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SHELBY COUNTY
NCIS
IN THE
WORLD WAR
SITEL
1917 - 1918
His
LIBRARY of
The AMERICAN LEGION MONTHLY
US
PRESENTED BY
UNIVERSITY OF LIBRARY CHAMPAIGN ILL. HIST. SURVEY
AT .
Shelby County
in the
World War
Illustrated 1919
The Shelby County War Historians Shelbyville, Illinois
1
27,
WR 3
SHELBY COUNTY in the WORLD WAR
By Shelby County War Historians In Collaboration with Other Military and Civil Workers of Shelby County
With an Introduction By Honorable Wm. H. Chew Chairman of the Local Exemption Board
D. Leslie Davis, Editor-in-Chief L. F. Akenhead, Art Editor W. E. Rominger, Business Manager
1919
TRACES
977 37980104 Sh43
Iff. Hat, SURV.
To the Shelby County Mothers Who with Sacrifice Sublime and Fortitude Supreme watched Their Blue Stars Turn to Gold
1
-0511
"If we still love those whom we lose, can we altogether lose those whom we love?"-Thackery.
"Thank God, we cannot. Of those who went out with such high hopes to perish in the trenches, or lie buried far away in a nameless grave, it is a mistake to say they never re- turn. They never really left; their bright spirits still tenant the hearts of those who loved them. They lie imperishably fair, crowned with the garland of immortal youth."-Field Marshal Lord French.
OUR LEADERS
Commander in Chief PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON
Secretary of State ROBERT M. LANSING
Secretary of War NEWTON C. BAKER
Secretary of the Navy JOSEPHUS DANIELS
Chief of Staff PEYTON C. MARCH
Commander in Chief, A. E. F. GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING
Governor of Illinois FRANK O. LOWDEN
Adjutant General FRANK S. DICKSON
Commander 33d Division GENERAL GEO. R. BELL, JR.
Commander 130th U. S. Infantry COLONEL JOHN V. CLINNIN
Commander Company H CAPTAIN VANCE COURTRIGHT
Local Exemption Board WM. H. CHEW, Chairman WM. J. EDDY, Secretary F. ROY DOVE
Page Four
INTRODUCTION
S HELBY County's part in the World's War has been played so recently and that part is so well known in our own com- munity, that the records of that service need no present introduction. It is the future gen- erations that will find the greatest interest in this book. With the passing of the years the splendid efforts of the editors of Shelby County in the World War will find a true appreciation, for in peace as well as war, distance lends en- chantment.
The task undertaken by Mr. Davis, Mr. Rominger, Mr. Akenhead, Mr. Root and others, while covering but a fraction of the whole stu- pendous efforts of our Government and people in this mighty conflict just ended, is and was an enormous one.
When we remember that America contrib- uted an armed force in army, navy, marine corps and other branches of the service, num- bering four million eight hundred thousand men ;
That of this number Illinois, ranking as the third state in the Union, furnished six and sixty-eight hundreds per cent, and Shelby County her fair proportionate part ;
That America sent two million eighty-six thousand men overseas, and that among that number were included approximately eight hundred of the best boys our county afforded ;
When we keep in mind the further fact that one million three hundred ninety thousand American boys fought in France, and that Shelby's contingent answered roll call prelim- inary to going over the top there;
When we recall that American troops fought in thirteen battles, participating for nineteen months in this mighty world's con- flict, in three hundred days of actual fighting ;
And when we are told that there are over fifty thousand American battle deaths, two hundred thirty-six thousand wounded, fifty-six thousand nine hundred ninety-one deaths from disease, and that over sixty of Shelby's sons made the big sacrifice, in addition to those who were wounded and maimed;
And that in every phase of every activity our own home boys took part, we can appre-
ciate the labors that have made this book pos- sible.
While this portion of the part that Shelby County took in the World War is the most important and embraces the real and the heroic sacrifice and service, still that is not all. Mingled with the over twenty-three billions of money that this war cost our country was a portion of the wealth of this county.
Not alone was money contributed, but work and service in numberless other activities were also freely and fully given. So the home service, in all its varied branches, also finds place in this book.
To ferret out this entire record, to ascer- tain, collate and record the cold facts has been a tax on the ingenuity, the capacity and the patriotism of the editors of this book. Then to illustrate and make charming its pages has brought into splendid use the artistic capacity, taste and training of our home artists, Mr. Akenhead and Mr. Root.
