The Peace Messenger
Kenilworth, Illinois: privately printed, 1925. Small quarto, black leather backstrip, top edge gilt and others uncut, gilt emblem and title blocked on the front board; 102 pp., frontispiece and numerous integral photo illustrations. An attractive copy. Rare signed copy. This book is an account of Captain Walter H. Schulze privately funded and published by the Schulze family in 1925, six years after his death.
At the age of fourteen, Walter H. Schulze entered Shattuck School at Faribault, Minnesota and, in 1911, upon his senior year, he obtained the rank of Cadet First Lieutenant. Two years later, he commenced his army career and entered West Point Academy.
On April 6th, 1917, Congress declared a state of war against Germany. Second Lieutenant Walter H. Schulze began his service in the 3rd U.S. Cavalry and was made captain in early December 1917. In July 1918, he joined the 185th Aero Squadron, then flying Sopwith Camels. He was then transferred to the 41st Aero Squadron at Coblenz before finally entering the 138th Aero Squadron, this being the last remaining U.S. pursuit squadron.
His last, and fatal, mission was an unusual one. On June 28th of 1919, Captain Schulze was tasked with carrying a bundle of American military newspapers titled The Amaroc to the headquarters of the American First Division at Montabur. The newspapers reported the armistice and end of the War, and Captain Schulze was henceforth known as "the peace messenger".
The Schulze family were based in Kenilworth Illinois, and the original family home is illustrated in this volume. In his extensive bibliography of First War aviators, Noffsinger provides the details of a Chicago printer named Rodgers and Company, but this book has no colophon. Not in Myron Smith; Noffsinger (revised edition) 2414. Item #3317
Price (AUD): $700.00