Bennett Champ Clark letter to Commander-in-Chef - September 15, 1918

Transcript

Headquarters 35th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, 15th [September] 1918. From: Lt. Col. Bennett C .Clark, 140th Infantry. To: The Commander-in-Chief, A.E.F. (through channels) Subject: Request for return to present assignment. 1. I respectfully request that at the conclusion of the present course of the Army General Staff College, at which I have been a student, that I be returned to my present assignment with the 140th infantry than be assigned to staff duty. 2. I make this request for the reason that I do not consider myself suited by temperament and experience for staff duty, particularly in the G-1 branch, to which I have been assigned in the Staff College, and that by reason of knowledge of my regiment I can render greater service in my present capacity than in any other. I am personally acquainted with the mothers and fathers of a great number of the men in my regiment, many of whom permitted and encouraged their sons to enlist because they knew me. I feel that it is my duty to serve through the war with these men if it is humanly possible for me to do so, and that I could not face their fathers and mothers on my return if I left the regiment without making every effort consistent with military discipline to remain. BENNETT C. CLARK