Alabama's WWI Poster Collection Now Available Online

February 22, 2017

During World War I, many renowned artists volunteered their skills on the homefront, creating compelling and beautiful posters promoting the war effort. From patriotic images of Uncle Sam to stirring calls to arms, food rationing and the purchase of liberty bonds, these posters help us better understand the dedication of Americans in support of the war during very uncertain times.

The Alabama Department of Archives and History houses one of the most extensive and well-preserved WWI poster collections in the nation. The collection is rich with iconic, celebrated works but also contains an assortment of relatively obscure posters which have not been reproduced widely, if at all. During and immediately after the war, Archives’ founding director Thomas McAdory Owen actively collected posters and other war-related materials. Additional posters joined the collection shortly after the completion of the Archives building in 1940.

In January 2017, the Archives made approximately 100 World War I posters available online in its digital archives. These colorful, striking graphics and their fascinating patriotic symbolism can now be appreciated by anyone with an internet connection. Copies of the posters can also be downloaded at no charge from the site. The Archives plans to begin making other posters from its collection (including those from other wars and events) available online in the future.

To view and search the posters, visit www.digital.archives.alabama.gov and scroll down to “Alabama Posters Collection.”

Letters Home: Christmas Greetings from an Alabamian in World War I 

December 21, 2016

Alabamian Penrose Stout left a richly illustrated history of his service as a World War I aviator through his sketchbook and his letters home. Born in Montgomery in 1887, Stout enlisted in March 1917. 

A member of the 1st Pursuit Group, 27th Aero Squadron, Stout was shot down near Charny during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in September 1918. He received the Distinguished Service Cross for attacking a German artillery installation and battling five enemy pilots.

After the war, Stout became a noted architect in New York and well known for his designs of country homes, part of the wave of suburbanization north of New York City in the early twentieth century. He died in 1934 at age 47.

While stationed in France during the Christmases of 1917 and 1918, he sent letters home to his mother with holiday greetings, warm wishes, and even his list for Santa. Stout’s keen sense of humor is evidenced in several of his writings. These letters along with many others and Stout’s sketchbook are now part of the Alabama Department of Archives and History’s permanent collection.

November 1917
A letter from Stout to his mother, Zemmie Stout Lawton, in Hartsville, South Carolina

“My precious Mother….One week from today will be the 1st of December and you and Tookins are already busy on your Xmas presents and it seems less than three weeks ago that I told you goodbye after your visit to Princeton. And while we are on the subject of Xmas, I don’t need a thing and the mail deliveries are so blamed uncertain that I hope you won’t attempt to send me anything. Of course if you knit me a pair of wristlets and a pair of 10 ½ or 11 grey socks with a couple of yellow stripes around the top, and put in some candy and a few cigs, the chance would be almost worthwhile.”

December 1917
Christmas card from Stout, stationed in France, to his mother

“There is no one for whom I wish more happiness on Christmas than my mother. So the best of it all for you and Cousin Joe and the household for Christmas, New Years and all the days that follow. I shall be thinking of the dearest person in all the world and wishing I could be with her and that person is you

 October 5, 1918
Letter written by Stout when he was hospitalized, recovering from injuries in France, to his mother

“…this is what I am writing Santa Claus for:

• 1 hard propholoactive [sic] toothbrush
• 1 box delicately scented glycerin soap
• 6 film rolls for vest pocket Kodak
• 1 pkg. bouillon cubes
• 1 small pkg. good tea
• 1 billy goat and red wagon

Goodnight, precious  -Penrose"

 December 24, 1918

Christmas telegram from Stout while stationed in Hyeres, France to his mother

“Love for Xmas -Penrose”

Alabama WWI Centennial Committee Featured in The Alabama Municipal Journal 

December 1, 2016

The Alabama WWI Centennial Committee was featured in the November/December issue of The Alabama Municipal Journal published by the Alabama League of Municipalities. The three-page article written by Georgia Ann Conner Hudson of the Alabama Department of Archives and History details the establishment of the committee and its ongoing projects and plans to commemorate the centennial of WWI in Alabama over the next two years. A sidebar to the article written by committee member Gary Fuller, mayor of Opelika, calls on local communities and governments to begin planning for their own observances of this historic anniversary.

