He then became a student again, using his Technische Hochschule thesis as the basis for a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the State University of Iowa. He became an instructor at West Point in August 1937, where he was promoted to captain on 13 June 1939. In June 1941, Colonel James C. Marshall summoned Nichols to the Syracuse District to become area engineer in charge of construction of the Rome, New York Air Depot. He was promoted to major on 10 October 1941 and lieutenant colonel on 1 February 1942, when Marshall asked him to take on additional responsibility as area engineer in charge of construction of a new TNT plant, the Pennsylvania Ordnance Works, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
James C. Marshall
Nichols