Racine County, Wisconsin - Chapter 36: Records of the Men and Women in Service, 1920

Chapter 36: Records of the Men and Women in Service

IN THE subsequent pages of this volume appear the summarized military records of Racine county men and women who were in the Army, Navy and Marine Corps; also persons attached to the military branches, as Red Cross nurses on duty with the army, Y. M. C. A. workers assigned to do welfare work in camps and cantonments, and young men inducted into the Student Army Training Corps and permitted to attend college during the autumn of 1918 instead of going into active service at once.

No effort was made to classify the names according to the type of service performed, and they are arranged in alphabetical order regardless of rank, sex or branch of service. The list is as complete as such a record could be made at the present time. Whatever omission there may be is not due to lack of diligence on the part of those compiling it, but to lack of interest by those who have made no effort to get the facts regarding their service preserved. As no complete record was kept during the war of those who entered the service from Racine county, the task of seeking them out at this time has involved personal interviews with more than 3,500 men; copying lists of the various local boards and the History Committee of the Council of Defense; checking these against "honor rolls" of localities and institutions; examining the records of various welfare organizations, and the files of newspapers for a period of three years back, and advertising extensively for information regarding those entitled to representation in these pages.

As a result of the thorough nature of the investigation, it is likely that most of the names sought will be found in their proper places. There may be some published which are not entitled to be here, on account of their having been residents of other counties when they entered service, but it was felt that if an error was to be made in this respect it would be better to give the service man the benefit of the doubt rather than to take the risk of omitting a name which deserved a place here.

The work of compiling these statistics was difficult, and it is not impossible that mistakes may have crept into some of the lines. A request was published and widely circulated that those whose names were in the lists come to the publishers' office and read proof on their individual records, and this was done in hundreds of cases. Wherever errors were suspected, or information was lacking, several letters of inquiry were sent to the last known addresses of those affected. In some instances no replies were received and the records had to be published in incomplete form. The use of the material collected by the County War History Committee of the Council of Defense was granted to the publishers of this work, and it proved of great assistance. The greatest difficulty was in gathering information relative to the volunteer soldiers and sailors who went to war from Racine. There were no local records of these men on file at any place, and the War Department at Washington had no way of classifying men by their original localities. Unless steps are continued to make sure that these men are all listed, the services of many of them will be forgotten by the community. The records of drafted men are probably complete, as their names were preserved by the local boards which inducted them into service.

In the individual records, it was the intention to show what company, regiment or other basic unit the soldier served with. It was not deemed necessary to name organizations larger than a regiment, in the case of the army. If the designation of the regiment is given, it is not difficult to learn what brigade and division the regiment belonged to, if such information is desired.

the divisions bearing- any number above 20, the division can be found by dividing the number of the regiment by four. If the result is a fraction take the next larger whole number. Thus, to find what division the 339th Infantry belonged to, divide 339 by 4, which gives 84%. The next larger whole number is 85, so the 339th Infantry was in the 8.5th division.

This did not hold true in case of the regular aimy divisions, numbered from 1 to 20. As many Racine men served in the first six of these, it may be noted that they were composed as follows:

Fiist Division - 16th, 18th, 26th and 28th Infantry regiments; 5th, 6th and 7th Field Artillery; 1st Trench Mortar Battery; 1st, 2nd and 3rd Machine Gun Battalions; 1st Engineers; 2nd Field Signal Battalion, 1st Ammunition Train, 1st Sanitary Train, 1st Engineer Train, 1st Military Police Company and 1st Mobile Ordinance Repair Shop.

Second Division - 9th and 23rd Infantry; 5th and 6th Marines; 12th, 15th and 17th Field Artillery; 2nd Trench Mortar Battery; 4th, 5th and fith Machine Gun Battalions; 2nd Engineers; 1st Field Signal Battalion; 2nd Ammunition, Supply, Engineer and Sanitary Trains and Military Police Company, and 2nd Mobile Ordinance Repair shop.

