We have a bunch of Senior Officers. Senior means age, not rank. They review the manuscripts and make a recommendation to the director of the book program, and then the wheels start rolling. The negotiation with the publisher goes on between the book Program Director and the author himself. Weve got a nice stable of printing houses, universities, and other organizations that produce our books. As a bit of history, in the audience in the back, dr. Roger cirillo, who was really the genesis, start of this years book program. A number of years ago when it came under attack, we brought roger in and he resolved it and kept it running. Roger is a colonel in the regiment. If you are a tanker, you know what regiment im talking about. Im not a tanker. Im an engineer. In the last row, and some of you have heard this story before, is a retired general, but in the opening days of world war ii, this individual was stationed in greenland as an army weatherman. Back then i think you were a tech sergeant, who had launched the balloons. He was in charge of launching the balloons, that was the day the balloon went over and eisenhowers weatherman gave him the balloon report. It has not been able to make any history books. Outside of being a distinguished and a greatausa, mentor of many officers, we are pleased to have you and your wife here. We go back to when i was a cadet. There are no stories on that. We have other former authors here. Thank you for being here. The rules of engagement are you were all frisked on the way in, so we know there are no tomatoes, there are no eggs. We will take questions from the floor or pass the microphone around, and we will do that at the conclusion of each of the two sessions. That way the authors can be quizzed or asked to explain. Without any more of me banging on, our first panel deals with controversial and unconventional leaders in the army. We have quite a melange of leaders in the first books. Over to you. Ok. Thanks for having me. Before i start, i would like to thank ausa and joe craig for setting all this up as well as the University Press of kentucky for publishing my book. This book goes back a few years. The process of writing it was very quick. It was from contract to publication about two years. The origin of the book goes back to when i was in grad school, just graduated undergrad, and i met with martin bloominson, who some of you may know. He was a third u. S. Army historian in world war ii and the leading patton biographer. It was his discussions, usually over a gimlet at his house, to talk about two things close to his heart, general mark clark, which i wrote a book on a few years earlier, and then patton. He really enjoyed patton. His papers were on the bestsellers list. We would talk about in regards to a dissertation, what should i write about, he said right about clark, and when youre older, right about patton in world war i. The reason was he felt no one had focused on patton in world war i. Theres a lot of good books on patton. Theres a lot of bad books on patton as well. I thought it went well with his theme of unconventional. Patton is a very controversial figure, and that stems from world war ii. He had the slapping incidences that still hurt his career, his legacy, but when most americans talk about george patton, they think of george c. Scott in front of a flag. That is not actually george patton. As hard as it is to see, george c. Scotts impersonation, his acting, is a little different than the real george patton. One of the reasons i wrote patton world war i as this is an honest assessment of george patton. In 19171918, he is a Second Lieutenant, then a captain, and he was a very avid writer. He wrote to his wife very often, sometimes three times a day. And he kept a diary and journal. In his journal in world war ii, if you read it, he is very aware he is going to be famous and years from now historians will read this, and his diary and journals, when you read them, you have to take them with a big scoop of salt because its not really it is for historians 50 years down the line. In world war i, he is just a Second Lieutenant that becomes a Brigade Commander colonel at age 33. He is a cog in the machine, just one guy, and he does not really know exactly where he will be in the historical sense, so his diaries are much more honest, much more useful for historian. When i started researching patton in world war i, what became very clear is he is a very professional, very competent officer, and i teach at the command general staff college. We have a lot of majors come through. Patton was around the same age as most of my students. Theres a lot of specialty branches, and patton was given basically the job of establishing the u. S. Army tank corps as a captain by himself. He was told to pick a tank for the u. S. Then, when you pick it out, i want you to write a paper on it and say what we need to improve and send it to the american manufacturers. Then, your next job is to figure out where you are going to build the training grounds for the tank school, and patton had to actually pick the ground, draw designs for