In its pages you will find the pulsations of thousands of loyal hearts who left home and fireside and loved ones at their country's call. An accurate record of the activities of these boys is given. Back of the boys and their homes is the record of the supporting loyalty of the citizenship of the county. I am re- minded, however, that these lines are written only for the purpose of introducing and not reviewing the contents of these pages.
To you, my dear reader, without apology and in the firm belief that these pages merit your careful reading for your own as well as for your community's good, and with the ex- pectation that in future years this book may become in a manner a text-book of a great crisis in our home affairs and the history of the way in which our country met and an- swered it, I present Shelby County in the World War.
Yours truly,
Shelbyville, Ill., Dec. 1, 1919.
Page Five
D. LESLIE DAVIS Editor-in-Chief
LT. W. E. ROMINGER Business Manager
LT. L. F. AKENHEAD Art Editor
Foreword
"Shelby County in The World War" is designed to give simply but ac- curately a resume of the work performed by the Civilian army within Shelby County and by her valiant sons and daughters in all departments of the mili- tary establishment and its auxiliaries, to win the war and bring lasting peace to the world.
Unlike some histories of the war, the publishers have undertaken to incorporate in this volume the service record of every soldier, sailor or marine whose home was in Shelby County, together with the picture of each where it was physically possible to procure it; the records and pictures of Y. M. C. A. secretaries, War Camp Community workers, nurses; the story in brief of the willing and important service rendered within the county through the various organizations formed for service "behind the lines," yet no less essen- tial to the success of the Allied arms than that performed in trench, on sea or in the air-in short, a detailed military history of the county during the World War, including the activities and personnel of all the noble men and women engaged in war work.
To provide this sort of permanent record means great expenditure of time and money, and extensive research and compilations; but the end jus- tifies the means, for no other book can fill the place it is destined to occupy.
If there are omissions in the completed volume, it will be due to limita- tions over which the editors have had no control, and will represent repeated but unsuccessful efforts to get the information lacking. If errors occur they will have crept in after all possible diligence has been exerted to eliminate them. No discriminations are intended, no disparagement of one for the undue aggrandizement of another. In the magnificent achievements of the men and women of Shelby County there is glory enough for all, and it is honestly sought to make a clear, authentic record of it all.
THE EDITORS.
Page Six
SCENES IN SHELBYVILLE DURING PATRIOTIC DEMONSTRATIONS
SHELBY COUNTY'S INSTANT RESPONSE
Shelby County's response, instant and un- reluctant, to the clarion call to save the world, was:
Over thirteen hundred soldiers.
Fifty-six sailors.
Forty-two marines.
Eleven physicians and surgeons.
Three doctors of dental surgery.
Three doctors of veterinary surgery.
Nine nurses.
Six Y. M C. A. secretaries and assistants. Three war camp community workers.
Over one hundred civil service workers.
Thousands of patriotic home workers, both men and women.
Two hundred sixty thousand five hundred fifty dollars for the First Liberty Loan.
Five hundred eighty-five thousand five hun- dred dollars for the Second Liberty Loan.
Seven hundred forty-eight thousand two hundred dollars for the Third Liberty Loan.
One million, three hundred ninety-three thousand four hundred fifty dollars for the Fourth Liberty Loan.
One million, one hundred seventy-three thousand six hundred dollars for the Victory Liberty Loan.
Nine thousand seven hundred dollars for the Y. M. C. A. drive of 1917.
Eighty thousand nine hundred thirty dol- lars for the Red Cross war fund.
Six thousand nine hundred sixty-eight dol- lars for Red Cross memberships.
Thirty-nine thousand seven hundred fifty- six dollars for the United War Work drive.
One thousand nine hundred eighty-two dol- lars for the Salvation Army home service.
Two thousand dollars for the Jewish Wel- fare work.
One thousand nine hundred nine dollars for Armenian-Syrian relief.
Twenty-five thousand dollars worth of ar- ticles of comfort and necessity for soldiers in
camps and trenches, manufactured and donated through the American Red Cross.
Shelby County's wealth of men. women and money was poured unstintedly on the altars of the country, that the Beast of Berlin might be rendered impotent for further harm, autoc- racy be dethroned, starving peoples of war- ridden lands across seas be fed, peace be re- stored and the world throughout its length and breadth, on land and sea, be made safe for democracy.