With a total circulation of approximately 4,500, The Alabama Municipal Journal is mailed to all elected officials and top administrative and legal personnel of member cities and towns throughout the state along with members of the State Legislature and the Alabama Congressional Delegation. The Centennial Committee is most appreciative of the League of Municipalities providing this opportunity to reach Alabama's community leaders. We hope that this article will encourage them to begin thinking about how their local citizens can commemorate the service and sacrifice of so many Alabamians nearly a century ago.

Plans for a Community Commemoration Guide published by the Centennial Committee are currently underway. We hope to make this available to the public in early 2017.

A Wartime Thanksgiving

November 23, 2016 

As the 2016 holiday season begins this week, these items from the Alabama Department of Archives and History’s collection give us a glimpse of what Alabama soldiers serving in World War I experienced at Thanksgiving nearly a century ago. Click the links to view the documents in the Archives' digital collection. 

This Thanksgiving menu was served aboard the R.M.S. Aurania in 1917 to members of the 167th Infantry Regiment “Rainbow” Division en route to France. It is from the papers of Alabamian Lt. Col. Walter E. Bare, who traveled aboard the Aurania. The back is signed by Bare and other American officers who made the journey to France. While most of the menu is in French, their Thanksgiving dinner concluded with traditional pumpkin pie.  

Another Thanksgiving dinner program from the Archives' collection was for the men in Company B of the 26th Machine Gun Battalion, who were stationed at Camp Sheridan in Montgomery during the war. It is dated November 28, 1918, the first Thanksgiving following Armistice Day several weeks earlier. The program lists the men serving in the company, provides a brief and entertaining company history, and includes the menu served at dinner. The troops enjoyed Thanksgiving dishes including oyster stew, traditional turkey, sage dressing, giblet gravy, minced pie, root beer, and other sweets and savories.

This letter, dated December 22, 1917, was written by Alabamian Penrose Vass Stout while stationed in France to his sister, Rebecca Stout, in Hartsville, South Carolina. In the letter, Stout reports that he had "a real good American dinner" for Thanksgiving ("turkey, pumpkin pie, and all the rest"). He tells his sister "of all the things to be thankful for, I found you at the head of the list." 

Taylor Field: Alabama's 1st Military Flying Facility

November 2, 2016

By Dr. Robert B. Kane, Director of History, Air University, Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, Alabama

Images courtesy of the Directorate of History, Air University, Maxwell AFB, AL 

A Taylor Field Curtis JN-4 Jenny, taken from another Taylor Field aircraft, during a flight training mission

On April 2, 1917, the United States Congress declared war on Germany. To train pilots for combat in France, the Air Service established 32 training installations in the United States. One of these was Taylor Field, the first military flying facility in Alabama. The War Department leased 800 acres of land, 11 miles east-southeast of Montgomery for $4,000 a year with an option to buy for $32,000.

Taylor Field opened on November 16, 1917 and was named for Captain Ralph L. Taylor of Stamford, Connecticut. Taylor was commissioned a captain in the Nebraska National Guard Air Service on May 3, 1917, and sent to Mineola Field (later Roosevelt Field), New York, on May 23, 1917, as an aviation instructor. He was killed in an accident on August 2, 1917.

Construction of the airfield’s facilities for a primary flight school began on December 11, 1917. By April 16, 1918, the 128th, 129th, 131st, and 193rd Aero Squadrons had arrived at the field to begin training up to 300 students through an eight-week flight training course, using about 200 Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" and De Havilland DH-4 "Gypsy Month" trainers. To service these aircraft, the War Department established Aircraft and Engine Repair Depot #3 inMontgomery on the site of the former Wright Brothers flying school. Besides the flight school, facilities at the airfield included the post headquarters, 16 hangars, repair shops, warehouses, barracks, and a hospital.

