The C in C`s mistress in France

[PhilB]

No, not Haig - Pershing. Aged 57, he had a young French mistress to provide comfort while he was chief of the AEF in France. She was Micheline Resco, 23 year old Rumanian artist and was installed in a Paris apartment. They eventually married in 1946. Pershing was a single man during WW1 and one part of me says there was no reason why he shouldn`t pursue such a relationship. It might have made him a better commander. Another part says it wasn`t fair for the commander to be availing himself of such luxuries while his doughboys were suffering in the trenches - he ought to have set a better example. Which part`s right? Phil B

[Sgt_Hazell_Great_Grandson]

So Micheline was just his girlfriend ? No real problems if he could afford to keep her and the Army did not foot the bill.

Older powerful men have always attracted younger ladies and i guess it is a perk of the job!

Roland (wife 12 years younger )

[Patrick H]

Dont see any problem with him having a mistress for comfort, after all many of the serving men sought the same but they had to pay! However where did Romania stand in the War (my ignorance, I know they were allied to Germany in WW2) , couldnt it have been suggested that there might be some impropriety or possible risk of a Commander sleeping with a potential Mata Hari ! Why did he wait until 1946 to marry her, he must have been ancient by then!

Patrick

[Tom Morgan]

Another part says it wasn`t fair for the commander to be availing himself of such luxuries while his doughboys were suffering in the trenches - he ought to have set a better example. Which part`s right?        Phil B

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You can be 100% certain that the doughboys didn't know about the fair Micheline. Pershing's example was therefore manly, excellent and pure. That's the way they did things in the army!

Tom

[Sgt_Hazell_Great_Grandson]

Sadly his wife and three daughters died in a house fire in 1915.

He married Micheline on his deathbed in `46.

Thanks, Google.

Roland.

[paul guthrie]

He died in 1948.

[SPotter]

Er...it was a long bed?

[Sgt_Hazell_Great_Grandson]

I guess the honeymoon must have given the old soldier a new lease of life !

[Hedley Malloch]

There's a nice piece in Alistair Horne's book on Verdun about Pétain. The German Army was on the verge of a breakthrough at Verdun and Pétain is sent for from Paris. He can't be found. Eventually his ADC tracks him down to a small hotel near the Gare du Nord at night. Outside his bedroom is a pair of pink fluffy slippers. The ADC knocks on the door; Pétain (who is clearly on the verge of another sort of breakthrough of his own) opens the door slightly. The ADC informs Pétain of the situation at Verdun and tells him that it is his duty to go to HQ as quickly as possible.

Pétain replies that the night is imposing its own duties upon him and that he will attend to Verdun in the morning.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

[per ardua per mare per terram]

To me what it shows is that Pershing was a typical senior officer, in the fine tradition of Nelson and Napoleon.

[George Armstrong Custer]

What was that 1970's Peter Seller's movie called - 'Hard Battles, Soft Beds'?

Ciao,

GAC

[Terry_Reeves]

Could I ask what the definition of "a typical senior officer" is?

Terry Reeves