USA > South Dakota > Who's who in South Dakota, Vol. III > Part 12
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Side by side with the blouses Of army blue appear The jacket of rough brown canvas And hat of the volunteer." MINNA IRVING
BOYHOOD TO MANHOOD
Colonel Sessions was born and reared in the town of Ionia, Michigan, until he was nine years of age, - the date of his birth being July 20, 1876. The Sessions family moved to Dakota in 1885 and settled at Columbia, in Brown County, where the father went into the banking business. The panic of 1893 forced him to change his plans, and so in 1894 he sold out and moved to Aberdeen where he bought a half-interest in the Aberdeen Daily News, with Henry Williams. Later, he sold his half-interest in the plant to McLeod who finally bought out Williams and became sole proprietor of the shop.
While at Columbia, Alonzo worked on a farm in the summer and attended public school in the winter. He also assisted in a local print shop and acquired a practical knowledge of the printers' trade. After they moved to Aberdeen, he attended high school
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and worked on the News. In 1897, the fam- ily removed to Sioux Falls and purchased the South Dakota State Forum which they still publish.
LONG MILITARY CAREER
At seventeen years of age, in 1893, Alonzo enlisted at Aberdeen as a private in Co. "F," D. N. G. He had for his Captain, Charles A. Howard who later served as a Major in the 1st S. D. Inf. in the Philippines. Captain Howard was a strict disciplinarian and a fine drill master. He soon made a model solder out of the Sessions boy who took to military affairs by nature.
The next year he was made a Corporal. He attended the encampment at Watertown. Colonel Mark Sheafe was in command. Colo- nel A. S. Frost, who later commanded the 1st S. D. Inf. in the Philippines, was military instructor. Colonel Lee Stover was Sessions' Major; and Colonel C. H. Englesby was in command of Co. "H" of Watertown, - the same company that he commanded during the strenuous Philippine campaign. Ses- sions' First Sergeant was J. Q. A. Braden, who later distinguished himself as a Lieu-
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tenant in the Philippines. Young Sessions had gotten in with the right class of fellows at the right time in life.
In 1895, Corporal Sessions was promoted to 1st Sergeant of Co. "F." Their battalion encamped that year at Aberdeen. Colonel Frost was in command. The next year they camped at Bryant.
After the family moved to Sioux Falls, in 1897, Sergeant Sessions was transferred to Co. "B" of that place, without loss of rank. Colonel Frost went to Sioux Falls to inspect the company. They did not even know the Manual of Arms. He grew angry and or- dered Sergeant Sessions to take command. The company was mustered out. Then Colonel Frost asked Sessions to form a new company which he did and they were mus- tered in, in January, 1898, with A. B. Sessions as Captain. On April 25, following, they went into camp at Sioux Falls as U. S. Volunteers, ready and willing to take their part in the international conflict, then begun.
With the other companies of the 1st S. D. Inf., they served in the Philippines. Captain Sessions was recommended for Brevet Major
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by Colonel Frost, for conspicuous service in the battle of Bagabag river. Co. "B" held the center of the line. Colonel Frost passed behind them. The order came to "cease firing," until the 1st Nebraska could out- flank the Filipinos. The opposing armies were close together. The Filipinos were plainly visible. Co. "B" refused to obey the bugle call to "cease firing!" and kept on shooting wickedly until Sessions stopped the firing by physical force. Colonel Frost smiled and said to Sessions: "Captain, your method seems efficacious; perhaps you had better show the other captains how to 'cease firing.' "
Sessions had one man killed (Corporal Harvey Breed, of Flandreau) and five wounded. They all fell near the Command- ing Officer. One of the men was wounded seriously and needed immediate attention to save his life. None of the Hospital Corps were near. Captain Sessions went to him and bound up his wound, under a galling fire. Colonel Frost watched him; and then recommended him for Brevet Major.
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After the war, Captain Sessions returned with his company to San Francisco and was mustered out October 5, 1899.
When the State Guards were re-organized in 1901, he was made Assistant Adjutant- General. In this capacity he mustered in most of the companies of the state. When enough companies had been formed to make up the new Second Regt. S. D. S. G., he was made Lieutenant-Colonel. Finally a Third
Regiment was formed. When the Second and the Third Regiments were consolidated into the Fourth, Sessions was made a Major.
