Major Robert Rogers

Born on November 18th, 1731 in New Hampshire.  As a youth he served in several local Militia companies which were fighting in the French and Indian Wars.

In June 1755 he organized a militia company for Blanchard's Regiment. The following March 23rd of 1756, he was officially made a Captain of His Majesty's Independent companies of Rangers.  During the campaign of 1755-56 Rogers developed his 29 Ranging Rules of Warfare.  These same rules are used to this day by members of the United States Special Forces, the Green Berets.

On April 6th 1759 he was promoted to the rank of Major. Then on September 12, 1759 he led the raid on the Abanki village at St. Francis which was the basis of book by Kenneth Roberts- North West Passage
Just one year later on September 13th 1760 Major Rogers led an expedition of 1,000 Rangers to receive the capitulation of the French at Fort Detroit, Fort Miamis (Fort Wayne, Indiana), Fort Ouiatenon, (West Lafayette, Indiana)

After serving as an officer at Fort Michilimackinac during the 1760's he offered his services to the newly created United States Government to form a Rangers Unit.  The Rebels refused his offer believing him to be a Loyalist.  He then went to London to form the Queen's Rangers for the British where he fought in a few engagements in the American War of Independence.

Major Robert Rogers- Wobi Mandanondo- "White Devil" passed from this life in a filthy slum in south London on May 18th 1795.  The London Morning Press noted his passing......

"Lieutenant Col. Rogers, who died on Thursday last in the Borough, served in America during the late war, in which he performed prodigious feats of valour, he was a man of uncommon strength, but a long confinement in the Rules of King's Bench, had reduced him to the most miserable state of Wretchedness."    

PLEASE NOTE: 

Compliments of Brother Charles Casada
of Whitney Lodge #229
New Burlington, Indiana

Joseph Warren

Alfred Von Tirpitz

Eddie Rickenbacker

Eddie Rickenbacker was born October 8, 1890, in Columbus, Ohio. With little formal schooling and a succession of jobs behind that, he began working for a railroad car manufacturing firm in 1905. There he developed a deep interest in internal-combustion engines and engine-powered vehicles. He began driving racing cars at sixteen (he became a regular at the Indianapolis 500 from its first year, 1911). By the time the United States entered World War I he was internationally famous as a daredevil speed driver and held a world speed record of 134 miles per hour.

In 1917 he enlisted in the army and went to France as a member of Gen. John J. Pershing's motor car staff. With help from Col. William Mitchell, he secured a transfer to the Air Service in August, took pilot's training, and early in 1918, with rank of captain, was assigned to the 94th Aero Pursuit Squadron. The 94th, which adopted the famous hat-in-the-ring insignia, was the first U.S. flying unit to participate actively at the front, fighting the “flying circus” commanded by the German ace, Baron Manfred von Ricthofen. In May 1918 Rickenbacker succeeded to command the 94th in the temporary rank of major. By the end of the war the 94th had downed 69 enemy craft, of which Rickenbacker, the “ace of aces” accounted for 26 (22 airplanes, 4 observation balloons). He earned every decoration possible, including the Medal of Honor, awarded in 1931 for his lone attack on seven German planes, two of which he downed, on September 25, 1918.

John Joseph Pershing

Pershing was born into the opening fanfare of the golden age of Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Jackson--four names that will stand linked forever before the fact of the preserved Union. Pershing's earliest toddler memories were of Southern bushwhackers raiding his hometown and shooting up the village. He was five years old when Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse. He grew to manhood and as a junior officer served under Generals Nelson A. Miles, Adna R. Chaffee, John M. Schofield, and William R. Shafter--four men indelibly associated with the march of America across the shrinking plains, to Cuba and the Orient, while the 19th century wound its way out and the century of great wars came upon us.

In the First World War, however, Pershing played his part without peer--standing alone in his time as history would have it, and with no one to share the fame.

Pershing grew very old and lived on to see the new men come to flower--MacArthur and Eisenhower, Patton and Stilwell, all of whom he outranked by an active commission as General of the armies by Act of Congress as long as he lived--but never once did he attempt to put finger in the New War pie. Like a wise old soldier, he spent the Second World War quietly fading away.

In 1944, when Pershing was in Walter Reed Hospital, the Old Man was eighty-four years old, and he had been living up on top of the hospital in his specially-built set of quarters for the three years that the Second World War had been going on. The Old War was pretty far back in history by this time; yet it was a mark of the stature of Pershing that his nurses scheduled receiving hours each morning for seldom less than three or four people who felt impelled, by right of past association and present desire, to call and pay their respects when passing through Washington. It was a mark of the gallantry that never dies in old cavalrymen, one supposes, that the comelier nurses would grin at times and rub themselves where they swore they'd been pinched.

Of all men of his time, he seemed to have an unerring instinct for just where he fitted in the scheme of things. When age came upon him, he met it with the cool dignity that marked his intercourse with even his close friends. He made no effort to inflict his aging mind on the nation as a senior citizen. He wrote no carping, critical books. He did not sell his retired sword to commerce. He was, in essence, a dirt soldier who came up the hard way, but who loved his profession dearly enough to continue the pursuit of excellence in it-- the hard way.

So when his time came, he folded his cloak about him and quietly departed, almost a stranger to the new war that had come upon his country, but forever a part of the careful binding to meet threats that will bring victory once more when the time comes.

Pershing's father, John Fletcher Pershing, was a boss tracklayer for the North Missouri Railroad at Warrenton, Missouri, where he met Ann Elizabeth Thompson. On 22 March 1859, they were married. Soon after, they moved to a shanty on the farm of Judge Meredith Brown near Laclede. John Joseph was born there on 13 September 1860.