it, then negotiate with the local community to purchase it. When the land was purchased, he had to develop the training program, and when the tanks finally started to show up later than they were supposed to, patton is the only one that knows how to drive a tank. What it shows you is this young officer was highly competent. In world war ii, he is viewed as kind of this gunslinger. Maybe he does not plan logistics, his staff is not as good, but patton showed at a very early age he was very competent and knew exactly what he wanted. As a young captain, he goes to france and figures out what tank to use. He likes the french renault tank. For a few reasons. Mainly, he really liked anything french. Fluent in french, has wife was educated in french. He picked it because it was a little more reliable. Patton will write a 50page tank paper. In it, it is good engineering work. It goes into everything from how to drive the tank to how to look outside the tank. Patton is the one that realized foot, 61,out 6 the europeanmade tanks were too short for americans. He basically increases the height an inch and a half, two inches on every renault tank. He has his hands in all of this. Also, what i got into is patton is very famous for his world war ii speeches. A lot of profanity. One of the underlying themes of my book is to kind of discuss how patton became george c. Scott in front of a flag. What happened here is he creates that image in 1917, 1918, because he is really playing a part. A lot of it was inspired by john pershing, who he was an aid for and fought very hard to get on his staff and will fight very hard to get out of his staff. One thing consistent about patton in both world wars is he wants medals and he wants command, and he is in a pretty good position as pershings aid e to camp. Everyone pretty much knows that pershing is going to be the man for americans, but he goes out on his own and establishes the tank corps. He will do a remarkable job and participate in two operations. One major operation is where he will be wounded. The reason he gets wounded is because he was very aggressive. As he has a reputation for in world war ii, he believes leaders, commanders, officers lead from the front. With patton, he will get in a little trouble with his boss, a brigadier general, sam rocken back. They never got along great. Rockenback was a little older, a little quieter, but he was in many ways the perfect man for the job because he kept patton a little bit out of trouble. He kept him on administrative work, which he did not want to do. Patton was focused on the fight and nothing but the fight. Patton will never say too many nice things about his old boss. As an example of how he became a great leader in world war i and how it affects world war ii, im going to review a letter written to beatrice patton, George Pattons wife. 23 february, 1945. By this point, patton is a hero, normandy has happened. The war in europe is beginning to close, and rockenbach wrote s wifetter to patton about how he had changed from world war i to world war ii and i will read this slowly because general rockenbach is not a good typist. There are some letters missing and some gaps. Here goes. He was, in my humble opinion, a son, and i did not spare a rod in training him for the great things i believe he was capable of. I remember warning him on the eve of the first attack that he was in command of a brigade and that it was his duty to see that his supply of gas, grease, and ammunition was kept up with, that there was no question of his personal courage, that his expression that i had not impressed upon him, and i remarked. Ifm serious, i told him, tomorrow i find you in a tank doing the work of a private, i will relieve you on the spot. Patton remarked to me, if i find you on a tank, the next day, patton led from on top of a tank. His chief lieutenant heard the remark and led his battalion on foot. He continues with the letter and closes with this. He goes, on july 1944 on the eve of the invasion of normandy, i read a speech by patton to his third army. In it, patton said an army is a team. It lives, sleeps, eats, fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is a lot of crap. It ends with this. In 1917 and 1918, patton was an individual anxious to show his courage and impress his men with his personal daring. In an attempt to make him use his brigade as a team, he was warned against fighting as a fight as ad to brigade, not as an individual. What rockenbach gets is patton needed world war i to get that out of his system. In addition to that he was courageous, that he could lead men in combat. At the end of the war, patton writes that he believes he could now command a division in combat, and he will wait anxiously for the next war, and you all will know the rest of that story because that has been well done. But without world war i, the patton we know, the george see the george c. Scott image in front of the flag, probably does not happen. It is that experience in world war i that got him to be who he is. That concludes my remarks. Thank you. [applause] mr. Stroup for our next author, im