He resigned in 1905 and organized a new company at Sioux Falls,-the old one having disintegrated. Again he was made Captain. He served two years in this capacity and trained all the commanding officers of his company from that time to Captain Foster who took the company into the World War. Captain Sessions resigned from the Guard in 1907, so as to devote more time to private business.
When the Guard was called to the Mexican border, in 1916, and it looked as though there was going to be active service for a large
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body of troops, C. H. Englesby, of Water- town, assisted by Colonel Sessions and others organized a new regiment in the state. They were intended for Infantry; but the Central Department held that the state had its full quota of Infantry, and suggested that the new regiment be converted into Cavalry. The Cavalry requirements and regulations are severe. The Department had no thought that they would be met; but every field of- ficer in the new Regiment was a Spanish- War veteran ; they were all "onto the ropes"; and so they promptly complied with all Fed- eral requirements as to equipment. They were mustered in as Cavalry troops. Ses- sions was made Lieutenant-Colonel.
On June 3, 1917, he was ordered to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, to represent his regiment in the School of Musketry and Machine Gun Fire, in session at that place. He finished the Course on August 1, and was graduated with honors. In five studies he was marked "Ex- cellent"; in three, "Very Good"; and in one, "Good."
Upon graduation, he returned to Sioux Falls, but left promptly to join his regiment,
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at Camp Cody, where they had been re- converted into Infantry troops, and assigned to the Depot Brigade. Colonel Sessions was placed in command for training purposes. During the winter he conducted three Mus- ketry Schools for the Division, in connection with his other work.
When the Depot Brigade was broken up, Colonel Sessions was made Supply Officer for the brigade, for the purpose of cleaning up the property and clearing the responsibil- ity of the various officers who had been in command of companies. It was in this tech- nical work that Sessions proved himself to be a business man as well as a military officer. He organized a competent office force and cleared the records of 5,000 enlisted men who had gone through the brigade. The property handled amounted to $5,000,000; yet it showed a shortage of only $200, with a book shortage of but $5,000. The Quartermaster- General accepted the report without question.
Sessions left Camp Cody on February 8 for Camp Wadsworth where he was assigned to duty as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1st Pioneer Infantry - a skeleton outfit consist-
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ing of the officers and non-commissioned of- ficers of the old 1st New York. In it were about 100 Reserve Corps Lieutenants. They were designated as the first Pioneer regi- ment to go overseas. However, the War De- partment could not supply the men for the regiment until May 1. When it did supply them it sent men from the mountains of Kentucky. They had Hookworm, Measles, Mumps, Spinal Meningitis, and various other diseases. Their condition forced the regi- ment into quarantine for forty-five days, so that they did not get away until July 1.
While at Camp Wadsworth, Colonel Ses- sions was made Regimental Mess Officer. He standardized fifteen kitchens and worked on the conservation of food. The Inspector pro- nounced the 1st Pioneer Infantry the best fed regiment in the entire camp. Sessions was saving $15,000 per month. His economy at- tracted attention. The Surgeon General sent a survey party to weigh the waste of the various regiments in the camp. This party found that the 1st Pioneer Infantry averaged one and a half pounds per man per week at the end of three months, while the average
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after three years in the British army had been two pounds per man. On another test it was reduced to three and a half ounces per week per man. At the same time England's waste was running fifty-four ounces per week per man. When the Commanding General, Guy Carleton, submitted his report, he added an endorsement in which he said that this record for efficiency in feeding troops had never before been equalled in the history of the American army, and perhaps never would be again. This point is emphasized to show that Colonel Sessions, in addition to being a good military officer, is also a successful busi- ness man.
His regiment left Wadsworth on July 1 and went to Camp Mills. On July 8, they set sail from Hoboken for France, on board the U. S. Army Transport, "Mt. Vernon," formerly the German boat, "Kron Prinzes- sen Cecelie," once known as the Kaiser's yacht. Colonel James S. Boyer and Lieuten- ant-Colonel Sessions occupied the Kaiser's private cabin consisting of three rooms and a bath.
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After an uneventful ocean voyage they landed at Brest on July 17, 1918. This was the day before the American troops turned back the Germans at Chateau Thierry and saved democracy to the world. Five days after landing, they were rushed to the front near Saacy - not far from Chateau Thierry. The regiment had no gas masks or helmets, but in five days these were supplied.