When the Civil War began, John Fletcher moved to Laclede and bought Lomax's General Store. He bought two farms, one 80 acres, the other 160 acres, and a lumberyard. He also became the sutler for the 18th Missouri Volunteer Infantry, then quartered at Laclede.

In 1865, a "select school for small children" was opened in Laclede. John and his brother, James attended this school. Between 1870 and 1873, John Fletcher lost the greater part of his land holdings in speculation, and in 1876 became a traveling salesman. During this time, John Joseph worked on his father's farm and attended school, and later taught the Negro school at Laclede. Throughout this sometimes difficult period, the future General Pershing demonstrated the qualities which would always be paramount in his life: self-possession, competence, level-headedness, dependability, and the ability to see things through.

In October 1879, Pershing became the teacher of the school at Prairie Mound, nine miles from Laclede. During the summers of 1880, 1881, and 1882, he went to the State Normal School at Kirksville, Missouri. In the spring of 1882, Pershing saw an announcement for a competitive examination for an appointment to West Point. He had no desire to become a soldier but he saw an opportunity for an excellent education. On the advice of his sister, he took the examination and won the appointment.

Pershing was not a brilliant scholar. He graduated 30th in a class of 77. But the officers and his classmates at West Point recognized that he had a rare quality of leadership. General Merritt, then Superintendent of West Point, said that Pershing showed early promise of becoming a superb officer. He was elected president of the class of 1886. Each year he held the highest possible rank in the Cadet Battalion. Thirteen years before the Spanish-American War began, Cadet Captain Pershing commanded the Corps of Cadets when it crossed the Hudson from West Point to Garrison to stand at present arms while the funeral train of Ulysses S. Grant rolled slowly by.

Pershing did not think much of army life in peacetime and during his furlough he expressed a desire to take up the study of law. During his last year at the Point, he and four classmates formed a scheme for an irrigation project in Oregon, but nothing ever came of it.

After his graduation from West Point, Pershing was assigned to Troop L, 6th Cavalry, Fort Bayard, New Mexico. He reported for duty on 30 September 1886. He scouted hostile Indians and commanded a detachment which set up a heliograph line 160 miles through the mountains. This latter accomplishment was no small feat. The detachment was out about a month and lived off the country, which was inhabited by hostile Indians.

A group photograph of the 6th United States Cavalry, taken on the club steps at Fort Bayard, New Mexico, show among them the very junior Second Lieutenant Pershing, blue kepi cocked on his light blond head and a kid's grin on his face. For four years in the desert Southwest, he was on active service against the last of the Apaches. He served throughout the Santiago Campaign fighting at San Juan Hill, where he was cited for gallantry 1 July 1898, and for which he was subsequently awarded the Silver Star Medal. In the words of his commanding general, S. M. B. Young, he was "the coolest man under fire that I ever saw."

In 1887, Pershing was transferred to Fort Stanton, where he took part in maneuvers. In 1889, he stood second in pistol marksmanship in the California and Arizona divisions of the Cavalry and 22nd in rifle marksmanship in the Army. In 1891, he stood second in pistol and fifth in rifle marksmanship. On 23 November 1890, the 6th Cavalry was ordered to South Dakota. It arrived at Rapid City on 9 December 1890. That winter, a most severe one, was spent in putting down one of the final Sioux uprisings.

On 15 September 1891, Pershing took up his duties as Professor of Military Science and Tactics at the University of Nebraska. During the four years he held this post, he showed qualities of character that were prophetic of the way that he would acquit himself should the Army call him to a bigger role on a bigger stage. This statement is based entirely upon statements and letters contemporaneous with his service at Nebraska when he was still an unknown second lieutenant.

Upon his arrival at Nebraska, Pershing found few men, the interest in the battalion weak, the discipline next to nothing, and the instincts of the faculty and the precedent of the University against the Cadet Corps. The sentiment of the community faculty, and student body (and, in fact, that of the whole nation) was pacifistic. No one thought that there would be another war. The accepted recipe for army-making which William Jennings Bryan made famous and which World War I proved utterly false, was that "A million men (would) spring to arms overnight." He could have drawn his pay and courted popularity by drifting with the tide, but he was not made that way. Here as elsewhere, Pershing was a strict disciplinarian.

In 1892, the National Competitive Drills were held in Omaha. Pershing, after much opposition, entered a company. Using Company A as a nucleus, he built up a drill company. It drilled from seven until nine in the morning and from four until seven in the afternoon. In the maiden competition, Company A won the Omaha Cup and $1,500. That same year, Chancellor Canfield requested that Pershing be permitted to remain at the University another year. This request was granted by the War Department. While at Nebraska, Pershing studied law and graduated with the class of 1893.

On 1 October 1895, Pershing was ordered to join his regiment at Fort Assiniboine, Montana. He had been appointed a First Lieutenant in the 10th Cavalry. While on duty in Montana, Pershing was active in rounding up a large group of renegade Creeks and deporting them to Canada.

In June 1897, Pershing was assigned to West Point as an assistant instructor in Tactics. He was not a popular officer there because the cadets thought his discipline was too strict.

On 2 May 1898, after Colonel Henry of the 19th Cavalry had requested it and Major General Miles recommended it, Pershing was relieved from his duties at West Point and joined his Regiment at Tampa as Regimental Quartermaster. Pershing was mentioned in the report of LTC T. A. Baldwin, commander of the 10th Cavalry, to the War Department for his untiring energy, faithfulness, and gallantry. In this report he was also recommended for a brevet commission. On 26 August, Pershing was commissioned Chief Ordnance Officer of volunteers with the rank of Major and was ordered to Washington for that duty. Unfortunately, he was suffering from malaria and was confined at home.

