Allan S. Fletcher – Liautenant Colonel, United States Army

“In surfing the internet I found mention of  Allan S. Fletcher, a Lieutenant Colonel who died in 1929.  The squib below states that he is buried in Arlington.  If so, perhaps this is enough to start a memorial site for him.

“Quoting an after-action report:”

” ‘The patrol now deployed and advanced into the woods to find that the Moros had retreated along a well-used trail The Scouts moved carefully down this trail, which, was very steep, dropping at an angle of 45 degrees.

‘About two thousand feet down the trail, the Scouts, with Lieutenant Fletcher at their head, stepped into a cleared area. A rifle blazed almost in their faces, the bullet carrying away part of Lieutenant Fletcher’s mustache and burning his lip.”

“A word must be said for Lieutenant Allan S. Fletcher, who led this party into the hostile Lanao country. Fletcher was a jungle campaigner of the finest order and was, without doubt, one of the ablest field officers in the American army. He was a man without fear and he possessed qualities which endeared him to the Moros and earned their utmost respect.

“Fletcher rose to the grade of Lientenant-Colonel, in that capacity commanding Pettit Barracks in Zamboanga from 1921 until shortly before his death an December 16, 1929. He lies buried today in Arlington.

“He was a grand soldier, and was known affectionately and familiarly as “Papa” by thousands of old-timers and new-comers in Mindanao. ”

Hurley, Vic. Chapter 22, The Swish of the Kris, E.P Dutton & Company (1936).

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard