With all the focus this week on D-Day, we thought we’d highlight the extraordinary career of U.S. Army General Willard Wyman — one of the first American officers to hit the beaches in Normandy and a man who would play a critical role in the development of the AR-15 rifle.
Wyman saw lots of war. He served in France during World War One. In World War Two, the West Point graduate served in Africa and Asia. He directed troops under fire on the Normandy beaches and earned citations for his bravery. Later, he led troops across France and into Germany as the Nazi regime collapsed. He commanded in Korea.
During the Cold War, Wyman became concerned that U.S. fighters and their allies didn’t have a rapid-fire, easy-to-use rifle to compete with the Soviet AK-47, then spreading around the world. In 1955, Wyman took command of the Continental Army, overseeing training and development at Fort Benning (today Fort Moore) in Georgia.
As detailed in American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15, Wyman wasn’t happy with the rapid-fire rifle that Army Ordnance developed, the M14. It was too heavy and fired poorly, he felt. He heard about a rifle made out of fiberglass and aluminum made by a small company in Los Angeles called ArmaLite. That company's gun, the AR-10, hadn’t tested well, but those innovations were what Wyman wanted. Without telling others at the Pentagon, Wyman and his team flew to Los Angeles and met with ArmaLite. Gun inventor Eugene Stoner, heading ArmaLite’s research, was stunned when Wyman told him that he wanted Stoner to develop a gun like the AR-10, but smaller, and able to shoot a smaller caliber round. This innovation would allow troops to carry more ammunition into battle, the general told him. Stoner and his team set to work and within months, the AR-15 was born.
