out of 70 applicants. On February 13, 1907, he received his commission in the [[United States Army]] as a [[Second lieutenant#United States|second lieutenant]] in the [[Infantry Branch (United States)|Infantry Branch]].<ref name="ossad"/>

After service in the [[Philippines]] and other overseas and stateside assignments, Fredendall shipped out to the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] with the [[28th Infantry Regiment (United States)|28th Infantry Regiment]] in August 1917, four months after the [[American entry into World War I]]. He held a succession of instructor assignments in the army's schools in France, and commanded one of its training centers.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Tucker |editor1-first=Spencer C. |date=2016|title=World War II: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection |volume=I |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wm_YDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA651 |location=Santa Barbara, CA |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=651 |isbn=978-1-8510-9969-6 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> He built a record as an excellent teacher, trainer, and administrator, and ended the war as a temporary [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]].<ref name="ossad"/>