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CHRISTIAN AMERICAN VETERANS

"A man good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to receive a square deal afterwards..." Theodore Roosevelt  

Our Military History

This area of North Central Missouri is rich in history. It is also the birthplace and or former home to many of our great military leaders of the past. Just take a look at the military heritage of this part of the great state of Missouri!

1. Brookfield: Home to BG Don F. Pratt who was the Assistant Division Commander of the 101st Airborne during the Normandy Invasion of WWII. BG Pratt was killed when his glider crashed on landing during the airborne operation on 6 June 1944. He was the highest ranking allied officer killed during the D-Day Landings.

2. Brookfield: Birthplace of Dorothy Stratton, first Director of the Coast Guard's Women's Reserve Corps. Dorothy coined the name "SPARS" for the Women's reserve. She rose to the rank of Captain before leaving the service in 1946. She later served as National Executive Director of the Girl Scouts of America from 1950-1960. From 1962 until her retirement she was a member of the President's Commission on the Employment of the Handicapped and a consultant on vocational rehabilitation to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

3. Brookfield: Birthplace of Oren E. Hurlbut, Lieutenant General, United States Army. General Hurlbut was a 1933 graduate of the US Army Military Academy at West Point. He was serving as an aviation ordinance officer at Hickam Field, Hawaii during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.  The General retired in 1970 as the senior Army representative on the Defense Department Joint Logistics Review Board in Washington. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

4. Laclede: Home to General John J. "Blackjack" Pershing. General Pershing held the rank of General of the Armies during WWI thus giving him a rank higher than a 5 star general or General of the Army. Only one man outranked General Pershing and that was General George Washington by an act of Congress.

5.  Clark (just 20 miles north of Columbia on highway 63): Home to General of the Army Omar Bradley. General Bradley rose quickly through the ranks during WWII and was referred to as the Soldiers General.

6. Keytesville: Home to Confederate General and former Governor of Missouri Sterling Price. Gen. Sterling Price was twice elected Governor of Missouri. He served from 1853-1857. Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's 1864 Missouri Expedition was the last major campaign west of the Mississippi during the Civil War, it being the longest cavalry action of the war, lasting over 3 months and encompassing over 1,500 miles. He fought in 43 battles or skirmishes and destroyed an estimated $10 million worth of property.

7. Keytesville: Home to General Maxwell Taylor. General Taylor was Division Commander of the 101st Airborne during the Normandy invasion. He also served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

8. Waverly: Home to Confederate General JO Shelby. General Shelby was a cavalry officer during the Civil War and holds the distinction of having never surrendered during or after the war. He led his troopers to Mexico rather than surrender to union troops. The John Wayne movie "The Undefeated" is loosely based on this fact.

9. Huntsville: "Bloody Bill" Anderson, a Confederate guerrilla, was born in Randolph Co., Mo. and grew up in Huntsville which he considered his hometown.

10. Centralia: On 27 September 1864, "Bloody" Bill Anderson led his Confederate Guerrillas into Centralia in order to gather supplies and perhaps disrupt the railroad. As a train was due they decided to rob it once it arrived. Upon it's arrival they discovered some 25 Union troops of General Sherman's command who where on furlough. The Guerillas then removed the unarmed troopers and executed them. A Union force of some 150 men caught up with Bloody Bill and his men just south of Centralia but they were ambushed by the Guerrillas. It is reported that the inexperienced Union force may have lost some 120 men in the battle.

11. Hunnewell:  In Shelby Co. there is a marker at the site of the first Civil War action of Gen. U.S. Grant in Missouri (Hunnewell area, about 60 miles east of Brookfield on highway 36). Grant, commanding the 21st Illinois Infantry, was stationed here in July, 1861, to guard Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad bridge, then being rebuilt after its destruction by some of Col. Porter's troops.