page_title: Julius Penn
section_title: World War I
hierarchical_section_title: Julius Penn / World War I
caption_attribution_description: English: At the Opening of the 1500th Y.M.C.A. center in France. L. to R.: Gen. Julius A. Penn, Bishop Brent GHQ, Bishop Hughes, Capt. E. Durans, Fr. Army: The "Cure of Latrecy", Col. Finch, Mrs. Magaret Wilson; daughter of president Wilson, Mrs. David, Mr. David and Maj. Newman US Army 2nd air depot, La Trecy, Hte. Marne, France.
context_page_description: Julius A. Penn was a career officer in the United States Army. He attained the rank of brigadier general during World War I, and commanded 170th Infantry Brigade, 85th Division and 76th Infantry Brigade, 38th Division, in addition to serving as Chief of the Personnel Bureau for the American Expeditionary Forces.
  The son of a Union Army veteran of the American Civil War, Penn was born in Mattoon, Illinois and raised in Batavia, Ohio. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1886, and was a classmate and close friend of John J. Pershing. After graduation, he served in the Western United States as a member of the 13th and 2nd Infantry Regiments, and he was an 1891 graduate of the Infantry and Cavalry School, the predecessor of the Command and General Staff College. During the Spanish–American War, Penn served as a quartermaster officer at Camp George H. Thomas, Georgia and the Tampa mobilization point before contracting typhoid. After recovering, he was assigned to the Philippines, where he commanded 2nd Battalion, 34th Infantry.
context_section_description: At the start of World War I, Penn was assigned to the headquarters staff of the Army's Central Department, based in Chicago, and performed inspections of military bases and training facilities.
  In August 1917, Penn was promoted to temporary brigadier general and appointed to command the 170th Infantry Brigade, a unit of the 85th Division.  After organizing and training his brigade at Camp Custer, Michigan, Penn led it to France in the summer of 1918.
  Upon arrival in France, Penn was assigned to the American Expeditionary Forces headquarters as Chief of the Personnel Division and as an observer with the 2nd Division during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.  He was then assigned as commander of 76th Infantry Brigade, 38th Division.  In December 1918, Penn returned to the United States and served as commander of Camp Zachary Taylor, Kentucky.
caption: Penn second from left (beard and mustache) at opening of 1500th YMCA Center in France, November 10, 1918.
exif: {"Image Make": "Phase One", "Image Model": "IQ280", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "600", "Image YResolution": "600", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Capture One 8 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2017:02:28 19:36:38", "Image Artist": "", "Image ExifOffset": "208", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "600", "Thumbnail YResolution": "600", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "646", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4434", "EXIF DateTime": "2017:02:28 19:36:38", "EXIF ExposureTime": "161481/2422214", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:02:28 19:36:38", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:02:28 19:36:38", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "390689/100000", "EXIF LightSource": "other light source", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "8570", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "5882", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "GP001613", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[1, 1, 1, 1]", "EXIF LensModel": "1.0 mm f/1.0"}