going to start his presentation off. Who was general holland . Who was general holland . Theres no answer required from the floor, but think about that. A not very well known American General of postworld war ii, participated in korea japan and then korea. The book sheds a lot of light. Michael . Michael thank you, sir. First, i would like to thank ausa, joe craig, and roger cirillo, the university of kentucky, natalie, and katie downstairs, manning the booth. And my fellow presenters for the and my fellow presenters for the opportunity to be here today, and also especially for those of you who took time out of lunch to come here. So, to get directly to general stroups question, who was ned almond, and what we know about him . He belonged to the generation of Senior Officers who came of age in world war i. He led 10th corps in the invasion in korea. He is noted for his cando attitude, his natural aggressiveness, demanding personality, sometimes selfserving nature, qualities that later earned him the nickname, sickem ned. His early military life differed little from that of his contemporaries. Ambition and the drive to excell made almond and his peers stand out as young officers. In a career spanning 35 years in three wars, almond showed strong leadership as a Battalion Division and corps commander. He also had a reputation for aggressive ambition, impatience, racial prejudice, and insecurity. In every position almond held, he earned the respect of his superiors, including generals george c. Marshall, douglas macarthur, and matthew b. Ridgeway, hard graders all. Ok. There we go. Oops. Back up. There we go. Almond is not quite as well known today as some of his contemporaries, but he has a poor reputation among military historians. What we think we know about almond now is largely the result of one or two data points that have been repeated over and over over the past couple of decades. This book examines almond in the context of his time and finds that there is much more to almond than we think we know. Almonds racist reputation overlooks his devotion to training his troops. His relationship with macarthur gained him advancement and notoriety, but macarthurs trust was well placed. Almonds aggressive qualities earned the respect of his peers. Many incorrectly inferred a hatred of the marine corps from his conflict with one marine commander, and that myth obscured his actual antipathy for the air force. [laughter] allmans reputation may now be seen different in historical context, but he was and is undeniably controversial. His boyhood set the life and path for his military career. The Virginia Institute with its strong confederate and military influences shape his outlook. Almond graduated third in his class in 1915, but vmi cadets were not automatically commissioned then as they were today. After the United States enters a the war, however, the rapidly expanding army also quickly grew its officer corps. Almond competed for a commission in november 1916 and reported to the very first ocs class at Fort Leavenworth shortly after. He commanded the 12 machine gun battalion during and after world war i. Combat taught him some enduring lessons about the value of training which he used for the rest of his life. Almond also began to exhibit some of those professional traits that became the hallmarks of his career aggressiveness, personal courage, and commitment to his mission. Almond finished the war as a temporary major, having been awarded a citation and a wound badge, which in the reviews of army declarations during the 1920s, became a silver star and a purple heart. The years after world war i were good for almond. After an rotc pms assignment, he completed the advanced course and remained as an instructor. He taught in the tactics department, where his experiences as a machine gun Battalion Commander during the First World War caught the eye of the assistant commandant of the infantry school, Lieutenant Commander george c. Marshall. His performance their mark him as a martial man and destine him for the future success he would see. After the command general staff school, he moved to manila where he pioneered a method for crossing a river using only the battalions organic equipment. Almond began his transition to the armys Senior Leadership of attendance at the u. S. Army war college where his classmates included major omar bradley, with whom he had also taught at fort benning, william halsley, and 46 other future flag officers. After graduation, he was assigned to the War Department general staff. His love for training was rooted in his own thirst for knowledge, and he lobbied hard for the chance to attend both the air force tactical school, which is a predecessor of the air war college, and the naval war college. He did very well in all of his academic assignments, and this unfortunately earned him a teaching spot at the naval war college. He turned down that assignment in order to go back to general staff, and then the six core where he spent the last year of the war preparing for the largescale operations that he would have to mount in the next war. Almond