TERRIFIC, ORIGINAL 1922 LETTER TYPED AND SIGNED BY LEGENDARY U.S. ARMY COMMANDER JOHN PERSHING. Letter was written by Pershing on June 1st, 1922, in response to a request for his "views as to those qualities which make for good citizenship." Pershing shares heartfelt sentiment on success, citing "Scrupulous honesty; Persistent industry; Genuine modesty; Unselfish generosity; And a high sense of duty." Letter was written on Pershing's "General of the Armies" letterhead. Pershing is the only person, while still alive, to rise to this, the highest rank ever held in the United States Army; equivalent only to the posthumous rank of George Washington. Pershing successfully led the American Expeditionary Force in World War I and is regarded as the first modern American General. He mentored the generation of American generals who led the United States Army in Europe during World War II, including George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley and George S. Patton.
General John "Black Jack" Pershing (1860-1948) was born near Laclede, Missouri, USA. He trained at West Point, where Superintendent General Wesley Merritt praised Pershing's high leadership skills and "superb ability." After graduation (1886) he spent several years of cavalry service on the frontier he taught military science (and fencing) at the University of Nebraska. He then went back to teach at West Point, where he gained his nickname as a result of having commanded a black cavalry unit in Montana. He left West Point to fight in Puerto Rico and Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898, and also fought in the Philippines from 1899-1903.
Rising rapidly through the ranks, he became a brigadier-general (1906), promoted over the heads of nearly a thousand senior officers. After serving in the Philippines from 1906-14, he was sent to San Francisco where his wife and three of his four children perished in a tragic fire in 1915. Gravely shaken, he pursued his profession assiduously, leading the expedition against Pancho Villa (1916-17). Pershing became commander of the American Expeditionary Force (1917) and led the build-up and training of American forces in France. Against forceful pressure from both the British and French military, he insisted that the American troops should remain intact as units to fight independently, employing their own tactics. In September 1918 he led the US First Army against Saint-Mihiel in the first independent offensive by American forces, and then participated in the Meuse-Argonne offensive that led to the collapse of the German forces and ultimately the armistice. He returned to the United States, where in September 1919 he was named general of the army and served as chief-of-staff until his retirement (1921-4).
Pershing also served as chairman of the American Battle Monuments Commission as well as several honorary diplomatic positions. His acclaimed memoir, "My Experiences in the World War" ( 1931), won the Pulitzer Prize for history. Though too old to take any active role in WWII, he did consult with chief-of-staff George Marshall. A child of the Civil War, Pershing was the first of the modern American generals, excelling in every vital area from personnel and supply, to finance and battlefield tactics. He died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. His funeral service, one of only a handfull ever held at the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery, was attended by thousands of American citizens as well as by the leaders of government and the military. He was buried, as he wished, under a simple white gravestone at Arlington National Cemetery, near the gravesites of his "Doughboys" from World War I.
Condition: Letter remains in very good condition (see images); and measures approx 7" wide x 9" tall. Quite a find and a very worthy acquisition indeed.
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