Samuel Hof


Samuel Hof was an officer in the United States Army during World War I. He was 13th Chief of Ordnance for the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps.

Biography

Samuel Hof was born on October 24, 1870 in Boscobel, Wisconsin, and graduated from West Point in 1894. Some of his classmates also became general officers, including Frank Parker, Hamilton S. Hawkins III, George H. Estes, John W. Joyes, Ora E. Hunt, Pegram Whitworth, Briant H. Wells, John F. Preston, Francis L. Parker, Paul B. Malone and George Vidmer.
He was originally commissioned a second lieutenant of cavalry in 1894, but he was later transferred to the Ordnance Corps. For his service as a commanding officer of the Frankford Arsenal, he was later awarded with the Distinguished Service Medal.
He was Chief of Ordnance from 1930 to 1934. His four-year term came at the height of the Depression resulting in a significant decrease in funding for the Ordnance Department. Despite these difficulties, there was a general advance in the design and manufacturing of ordnance materiel. He made a number of recommendations for improved efficiencies in the department's supply responsibilities.
Hof retired from the Army in 1934 and died on March 10, 1937 in Washington, D.C. aged 66. He is buried together with his wife Alice Mayo Hof at West Point Cemetery.

Distinguished Service Medal citation

His award citation reads:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Colonel Samuel Hof, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in positions of great responsibility first as commanding officer, Frankford Arsenal from March 1918 to March 1919, where, by his indefatigable energy, outstanding administrative ability, and thorough technical knowledge, he brought to a successful production, basic tracer, incendiary, and armor-piercing small-arms ammunition, and supplied substantially all that was used by our troops; later as acting chairman of the ordnance claims board, where, by his energy, tact and business ability, he secured the settlement of outstanding obligations and later as chief of field service, ordnance department, where he perfected the organization and controlled the disposition of vast quantities of materials and plants left over from the war.