initially made his mark on history, and we started to catch up with them, as commander of the 96th Infantry Division. One of the only two africanamerican commissions raised during world war ii and the only one that deployed and was employed as a full division. The division initially had all white officers but began to receive African American officers shortly after the division activated. They recognized almonds skills as a trainer, and that is also part of his story. No white officer sought this assignment, but having received the mission, almond threw himself into it. General marshall had recognized that commanders of black troops should be selected with even greater care than others, and almond believed he possessed the knack that marshall required. Almond harbored bigoted attitudes against africanamericans, but he was not alone in either the u. S. Military or civilian society at the time. Most contemporary Senior Leaders shared similar low opinions of black mens abilities to fight effectively. The nation itself was undeniably racist, and segregation was the law of the land. The years since that war have seen the glorification of the greatest generation with all racist notions and ideas whitewashed with a veneer of honor. Much has been made of almonds command of a black division, but little was known about the challenges he faced in commanding large africanamerican units in a racially segregated army and society. Activated 77 years tomorrow, it was split among four bases. No civilian community wanted large numbers of black soldiers in their midst, so the regiments trained individually at camp robinson, arkansas, camp atteberry in indiana, and camp breckenridge in kentucky. Almond dealt with all the normal challenges his brothers did with the additional challenges of the separation of his units and segregation of his soldiers on those posts. Many of those problems, once the unit was able to consolidate after many months of training, at the site which was chosen specifically because it was so remote from other white communities. Many of the problems that had developed, incubated in the regimental size camps, became magnified when the unit got together as a whole. In combat, the 92nd Infantry Division initially did well. Against the advice of the War Department, almond had to work very hard to get permission to deploy the division and was very much concerned about how well the soldiers would do. And he argued strenuously that they should be allowed to deploy. The division deployed to italy where it initially served well. However, it began to fall apart in the spring of 1945, and he had some Serious Problems there. By the end of the war, the 92nd Infantry Division had gained a white regiment, and the 442nd infantry, the nisei division, finished the war as the most integrated division in the army. After the war, almond was given command, thesion second Infantry Division, which was initially designated to go to japan for the invasion. The war ended, so almond stayed with the division for a few months. He then went to japan to serve on the staff of General Macarthur at far east command. Almond received his greatest accolades during the landing on september 15, 1950. This surprise move temporarily shifted the momentum to the u. N. Forces during the early days of the korean war and led to the liberation of seoul. Almond then commanded both his corps and a south korean corps. Many historians judge almond harshly for his technical abilities, but few addressed the challenges he faced in korea, such as the sheer scope of the mission, the inhospitable terrain, and the inadequate forces available. When the chinese entered the war and sent the u. S. Army into retreat, almond mounted one of the largest evacuations in history, evacuating over 100,000 u. S. And korean soldiers and marines, in addition to another 100,000 Korean Refugees in one of the largest evacuations, as i said, in history. All of this happened, of course, after chosen had already claimed the lives of hundreds of soldiers and marines. Almonds 10th corps then joined the 8th army where he quickly green gained the respect of general ridgway. He suited his style perfectly, and he later called almond his best corps commander. Almonds final military assignment was as Commandant Army war college where he left an indelible impression on that institution and many of the curriculum and Development Ideas that almond brought to the war college are still in place today. He was, as i said, always a student of his craft. Since his death, his views have come to dominate his place in history. He is now often viewed as the armys racist, but almond reflected the attitudes of the army and society. The existing history also overlooks almonds personal side. The hardbitten general was also a devoted family man. He was not immune to personal tragedy, and lost both his son and soninlaw, killed in combat six months apart. That heartbreak later spawned a very loving and doting grandfather. These contradictions with the rest of his personality make almond a complex man, and indicate the need for much more nuanced perspective. This critical examination of almonds life and career treats both the good and the bad, places him in a broader context, and presents a more complex, or more complete picture of this flawed man, yet gifted officer. To answer general stroups initial question, one of the best quotes about almond to understand his personality was given by one of his friends after korea. When it paid to be aggressive, almond was aggressive. When it paid to be cautious, almond was aggressive. