the FUSAG commander, slated to take command of the actual Third United States Army after the invasion, the Army required another commander with a recognizable name and sufficient prestige to continue the Operation Quicksilver deception that masked the actual landing sites for Operation Overlord, the Invasion of Normandy. Eisenhower requested McNair as Patton's FUSAG successor, and Marshall approved. In July 1944, McNair was in France to observe troops in action during Operation Cobra, and add to the FUSAG deception by making the Germans believe he was in France to exercise command. He was killed near Saint-Lô on July 25, when errant bombs of the Eighth Air Force fell on the positions of 2nd Battalion, 120th Infantry, where McNair was observing the fighting. In one of the first Allied efforts to use heavy bombers in support of ground combat troops, several planes dropped their bombs short of their targets. Over 100 U.S. soldiers were killed, and nearly 500 wounded. McNair was buried at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Normandy, France; his funeral was kept secret to maintain the FUSAG deception, and was attended only by his aide and Generals Omar Bradley, George S. Patton, Courtney Hodges, and Elwood Quesada. When his death was reported by the press, initial accounts indicated he had been killed by enemy fire; not until August were the actual circumstances reported in the news media. McNair is the highest-ranking military officer buried at the Normandy cemetery. Along with Frank Maxwell Andrews, Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., and Millard Harmon, he was one of four American lieutenant generals who died in World War II. McNair's tombstone originally indicated his rank of lieutenant general. In 1954, Buckner and he were posthumously promoted to general by an act of Congress. The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) did not upgrade McNair's gravestone; upon being informed in 2010 that the original marker was still in place, the ABMC replaced McNair's headstone with one that indicates the higher rank. Hearing loss While generally in excellent physical condition even as he aged, McNair began to experience hearing loss early in his career. The condition progressed, and included tinnitus, but did not interfere with his work; physical examinations indicated he had no trouble with tasks including speaking on the telephone. By the time he reached the ranks of the Army's senior commanders, his hearing loss was severe enough that he compensated by reading lips,