Early in the war that swept the European nations with a hail of hate and devastation and the tentacles of which reached out toward America, the peace-loving people of Shelby County viewed with foreboding the gathering of the clouds that threatened to cast their grim shadow above our own fair land; and when overt act of hostility after another brought increasing conviction that the United States must go to arms to preserve the sanctity of the Nation and its institutions, menaced by Prussian aggression, still the people prayed that "this cup" might pass from them.
But when on the memorable 6th of April, A. D. 1917, forbearance having reached the snapping point and to have hesitated further would have branded our country a cringing coward, even in the eyes of its own people, President Woodrow Wilson's war message rang out as a call to arms, this county, in com- mon with all the country, responded with an immediateness and unanimity that upheld its sacred traditions and forever established its patriotism and magnanimity.
Nor was the fervor of its rallying dis- counted by the tears that were shed and the anxious fears that beset the hearts of those whose men were called to the colors. Not- withstanding these, the response came with the zeal of the crusader-for were not our boys to establish a new order of civilization upon the face of the earth?
Page Seven
Within forty-eight hours after the Ameri- can dogs of war were unleashed, Shelby Coun- ty boys had offered themselves to their country and the world, and had been accepted for ser- vice. Aye, even before, some of our youths, impelled by their holy horror of Hun rapacity and their sense of the justice of the cause of the Allies, had taken their stand beneath the unfurled banners of other countries.
These were followed by other enlistments. Shelby County boys entered the army ; Shelby boys enlisted in the navy ; Shelby boys enlisted in the marines, and long before the United States was well into the fray our county was represented in every branch of the service.
Quickly the government at Washington evolved a system of enlisting men, and soon it was announced that the Shelby County Ex- emption Board, an arm of the war department, had been established here in the persons of Attorney William H. Chew, Dr. W. J. Eddy and Attorney F. R. Dove.
Drafted from the citizenry for perhaps the most responsible and far-reaching war work to be done in the county-for on their official acts hung the lives of the youths of the county -these men assumed the unaccustomed duties of their solemn office and before long had the wheels of the selective service machine in motion.
In preparation for the first registration, the regular election polling places for the most part were selected, and the registrars named. Prospective registrants, boys and men from 21 to 31 years, were coached by the press, which the war department and the local board provided with official and comprehensive in- structions for the public.
The results were a registration of 2,185 men, the number exceeding the estimate by several hundred.
Medical men were enlisted for the physical examinations necessary to determine the fit- ness of registrants for active or limited ser- vice; lawyers gave freely of their services in assisting the men with their questionnaires and what claims for exemption were made, and' lay people, both men and women, gave the local board and the registrants such aid as was required.
This co-ordination of work characterized the second and subsequent registrations and all the great task of listing the potential sol- diers, examining them physically, sorting them into the five classes provided for in the regu- lations, passing upon their claims for exemp- tion, determining the order in which they should be called for service, choosing the per- sonnel of the various contingents and getting them under way for camp, school or canton- ment-a monumental task, indeed.
Shelby County needeth not to be ashamed when her military roll is called, for eventually Shelby County soldiers were in all quarters of the war-ridden globe-contributions to the man-power of the United States in the regular army; in the former National Guard units; representatives in the infantry, the field artil- lery, the tank corps, the cavalry, the aviation corps ; men in the coast artillery, the navy, the marine service ; men in the air, on terra firma, on the seas and under them; in the trenches, behind them and in No Man's Land; at the listening posts, in the sharpshooters' nests. with the engineers laying steel highways and constructing bridges, with the ambulance corps and ministering to the wounded and dying in the hospitals.
Shelby County sent forth "noncoms" and commissioned officers - corporals, sergeants, lieutenants, captains, majors-and had more in the making, with the completion of the process well in sight when the armistice was signed. Scarcely any branch of the military establish- ment was without the men of Shelby County -a county that ever has justified the faith that has been placed in it in times of military stress.
But the ambition of all who were anxious to follow the flag literally was not realized. Men disqualified by physical condition, or by too few or too many years, eagerly joined the great civilian army that "stayed by the stuff" and in the sphere in which their services could be used demonstrated their love of coun- try and of mankind.
Among these were the men who gave them- selves to the work of the Y. M. C. A., some of them in the overseas field, to clerical work in the limited service and to other positions where their patriotism could find its outlet in real helpfulness in winning the war.
