(1859-1926) Army General, known as the "Beloved Commander" of the 33rd Division in WW I. At 17, Bell was appointed to West Point by Ulysses S. Grant and graduated in 1880, along with George Goethels with whom he remained friends throughout their lives. From 1880-91 he did service in the West where he saw action against the Indians. In 1894 he received a law degree while teaching as a Professor of Tactics at Cornell and passed the New York state bar. During the Spanish-American War he went with his regiment to Cuba and then went on his first tour of the Philippines where he served in the Philippine-American War. He fought in the so-called Samar Campaign on Samar and Leyte, where he captured the important insurgent Vicente Lukban, and pacified the area. In 1906 he returned to the Philippines where he captured a group of Muslims who were rebelling. He later led the new Maneuver Department of the Army and the Infantry Equipment Board where he designed equipment later used in WW I. In 1914 he was promoted to Brig. General and sent to the Mexican Border where he first commanded a Brigade in Arizona and then 50,000 troops based at El Paso. At the outbreak of WW I he was promoted to Major General and given command of the 33d Infantry Division, made up of Illinois troops. He led them in action, especially at Le Hames, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and the Somme Offensive and was decorated with the Distinguished Service Medal, the French Croix de Guerre and Legion of Honor and the English Order of St. Michael and St. James. He briefly also served as commander of the Six Corps at the end of the War and then returned to command the 86th Infantry Division. He retired in 1922 and was revered by the people of Illinois, and was presented with $30,000 by the Chicago Citizen. He was one of the last Generals to wear whiskers. "Geo. Bell, Jr. - Major General, Comdg. 33d Div., U.S.A.." Very trivial tone mark on the "Geo." Along with this comes a copy of a photo of Bell, wearing his classic goatee

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