A-075 Promotion Certificate for Private 1st Class Archie C. Strong to Corporal in the Tank Corps of the U.S. Army. Dated "19 February 1919" at Camp Chamberlain, France. Ink signed "GS Patton Jr - Colonel Tank Corps Commanding". Professionally matted and framed. Overall 13 1/4" x 15 1/4". (Patton, a West Point graduate, took part in the 1912 Olympics and was an aid to General Pershing during the Mexican Expedition in 1916. The following year he was in France learning how to employ the newest weapon, the tank in combat. He refined his tactics and by 1941 commanded the 2nd Armored Division. In 1942 he directed the North African Campaign and the following year commanded the Invasion of Sicily. In 1944 his 3rd Army led the breakout from Normandy and relieved the Americans trapped during the Battle of the Bulge. By the Spring of 1945 his troops advanced through the heart of Germany and into Czechoslovakia. He remained a controversial figure for an incident involving the verbal abuse of two ailing soldiers, his proposal of a combined Allied-German campaign against the Soviet Union and the policy of keeping former Nazis in administrative positions. He died as a result of an automobile accident on December 9, 1945, which still fuels conspiracy theories. None the less, Patton remains one of the most flamboyant and successful American field commanders of any war). II

See description for I-III scale (I=mint, III=poor)