At the end of a week they were withdrawn and sent ten kilometers east. They unloaded near Sergy - the town that had been taken and retaken nine times by the Germans and the French. The hillsides were littered with unburied dead, and the grim evidence of a conscienceless foe was visible everywhere. Sessions established his headquarters in an old Manor house in Nesle - near the tower of Nesle, built during the Middle Ages, and celebrated as the place where Napoleon went to meet the Empress, Marie Louise.
That night he was recalled to Fere-en- Tardenoise and assigned to road work, fixing shelled bridges, and bringing up supplies. The regiment was divided into small sections and badly scattered. They cleaned up Fis-
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mes, after its capture by the Americans, - a fight in which the 147th Field Artillery from South Dakota, commanded by Colonel Wales, took an admirable part.
Later, the entire corps, with which the 1st Pioneer Infantry was serving, was with- drawn and sent to the Argonne. On Septem- ber 26, they got into action proper. Three days later, while Colonel Sessions was re- turning on Horseback, near sunset, from Cuisy to Esne, via outlying villages, because of the congestion on the main road, he was shot through the left arm by a German sharp-shooter hid in the rear.
That night he was sent to the Emergency Hospital at Souilly, and the next day he was placed on a hospital train and taken back to the hospital at Orleans. On the train, he met a Lieutenant-Colonel with whom he had become acquainted at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. This officer was also wounded.
It took one month for his wound to heal. However, on November 1, he was released from the hospital and permitted to return to his regiment. He remained with them
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until the Armistice was signed on November 11.
After that, he filled various assignments until December 24 when he was ordered to take command of the 6th Ammunition train. He arrived at regimental headquarters, De- cember 29, and found 50 officers and 1100 men awaiting him. They were operating 28 motor trucks. Later, the truck service was given up, and they drew 700 horses and mules, built stables for them, and organized that branch of the service.
The last of April, 1919, Colonel Sessions was ordered to join the 90th Division pre- paratory to sailing for home. Just as they were preparing to leave Germany, he learned that no officer had succeeded him in com- mand of the 6th Ammunition train, and that the 6th Division was to follow the 90th home; therefore, he requested that he be trans- ferred back to them. This was done. And so he did not get out of France until the first of June. He and the 6th Ammunition train came home on the transport, "Siboney." They landed at Newport News June 11, 1919. Then they were transferred to Camp Grant,
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at Rockford, Illinois, and mustered out on July 8. The following day Colonel Sessions returned to Sioux Falls and was re-united vith his family.
Two wars - one west across the Pacific, he other east across the Atlantic; both on the blood-drenched soil of the Old World - are emblazoned on the escutcheon of his career. They are over !
"O Peace! the fairest child of heaven, To whom the sylvan reign was given; The vale, the fountain, and the grove, With every softer scene of love: Return, sweet Peace! and cheer the weeping swain; Return, with ease and pleasure in thy train." THOMPSON
AT HOME
Upon his return home Colonel Sessions promptly gave his attention to business as Manager of the Sessions Printing Company. When they purchased the plant in 1897. there were no presses and but a few cases of type. Today, they have one of the best equipped printing establishments in South Dakota, doing approximately $100,000 worth of busi- ness a year.
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Colonel Sessions was united in marriage in 1904 to Miss Caroline Morrison, of Wash- ington, D. C. They have three children - two sons and one daughter. The Colonel is a member of the Masons, the Knights of Pythias, and of the local Rotary Club.
"My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet land of Liberty, - Of thee I sing : Land where my fathers died, Land of the Pilgrims' pride, From every mountain side Let Freedom ring!"
SAMUEL SMITH
COLONEL M. L. SHADE (AND FAMILY)
A VOLUNTEER IN MANY WARS
Immediately preceding the March pri- maries in 1920, the presidential campaign in South Dakota reached the apex of its vigor. A bad snow storm, accompanied by an un- usually heavy wind, prevailed throughout the state. General Leonard Wood, one of the contesting aspirants for the presidency, had spoken at Clear Lake in Deuel County, in
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the morning. He was due at Watertown for a speech in the afternoon. Roads were im- passable. Trains were many hours behind schedule. Something desperate had to be done and done quickly.