And with these were the many splendid women who with a consecration no less actual and impelling than that which prompted the action of their sons and brothers and sweet- hearts, threw themselves into deeds of min- istry or utility with a self-forgetfulness that at once established the fact of their equality with men and crowned them afresh with a glory that shall live for all time.
To some few of them it was given to serve more spectacularly but with no greater meed of patriotism than their sisters-to enter the wards of the hospitals and soothe the wounds of shattered men or close the eyes of those whose sacrifice was supreme ; to minister with song and cheerful companionship to the home- sick, weary hearts in camp and cantonment ; to "man" the canteens at railroad stations and mobilization camps, dispensing to the boys the "cup that cheers but does not inebriate," as
Page Eight
well as the more substantial viands to satisfy the physical hunger.
The greater army of women in Shelby County, however, was mobilized under the banner of the American Red Cross, a large chapter of which, with many branches, was 'established early in the campaign. These wo- men toiled steadfastly and thankfully day by day in the various departments of activities, accomplishing a stupendous amount of work without which the whole war work campaign would have failed in that degree.
Nor to be forgotten and unmentioned are the other women of Shelby County who in common with their sisters of the world, even among the enemy nations, placed themselves without their wonted circle of domestic or so-
cial pursuits and bravely took upon them the unaccustomed labors of field, or shop, or busi- ness, theretofore quite generally borne by the men. The management and actual labor of the farm were theirs; the conduct of business enterprises was taken on by them, and in many other lines of work the women of Shelby County performed with an efficiency and bravery unsuspected while they were in the sheltered care of their men.
In ready abnegation, quick response to country's call, devotion to a high and holy cause, courage under fire, gallantry in action and esprit de corps, Shelby's boys of 1917-18 rank high with those of 1846-61-98; and in every sense in which it can be made to apply, no less must be said of Shelby's women.
A Patriot, Indeed
No other man left behind him so many "reasons for exemption" when he entered the service, than Timothy Milton Kelly of Findlay. Many there were who with much less ground for deferred classifica- tion importuned the Local Board for immunity from military service; but though he had the "reasons." Kelly, like a true patriot and sustaining the tradi- tions of his race, asked no exemption and proved himself "spoilin' for a fight."
Timothy M. Kelly is the father of seven children, yet lie enlisted in Chicago, June 19, 1918, and was assigned to the Engineers Corps, and at Camp A. A.
Humphreys, Va., was promoted to the rank of ser- geant on July 18, 1918. He was disappointed in not seeing overseas service. He received an honorable discharge at Camp Taylor, Ky., Dec. 23, 1918.
Kelly is a carpenter, and the son of G. M. and Sarah Kelly of Findlay, where he was born Dec. 6, 1882. On the 3d of Sept., 1903, he married Ruth B. Frazier, a daughter of James H. and Sarah Frazier of Walshville, formerly of Tower Hill, Ill. The seven children born to them are, namely: Elson Ward, Ola Almorine, Walter Kenal, Ione, Paul Tye, Ruth Eleanore and Margery Genese.
I
I
-Courtesy Shelbyville Democrat
TWENTY-FIVE MEN TO JEFFERSON BARRACKS, MO., MAY 23, 1918
Page Nine
.
FIFTY-FOUR MEN FOR CAMP TAYLOR, KY., FEBRUARY 23, 1918
¢
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-
-
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SHELBY COUNTY LOCAL BOARD W. H. CHEW, CHMN.
W. J. EDDY, SEC.
F. R. DOVE
SHELBY COUNTY EXEMPTION BOARD
With the stroke of midnight, Monday, March 31, 1919, the Shelby County Exemption Board ceased to exist and the curtain was rung down on the ac- tivities of that body, which performed a service that was vital and far-reaching.
The board in Shelby County consisted of At- torney W. H. Chew, Attorney F. Roy Dove and Dr. W. J. Eddy, who were selected for that service June 7, 1917. From that time the personnel of the board did not change, but the. three men originally se- lected prosecuted the exacting and important duties devolving upon them with a fidelity that it is safe to say measured up to whatever standard was set within the whole Nation.
