WWII US Army General Elliot Cooke Uniform WWI Hero

WWII US Army General Elliot Cooke Uniform WWI Hero
Uniform group of Brigadier General Elliot Cooke, a real "Indiana Jones" of his day. Jacket has sewn ribbon bars, WWII pin back BG Stars, fouraggere, etc. The Cap is a private purchase GO cap with single pin back BG star and a different soldier's laundry mark in the lining. His name is not in the jacket but it is guaranteed to be BG Cooke's. Comes with research file and original 8x10 photo. Brigadier General Elliot D. Cooke was born on August 15, 1891 on Staten Island, NY. At the age of 14, he and his buddy ran away from home and hopped a banana boat to Honduras, where the United Fruit Company hired him, taught him to use a machine gun and paid him to protect plantations against Anti-American agitators and displaced Campesinos. He was wounded in Tegucigalpa and returned to the US. Staying in Goldfield, Nevada, he was becoming an amateur boxer and skilled marksman, so he lied about his age again and was hired by a local sheriff's private militia to intimidate striking miners. In 1910, he crossed the Mexican border to join up with soldiers of fortune from around the world in support of the Mexican Revolution. Thrilled with his life as a mercenary, he joined the foreign legion in Nicaragua, working his way to Panama just as WWI began. As a result, he enlisted in the US Army in 1914, earning the rank of First Lieutenant by 1917, and arriving in France. Although a member of the Army, he was assigned to a Marine Corps Battalion as a company commander. On July 18, 1918, German troops engaged the Marines in a fierce firefight in the fields neat the village of Vierzy, just east of Paris. With every other officer in his unit either killed or wounded, Cooke led his men in battle for two hours, despite a serious leg wound of his own. For his heroism, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palm, Croix de Guerre with Bronze Star, and the French Fourragere. He prominently wore these citations on his dress uniform for years to come as he was the only US Army officer during WWI to earn all three. By WWII, he was promoted to Brigadier General and made Chief of the Overseas Inspection Division of the Office of the Inspector General. He was tasked with, among other efforts, studying the treatment of negro soldiers in the Army, understanding desertion among troops, and pioneered an initial look into Post Traumatic Distress Disorder, publishing his 1946 book "All But Me and Three: Psychiatry at the Foxhole level." He took command of the Atlantic Sector of the Caribbean Command in 1948, and retired in 1950. His awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, Croix de Guerre with Palm, Croix de Guerre with Bronze Star, French Legion of Honor, and the French Fourragere.