private first-class; sergeant first-class

[Jonathan Lighter]

OED defines "Pfc." from 1941, but apparently doesn't include "private
first-class" (or "sergeant first-class").

1861 _Revised Regulations for the Army of the United States_ 526
(Philadelphia: Lippincott) 526: SAPPERS, MINERS, AND PONTONIERS...
Private, first-class......$17  00 [per mo.]  Private, second-class.....$13
  00."

1904 _Meyer Brothers Druggist_ XXV (Sept.) 254: The enlisted men of the
Hospital Corps ... are graded as sergeants (first class), sergeants,
corporals, privates (first class), and privates.

Cf.:

[1900 _Annual Report of the Secretary of War_ 1058 (Washington, DC: USGPO):
For meritorious service at Magalang November 5, 1899: First-class Sergt.
Burt E. Grabo  ... First-class Private Marshall A. Cook ... First-class Private
Alvin Ownbey ... First-class Privates Burt S. Knapp, and Homer H. Cudaback.]


Antedating of "Pfc":

1919 _Official History of the Fifth Division, U.S.A. ...1917-1919_ 174
(Washington, D.C.: Fifth Div. Soc.) : Pfc. Ellis D. Adams, ...Pfc. Ray
Liston, ...Pfc. John Nabocik [etc.]

JL

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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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