Doughboy Convalescents Going Through DeKalb in 1919

From the February 27, 2019, MidWeek  (DeKalb County, Illinois)  "Looking Back."

1919, 100 Years Ago.

"A special train of soldier lads went through here yesterday afternoon about four o'clock going west with Camp Dodge, Iowa, as their destination.

"The soldier lads were convalescents, as many of them were seen  with bandages on their  arms and heads and it is probable, they are some of the more recently returned boys  from over there, who 'got theirs'  from stray Hun bullets."

--Cooter

First Americans Killed in WW I-- Part 6: Merle David Hay

From Wikipedia.

Born July 20, 1896  Died November 3, 1917.

Born in Carroll County, Iowa.  Enlisted 3 May 1917, among eight men from Glidden, Iowa, who enlisted that day.

Re-interred July 1921 at West Lawn Cemetery in Glidden.  This was later renamed the Merle Hay Memorial cemetery in his honor.  The Iowa legislature had an eight-foot monument erected at his grave.

Shortly after his death, the highway running from Des Moines, Iowa to Camp Dodge was renamed the Merle Hay Road and a memorial boulder was placed on it in 1923.  The Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines is also named for him.

The first American military casualty of World War II was also an Iowa native from Arlene.  Robert M. Losey was a military attache killed April 21, 1940, during the German bombardment of Dombas, Norway.

--Cooter

Grant Wood's World War I Connection-- Part 3

Continuing with various sources concerning Wood's World War I service.

COLUMBIA ENCYCLOPEDIA-- Even though this doesn't have to do with World War I, i am interested in the Great Depression's WPA. Grant Wood was the director of WPA projects in Iowa.


WIKIPEDIA had nothing on Wood's World War I service.

FROM STONE CITY ART COLONY AND SCHOOL at ww.projects.mtmercy.edu.

In 1910, Wood graduated from high school and began studying to be a teacher at the University of Iowa. In 1916, he was a student at the Art Institute of Chicago, but never finished.

In 1917, he found he had been exempted from the draft for World War I, but waived it and was briefly stationed at Des Moines' Camp Dodge and was later assigned to designing Army artillery camouflage in Washington, DC. After the 1918 Armistice, he returned home, never having had any military action.

This last source seems to have his World War II service down the best.

I was unable to find out anything about Earl Sullivan, but the two of them probably met while at Camp Dodge where the charcoal drawing would have been made.

Dig A little deeper in the Well. --Cooter