On 10 March 1899, Pershing was placed in charge of the Division of Customs and Insular Affairs, a new division within the War Department. It was created to meet the emergency caused by the necessity of providing the military government for our new insular possessions: Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam.

On 17 August 1899, he was ordered to Manila, the Philippines, to report to the Commander of the Eighth Army Corps for duty. On 1 December, he was assigned to the Department of Mindanao and Jolo. In cleaning up the Moro insurrectionists, Pershing, as Adjutant General of his Department, was in active service from 27 November 1900 until 1 March 1901. He participated in the advance up the Cagayan River to destroy the stronghold of Macajambo. The expert handling of these expeditions was noted even in Washington: Secretary of War Elihu Root, the father of the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, in 1903 said on record to D. Avery Andrews: "If your friend Pershing doesn't look out, he will find himself in the Brigadier General class very soon."

On 2 February 1901, Pershing was made a Captain and was transferred to the 1st Cavalry. In August of that year, it was ordered back to the U.S. Pershing applied for transfer to the 15th Cavalry, then taking up its station in the Philippines. The request was granted, and he served in various departmental roles until 11 October, when he took charge of the post at Iligan.

There, Pershing won the confidence of and made friends with a few Datos from the north of Lake Lanao. He learned the Moro language well enough to converse with the Moros.

After LTC Baldwin had advanced to Lake Lanao, captured Fort Padapatan, and founded Camp Vicars (named in honor of LT Thomas A. Vicars, who was killed during the attack on the Fort), Pershing was sent to the camp. He acted as Intelligence Officer and on 30 June 1901, he succeeded LTC Baldwin as Commander of Camp Vicars, the Colonel having been made Brigadier General.

On 28 September 1901, after numerous attacks had been made on the outposts of Camp Vicars, Pershing began the first of a series of four campaigns against the Moros. On the fourth one, he completely circled Lake Lanao, a feat never before accomplished by a white man.

After three and a half years of active service, Pershing was ordered home in June 1903. Before his departure, a movement was carried out among the officers of the Army to have Pershing made a Brigadier General as due recognition of his services and his demonstrated military ability. This movement was carried out by men best fit to judge Pershing's worth as a General Officer: Major Generals Davis, Summer, Murray, and Wood; Brigadier Generals Sanger, Burt, and Pandal.

While in Washington, after his return from the Philippines, Pershing met Miss Helen Frances Warren, whom he later married. Miss Warren's father was a Senator from Wyoming.

When Congress met on 7 December 1903, President Roosevelt, in his message to Congress, mentioned Pershing by name. It was in connection with that portion of his message dealing with the promotion system of the Army. He said that when men render such a service as Captain Pershing did in the Philippines, it should be possible to reward him without at once jumping him to the rank of Brigadier General. This is one of the few occasions when an Army officer has been mentioned by name in the President's message to Congress.

In 1904, Pershing was assigned to duty in Oklahoma City as Assistant Chief of Staff, Southwest Division. That fall, while on leave, he visited the Warrens at their ranch in Wyoming. On 31 October 1904, he was assigned as a student at at the Army War College and was ordered back to Washington.

When Congress met in December, the Warrens were again in Washington, and Pershing was assigned as a military attache in Tokyo. This assignment brought his long courtship with Miss Warren to a close. They were married on 26 January 1905, and sailed for Tokyo the following day. Pershing spent most of his nine-month tour of duty in Manchuria observing the Russo-Japanese War.

Shortly after Pershing's first child, Helen Elizabeth, was born, President Roosevelt promoted Captain Pershing to Brigadier General. However, Pershing's long years of service, his splendid record, and his achievements in the Philippines were all forgotten by critics. They also forgot that three years had passed since the President had urged Congress to remove the necessity of such promotions to reward merit. Also overlooked were the precedents for this promotion. Major Tasker H. Bliss, Captains Leonard Wood, Frederick D. Grant, Frederick Funston and Albert L. Mills had all been promoted to Brigadier General, the latter just before Pershing himself. All of these promotions were made in the considered interest of Army efficiency at a time when the service was bound by passively entrenched rank, living on the inertia of seniority. The many critics remembered only that Pershing was the son-in-law of Senator Francis E. Warren, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs. "His promotion," they declared, "was a flagrant example of pull." In answer to such criticism, Roosevelt said, "To promote a man because he married a Senator's daughter would be an infamy; to refuse him promotion for the same reason would be an equal infamy."

Shortly after his promotion, General Pershing was asked whether he would prefer an assignment in the Philippines or to command the Department of the Gulf. He replied that he preferred active service and would leave the assignment to the War Department. Unfortunately, the War Department had some trouble seeing a clear decision through all the red tape. Pershing was ordered to report to San Francisco for further orders. He left Tokyo and went to San Francisco. He had just arrived there when he was directed to go to the Philippines. He had to get special permission to go by way of Tokyo to get his family and property.

Upon reaching the Philippines, Pershing was placed in command of Fort McKinley, near Manila. On 24 March 1908, Pershing's second child, Anne, was born at Baguio, the summer capital of the Philippines.

In the fall of 1908, war seemed imminent in the Balkans. Pershing was directed to proceed to Paris and, if war broke out, to go as a military observer. He and his family were in Paris for two months. When the hostilities in the Balkans died down in 1909, they returned to the United States.

