Saturday, December 28, 2019

General John J. Pershing June 18, 1920, Lexington, VA

Via Susan Lee

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Gen. John J. Pershing (the highest ranking individual in the United States Armed Forces during World War I) and Maj. George C. Marshall (who would become the U.S. Army Chief of Staff and a 5-Star General during World War II) pay their respects at the grave of Lt.Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson.

Both men, while taking part in the commencement exercises at Virginia Military Institute that year, visited the graves of Gen. Robert E. Lee & Gen. Jackson, laying wreaths at the respective gravesites.
At the Lee tomb, Gen. Pershing referred to the Confederate General-in-Chief as one of the world's greatest generals, and said that he was "a Christian gentleman whose character and life in war and peace Americans should emulate."

In eulogizing "Stonewall" Jackson, "Black Jack" Pershing declared that the world looked upon this great soldier & Christian gentleman and his accomplishments with admiration and awe, with his military tactics studied throughout the world.

Accompanying Gen. Pershing & Maj. Marshall to both gravesites were students of the Virginia Military Institute, U.S. veterans of the first World War and gray-clad Confederate veterans of the War Between the States.

4 comments:

  1. Pershing heaped praise on Jackson the officer and the man. Yet, do you think Pershing emulated Jackson when coming against the 'Bonus Army'?

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  2. Uncle Sam needed the fighting man of the South behind his "cause.". Don't mean what he said isn't truth though

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