Leslie Groves died August 17, 1896.
Leslie Groves . He graduated fourth in his class at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1918 and was commissioned into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers . In August 1941 , he was given responsibility for the gigantic office complex to house the War Department 's 40,000 staff which would ultimately become the Pentagon . In September 1942 , Groves took charge of the Manhattan Project .