Meanwhile the Moro situation in Mindanao and the Sulu Islands had again become troublesome. Governor Smith of the Philippines recommended that General Pershing return, but due to complications arising from malaria that Pershing had contracted in Cuba and the Philippines, he was prevented from returning there. He requested that no one be permanently assigned to the post.

On 24 June 1909, Pershing's only son, Francis Warren, was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Pershing's only child born in the United States.

In October of that year, Pershing, now recovered from his illness, sailed for the Philippines to take charge of the Moro Province as Military Governor. Under his leadership, the hostile Moros were disarmed, by peaceful methods when possible and by force when necessary. Peace was gradually restored.

On 20 May 1912, Pershing's fourth and last child, Mary Margaret, was born. Soon afterwards, the entire Pershing family was baptized into the Episcopal faith by Bishop Brent, a close friend of Pershing.

In 1913, General Huerta had seized the reins of the Mexican government. The United States refused to recognize the new government and diplomatic relations were severed. General Pershing, about to sail for home after four years of service in the Philippines, applied to the War Department for assignment to active service in the event of hostilities with Mexico. When Pershing arrived in Honolulu on 20 December 1913, he received orders to report to the 8th Brigade at San Francisco, the first Brigade on the roster in case of "hostilities."

On 20 January 1914, Pershing, with the 8th Brigade, began patrolling the Mexican Border, leaving his wife and his four young children in quarters at the Presidio of San Francisco. After a year's stay at Fort Bliss, Pershing decided to bring his family there. The arrangements were almost complete when a tremendous tragedy occurred at the Presidio on 27 August 1915: the quarters were destroyed by fire and Mrs. Pershing and the three little girls died in the holocaust. Only his son Warren survived. What this does to a man, no other can say. At best, a part of him must seal up forever, wherein the dead never grow up or grow older; only the broken heart that holds them in anguish does.

This tragedy was a part of the great and natural dignity of Pershing, of which Heywood Brown once wrote: "They will never call him Papa Pershing." It was dignity that impelled only the long- service soldiers to call him "Black Jack" as a subtle accolade, not in derogation.

After the funerals at Cheyenne, Pershing returned to Fort Bliss with his son Warren and his sister Mae and took up his duties as commanding officer again. He sought and found solace in hard work. He finally regained mastery of himself, though it was feared for a while that he might lose his mind.

On 15 March 1915, Pershing led an expedition into Mexico to capture Pancho Villa. This expedition was ill-equipped and hampered by a lack of supplies due to the breakdown of the Quartermaster Corps. Although there had been talk of war on the border for years, no steps had been taken to provide for the handling of supplies for an expedition. Despite this and other hindrances, such as the lack of aid from the former Mexican government, and their refusal to allow American troops to transport troops and supplies over their railroads, Pershing organized and commanded the Mexican Punitive Expedition, a combined armed force of 10,000 men that penetrated 350 miles into Mexico and routed Pancho Villa's revolutionaries, severely wounding the bandit himself. There is a prophetic photograph surviving from those days: a picture taken at Nogales of Generals Obregon, Villa and Pershing. Behind Pershing and to his left stands First Lieutenant George S. Patton, Jr.

On 3 April 1917, the United States declared war on Germany. On 7 May, Pershing was ordered to Washington, and later that month he sailed to Europe with the nucleus of a General Staff.

The story of Pershing's appointment to the command of the American Expeditionary Force is not generally known, for it is loosely assumed that he fell into it naturally after the death of General Frederick Funston. But this is not so. Newton D. Baker, Wilson's Secretary of War, had had no previous acquaintance with Army matters before his Cabinet appointment. The Chief of Staff in 1917 was Major General Hugh L. Scott, a distinguished and capable officer, but in his 64th year, faced statutory retirement in a matter of months. When it became imperative to select a field commander, Secretary Baker took home the complete records of all general officers and spent almost 48 continuous hours examining them minutely against each other. It is a testament to Pershing's greatness that when Secretary Baker announced his choice, he was completely certain in his selection of General Pershing; there was no second on the record.

There was no American Expeditionary Force per se for Pershing to command at the time of his selection. The Regular Army had perhaps 25,000 men in 1917, and there was no divisional organization except for the hastily scratched-up 1st Division, elements of which were still landing in St. Nazaire in early July, three months after the declaration of war. There was no reserve as we know it today except the Officer's Training Camps of Plattsburg Movement. To attend one of these camps, prior to the declaration of war, a man had to buy his own uniforms, pay for his own food and incidentals, and transport himself to and from his home. He received no pay, but he could get an Officer's Reserve Corps commission and wear ORC in bronze on his collar. The National Guard outfits in most states were separate companies that quite possibly had never trained in regiment. A long enough time had elapsed since the Spanish-American War that politics had crept back into the selection of senior officers, taking precedence over qualifications.

Pershing was now entering upon the most difficult task of his career. He had the unenviable job of producing a completely organized army. It would take months, possibly a year, to get that Army into the field. Pershing soon found out that the English and French did not even want an American army; they wanted men.

Nobody but the Regular Army ever trained progressively for war in the United States before World War I, and the regulars never trained on the massive scale that European armies had since the days of Frederick the Great. The prevailing American belief was that if war came, one just blithely sprang to arms overnight. Again, in the words of William Jennings Bryan, "never mind what arms you sprang to, or who fed you breakfast the next morning."