Aerial view of Taylor Field showing the school facilities, center, and some of the 16 large hangers, lower part of photo

Flight training began May 2, 1918. Major E. M. Hoffman was the first post commander. 2nd Lt. Charles N. Monteith succeeded him on July 9, 1918, and 2nd Lt. Kenneth G. Fraser, in turn, succeeded Lt Monteith on October 2, 1918. By the Armistice on November 11, 1918, the Taylor Field flight school had graduated 139 cadets and flown a little over 20,619 hours. Some of the graduates saw combat France during the war. With the war over, the War Department closed the airfield in April 1919.

Ground view of the 16 large hangers, left, at Taylor Field

A wrecked Curtis JN-4 Jenny from Taylor Field

By the start of World War II in December 1941, the hangers and many of the other structures at Taylor Field had been torn down. In 1942, as the number of flight cadets increased at the basic flight school at Gunter Field, just north of Montgomery, the US Army Air Force (AAF) reopened the airfield as Gunter Auxiliary Airfield #5 to reduce growing air traffic congestion at Gunter Field.

With the end of the war, the AAF closed the field in July 1946, and the War Department sold portions of the installation to private owners and tore down the remaining structures although aerial photos show the remnants of the installation swimming pool. A 1993 historical marker on the south side of Ray Thorington Road near Foxchase Drive marks the site.

In 2005, private developers established the Avalon subdivision along the northwest border of the airfield's former location, approximately 200 yards east of this marker and across the former southwest-to-northeast runway. A dirt road to the east of Avalon runs along the same path as the former main entrance to the hangars and a few homes were built along the east side of it in the 1950s. Lancelot Drive in Avalon crosses over the old main airfield road near where the dirt road terminates.

Osmond Kelly Ingram, An Alabama WWI Hero

October 19, 2016

By Graham Neeley, Curator, Alabama Department of Archives and History

“Pratt City Gunner Thrills Heart of Country By Tragic Death in War Zone.” Birmingham News, October 18, 1917

Thirty-year old Gunner’s Mate First Class Osmond Kelly Ingram was the first U.S. Navy enlisted man killed during World War I. On October 15, 1917, the Alabama native was killed while attempting to release the USS Cassin’s depth charges before being hit by a German torpedo. For his heroic actions he was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. His body was never recovered.

Meeting of the Alabama WWI Centennial Committee

October 6, 2016 

On Tuesday, October 4, the Alabama WWI Centennial Committee held its second meeting at the American Village in Montevallo. Members reported on a variety of commemorative programs that are in the planning stages. U.S. Centennial Commission member Monique Seefried shared plans for the refurbishment of Pershing Park to be the new national WWI memorial in Washington D.C. The meeting also included an overview of the new Alabama website, including this blog and other features. Members were encouraged to promote awareness of the Alabama World War I Monuments and Memorials Project, which seeks community involvement in locating and documenting the state's WWI monuments.

The Committee congratulated Honorary Chairman Rod Frazer on the release of the French translation of his book Send the Alabamians, titled Les boys d'Alabama: La Rainbow Division et la Premiere Guerre mondiale. Purchase a copy here.

A special thanks to Tom Walker and his staff at the American Village for their hospitality. 

Alabama's Own: Camp McClellan

September 21, 2016

In 1917 the U.S. War Department built thirty-two division-size training camps across the country. These facilities trained and equipped American soldiers before they departed for the battlefields of France. In Alabama, Camp McClellan near Anniston and Camp Sheridan in Montgomery played pivotal roles in our state’s wartime efforts on the home front.

Newspaper headline: Anniston Evening Star, May 18, 1917 

The U.S. War Department established Camp McClellan on July 18, 1917 as a rapid-mobilization base and permanent National Guard facility. It was named in honor of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, U.S. Army. Located in Calhoun County, Camp McClellan encompassed over 16,000 acres near the Choccolocco Mountains. It provided an ideal troop training environment and a direct rail connection to the Port of Mobile. By year's end, more than 27,000 troops were training there.  

