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About Jacob Cuznar

About the author: Jacob Cuznar (July 17, 1881 — September 21, 1965), Slovenian soldier in the U.S. Army, served two tours of duty in the Philippines. Born in Podkoren, Austria, died in Podkoren, Yugoslavia. in the thesis in which his diary was reproduced, it says:

Jacob Cuznar was a citizen of Slovenia and the United States who served as a member of the U.S. Army. In 1903 he emigrated to the U.S. and in 1908 he enlisted in the U.S. Army (Company E, 3rd Infantry) for three years. He served in Washington, D.C. and the Philippines. In 1911 he was discharged. In 1912 he enlisted a second time, for three years, and served at the United States Military Academy, West Point, and in Washington, D.C. He obtained his final citizenship papers and was sworn in as an American citizen. He was discharged in 1915. The same year he enlisted for a third time, for seven years, and returned to duty in the Philippines. He received his final discharge in 1922.

Jacob Cuznar spent a major part of his army career in the Philippines with the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment during the time of the campaigns against the Moros… This was also during the Philippine service of General John J. Pershing.

About the diary: Published, in translation, in a thesis by Janez Kavar, Colonel, Infantry, Slovenian Army, entitled “Historical Perspective of the U.S. Army Service of Jacob Cuznar,” as part of the Strategy Research Project, U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PA, April 15, 1996, approved for public release, unlimited distribution.

The thesis notes that,

During his Army service, Jacob Cuznar kept a diary in the Slovene language which described his experiences from youth in Slovenia through his entire period of military service. The diary, translated into English, is at Appendix 2.

In addition, an end-note mentions that,

Original diary in the possession of Colonel Janez Kavar, U.S. Army War College Class of 1996. Copy in the archives of the U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

The diary as translated, bears an opening date of 1914, and the last entry is in April, 1929. It is written as one long narrative, but for the purposes of The Philippine Diary Project, individual dates or groups of dates are posted as separate entries. Only the portions related to the Philippines (the author described his first tour of duty there “the most beautiful part of my life in the Army”) are included in the project:

  1. August 5, 1909 (departure for the Philippines) to August 26, 1910 (departure from the Philippines), this corresponds to pp. 30-40 of the thesis.
  2. April 4, 1916 (receipt of telegram informing him of departure for the Philippines) to March 15, 1920 (departure from the Philippines), this corresponds to pp. 48-53 of the thesis.

When necessary, the spelling or rendering of names and places, or specific dates, when added or corrected by The Philippine Diary Project, are placed in italicized underlined text with brackets, e.g. [example].