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. [applause] mr. Stroup our next author is going to be discussing an american soldier, became an american soldier after being an immigrant at the end of world war ii. Had the privilege of serving with shallley as an assignment officer, and he was in his branch and i was in my branch, and thats when i got to know him quite closely, and later on a couple of other assignments with him. So to read this was very interesting, because the author points out things that i never knew, and the Great American you wrote about. So, please. Mr. Marble it was the wee hours one april night in 1945. And there was a boy out on a bridge in the bavarian village in southern germany. Despite a mop of blond hair and piercing blue eyes, he isnt german. Hes stateless, in fact, a citizen of no country, because he was born in poland to parents who werent polish. Hes also a refugee during the warsaw uprising, his familys apartment was hit by a dive bomber and came crumbling down around them, forcing them to live in cellars and move through sewers for weeks on end. When the uprising finally finished, his family grabbed whatever belongings they could carry and fled here to pappenheim in october of 1944 to live off the charity of relatives. Yet the refugee boy had yet to find save haven, for the end of the war was approaching, and reports had been filtering in that allied troops were descending southward into bavaria. So the local militia told them to report here to the bridge over the river. Dismantle the bridge, they commanded. Slow down the advance of the enemy. As the refugee boy labored alongside the villagers, he could not have felt more alone. His father had gone off to fight in service of the German Military and the family had since lost all contact with him. His mother was also absent, likely out on yet another nail biting search for news of her husbands whereabouts. They continued working frantically through the night, caught between the dark skies above in the dark waters below, between the watchful eyes of s. S. Officers on the river bank behind and their fear that bombs or ordnance would rain down from the skies in front. Yet as morning drew near, the bridge lay only partially disassembled. Not long after dawns first glimmer, the refugee boy paused his efforts. He glanced across the river, and thats when he saw them, there on the opposing bank, rifles at the ready, the lead scouts of the u. S. 86th infantry. These, he would recall one september day almost five decades later, were his first americans. The day this particular memory flooded back, he was once again resting his eyes on u. S. Soldiers, only this time he was at summer all parade field in fort meyer, virginia. He was inspecting the joint force honor guard with president bill clinton and secretary of defense bill cohen by his side, for today was his retirement ceremony. General John Shalikashvili was stepping down. Im andrew marble, and ive written the firstever biography on general shalley, as he liked to be called. One central question drives this book, and thats in the heck did he do it . How did that stateless, penniless, refugee boy who stood out on this bridge in april of 1945, how did he go on to be the highest ranking officer in the worlds most powerful military . Hes an unusual u. S. Army officer for sure, and i am perhaps an unusual author to be writing a biography of a military general. Before i started this project, almost 10 years ago, i had very little knowledge or understanding of the u. S. Military. I have a phd in political science, i have done asian policy and politics my life, most of my career. I had lived abroad for almost eight or nine years, came back to the states, was working at a thinktank, and the general was on the board of advisors. And three unusual things about his life immediately grabbed my attention. First, of course, first foreign born chairman, what a childhood, living in europe, going through world war ii. I have a picture here. So, this is his mom, missy, thats john when he was six years old or so, father, and his older brother joe, who retired as a colonel of special forces. And he had a sister, alexandra, whos not in this photo. The second thing, you know, that caught my eye about general shali is he had a very astounding family ancestry. Not too many people know that he came from royalty. He was born prince john david shalikashvili. He came from a long line of shalikashvili princes that extends back to the 1400s in georgia. The shalikashvili have a family crest. And if you notice in the upper righthand corner, the sword over a key, thats the symbol for the