Pershing's task was doubly difficult. Not only did he have to deny the men that the French and English needed, but he had to depend on those allies for supplies. The first divisions that arrived in France had been trained by the French, who expected this to be a permanent arrangement, and wanted the American troops to be brigaded with the French, under command of French Divisional Officers. This Pershing absolutely would not allow.

Pershing was not an "overnight springer." Having previously commanded four brigade-sized expeditions in hostile territory, he respected the supply and administration "which come before all glory and without which there is no military diversion of fighting a war." Furthermore, Pershing had spent many years training men. The two-sided maneuver, which later became Army doctrine, was modestly born in his unit at Fort Bayard, New Mexico, in 1886, when General Nelson Miles instituted "raiding games" wherein one cavalry troop took the part of the raiding Apaches and the others countered their efforts. Pershing carried on the method of the Philippines-- building training into pyramidal structure from the individual through units to combined arms--and employed physically opposed maneuvers of two counterbodies of troops.

Pershing was one of the leaders in the movement for the establishment of a Supreme Commander, as opposed to a Supreme War Council. He also demanded that the American Army (then still in the process of building) should be included in the agreement.

Though they began randomly in the National Army of 1917- 1918 (some men were overseas two weeks after induction), the methods and training programs that Pershing inaugurated early in 1917 were the beginnings of the masterfully refined mobilization training plan of 1941-1945 that produced the finest, most far-flung army the world had ever seen. In spite of great pressure, official, diplomatic and otherwise, Pershing had been able to produce an integrated fighting force of two million men in 18 months, and to fight with it himself as field commander in the last few months of the war.

America's prominent position in world affairs today is largely the result of Pershing's activities in Europe. If he had less firmly insisted on an independent American Army, and American soldiers were divided among English and French forces, the power of the American government at the peace conference would have been negligible and the American nation would not likely be the world power it is today.

In the spring of 1918, the Germans began their last desperate drive on Allied positions. Realizing that a united front was necessary to stem this attack, Pershing placed the American troops under the command of General Foch of France, who had assumed the Supreme Command of Allied armies in Europe. Under the weight of the superior and brilliantly led fighting force, the German were crushed. Celebrations and decorations heralded the return of General Pershing and his Army to his country.

General Pershing cannot be too highly commended for his attitude and actions since the war. He did not make the mistake of trying to tell the nation how it should be run, and above all, he did what few victorious generals have ever done: he stayed out of politics.

In 1921, Pershing was appointed Chief of Staff of the United States Army. In 1924, at the age of sixty-four, he retired from active duty with the title of "General of the Armies" bestowed on him by Congress.

Ill health forced the famous soldier to retire from all public service soon after his retirement. Held in the highest esteem by contemporary members of his profession, his advice was sought on military matters despite his retirement. He advocated a program of military preparedness for his country and throughout the remaining years of his life he kept in close contact with military developments.

Audie Murphy

Audie Leon Murphy, son of poor Texas sharecroppers, rose to national fame as the most decorated U.S. combat soldier of World War II. Among his 33 awards and decorations was the Medal of Honor, the highest military award for bravery that can be given to any individual in the United States of America, for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty." He also received every decoration for valor that his country had to offer, some of them more than once, including 5 decorations by France and Belgium. Credited with either killing over 240 of the enemy while wounding and capturing many others, he became a legend within the 3rd Infantry Division. Beginning his service as an Army Private, Audie quickly rose to the enlisted rank of Staff Sergeant, was given a "battle field" commission as 2nd Lieutenant, was wounded three times, fought in 9 major campaigns across the European Theater, and survived the war.

During Murphy's 3 years active service as a combat soldier in World War II, Audie became one of the best fighting combat soldiers of this or any other century. What Audie accomplished during this period is most significant and probably will never be repeated by another soldier, given today's high-tech type of warefare. The U.S. Army has always declared that there will never be another Audie Murphy.

On 21 September, 1945, Audie was released from the Army as an active member and reassigned to inactive status. During this same time, actor James Cagney invited Murphy to Hollywood in September 1945, when he saw Murphy's photo on the cover of Life Magazine. The next couple of years in California were hard times for Audie Murphy. Struggling and becoming disillusioned from lack of work while sleeping in a local gymnasium, he finally received token acting parts in his first two films.

His first starring role came in a 1949 released film by Allied Artists called, Bad Boy. In 1950 Murphy eventually got a contract with Universal-International (later called Universal) where he starred in 26 films, 23 of them westerns over the next 15 years. His 1949 autobiography To Hell And Back was a best seller. Murphy starred as himself in a film biography released by Universal-International in 1955 with the same title. The movie, To Hell and Back, held the record as Universal's highest grossing picture until 1975 when it was finally surpassed by the movie Jaws. In the mid-60s the studios switched from contract players to hiring actors on a picture-by-picture basis. Consequently, when his contract expired in 1965 Universal did not renew. This gave him the opportunity to work with other studios and independent film producers. In the 25 years that Audie spent in Hollywood, he made a total of 44 feature films.

Despite his success in Hollywood, Audie never forgot his rural Texas roots. He returned frequently to the Dallas area where he owned a small ranch for a while. He also had ranches in Perris, California and near Tucson, Arizona. He was a successful Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racehorse owner and breeder, having interests in such great horses as "Depth Charge." His films earned him close to 3 million dollars in 23 years as an actor. Audie loved to gamble, and he bet on horses and different sporting events. He was also a great poker player. In his role as a prodigious gambler, he won and lost fortunes.

