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Francis Scott Bradford

Francis Scott Bradford (1898-1961) was a US Army lieutenant during World War I. Bradford was known for his account of the "killing machines" during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of 1918, in which he fought with the US 41st Infantry Division.

Biography[]

Francis Scott Bradford was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States in 1898, and he attended Lawrence College in Wisconsin and the National Academy of Design in New York. Bradford enlisted in the US Army soon after America joined World War I in 1917, and he became a Lieutenant in Company H, 39th Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division, arriving in France in January 1918. He first saw action in September, and he went on to fight in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, during which he was shot in the foot while leading his men in the face of heavy German resistance. After serving on occupation duty, he returned to the USA, where he studied art, won an art scholarship, and attended the American Academy in Rome. Bradford became a prominent artist, installing the inner mosaic at a shrine in Cambridge, England as a commemoration of US Air Force airmen flying from England during World War II. He died in 1961 at age 63.

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