chamberlain of the royal georgian court. Its a key Civil Military position in georgia that many position in georgia that many shalikashvili princes held. The last to hold it was this man, this is general shalis greatgrandfather and namesake, ivan shalikashvili. During the crimean war, he reportedly fought with such distinction that alexander ii reportedly awarded him with a gold saber with the inscription, the brave, which shalikashvili then appended to his name. He went on to retire as a major general. General shalis father dmitri fought in the military for four different countries. First during world war i, he fought with the czar, then a few years for the military of free georgia. And then once georgia was reannexed by the russians, he became a polish cavalry officer, and this photo is from 1931 when he was serving as a polish cavalry officer. And then during world war ii, he fought with the germans. And this photo in 1931 is when he met the woman who would be his wife, count missy rudiger. Marie rudiger. And, believe it or not, her family background was even more flabbergasting than the shalikashvilis. She descended from, for instance, this man, this is adam von kruzen stern, a baltic german, the first russian admiral to circumnavigate the world. His maternal grandma so his mother was born here, believe it or not. This is the Winter Palace in st. Petersburg. Why was she born there . Well, her mother and aunt, they served as ladies in waiting at the last russian court, to the grand duchess, both of them. And oh, i have a great picture here. This is general shalis maternal grandparents, attired for an opulent costume ball that czar nicholas threw in 1903. But it was the third aspect of shali that really most intrigued me. And that was his curious reputation. Heres general colin powell. Shalis, predecessor, his chairman. Hes a quiet, decent man and a very hard worker. Theres a mistake in notion you have to have pattonesque qualities to be a great general. You dont need to rant or rave or be an arrogant jerk to be successful. Shali showed that. I pulled from some news reports in 1993 when he was nominated. He was said to be lowkey, selfeffacing, informal, a consensus builder who understands teamwork, is willing to examine options and adjust to political realities. Someone extraordinarily sensitive in terms of caring for people, someone whose humility was bone deep, who balanced firmness and compassion, a man who was enormously loved and respected. In retirement, a journalist asked him what his greatest weakness was. His answer, i dont like confrontation. When i read that, i was hooked. I needed to understand what made this man tick. How do you become such a person who people will say such glowing things of . So, oh, i wondered first of all, perhaps did his world war ii background and ancestry somehow inform the reputation that he would have as an officer . And what role did all three of those things play in his rise to the chairmanship . So in 2010, i did something that might be unthinkable to some. I quit my fulltime job and began research, and in 2011 i put my belongings in storage, packed up my car, and set out on an openended Cross Country research tour. All told, ive traveled to three dozen cities in over three countries including the United States, england, and germany. Ive accessed two restricted archives, both the chairmans papers here in the library and the shalikashvili archives at the National Bureau of asian research. Ive interviewed well over 300 people. General shali himself, his wife, his son, his brother and sister, childhood friends from europe, high school and college classmates in the United States, and people who served with him from when he was a private in the late 1950s, all the way up to when he was chairman, including president clinton, madeleine albright, colin powell, bill perry, and others. During this time, ive house sat, i couch surfed, and occasionally lived out of my car, all in order to try to find out how did that boy on the bridge become chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. And its finally happened, the book is out, and if he is an unusual general and im an unusual military biographer, this book is also unusual. Its really about the journey to the top and not the destination, not what he did as chairman, and i try to write it in a very engaging style, think of lauren hillenbrands unbroken, because i think he has a lot of leadership lessons that Everybody Needs to hear, whether theyre in military or civilian sector. And i, too, wanted to thank jackie oneil and katie gibson, whos downstairs, as well as joe greg and roger, one of the first people i interviewed many, many years back when i first started this journey. Thank you. [applause] mr. Stroup now, well instead of moving on to the next trilogy of authors were going to take question time. I would ask if you have a question, if youre mobile, please go to the microphone. And address the panel, the individual authors of your comments or your questions. Lots of times questions precede comments. Yeah, colonel tom smith. Question about patton. So in 1917, ike