Audie Murphy wrote some poetry and was quite successful as a songwriter. He usually teamed up with talented artists and composers such as Guy Mitchell, Jimmy Bryant, Scott Turner, Coy Ziegler, or Terri Eddleman. Dozens of Audie Murphy's songs were recorded and released by such great performers as Dean Martin, Eddy Arnold, Charley Pride, Jimmy Bryant, Porter Waggoner, Jerry Wallace, Roy Clark, Harry Nilsson and many, many others. His two biggest hits were Shutters and Boards and When the Wind Blows in Chicago. Eddy Arnold recorded When the Wind Blows in Chicago for his 1993 album Last of the Love Song Singers which is currently in release by RCA.

Audie sufferred from what is now known as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTS)and was plagued by insomnia and depression. During the mid-60's he became dependent for a time on doctor prescribed sleeping pills called Placidyl. When he recognized that he had become addicted to this prescription drug, he locked himself in a motel room, stopped taking the sleeping pills and went through withdrawal symptoms for a week. Always an advocate for the needs of veterans, he broke the taboo about discussing war related mental problems after this experience. In a effort to draw attention to the problems of returning Korean and Vietnam War veterans, Audie Murphy spoke-out candidly about his personal problems with PTS, then known as "Battle Fatigue". He publicly called for United States government to give more consideration and study to the emotional impact war has on veterans and to extend health care benefits to address PTS and other mental health problems of returning war vets.

While on a business trip on May 28, 1971, (Memorial Day Weekend) he was killed at the age of 46. A private plane flying in fog and rain crashed in the side of a mountain near Roanoke, Virginia. Five others including the pilot were also killed. Although Audie owned and flew his own plane earlier in his career at Hollywood, he was among the passengers that tragic day.

On June 7th, Audie Murphy was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery. His gravesite, near the Amphitheater, is second most visited gravesite year round. President Kennedy's grave is the most visited.

Douglas MacArthur

Douglas MacCarthur was one of the most controversial military figures in American history. He was the son of a Civil War hero, named Arthur MacArthur, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his valor in battle. Arthur would later command American troops during the Phillipine Insurrection. Arthur's son, Douglas, followed his father's footsteps and pursued a career as a professional soldier in the U.S. Army.

MacArthur was famous for his legendary conceit and flamboyant persona. In answering a question from a woman admirer of MacArthur whether Dwight D. Eisenhower { future Supreme Allied Commander in Europe and President of the U.S.} had met MacArthur, Eisenhower remarked, "Not only have I met him, Ma'am; I studied dramatics under him for five years in Washington and four years in the Phillipines." MacArthur loved showmanship; whether he was in front of a newsreel camera, in the presence of photo-journalists or in a parade. MacArthur was the consumate performer.

In WW II, MacArthur commanded the U.S. Army in the Pacific theater. He was acclaimed for his "island-hopping" strategy, used against Japan with great success. At war's end, Genenral MacArthur became the military governor of Japan. He was instrumantal in reshaping the Japanese nation's political structure, its economic life, and even the Japanese people's relationship with their own emperor. Most historians agree that MacArthur's role in post-war Japan was a positive one for both the U.S. and Japan.

During WW II, MacArthur was in accord with American strategic planners that Korea and Manchuria might have to be sacrificed in order to bring the Soviets into the war with Japan. When it appeared that Japan would soon capitulate after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, MacArthur was in full support of General Order #1 to divide the Korean peninsula into two occupational zones. On Aug 27th, MacArthur designated General John Hodge as head of the U.S Military Government in Korea. MacArthur arrived at this decision to appoint Hodge to command the USMGIK, not because of any special ability that Hodge possessed, but for the proximity in which Hodge and his command was to Korea {Hodge's XXIV Corps was in Okinawa at the time}. On the 7th of September, General MacArthur issued a proclamation to Koreans living in the newly established American occupational zone. He explained to the Koreans residing there that the goals of the USMGIK were to except the surrender of the Japanese and to maintain religous and personal freedoms. MacArthur went on to say that national independence "in due course" would be guaranteed in the future. On Sept. 12, the U.S. Military Government in Korea was established.

A On Liberation Day (Aug. 15th) the Republic of Korea in the South was created. MacArhtur was present at the inauguration ceremonies of President Syngman Rhee in Seoul where he delivered a promise to Rhee claiming that "if Korea should ever be attacked by the communists, I shall defend it as I would California." In spite of General MacArthur's promise, the U.S. began a slow withdrawal of military personnel from Korea. In purely strategic terms, Korea was not vital to American interests. Contradicting his previous statement, MacArthur appears to have concurred with this decision. In 1949, MacArthur said to a reporter, "Anyone who commits the American Army in the Asian mainland should have his head examined." This opinion was consistent with the overall strategic thinking in Washington D.C. at the time. At a press conference in January of 1950, Secretary of State Dean Acheson clearly stated, in no uncertain terms, that Korea laid outside the U.S. Defense Perimeter and consequently did not constitute a national interest. Five and a half months later, war broke out in Korea.

Henry Knox

Henry Knox was a major force in the outcome of our nation’s War for Independence and in the formation of our government. He served as the head of the Artillery for the Continental Army and as a trusted advisor to General George Washington. He is responsible for the transportation of 59 cannon from Ft. Ticonderoga to Dorchester Heights, a feat that forced the British to evacuate the city of Boston. In addition, he changed the use of artillery from siege weapons to an assertive forward position, a decisive factor in winning the war.

While serving as Secretary of War in President Washington’s first cabinet, Henry Knox commissioned the first six frigates, including the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides), which became the foundation of the United States Navy. His ideas for military training were the basis on which the military academies of West Point and, much later, Annapolis were created. He also had written the rules for training of civilians which were finally put into practice more than a century after his death with the establishment of the National Guard.

