Major General Thomas Francis Farrell (3 December 1891 – 11 April 1967) was the Deputy Commanding General and Chief of Field Operations of the Manhattan Project, acting as executive officer to Major General Leslie R. Groves Jr.
Farrell graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a degree in civil engineering in 1912. During World War I, he served with the 1st Engineers on the Western Front, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de guerre. After the war, he was an instructor at the Engineer School, and then at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He resigned from the Regular Army in 1926 to become Commissioner of Canals and Waterway for the State of New York from 1926 to 1930, and head of construction and engineering of the New York State Department of Public Works from 1930 until 1941.
During World War II he returned to active duty as Groves' executive officer in the Operations Branch of the Construction Division under the Office of the Quartermaster General. He went to the China-Burma-India theater to help build the Ledo Road. In January 1945, Groves chose Farrell as his second-in-command of the Manhattan Project. Farrell observed the Trinity test at the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range with J. Robert Oppenheimer. In August 1945, he went to Tinian to supervise the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Afterwards he led teams of scientists to inspect the effects of the atomic bombs.
In 1946 he was appointed chairman of the New York City Housing Authority. He subsequently worked as a consultant for the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority on projects such as the Cross Bronx Expressway. He was a member of the evaluation board for Operation Crossroads, and was an advisor to Bernard Baruch, the United States representative on the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission. During the Korean War, Farrell returned to active duty once more, serving with the Defense Production Administration, and then with the Atomic Energy Commission as its Assistant General Manager for Manufacturing. He oversaw a vast increase in the commission's production capabilities before retiring again in 1951. From 1960 to 1964, he worked on the preparations for the 1964 New York World's Fair.
Thomas Francis Farrell was born on 3 December 1891 in Brunswick, New York, the fourth of nine children of John Joseph Farrell Sr., a farmer, and his wife Margaret née Connolly. Farrell was raised on the family's 200-acre (81 ha) farm, where his father had an apple orchard, and raised pigs and dairy cattle. The children helped with the farm chores, and delivering the milk, but none stayed on as adults. Farrell graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1912. His first professional job was working on the New York State Barge Canal. Seeing Irish workers being mistreated by bosses made him a staunch supporter of organized labor. He worked on the Panama Canal from 1913 to 1916.
Farrell joined the Corps of Engineers Officers Reserve Corps in 1916. He married Maria Ynez White in 1917 before departing for France with the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). He joined the 1st Engineers with the rank of second lieutenant, and departed from Hoboken, New Jersey on the USAT Finland on 6 August as the assistant supply officer with the rank of first lieutenant. He became a captain and regimental supply officer in October, and subsequently, with the rank of major, commanded the 2nd Battalion from January to May 1918, Company F from May to July, and finally the 1st Battalion from July 1918.
Farrell participated in the Battle of Cantigny, the Aisne-Marne Offensive, the Battle of Montdidier-Noyon and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The 1st Engineers' main role was maintenance of the roads and construction of bridges in the 1st Division area, although detachments also employed Bangalore torpedoes to clear paths through barbed wire. However, during the Argonne battle, Farrell's 1st Battalion was committed to the line as infantry. For his leadership in the action that followed, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. His citation read:for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 1st Engineers, 1st Division, A.E.F., at Bois-de-Moncy, France, October 8–9, 1918. On October 8 when ordered to take and hold Hill 269, which was strongly held by enemy forces, Major Farrell with great skill and with undaunted courage and determination led his battalion to the attack, seized and held this vital point despite the fact that he was attacked by greatly superior numbers on three sides and nearly surrounded by strong enemy forces who showed extraordinary determination to regain this highly important position. He held the hill until reinforcements could reach him after darkness had fallen on 9 October 1918. His fearless leadership, utter disregard for his own safety, and complete devotion to duty raised the morale of his battalion to a high pitch and inspired them to acts of great endeavor.
Farrell was also awarded the Croix de guerre with palm for his actions, and the 1st Battalion received a citation from Major General Charles Summerall, the commander of V Corps. After the Armistice with Germany in November 1918, the 1st Engineers participated in the occupation of the Rhineland, with Farrell's 1st Battalion basing itself at Ebernhahn. The 1st Engineers returned to the United States in August and September 1919. After the war, Farrell joined the Regular Army. He served as an instructor at the Engineer School at Camp A. A. Humphreys from 1921 to 1924, and then at the United States Military Academy at West Point until 1926.
Farrell resigned from the Regular Army in 1926, but remained in the reserves. The Governor of New York, Al Smith, appointed Farrell as Commissioner of Canals and Waterway for the State of New York. He was head of construction and engineering of the New York State Department of Public Works from 1930 until 1941. He was considered as a possible candidate to replace Frederick Stuart Greene as Superintendent of Public Works, but Greene did not retire. The Great Depression led to a vast expansion of public works activity, both nationally and in New York. Major projects in New York included the 1939 New York World's Fair at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, as well as the construction of LaGuardia Airport.
Construction in the United States
Farrell returned to active duty in February 1941 with the rank of lieutenant colonel to act as then-Colonel Leslie R. Groves Jr.'s executive officer in the Operations Branch of the Construction Division under the Office of the Office of the Quartermaster General. At this point, the US Army was about to embark on a national mobilization, and it was the task of the Construction Division of the Quartermaster Corps to prepare the necessary accommodations and training facilities for the vast army that would be created. The enormous construction program had been dogged by bottlenecks, shortages, delays, spiralling costs, and poor living conditions at the construction sites. Newspapers began publishing accounts charging the Construction Division with incompetence, ineptitude, and inefficiency. Farrell and Groves worked out new, simplified procedures for centralized procurement that provided the flexibility needed to get projects done on time with the accountability that such enormous expenditures demanded. He was awarded the Legion of Merit for his services.
In September 1943, the Chief of Army Service Forces, Lieutenant General Brehon B. Somervell, created a special India Committee to coordinate activities in the China-Burma-India theater with those of Army Service Forces back home. Farrell, now a colonel, was appointed to the committee to oversee construction. The creation of a line of communications from India to China would be the largest engineer undertaking of the war. A number of new units were trained in the United States specifically for the task. In a reorganization later that year, Farrell became Chief Engineer of the Services of Supply in the China-Burma-India theater. In December he also became head of its Construction Division.