Panoramic view of the 113^th Infantry Regiment, 29^th Division. February 26, 1918. (Library of Congress)

The men of the newly-created 29th “Blue-Gray” Division arrived in late August 1917 while construction was still underway. The division was comprised of National Guard units from Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and Delaware. At McClellan, the troops were taught trench warfare and trained to combat a new weapon, poisonous gas. Rifle and field artillery ranges, trenches, and dugouts were constructed to simulate active combat. The 29th Division departed in June 1918 and served valiantly in France. Other units trained at McClellan during the war, including Maryland’s 1st Separate Negro Company, the 6th Division, and various other support units.

Nurses of the base hospital at Camp McClellan (Alabama Department of Archives & History) 

Following World War I, the U.S. Army designated Camp McClellan as permanent training center, and renamed it Fort McClellan in 1929. The facility continued to train troops during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. The base closed in 1999, but part of it is still in use by the Alabama National Guard as a training site today.

Source: Encyclopedia of Alabama

The following images are pages from a Camp McClellan Souvenir Book that was recently donated to Alabama Department of Archives and History by Derek Brown, Birmingham, AL. The entire souvenir book can be viewed in the Archives' digital collection.

Identifying Alabama's World War I Monuments, Memorials & Historic Sites

September 7, 2016

Did you know that the University of North Alabama has an amphitheater dedicated to students who served in World War I? What about the Rainbow Viaduct in Birmingham that is dedicated to the men of the 167th Infantry Regiment? Have you noticed the Doughboy statue in downtown Eufaula? Not long after the end of World War I, Americans and Alabamians began erecting monuments and dedicating sites in their communities to those who served and sacrificed in the Great War. Throughout our state you can find a wide array of monuments, memorials, and historic sites honoring the people and places that played a vital role in WWI. Unfortunately, some of these sites and memorials have become obscured by time. 

An initiative of the Alabama World War I Committee is to identify all of the WWI memorials and war-related sites found throughout Alabama. The Monuments, Memorials, & Historic Sites section of this website is an exciting new resource that will be one of many lasting contributions made to our state during the Centennial period. In this section, you will find an easy-to-navigate interactive map that provides GPS coordinates, images, and other detailed information on Alabama’s WWI monuments, memorials, and historic sites.

However, the list is not complete and we need YOUR help! Do you know of a monument, memorial, or historic marker in your community that is not included on the site? Do you have images or information about existing locations that will enhance the site? Have you found inaccuracies in our current content? Help us make the site a rich resource that can be used by scholars and the public for years to come.

Want to help? Contact Graham Neeley at [email protected] or(334) 353-4629.

Included on the site currently are World War I-specific memorials, multi-war memorials dedicated to local veterans, historic sites that served important roles during the war, and historical markers.

An Alabamian in the Harlem Hellfighters

August 24, 2016

During World War I, Lt. Gorman R. Jones of Sheffield, Alabama, served as a white officer in the 369th “Harlem Hellfighters” Infantry Regiment, an African American unit created in New York. In May 1918, Jones was onboard the transport ship RMS Moldavia. In the middle of the night, the ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat near the entrance to the English Channel. The survivors, including Jones, were left with only their life preservers to keep them afloat in the chilly water as they waited for rescue.

Finally, the survivors were picked up by a British destroyer and taken to Dover. While there, Jones was hosted by an elderly couple. He left the life preserver that had saved his life with them and asked that they mail it to him should he survive the war.

Lt. Jones went on to see combat in France. He was captured by the Germans and subsequently rescued by his own men. He received a shrapnel wound during the ordeal. When a surgeon informed Jones that he would need to be evacuated from the front and taken to recover in a hospital, Jones said, “You go to hell. I’m going to stay with the outfit. They’re fighting men.”

Jones did survive the war and returned home to Alabama. Eleven years later  with the help of London Post No. 1 American Legion, the life preserver that saved him from certain death was returned to him. In 1979, Jones' family donated the item to the Alabama Department of Archives and History, where it is currently on display.