Henry Knox was born in Boston in 1750. His formal education came to an abrupt end when he was nine years old and from then on he diligently studied and educated himself while earning a living to help support his mother and younger brother after the loss of his father. His favorite subjects to study were the ethics of the ancient Greeks and Romans, history, military tactics and the French language. He worked as an apprentice in a Boston bookstore, opening his own at the age of 21.

Lucy Flucker, daughter of the Royal Secretary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, became his wife on June 16, 1774. The couple had thirteen children, of whom only three survived to adulthood. At the age of forty-five, Henry Knox retired from government service and built his home in Thomaston, Maine, where he became active as an entrepreneur. He built boats, burned lime, raised cattle, sheep and goats, cross-pollinated plants to make them winter-hearty for the long Maine winters, built roads and locks along the rivers to increase shipping to interior towns and helped industrious newcomers to the area by investing in their businesses.

John Paul Jones

James Doolittle

Born on December 14, 1896, in Alameda, California, Doolittle grew up there and in Nome, Alaska. In October 1917 he enlisted in the army reserve. Assigned to the Signal Corps, he served as a flying instructor during World War I, was commissioned first lieutenant in the Air Service, regular army, in July 1920, and became deeply involved in the development of military aviation. On September 24, 1922, he made the first transcontinental flight in under 24 hours. He was sent by the army to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for advanced engineering studies. Assigned to test-facility stations, he spent five more years in diverse phases of aviation, winning a number of trophy races, demonstrating aircraft in South America, and in September 1929 making the first successful test of blind, instrument-controlled landing techniques. He left the Army but continued to race, winning the Harmon trophy in 1930 and the Bendix in 1931 and setting a world speed record in 1932. He served on various government and military consultative boards during this period.

September 4, 1922--Lieutenant James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle piloted a U.S. Army Air Service de Havilland DH-4B on the first coast-to-coast flight in less than 24 hours. At an average speed exceeding 100 mph, Doolittle flew 2,163 miles from Pablo Beach, Fla., to San Diego, Calif., in 21 hours and 20 minutes, making a brief refueling stop at Kelly Field, Texas. Doolittle's groundbreaking journey was one of many undertaken by pilots under Assistant Chief of the Air Service Brig. Gen. William ("Billy") Mitchell to demonstrate the practical applications of aviation to anti-airplane "battleship admirals" and isolationist Congresses of the early 1920s.

Shortly before US entry into World War II, he returned to active duty as a major with the Army Air Corps. After a tour of industrial plants then converting to war production, he joined A.A.C. headquarters for an extended period of planning that bore spectacular results on April 18, 1942. from the deck of the carrier Hornet, Doolittle, then a lieutenant, led a flight of 16 B-25 bombers on a daring raid over Japan, hitting targets in Tokyo, Yokohama, and other cities, scoring a moral huge victory.

On April 18, 1942, under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, a small force of B-25 Mitchell light bombers set forth on one of the most audacious air raids of World War II. Launching in a rough sea from the heaving deck of the carrier USS Hornet, the crews knew that even if they achieved success, they were not to return. Their mission to bomb Tokyo and other industrial targets some 800 miles distant would leave them barely enough fuel to fly onto crash-land in China. The planes were actually launched earlier than had been the original plan. The group was sighted by a Japanese ship earlier in the morning, but the ship was unable to radio their presence to the mainland. Nine aircraft were attacked by enemy fighters, every one made it to the target, all but one aircraft were lost. Buthe raid was a triumph. The Japanese High Command were so alarmed by the American's ability to strike at their homeland they attempted to expand the perimeter of activity in the central and southern Pacific - with disastrous results. Lt. Col. Doolittle was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in recognition of the extraordinary feat he and his gallant crews performed. Miraculously most survived to fly and fight again later in the war, Jimmy Doolittle going onto command the Eighth Air Force in Europe at the time of the Normandy invasion.

General Omar Bradley

Bradley, who had distinguished himself leading troops to victories in North Africa and Sicily, was hand-picked by General Dwight Eisenhower to command the 1st U.S. Army during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France. Under Bradley's direction, American forces liberated Paris, turned back an aggressive German counter-offensive at the Battle of the Bulge, took control of the first bridgehead over the Rhine River, and linked up with Soviet forces advancing from the east to drive the final nail into the Nazi coffin in 1945.

A native of Clark, Missouri, Bradley displayed an uncharacteristically mild temperament for a military leader. Newspaper accounts described him as a "quiet gentleman who might pass for a professor." His polite demeanor, however, was coupled with a demanding nature and the mind of a brilliant military tactician.

General Daniel Butterfield

“Taps,” America’s best known, most beautiful & only 24 notes  bugle call, has a fascinating   origin & history  !  The melody was composed by Union Brigadier General Daniel  Butterfield from N.Y. in 1862 while commanding  a brigade of the Union Army on the banks of the James River  during the American Civil War.             

TAPS

Few  realize  that  there  even exists a second verse to Taps.  Even less
known is  still  a  third  verse;  a “Daylight Version,”   (approved by Lady
Baden-Powell):

    
   General Butterfield had noticed that when his brigade bugler sounded a call (which would be picked up & repeated once by all regimental buglers in the brigade), there was apt to be confusion since all regimental buglers were
usually within earshot.  So Butterfield  invented a little recognition call - three whole notes, followed by a couple of triplets - which would precede all brigade calls and his men quickly fitted a chant to it: “Dan - Dan - Butterfield !” 

