GENERAL HOYT S. VANDENBERG - AUTOGRAPH 09/10/1943 CO-SIGNED BY: GENERAL GEORGE F. LULL, MARY (BARONESS SOAMES) CHURCHILL, ANNE DURYEA KIRK, KATHERINE ROWNTREE, JANET K. LULL, GLAD VANDENBERG, RUTH ROOSEVELT, MAJOR GENERAL NORMAN T. KIRK, COLONEL LEONARD G. ROWNTREE - HFSID 85874

HOYT VANDENBERG, MARY CHURCHILL, RUTH ROOSEVELT, NORMAN T. KIRK and others
Signatures on a guest roster from September 1943, a social gathering of high-ranking army medical officers. There are also two signatures in Chinese script, plus one each by Mary Churchill (Winston's daughter), and Ruth Roosevelt (FDR's soon to be ex-daughter in law).
Signatures: "Anne Duryea Kirk", "N. T. Kirk", "Katherine C. Rowntree", "L. G. Rowntree", "Janet K. Lull", "George F. Lull", "H.S. Vandenberg", "Glad Vandenberg", and 2 unidentified signatures and two signatures in Chinese script,9x6½, front and verso. Also signed on verso: "Mary Churchill/Thank you for a lovely evening.", "Ruth Roosevelt/Fort Worth, Texas!!!". These signatures merit further research: "Jo Roberts/a real, real pleasure/I bet-cha", "Robert Janning/Thank you.", "James H. Goddard/Lt. Col A. C. USA TTUSAF". Dated (unknown hand): "Sept. 10, 1943." Air Force General HOYT S. VANDENBERG (1899-1954) combined combat missions with important staff functions in the Mediterranean theater of World War II before becoming Commander of the 9th Air Force (1943-1944). The Ninth was a tactical air force supporting army ground operations. Vandberg was the second Director of Central Intelligence (1946-1947) and the second Air Force Chief of Staff (1948-1953). Vandenberg Air Force Base, a vital aerospace center, is named for him. Hoyt Vandenberg was the nephew of historically important Michigan Senator Arthur Vandenberg. While her husband was Air Force Chief of Staff, GLADYS VANDENBERG (1898-1975), saddened by an airman's funeral with no family present, organized the Arlington Ladies, wives of officers who attend military funerals to honor the fallen. When she died in 1978, she was buried next to her husband in Arlington National Cemetery. MARY CHURCHILL (1922-2014), now Baroness Soames, is the youngest (and last surviving) child of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. For 40 years until his death, she was married to Conservative parliamentarian - later Baron - Christopher Soames. During World War II, she served in the Red Cross and the Women's Volunteer Service before joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service (crewing an anti-aircraft gun in the latter capacity). She also traveled with her father, including the Potsdam Conference. Lady Soames, who published a well regarded biography of her mother Clementine Churchill in 1979, is a Dame of the British Empire. RUTH ROOSEVELT (1908-1974) was President Franklin Roosevelt's daughter-in-law, living in Fort Worth where she and husband Elliott owned a radio station.Elliott was an Army Air Corps Colonel, serving in Europe.However, in August 1943, Col. Roosevelt was named to head a committee charged with recommending a new photo reconnaissance aircraft. He traveled to Los Angeles, where he was lavishly entertained by Howard Hughes' publicity director Joseph Meyer, and subsequently recommended the contract for the new aircraft be awarded to the Hughes Corporation. This all blew up into a major scandal in 1947, with Congressional investigations, but it had earlier consequences for the Roosevelt's. Meyer introduced Elliott Roosevelt to Hollywood actress Faye Emerson, and the couple commenced an affair. Ruth Roosevelt filed for divorce in March of 1944, six month after she signed this guest roster, and Elliott married Faye Emerson later that year.Major General NORMAN T. KIRK (1888-1960) was US Army Surgeon General (1943-1947). As a surgeon at Walter Reed Hospital during World War I, Kirk performed one/third of all the amputations performed on US service personnel during that war. As Surgeon General, he oversaw creation of the system of mobile hospitals close to the front lines ("MASH" units), and a program of preventive medicine which drastically reduced the toll of death from diseases. He was the author of a book on amputations and of many journal and encyclopedia articles, and spent his retirement years as a town doctor in Montauk, New York. Norman Kirk met ANN DURYEA (1888-1978), an army nurse, while serving with General Pershing's punitive expedition into Mexico. They were married in 1915. Colonel LEONARD G. ROWNTREE (1883-1959), a research physician with the Mayo Clinic, was Chief of Medical Services of the US Selective Service System, during World War II. After the war he was chairman of the American Legion's National Medical Advisory Board. Major General GEORGE F. LULL (1887-1976) was Deputy US Army Surgeon General during World War II. After the war, as Secretary and General Manager of the American Medical Association, he was active in the AMA's opposition to President Truman's national health care proposals. Information on the other signers is currently unavailable, but - given the importance of the persons present at this event, further research is merited. Heavilytoned and lightly soiled. Light surface creases. Corners and edges lightly worn. Otherwise, fine condition.