was on his way to europe, hopefully, to get involved in the great war, and was diverted to camp colt to train the tank corps. So what was the relationship with patton in terms of the training that was given, the equipment, and that sort of thing, with ike . Mr. Mikolashek yeah, so it was very similar. It was eisenhower was a lieutenant colonel, ultimately. Patton was a full colonel ohsix, but pretty much the same jobs, just one was stateside and one was overseas. And the two were not were aware of each other, were not quite buddybuddy as they will become later, but they did the same thing. In camp colt, theres not much, if anything left there, but i looked. I got into a little bit of that in the book, but it really was pretty similar to what they were doing overseas, and it the difference was patton, once he had enough soldiers trained up, led the brigade, while eisenhower never had the chance. And after the war ended, eisenhower was concerned it would impact his career. And that was also people thought patton was going to be the supreme ally commander one day, but its funny how it works out. But the jobs were pretty similar. Im bob sorley, and my question is for doctor marble. First of all, sir, i would like to say youre my kind of guy. Thanks for telling us about your adventures, and also, i have to say thats a brilliant title, just perfect. Whats the most surprising thing you learned about general shali . Mr. Marble it was surprising it wasnt surprising by the time i heard the story, but when somebody told me once that he was asked what his greatest accomplishment was, and he said well, you know, it was when we were redoing the parking lot in heidelberg at the p. X. And we made all the different sections. We used animals, so the kids could help their parents identify where they parked the car. And i just thought wow, what a guy. [laughter] are you satisfied, dr. Sorley . That was a good answer. Mr. Stroup are there any further comments or questions . Everybody know and understand and can you take a quiz on who general almond was . [laughter] the book was an eyeopener for me. Its really good. Well, joe i guess you have a question, or you wish to move along . I think the group would love to hear more about general almond, so i was wondering if you could speak a little to his work with george marshall. Mr. Lynch well, as i said, he first met thenlieutenant colonel marshall at fort benning when he was an instructor. And he came back from world war i, and at that time in the army there were a lot of, theres a lot of intellectual discussion about the new weapons that the army was using, especially the machine gun, and he having commanded a machine gun battalion, he was in the thick of all of that. Theyre writing articles in the various journals and those sorts of things. He was also very, very detailoriented for his entire life. And he learned when i say he learned the value of training, he quickly learned what had happened in this mass army, with soldiers who were not as well trained as they perhaps needed to be, and he learned a lot about checking training, that sort of thing. I think thats what caught marshalls eye initially, is he was very detailoriented and he was very thorough in his training methods. Later on, what made him, what i think made marshall think that he had the knack, is that ability to train soldiers to get them to where they needed to be. Marshall understood that we needed very, very good trainers for africanamerican soldiers. Its a very different problem set than dealing with white soldiers, and thats why he selected almond for that position. In your research on general patton, this question is not related to world war i, but i think it precedes world war i. What do you remember about his being on the olympic team . Mr. Mikolashek oh, the famous olympic team. So, to his dying day, patton thought he won. The last competition was pistol shooting, and they never found his round. And what he later told and it was the way i interpreted it was a little bit in jest. Mr. Stroup the event, what event . Mr. Mikolashek pistol shooting. Mr. Stroup ok. Mr. Mikolashek yeah, it was the decathlon, and he argued that his bullet went through the target where another bullet had went first, and that it was the perfect shot, and he finished fourth or fifth, so he did good. The running was his hardest event. He trained on the boat, the ship over and almost killed himself, but to his dying day he thought he at least medaled. But they never found that round, so he ended out just short of bronze. But that was an interesting 1912 olympics. Mr. Stroup there are no further questions. We will do a switch of panel members. Thank you all very much for a great presentation. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] announcer American History tv is on social media. Follow us at cspan history. Anouncer mark patriots day, massachusetts state holiday commemorating april of 17 semi five, monticello hosts a conversation with president donald jude thomas jefferson. Recounts the events tomorrow is patriots day, a massachusetts state holiday commemorating the bellows