     With the call’s increasing popularity  evident among his troops, and since  the earliest  versions did not quite suit Butterfield’s musical senses, Butterfield began to experiment  with it by whistling various recreated  versions for his bugler to play. He soon developed a melody he liked and taught it to Oliver Wilcox Norton a Brigade Headquarter’s Bugler  who first performed it at Harrison Landing (James River) in July, 1862.

Note: 1) Taps eventually replaced the French bugle call “lites Out” - a holdover from Napoleon’s time.

Note: 2) The burial practice at that time was to fire three volleys over the burial site - but this frequently would be mistaken by the other side as an attack of some sort & would sometimes prompt an exchange of fire when all they were trying to do was bury some poor guy. This is how Taps became a bugle call sounded at funerals, especially military funerals in this country. The call’s continued increasing popularity  evidenced by the fact that shortly it was  even adopted by Confederate buglers.

Note 3) So by the latter part of the  of the Civil War both sides pretty much used Taps for “lights Out” & funerals.  After the war, when some of the U. S. troops were transferred west, this bugle call was taken up by the western armies, and at last it became
regulation and has remained regulation to this day.  “...the drawn-out, haunting,  24-note melancholy bugle call that puts the lights out for soldiers and hangs in the still air over their graves at military funerals - ”Taps”

Note 4) Today when "Taps" is played, it is customary to salute, if in uniform, or place your hand over your heart if not.  Exactly who wrote the eventual  “words” (lyrics) to Taps is not certain. Credit is generally given to the Pennsylvania Military College.
(Aside: there are several verses to Taps, even a “Daylite Version” - not just the one I recited earlier.)  

Note 5) Also, the origin of the title “Taps” is uncertain. Very  likely,  it is derived from the Dutch  word “taptoo”. The word "taps" is an alteration of the obsolete word "taptoo," derived from the Dutch "taptoe." Taptoe was the command - "Tap toe!" - to shut
("toe to") the "tap" of a keg. 'Tap toe' = 'doe den tap toe' [meaning] 'put the tap to' [or] 'close or turn off the tap' was apparently already in colloquial use for 'shut up! stop! cease!'

Lowland tavern keepers turned off the beer taps in the evening, saying: "Do Den Tap Toe" (turn off the taps) thus "Tap Toe" or, better known as "Tatoo", a signal by drum, bugle or trumpet for soldiers to repair to quarters.”

                                                                            *******************************
    O. K.,  so - in conclusion - what ever became of Gen. Dan Butterfield ?  Well, Scouts a lot,  actually  - Butterfield  lived a full, active, and inspiring life. Mentioning here  just   a  few  significant   highlights: 

   ~   For heroism  at the battle of Gaines’s Mill in 1862, Butterfield eventually received the Congressional Medal of Honor when “ (while wounded)... he seized the colors of the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteers at a critical moment, and under galling fire of the enemy, led the command.” 

  ~  Butterfield  was   wounded  again, severely,  a  year  later, at the Battle of Gettysburg.

  ~  After the Civil War,  in 1889,  Gen. Butterfield acted as the Grand Marshal in the parade honoring George Washington’s Centennial when over 100,000  men  passed  in  review.

  ~   In 1893, at Gettysburg, he was again a Grand Marshal, this occasion the dedication ceremony of the New York State‘s  Memorial Monument, attended by over 10,000 veterans.
                                          ~
   +   General Daniel  Butterfield  died  in  Cold Spring, New York  in 1901 at the age of 70.  He is buried at nearby West Point Military Academy. (on the opposite bank of the Hudson River.) (His gravesite is in sight of his home site)

Bitterfield’s  grave site monument is 35 ft. high and contains 16 columns. The sixteen ornate columns on his monument record the forty-three battles and skirmishes in which he participated.  It is one of the most ornate monuments in the cemetery. 

Note:  (1) West Point has long since restricted the size & design of grave sites there.

Note:  (2 ) General Custer’s grave site is very near Butterfield’s. Gen. Butterfield was interred  with  full military honors including  “the major general’s 13 gun salute”    ........followed .. by ...... “Taps.”

Masonic Notes:
“ Major-General Daniel Butterfield, if he were living today, would be a member of Francis Lewis Lodge # 273, NY. Originally, General Butterfield was a member of Metropolitan (NYC) Lodge # 273.  This Lodge petitioned (in 1852 )and was consolidated with Whitestone Lodge # 923 on Dec. 21, 1972, thus becoming Metropolitan Whitestone Lodge # 273.

“On August 14, 1986, Metropolitan Whitestone Lodge # 273 and Bayside Lodge #999 merged and became what we know today as Francis Lewis Lodge # 273.”

“In May, 1854, Daniel Butterfield petitioned Metropolitan Lodge # 273 New York City, for membership.....  He was initiated June 8, passed June 22, and raised July 13, 1854.  His Lodge number was 101 and his Grand Lodge number, 3484.” <This latter verified by Grand lodge, NY.

PLEASE NOTE: ALL INFORMATION ON GENERAL BUTTERFIELD WAS SUPPLIED BY BROTHER DON WEST WHO AT THE TIME OF THIS INSERTION IS JUNIOR WARDEN OF PAWLEYS ISLAND LODGE #409, PAWLEYS ISLAND SC. CONTINENTAL LODGE EXTENDS ITS THANKS FOR HIS HELP IN ADDING YET ANOTHER FAMOUS MASON TO OUR SITE. GENERAL BUTTERFIELD WILL BE THE FEATURED MASON UNTIL REPLACED BY ANOTHER FAMOUS SUPPLIED BY OUR VISITORS

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