PULLEN, John James 1913-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born December 17, 1913, in Amity, ME; died February 25, 2003, in Brunswick, ME. Journalist, advertising executive, and author. Pullen is best remembered for his historical writings about Union Army General Joshua Chamberlain. After earning a bachelor's degree from Colby College in 1935, he worked as a reporter for the Daily Kennebec Journal in Maine and then for Baker Advertising in Hartford, Connecticut. When World War II began, he enlisted in the army and became an artillery captain. After the war, he returned to advertising, this time with N. W. Ayer & Son in Philadelphia, where he was promoted to vice president and executive director of the copy department in 1958. He left advertising in 1965 to focus on his writing career. Pullen's first published book, The Twentieth Maine: A Volunteer Regiment in the Civil War (1957), brought the all-but-forgotten story of Joshua Chamberlain and his heroic acts at the Battle of Gettysburg back to public attention; he wrote about Chamberlain again in Joshua Chamberlain: A Hero's Life and Legacy (1999). Pullen was also the author of several other books on American history and biography, including A Shower of Stars: The Medal of Honor and the 27th Maine (1966) and Comic Relief: The Life and Laughter of Artemus Ward, 1834-1867 (1983).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Boston Globe, February 27, 2003, p. C14.

Los Angeles Times, March 1, 2003, p. B21.