Editing Leslie Groves (section)

== Early life ==
Leslie Richard Groves Jr. was born in [[Albany, New York]], on 17 August 1896,<ref name="Ancell&Miller">{{harvnb|Ancell|Miller|1996|pp=124–125}}</ref> the third son of four children of a [[pastor]], Leslie Richard Groves Sr., and his wife Gwen née Griffith.<ref name="Norris, pp. 25–28">{{harvnb|Norris|2002|pp=25–28}}</ref> He was half Welsh and half English, with some French [[Huguenot]] ancestors who came to the United States in the 17th century.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://manhattanprojectvoices.org/oral-histories/general-leslie-grovess-interview-part-2 |publisher=Voices of the Manhattan Project |title=General Leslie Groves's Interview – Part 2 |access-date=13 September 2018}}</ref> Leslie Groves Sr. resigned as pastor of the Sixth [[Presbyterian]] church in Albany in December 1896 to become a [[Chaplain Corps (United States Army)|United States Army chaplain]]. He was posted to the [[14th Infantry Regiment (United States)|14th Infantry]] at [[Vancouver Barracks]] in [[Washington (state)|Washington state]] in 1897.<ref name="Norris, pp. 25–28"/>

Following the outbreak of the [[Spanish–American War]] in 1898, Chaplain Groves was sent to [[Cuba]] with the [[8th Infantry Regiment (United States)|8th Infantry]]. On returning to Vancouver Barracks, he was ordered to rejoin the 14th Infantry in the [[Philippines]]. Service in the [[Philippine–American War]] and the [[Boxer Rebellion]] followed.<ref>{{harvnb|Norris|2002|pp=34–37}}</ref> The 14th Infantry returned to the United States in 1901 and moved to [[Fort Snelling, Minnesota]]. The family relocated to there from Vancouver, then moved to [[Fort Hancock, New Jersey]], and returned to Vancouver in 1905. Chaplain Groves was hospitalized with [[tuberculosis]] at [[Fort Bayard Historic District|Fort Bayard]] in 1905. He decided to settle in southern [[California]] and bought a house in [[Altadena, California|Altadena]]. His next posting was to [[Fort Apache (military post)|Fort Apache, Arizona]]. The family spent their summers there and returned to Altadena where the children attended school.<ref>{{harvnb|Norris|2002|pp=43–47}}</ref>

In 1911, Chaplain Groves was ordered to return to the 14th Infantry, which was now stationed at [[Fort William Henry Harrison]], [[Montana]]. At Fort Harrison, the younger Groves met Grace (Boo) Wilson, the daughter of [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] Richard Hulbert Wilson, a career Army officer who had served with Chaplain Groves during the 8th Infantry's posting to Cuba. In 1913, the 14th Infantry moved once more, this time to [[Fort Lawton]] in [[Seattle]], Washington.<ref>{{harvnb|Norris|2002|pp=51–54}}</ref>

Groves entered [[Queen Anne High School (Seattle, Washington)|Queen Anne High School]] in 1913, and graduated in 1914. While completing high school, he enrolled in courses at the [[University of Washington]], in anticipation of attempting to gain an appointment to the [[United States Military Academy]]. He earned a nomination from the [[President of the United States|President]], [[Woodrow Wilson]], which allowed him to compete for a vacancy, but did not score a high enough mark on the examination to be admitted. [[Charles W. Bell]] from [[California's 9th congressional district]] nominated Groves as an alternate, but the principal nominee accepted. Instead, Groves enrolled at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT) and planned to re-take the West Point entrance exam. In 1916, Groves tested again, attained a passing score, and was accepted.<ref>{{harvnb|Norris|2002|pp=61–69}}</ref> He later said "Entering West Point fulfilled my greatest ambition. I had been brought up in the Army, and in the main had lived on Army posts all my life."<ref>{{harvnb|Rhodes|1986|pp=426}}</ref>

[[File:Leslie Richard Groves Jr. (1896–1970) at West Point in 1918.png|thumb|right|150px|At West Point in 1918]]
Groves's class entered West Point on 15 June 1916. The [[United States declaration of war on Germany (1917)|United States declaration of war on Germany]] in April 1917 led to their program of instruction being shortened as the War Emergency Course (WEC), which graduated on 1 November 1918, a year and a half ahead of schedule. Groves finished fourth in his class, which earned him a commission as a [[second lieutenant]] in the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Corps of Engineers]], the first choice of most high ranking cadets.<ref name="Cullum 1930">{{harvnb|Cullum|1930|pp=1337–1338}}</ref><ref name="Norris, pp. 87-90" />

At MIT he had played tennis informally, but at West Point he could not skate for ice hockey, did not like basketball, and was not good enough for baseball or track. So football was his only sport. He said that "I was the number two center but was on the bench most of the time as in those days you didn't have substitutes and normally the number one played the whole game. I was not very heavy, and today would be considered too light to play at all".{{sfn| Ermenc|1989|pp=208,209}}