Herbert H. Daubert was born Nov. 17, 1914 to Clarence E. and Virginia Ellen Miller Daubert. He died Oct. 2, 1965 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA.
Herbert graduated from Iowa State College in 1938 and was commissioned through ROTC. He served in the Reserves until called to active duty in 1941, assigned as Shop Officer and then Adjutant for the 56th Quartermaster Regiment at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He next joined the 125th Ordnance Automotive Base Shop Regiment, serving as Adjutant and deploying with the unit to the Middle East.
From 1942 to 1944, he helped establish and then became Chief of the Central Local Procurement Agency, US Army Forces in the Middle East, in Cairo, Egypt procuring local supplies for US forces throughout the Middle East and the China-Burma-India Theater. Daubert became Chief Publications Branch, in the Office of the: Chief of Ordnance in Washington, DC, in 1945. Then he was assigned as the Ordnance representative to the War Department Equipment Board, known as the "Stillwell Board" for its chairman, General Joseph Stillwell. The board developed a five year plan for the development and procurement of military equipment.
Daubert then went on six months temporary duty with the Ordnance Unit, Army Ground Group, Joint Task Force One, responsible for testing of two nuclear bombs on the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific to determine the effects of nuclear blast on ships and military equipment.
In 1947 Daubert was the first Ordnance officer to participate in the Training-in-industry Program, working at the Ford Motor Company. He put his newly acquired skills to work as Chief of the Production Planning Division at the Detroit Tank Arsenal, Warren, Michigan, from 1948 to 1950. He returned to the Office of the Chief of Ordnance in 1951 to serve as Procurement Control and Production Officer and then as Chief of the Security Branch. Daubert was then off to Ankara as Chief of the Ordnance Maintenance and Industrial Branch Joint American Military Mission for Aid to Turkey providing advice on maintenance and industrial operations.
Daubert in 1955 then served as Executive Officer of the Ballistic Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), where he instituted a Management Improvement Program that streamlined safety, security, and intelligence operations. In 1958, Daubert was off to Panama to serve as Director, Armament and Automotive Department, US Army Caribbean School at Fort Gulick. His school trained 2,000 students a year from 19 South and Central American countries. Daubert remained in the Panama Canal Zone until 1963 as Executive Officer, Ordnance Services, US Caribbean Forces at Fort Clayton, insuring that Ordnance equipment and supplies were provided to US forces and to military assistance missions in Central and South American countries.
He next took command of the 60th Ordnance Group at APG. He revitalized the group and its attached maintenance units by establishing a rigorous field training program and by putting his troops to work repairing and rebuilding captured enemy equipment being tested at Aberdeen. Many of these restored items were then turned over to the Ordnance Museum.
In 1964, Daubert was appointed Commanding Officer, Troop Command, the Ordnance Center and School responsible for 3,500 military staff, faculty, and students. While striving to expand the school's Capacity to meet the needs of a growing war in Vietnam, LTC Daubert died on active duty in 1965, after 27 years of tireless service. He had just been recommended for promotion to colonel.
Lt. Col Daubert was inducted into the U.S. Army Ordnance Hall of Fame at Aberdeen Proving Grounds Maryland, on May 8th 2008. Col Daubert joins other famous American hero's such as, Mr. Robert P. Parrott, who invented the Parrott gun - the first rifled cannon. Mr. J.C. Garand, the inventor of the M1 rifle and Dr. Werhner Von Braun, whose work in the technical advancements of rocketry led to the liquid fueled rocket engine and ultimately to manned space flight were inducted in 1973. Mr. J.M. Browning, inducted in 1974, invented, perfected, and supervised the production of numerous small arms, and is responsible for the superiority in small arms weaponry enjoyed in the U.S. today. Mr. R. J. Gatling, the "Father of the Machine Gun" was also inducted in 1974. Walter J. Christie, inducted in 1975, invented the first amphibious tank and was a pioneer in the development of self- propelled artillery. The "Father of U.S. Rocketry", Dr. P. H. Goddard, was inducted in 1977. Brigadier General John Thompson whom was in charge of engineering for the invention, manufacture, of the Thompson submachine gun, becoming famous as the "Tommy Gun" was inducted in 1992. Mr. Eugene M. Stoner designer and developer of the M16 rifle and the 5.56mm round of ammunition was inducted in 1977.
Col. Daubert major contributions to the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps. earned him a place among these famous American heroes.
Sources: ancestry.com