At a meeting in the office of Dr. W. J. Eddy on Monday, July 2, 1917, the board organized by elect- ing Mr. Chew chairman, and Dr. Eddy secretary. From that time on the three men and the assistants they had from time to time devoted themselves al- most with singleness of purpose, to war work. Feel- ing their way step by step in the early days of their service, because of undeveloped and sometimes con- flicting plans of the war department, they soon got the local machinery running smoothly and in such condition that the multifarious affairs to which the board was required to give attention, were handled in a manner that gratified their superior officers and all whom prejudice did not prevent from viewing the board's actions and decisions with impartiality.
Associated with the local board were the Legal Advisory Board, consisting of Attorneys Geo. B. Rhoads, Robert I. Pugh and W. L. Keeley, and the Government Appeal Agent, Judge A. J. Steidley, who, with many volunteer workers among attorneys, business men, public school teachers and others from time to time, rendered valuable service.
The clerks of the board, with their tenure of ser- vice, were as follows:
George V. Colbert, Shelbyville- Chief clerk from Dec. 15, 1917, to March 8, 1918.
Charles C. Klauser, Shelbyville-Chief clerk from March 8, 1918, to Sept. 5, 1918.
William C. Eddy, Shelbyville-Chief clerk from Sept. 5, 1918, to Sept. 13, 1918.
William W. Hartsell, Windsor-Chief clerk from Sept. 13, 1918, to March 31, 1919.
Mrs. Bertha M. Ruff, Shelbyville-Assistant clerk from Sept. 11, 1918, to Jan. 31, 1919.
Emory S. Baugher, Windsor - Assistant clerk from Oct. 21, 1918, to Jan. 31, 1919.
The volume of work that was accomplished by this board from the time of its appointment until its discharge, is indicated by the fact that the ma- terial records made by the board and its clerks filled eighteen crates and boxes, weighing 1,890 pounds at the time of their shipment, March 28, 1919, to Washington, D. C., where they repose in fire-proof vaults as part of the government's war records.
But little idea can be given in the section al- lowed to the Exemption Board of the vast and ardu- ·ous labor performed by that body. The filing of the original registration cards of the thousands of men listed under the terms of the selective service law; the making of duplicate cards; the assigning of order numbers; the classification of the registrants into the five different divisions and many subdivisions; the physical examination of the registrants; the exam- ination of the questionnaires, after they had been filled in and returned by the men to whom the board had sent them; the hearing of and decisions on claims to exemption from military duty; the certi- fying of many cases to the district board; the re-
Page Eleven
classification of men who by reason of further in- vestigation changed physical condition or ruling of the district board, were required to be transferred from one class to another; the selection of eligible men to fill the thirty-four quotas, ranging from one to one hundred and seventy-six men each, announced by the war department from time to time; the as- sembling of such men and making them ready for transportation to training camp or school; the keep- ing of an accurate record of all men over whom they had supervision; the hearing of complaints- these and many other duties were performed by the board through the long months of its service in such manner as to elicit earnest commendation from Provost Marshal General Enoch H. Crowder and other high officials.
In no instance did the members of the board fail to take a personal interest in the men they were re- quired to induct into service. Every man, however humble, was looked upon by them as a patriotic citizen who was laying down his life on the altar of his country, and as such entitled to the fullest con- sideration and respect. Whatever personal problem was presented to them, the board members gave an attentive ear and every possible consideration con- sistent with their duty and their oath. Anxiety of men regarding relatives they were leaving behind were assuaged, fears were calmed, gloom was dis- pelled with cheery words and assurances, and the men of the draft learned early that in the members of the Exemption Board they had personal friends, rather than stony-hearted representatives of auto- cratic militarism. In one or two notable instances, it is true, the board was compelled to take more or less drastic action with certain men who were less patriotic, but no more entitled to deference. than the boys who readily accepted active service, but these simply served to prove the impartiality with which the board acted, in line with a firm pur- pose to discharge its duties without fear or favor, when the members turned aside from their custom- ary professions and personal interests at the call of their country, and prosecuted their work with such devotion and equitableness as to command the respect and confidence of everyone, even though the will of the board conflicted with their own personal desires and preferences.
During the months they served, the members of the board furnished to the great war system a total of nearly a thousand men. It would be a miracle if in deciding the military status of this number of men the board should escape criticism from some who were directly affected. However, such criticism was singularly scant, and in the months that have passed those who would have had different action and decision from the board, with calmer judgment unite in declaring that the work of this important unit in the governmental machinery was prosecuted ably, efficiently and impartially.
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