Every emergency has a "man of the hour." This one had. It was Colonel M. L. Shade, of Mitchell, a soldier of many wars, who was accompanying General Wood and his party on their trip through the state. The Colonel arranged with the section fore- man at Clear Lake to take the party to Watertown on his "speeder." General Wood was bundled up and securely fastened on the front end of the motor-dumpy. Colonel Shade was placed beside him. The others were on behind.
The snow was blinding. As might be ex- pected, on the very first crossing which they came to they struck an inclosed mail buggy, knocking it and the horse into the ditch and turning the speeder off at right angles to the track so that it ran down the roadway. No- body was seriously hurt. One of the horse's shoes struck General Wood on the knee and injured him slightly, and Colonel Shade,
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who was jammed into the buggy, sustained some minor bruises.
This incident is related to show what man- ner of man Colonel Shade really is. No ob- stacle ever appalls him. Said Colonel Hazle of him when they returned from France : "He was the greatest 'go-getter' in the Amer- ican expeditionary forces." No doubt this element in his nature was what caused the commanding general to put him in charge of the 116th Supply Train in France, and like- wise caused the South Dakota Department of the American Legion to single him out and make him their first State Commander. He never sidesteps any responsibility. The greater the task that lies before him, the more eager he seems to be to undertake it. Says Hannah More :
"The keen spirit Seizes the prompt occasion - makes the thought Start into instant action, and at once
Plans and performs, resolves and executes."
There are two classes of minds - judicial and executive. The judicial mind refuses to act until all the facts are learned and weighed. This type of mind is found in
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William Howard Taft. The executive mind decides quickly, acts accordingly and weighs the matter afterwards. Theodore Roosevelt represented this type of mind. It found con- crete expression when he seized Panama as a national necessity and then decided after- ward how best to clear the title to it; also when he ordered the American battleship fleet into the Carribbean Sea and bluffed Ger- many out of a fight, without waiting for Congress to declare war. Colonel Shade has this type of mind - executive. It was large- ly this element in his nature that caused Governor Norbeck to place him on the State Highway Commission, immediately upon his return from the World War.
George Eliot truthfully declares :
"No great deed is done By falterers who ask for certainty."
EARLY YEARS
Colonel M. L. Shade was born on a farm near Princeton, Illinois, May 23, 1876. He was reared on the farm and attended rural school from the time he was six to ten, all the year. This constituted his sole education.
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At the age of fifteen he was thrown onto his own resources. He worked on a farm during the summer and in steel mills and coal mines during the winter. In 1896, when he was twenty years of age, he went to Warren County, Iowa, and did similar work for two years.
BECOMES SOLDIER
Upon the breaking out of the Spanish- American War, in 1898, he enlisted on April 28, as a Private in Co. "D" 51st Iowa Inf. U. S. Vols.
This regiment was soon thereafter ordered to San Francisco preparatory to embarking for the Philippines. They left 'Frisco, No- vember 3, aboard the U. S. A. transport, "Pennsylvania," and arrived at Manila on December 7, - having stopped five days at Honolulu, en route.
After they arrived, they were not permit- ted to land, but were kept on the boat. On December 31, they were ordered to Iloilo, a city in the southern part of the archipelago. Again, they were not permitted to land. On January 28, they were ordered to return to Manila Bay. They were finally disembarked
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at Cavite, on February 2, after being held on the boat ninety days.
The Filipino insurrection broke out Febru- ary 4, 1899. On March 10, the 51st Iowa was placed on the line south of Manila, command- ed by Major-General Anderson. They served on the South line until April 23, when they were transferred to the North line and placed on the right flank of the 1st S. D. Inf., to relieve the 1st Nebraska which was all shot to pieces and had suffered heavily. They held this position, during all the hard fight- ing from Malolos to San Fernando.
Private Shade was raised to the rank of Corporal on June 28, 1899, and discharged at San Fernando on June 30. He promptly returned to Manila and re-enlisted, - this time in the 1st Philippine U. S. Vet. Vol. Inf. - later designated as the 36th U. S. Inf.
He was in every engagement in which the regiment took part, including the Mounted Detachment. All told, in both regiments, he was in twenty-two engagements in the Phil- ippines. He was mustered out at Manila, January 24, 1901.
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After being discharged a second time, he ran a book store and a barber shop in Manila, until July. During this time he also made two trips to Zambeles, on confidential work for the U. S. government,
After selling out in July, he returned to the United States, via Japan, landing at San Francisco in August, 1901. He had been ab- sent for three years. This ended his first military service.