Third Division - 4th, 7th, 30th and 38th Infantry; 10th, 18th, 76th Field Artillery; 3rd Trench Mortar Battery; 7th, 8th and 9th Machine Gun Battalions; 6th Engineers; 5th Field Signal Battalion; 3rd Ammunition, Supply and Sanitary Trains, and 6th Engineer Train; 3rd Mobile Ordinance Repair shop.

Fourth Division - 39th, 47th, 58th and 59th Infantry; 1.3th, 16th and 77th Field Artillery; 4th Trench Mortar Battery; 10th, 11th and 12th Machine Gun Battalions; 4th Engineers; 8th Field Signal Battalion; 4th Ammunition, Supply, Sanitary and Engineer Trains; 4th Mobile Ordinance Repair shop.

Fifth Division - 6th, 11th, 60th and 61st Infantry; 19th, 20th and 21st Field Artillery; 5th Trench Mortar Battery; 13th, 14th and 15th Machine Gun Battalion; 7th Engineers; 5th Field Signal Battalion; 5th Ammunition, Sanitary, Engineer and Supply Trains; 5th Mobile Ordinance Repair shop.

Abbreviations have been used freely in preparing the records for the printer. This was necessary in order to conserve space. By using the "key to abbreviations" given hereafter, it will be a simple matter to translate the abbreviated words.

2nd Line: (a) Organization or branch of the service. If the line begins with a letter, it is the name of the company, and this is followed by the number and designation of the regiment ("C 127 Inf" means Company C, 127th Infantry). Where the precise oi-ganization was not known, the branch of the service is given whenever possible.

(b) Rank at entry and at discharge from active service. Thus, "pvt-2nd Lt" means that the man entered service as a private and was discharged as a Second Lieutenant. Intermediate ranks were usually omitted as superfluous. In almost every instance, promotions are made one grade at a time. Commissions in the reserves are not included in this line.

(c) Camp or camps at which the greater part of the soldiers' time was spent if he did not reach the front overseas; or the stations or ships, in case of members of the navy. Thus, "Grant Custer" would mean that the soldier was stationed at Camp Grant and Camp Custer during most of his service. "Newport News

USS Louisiana" means that a sailor was stationed at Newport News and later served on the Battleship Louisiana. Usually it proved impossible to cite all of the stations of men who were transferred a great many times.

3rd Line; Date of entering federal service and date of discharge. These are followed, in case of men who served overseas, by the dates of sailing and return. Thus, "July 15-17 May 19-19; Ovs. Mar. 4-18 May 12-19" means that the man went into U. S. service July 15, 1917 and was discharged May 19, 1919; that he sailed for overseas service on March 4, 1918 and returned to .\merica on May 12, 1919. It will be noted that a dash is nlaced between the

4th Line: Battles and engagements, or defensive sectors in which the soldier saw front line service. Thus, "S M-A" means that he was in action in the battles of the Somme and the Meuse-Argonne." Other abbreviations will be found in the "key."

5th Line: Other information of interest, such as the fact that a man was wounded, killed, decorated, commissioned in the reserves, captured, etc.

It will be evident that some variations from this style has been necessary at times. For instance, if it was impossible to find a man's organization and rank, the line which should give these facts is omitted, and the second line will then contain the information which otherwise will be in the third line.

For the benefit of the men themselves, and for future historians, it is requested that anyone noting serious errors or omissions, take the trouble to write the correct facts and mail them to the author of this work at Racine, so that they may be placed on record in the archives of the county.

Key To Abbreviations And Symbols

In o-eneral charge Y M C A service among officers Central Dept U S Army; with troops at Camp Custer during flu epidemic ; Mrs Belden was active in the Red Cross and at Custer was "Regimental Mother" for 338 Inf

Boyle Clarence

135 Aero Sq ; pvt-lstLt-pilot Observation Gr May 1-17 Jan 27-19; Ovs Jan 15-18 Jan 23-19 Atchd British Flying Corps Jul 2-18 Jul 13-18 With tirst all-American equipped Sq to fly Liberty planes into Germany Cited for heroism at Jaulnv France Sep 13-18 Awarded DSC

