also played polo. He graduated from West Point on 11 June 1909, ranking 39th in his class of 103, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in his chosen branch, the field artillery. There were only nine positions available, but enough of the higher-ranking cadets chose other branches that Devers secured his first preference. World War I Devers's first posting was the 1st Battalion, 4th Mountain Artillery, based at Vancouver Barracks, Washington. That was a pack artillery unit, with its howitzers, ammunition, and equipment carried by mules. It was equipped with the obsolescent QF 2.95-inch mountain gun. Three months after Devers joined, the unit moved to Fort David A. Russell, Wyoming, where it rejoined the 2nd Battalion, which was returning from the Philippines. Devers was assigned to Battery C. Soon afterwards, First Lieutenant Lesley J. McNair became the battery commander. On 11 October 1911, Devers married Georgie Hayes Lyon of Arlington, Virginia, daughter of Frank Lyon and niece of Major LeRoy S. Lyon, his battalion commander, in a ceremony at her parents' home in Arlington, Virginia. They had met when she visited her uncle at Fort Russell. For his next assignment in December 1912, Devers was sent back to West Point to teach mathematics. He also managed the baseball program and coached the Cadet basketball team. His players included Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar Bradley. On 1 April 1916, he was promoted to first lieutenant. That August, he was transferred to the newly-activated 9th Field Artillery at Schofield Barracks, in what was then the Territory of Hawaii. His only child Frances Lyon, was born there on 20 July 1917. The 9th Field Artillery had a battalion of 4.7-inch guns and one of 155mm guns. Medium artillery was new in the United States Army, and the 9th was its first artillery tractor-drawn regiment. Devers was given command of Battery F. The United States entered World War I against Germany on 6 April 1917. Devers was promoted to captain on 15 May and major on 5 August. He was posted to the School of Fire at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on 10 December as an instructor. He received promotions to lieutenant colonel on 30 July 1918 and colonel on 24 October 1918. He became executive officer of the 9th Field Artillery Regiment, his former unit from Hawaii now at Fort Sill, on 15 October 1918. In September, he was nominated to command the