The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1927-08-08
Full Military Honors
To Be Paid Gen. Wood
Governor General of Philip
pines Dies in Boston HOspi-
tal Early Sunday Following
Operation For Removal Of
TumCr-Will he Buried in
Arlington


Boston. Mass, Aug. s.-(R)-A de-
tail of six soldiers from Fort Banks
will accompany the body of Major
General Leonard Wood to Washing
ten late today on the federal express.
The squad, commanded by Captain
Roger Williams, marks the first Of
the military honors to be paid by the
army to the man who rose from the
medical branch of the service to be
one Of its most distinguished leaders
in ''the line" and in civil administra-
ton. At the station in Washington,
the six will be increased to 800 as
the war department takes over the
ceremonies.
Burial to Be In Arlington
In the family party will be Mrs.
Wood, at whose request intarment in
Arlington cemetery beside his form
er comrades was Ordred, her three
children, Leonard Jr., Osborne and
Lusita, Major Burton Y. Read, Mill
tary aide to the general; and Captain
l.. z. Fletcher, his personal physi-
clan.
General Wood returned to this
country recently, to report to Presi-
dent Coolidge and to rest. He had
been operated upon for hernia last
January and was believed never to
have fully recovered his accustomed
robustness. Death came early yester-
day morning after another operation
for recurrence of an old tumor all
ment. He had been in the hospital
only two days.
Rise Is Spectacular
The spectacular rise of Major Gen.
.ral Leonard Wood from an obscure
rost in the medical corps to COM
manding rank in the combatant
branch of the United States army was
one of the outstanding features of
/ American military annals. Appoint
| ed an assistant surgeon several
years prior to the Spanish American
war. Wood rose to the foremost rank
Of American generals, his active
! duty eliminating in the Governor
Generalship Of the Philippine Islands
after he had served four years as
Chief of the General Staff OF the
army, the topmOst military command.
While his rapid promotion. ascribed
largely to his close friendship with
Theodore Roosevelt, was the subject
! Of frequent criticisms in military
circles, General Woods service was
recognized throughout the establish
ment as of the highest type. His
first official commentator for gal
lantry came during hostilities with
the Apache Indians in 1885, when he
was given the Congressional Medal
of Honor for bravery, and his work
throughout the World War, limited
as 1t was from the Generals stand
point, won him the Distinguished
Service Medal "for especially meri-
torious and conspicuous service"
The placing of medical officer in
command of troops-a prerogative
jealously guarded by line officers
was a departure so exceutional in the
military establishment that it has
since been prohibited by army regu-
lations: bht that General Wood just
flied the trust and proved his value
as part of the fighting arm.is con-
ceded by many Of the highest mill
tary authorities, and was shown even
more conclusively by his unusual
rise to the peak Of the profession.
General Wood was born in Win
chester, New Hampshire, October 9,
1860, the son Of Charles Jewett and
Caroline E. (Hagar) Wood. His pre-
!, liminary education was obtained at
the Pierce Academy. Middleboro,
Mass, following which he attended
Harvard University and was gradual
ed from the medical school in 1884.
Joined Army In 1855
For a year thereafter he acted as
house surgeon at the Boston City
Hospital and then began the general
practice Of medicine in that city, but
the lure of adventure. aftermath Of
his intensive study. induced him to
join the army as an assistant con-
tract surgeon in Juney 1855. The
i fortunes Of war cast his lot with
(COntinuAd an mage threal