Photo of Sgt. E. H. Prettyman

Photo of Sgt. E. H. Prettyman

Emanual H. Prettyman served under G. P. Cather and was present in Cantigny when Cather was killed. Prettyman himself suffered significant injuries to his legs and endured numerous infections and operations. Throughout his long rehabilitation, he and his mother Alice corresponded with G. P. Cather's mother. Historians have noted that many such letters appear to sanitize the circumstances of soldiers' deaths, whether out of kindness or, as scholar Steve Trout notes, "an early contribution to the culture of commemoration."