Navv ; seam 3 cl-1 cl heavy gun pointer Jul 6-18 Feb 14-19; Ovs Dec 25-18 Died Feb 14-19 spinal meningitis Ft Smith Va Buried Mound cemetery

B 18 Inf; pvt-corp Jun 26-16; still in serv; Ovs Sep 8-17 Jun 9-19 Montdidier Novon A-M StM M-A Cited in Gen Orders 5 Jun 1-19 of 1 Inf Brig French order 13978 entitles him to wear shoulder cord decoration

F 121 F A; pvt-wgnr ; Douglas MacArthur Apr-17 Mar 25-18; Ovs Mar 3-18 Died Mar 25-18 of measles LeHavre France; buried American sec St Marie cemetery

Navy; seam 2 cl-Lt (Sr grade); Pensacola Panama Apr 17-17 Jan 1019; Ovs Apr 27-18 Jan 9-19 In navy aviation with anti-submarine deep sea patrol

Jun 15-18 Sep 13-19; Ovs Sep 29-18 Sep 1-19 Subm patrol Irish Sea and off France; bat-tie with subm on U S S Plattsburg; on U S S Wadsworth at sinking sub Oct 21-18; U S S Narragansett ; in troop transport service

Racinexcounty In The World War

Kearsage Lancaster Erricsson Wilkes Dec 116;" Ovs May 14-17 Jan 9-19 In Submarine Service U S S Destroyer Stockton : on patrol for R-34 Atlantic flight

Ini1Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Iiiiii1Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Enlisted Nov 20-17; dischgd for illness contracted in Florida; drafted Apr 26-18; discharged at Custer May 23-18 THORSEN Andrew Christ 1120 Monroe av

Venaggio Natali

Navy; yeo-ch yeo ; Grt Lakes Ellis Island Brooklyn Navy Yard;s 5 trips ovs transp service Jun 12-17 Feb 15-19 WILLIAMSON Warren W 819 Washington av

Top Row - Frank A. Ruzicka. R. A. DeMint. Roval E. Schacfer. A. C. Rohrbers. C. A. Hurtgen. H. A. Runkel. Second - Eugene Martin, L. H. Zimmcrmann. Geo. Murphv. J. fi. Meacham Jr.. Miss N. E. Karclier. Muss Edna Billings. Third- T. P. Holburne. Rev. C. S, Nickerson. .\lfonso Marsch. Chas. D. Rohr, W. A. Zimmermann. C. H. Kohlhoff. Fourth - Joseph M. Spieker. Walter Hommema. Jacob N. Hansen. Arthur N. Nelson. Roy N. Stream. Zygmont Karczewski. Bottom - Andrew Zawikowskl. H. Rittenhagen. Elmer and Surnce Egtvedt. Harry Rutledge. F. J. Wolsker. A. Maciorowski.

SEVEN MEMBERS OF ONE RACINE FAMILY WHO WERE IN SERVICE 1917-19 For family representation in the World War Mr. and Mrs. Teder Christensen, 218 Frank avenue, stand at the top. The proup above contains seven sons who were in service at the same time. The insert at the left upper corner is Anskod. and grouped in the picture are his brothers, Charles J., Carl, Walter. Otto. Henry and John. A son Christ J., served in the army previous to the World War. Two other sons did not enter service. The upper riffht hand insert is a picture of Leo A. Milkie and the center insert is Philip Peterson (deceased).

Getting An Airing On The Way To The Front

GETTING AN AIRING ON THE WAY TO THE FRONT The whippets of the French army supported our troops at JuvigTiy and the one shown above is one of the hundreds moving through the Yankee lines toward the conBict. One of the tank crew is sunning himself on the "after deck" of the tank and in the background upon the ridge may be seen 32nd Division infantry men who were waiting for their orders to

Received Too Late

Inf and Gen Staff. Intelligence Div ; 1st Lt May 12-17 Nov 1-18; Ovs Sep 1-14 Jan 30-15 Zamosc Ostrolenka Eidkunen : as Lt in 6m Russian Cav Captured ; escaped German prison camp and returned to U S in 1915 : wnd in Sep 1914 Nov 1914 Jan 1915