General George C.Marshall Signs Condolence Letters For Soldiers Killed In Action
General George Catlett Marshall was hailed as the"organizer of Victory" by Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, for his leadership of the Allied victory in World War II. Marshall served as the United States Army Chief of Staff during the war and as the chief military adviser to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. When the war began, General Marshall made it a practice to personally sign every condolence letter sent to the families of fallen soldiers. Two of his letters, one sent to the mother of Private Joe S. Black on September 7, 1942, and the other to the mother of Private James Haley, are examples of Marshall-signed letters. But as the war continued and fatalities mounted, the General was forced to use an Auto-Pen, a fact kept secret from the public.
