Editing Pershing Rifles (section)

===Reestablishment===
[[File:John Pershing.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A 1918 photo of [[General of the Armies]] [[John J. Pershing]]. Pershing maintained a deep and abiding interest in Pershing Rifles for his entire life.]]
In 1919 the Pershing Rifles was reborn. As organized in 1919, the Pershing Rifles became an organization for junior officers. It regained its status as a fraternal organization for ROTC basic course cadets. The presence of [[Scabbard and Blade]] on the Nebraska campus probably prevented its growth as an officers' organization.<ref name=wordpress />{{Better source needed|reason=Blog|date=July 2017}}

By the 1920s, the prestige of the organization was once again on the rise, in no small part due to the popularity of [[General of the Armies]] [[John J. Pershing]], then one of the most famous people in the World as the result of his skilled leadership of the [[American Expeditionary Force]] in [[World War I]]. Special drill units across the nation began to seek admittance into the Pershing Rifles.

The present National Society of Pershing Rifles owes its existence to [[Ohio State University]] (OSU). In the spring of 1924, it applied for affiliation with the Pershing Rifles, but the Nebraska organization refused. The Ohio State group, seeing the need for a national organization for basic course ROTC men, threatened to nationalize "The President's Guard" and leave Nebraska out of it if the two organizations could not work together. Finally, after a year of negotiations, Nebraska's Pershing Riflemen approved Ohio State's formal application of 13 May 1925. Ohio State's company was chartered on 22 May 1925, marking the beginning of a nationwide organization.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theprgroup.org/nhq/about/history/|title=History of the National Society of Pershing Rifles|access-date=December 18, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218234940/https://www.theprgroup.org/nhq/about/history/|archive-date=December 18, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The year 1928 brought the establishment of an official National Headquarters at the University of Nebraska which was organized along the lines of a U.S. Army [[brigade]] headquarters. P/R Colonel John P. McKnight was the first National Commander. National Headquarters used 1928 to plan the foundation for an expansion at the company level which would ensure a strong national organization. In the summer of the same year, several circulars were sent to universities that did not hold Pershing Rifles units, inviting their crack drill units to apply for charters from the national headquarters. Those who knew the value of the Pershing Rifles as an organization capable of promoting interest in drill work for basic students heeded the circulars. During that summer, officers attached to the schools where Pershing Rifles chapters were hosted met with officers from other institutions, and as such, the organization received excellent publicity.

By 1929, six companies formed the original nucleus of the Pershing Rifles national organization:

* National Headquarters – University of Nebraska
* First Battalion, Company B – Ohio State University – 1925
*First Battalion, Company C – University of Tennessee – 1927
*First Battalion, Company D – University of Iowa – 192
* Second Battalion, Company E – Northwestern University – 1929
*Second Battalion, Company F – Indiana University – 1929

By 1935 the Pershing Rifles had grown to 22 companies. The 1930s were the first Golden Age of Pershing Rifles, which saw so much sustained growth that it had expanded its structure to emulate the organization of the World War I U.S. [[Infantry division|Army Infantry Division]].

Pershing Rifles again closed its doors in 1943, this time as a result of [[World War II]]. Active and alumni Pershing Riflemen went off to war, serving with distinction and valor. One example is Marine Corps Major [[Kenneth D. Bailey]], an alumnus of Company F-3 at the University of Illinois. Major Bailey was killed in action on September 26, 1942, on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his valor that day. Another is Army Air Corps Lt Richard Joyce, an alumnus of Company A-2 at the University of Nebraska, who piloted a B-25 that bombed Japan as part of the famous [[Doolittle Raid]] on 18 April 1942.