"Your flag and my flag, And how it flies today In your land and my land And half a world away! Rose-red and blood-red, The stripes forever gleam; Snow-white and soul-white - The good forefathers' dream: Sky-blue and true-blue, with stars to gleam aright, The gloried guidon of the day; a shelter through the night."
NESBIT
Upon his return to the United States, he went to the old home at Princeton, Illinois. Here he became identified for four years with the Prudential Life Ins. Co., working also at Burlington, Iowa, and at Rockford, Illinois. While at Burlington, he organized a camp of Spanish-War Veterans.
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After transferring his headquarters to Rockford, he joined the Illinois National Guard. On September 10, 1904, he was elected 1st Lieut. Co. K, 3rd Ill. N. G., and on March 15, following, he was elected Captain.
Captain Shade resigned March 20, 1907, and went to Texas to become a cement work contractor. The panic which came on that year suddenly ended this ambition and left him a poor man again.
But he had that type of mind that doesn't yield to defeat; and so, in January, 1908, he came to Sioux Falls. Immediately upon his arrival he joined Co. "B," 4th S. D. N. G., as a Private. In July, he was pro- moted to Sergeant. While at Sioux Falls, he organized another camp of Spanish-War Veterans.
In November, 1908, he moved to Mitchell. The next year he was transferred to Co. "H" of Highmore. After attending camp with this company in August, he organized Sep- arate Co. "A" at Mitchell. This company became the strongest company in the state, and for five years in succession it took every
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military prize offered. Later it was trans- ferred to the 4th Inf. as Co. "F."
He was appointed Chief of Police in Mitchell, by Mayor Hitchcock, July 1, 1910; and in this capacity, he gave a good account of himself. While in Mitchell, he also organ- ized at that place a camp of Spanish-War Veterans. From 1908 to 1912, he was Spe- cial Agent in South Dakota for the Columbia Fire Insurance Company, of Omaha.
Then he became identified for one year with the Northwest Surety Co. When they sold out in 1913, he went with the Inter- State Surety Co., of Redfield. In August of that year he moved to Redfield and made his home there until the breaking out of the World War.
While at Redfield, he was transferred to the staff, as Regimental Commissary Officer, and was Purchasing Commissary when the troops were mobilized for border service. June 28, 1916, he was promoted to Major and placed in command of the 3rd Battalion 4th Inf., serving in that capacity on the Mexican border that year. He returned from the bor- der and was mustered out at Omaha, March
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9, 1917. This ended his second military ser- vice.
"Your flag and my flag; To every star and stripe The drums beat as hearts beat And fifers shrilly pipe! Your flag and my flag - A blessing in the sky; Your hope and my hope - It never hid a lie.
Home land and far land and half the world around, Old Glory hears the glad salute and ripples to the sound."
NESBIT
On July 15, 1917, after we entered the World War, the 4th Inf. S. D. N. G., in which Major Shade still held his commission, was ordered to Camp Greene, N. C .; and on Sep- tember 17, they were attached to the 41st Division. General Orders broke up the regi- ment, and he was given Companies "E," "F," and "G" to be organized into the 116th Sup- ply Train. They were ordered to Camp Mills in November, and on December 14, they embarked for France on the "Covington" - formerly the German liner, "Cleveland," which was afterwards sunk by a submarine.
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They landed at Brest, December 31, 1917, and were at once ordered to La Courtine. Here they learned that the Division was to be broken up and used for replacement troops.
Companies "E," "F," and "G" were re- organized into six smaller companies and numbered from 1 to 6 inclusively. Com- panies 1, 3, and 5 were ordered to guard a large Ammunition Dump in the rear of the line, while Companies 2 and 6 were ordered onto the line. They took their place at Sois- sons, February 10, 1918, on duty with the French.
Major Shade was promoted to Lieutenant- Colonel, January 17, 1918. Although com- missioned as an officer of Field Artillery, he was never near a battery, but continued in command of the 116th Supply Train. His base was changed to St. Aignan-Noyers where he established the largest replace- ment depot in France for Motor Transport troops. He was also Motor Transport Officer of the Division, Commander of the Labor Battalion consisting of 1800 men, Prison Of- ficer - both American disciplinary barracks
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and German prisoners of war, and Director of the Chauffeurs and Mechanics School. His executive capacity is wonderful !
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