Stories of Service

You can search for the name or unit and you will get a list of the stories that contain them.

Leonard Paul Denton

Submitted by: Jacob Parks {Administrative Support Specialist, The Country Doctor Museum}

no photo 300 Leonard Paul Denton was born around 1892. Leonard Denton served in World War 1 with the United States Army . The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1919.

Story of Service

Leonard Paul (it appears that Denton preferred his middle name throughout life) Denton was the second-youngest of five children born to William and Ruth Denton. Paul’s siblings were Fatina, Simpson, Gineva, and Marie. Paul Denton was born on September 8, 1892 in Nash County where the Denton family lived in the town of Jackson located north of Bailey.

At the turn of the century William Denton owned a farm in Jackson, while the children also served as farm hands. On August 2, 1914 Paul Denton married Mary Leona Brantley, also of Nash County.

Warner C. Journigan

Submitted by: Jacob Parks {Administrative Support Specialist, The Country Doctor Museum}

no photo 300 Warner C. Journigan was born around 1891. Warner Journigan served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1918 and the service was completed in 1919.

Story of Service

Warner C. Journigan (1891-1938) and his family were not originally from Nash County, North Carolina. By 1900 the Journigan family lived on a farm owned by their father in the Hayesville Township of Franklin County.

By the next decade, the family relocated east to Brinkleyville. However, Journigan lived in Nashville, N.C. by April 26, 1918, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army. Also part of the 113th, Journigan served in Battery E throughout his service during WWI.

Sherwood H. Brantley

Submitted by: Sherwood H. Brantley {Administrative Support Specialist, The Country Doctor Museum}

no photo 300 Sherwood H. Brantley was born around 1897. Sherwood Brantley served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1919.

Story of Service

Sherwood H. Brantley (1897-1970) was one of many children born and raised on their father’s farm in Nash County, North Carolina. Even after the war, in the 1930s and 40s, Sherwood Brantley continued to work a modest life as a farmer.

Brantley entered military service on July 24, 1917 and served in the Headquarters Company of the 1st Artillery (later called the 113th Field Artillery) of the North Carolina National Guard.

Brantley, along with two other Nash County residents (Warner C. Journigan and Itimous T. Valentine), served in the trenches of France from May 26, 1918 until they left St. Nazaire, France aboard the troop transport ship Santa Teresa on March 6, 1919.

John Ora Johnson

Submitted by: Kathleen Susanne Johnston {grand daughter}

John Ora Johnson 1

John Ora Johnson was born around 1898 or so. John Ora Johnson served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1919.

Story of Service

My grandmother, who insisted on being called John Ora, was part of the Emory University U.S. Army Unit that served from 1917-1919, principally in France.

She was enlisted during her nursing training by a Dr. Green, who said she was the best surgical nurse he had ever trained. It seems, from family legend, that she was rather too young to be in the U.S. Army as a nurse, but Dr. Green insisted, and she was shipped overseas via the Canadian Maritimes to escape German U Boats.

I have photos of her at this point and later. She is noted in the official history of the Emory Unit as R.n., a.n.c., and as having enlisted on April 15, 1918. She is listed in the history as available through address to the Davis-Fischer Santarium, in Atlanta, where she was a superintendent.

Patrick McWhorter

Submitted by: Johnette Brooks {WWI Colored Troops Genealogist}

no photo 300

Patrick McWhorter was born around 1893. Patrick McWhorter served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1913 and the service was completed in 1917.

Story of Service

Pat(rick) McWhorter, a rifle-toting soldier was born the son of Henry McWhorter (originally Taliefero Co) and Julia Washington (Morgan Co), Georgia on June 25. 1894. He was the 9th born of 16 who lived.

He was previously enlisted in the (RA) Regular Army and stationed at Columbus Barracks OH as a member of the 25th Infantry of the 15th division of the Harlem NY National Guard. He was discharged from the RA on Apr 23rd and re-enlisted in WWI on Apr 24th of 1913. The 24th Infantry was one of the very first all black infantries formed in the WWI Era. They were sent to Houston to guard the new recruits from Chicago’s famed Illinois 8th Division National Guard.

Elmer James Lucy

Submitted by: Anthony Chakurian {Great Grandson}

no photo 300 Elmer James Lucy was born around 1893. Elmer Lucy served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1919.

Story of Service

Elmer James Lucy was born on 21 Nov 1893 in San Francisco, California. His service to his country started when he was drafted on 20 Dec 1917 into the U.S. Army. He reported to his Draft Board on 24 Dec 1917 in San Francisco where he was inducted.

Then Elmer Lucy was sent to Camp Lewis, Washington, where he was mobilized and trained. During his training, Elmer Lucy was selected to be in the military police and was added to Company A of the 4th Military Police, which was part of the 4th Infantry Division. His unit was shipped out to Europe from Hoboken, New Jersey on the ship the Wilhelmina on 10 May 1918.

Abraham Bock

Submitted by: Paul Osman {resident of village}

no photo 300

Abraham Bock was born around 1889. Abraham Bock served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1918.

Story of Service

See attached article commemorating the 100th anniversary of our small village's first death in WW1. Printed in the Williamsville Village Newsletter (written by Paul Osman).

Pvt Gus Austin

Submitted by: Johnette Brooks {ALA Post 523 Mem/WWI Colored Troops Genealogist}

no photo 300 Pvt Gus Austin born around 1888. Pvt Gus Austin served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1918 and the service was completed in 1918.

Story of Service

Red Clay Hero Buried @ Arlington National Cemetery

Series Article #2 by Johnette Brooks

Pvt. Gus Austin (Serial # 2,710,430) was born on March 22, 1888 in Milledgeville, Georgia to Robert and Rose Austin. He was inducted in the Selective Service in Philadelphia, PA on 30 APR 1918. He was mustered at Camp Meade (Middleton PA) and entrained into the 154th Depot Brigade.

After a very short training period, he was assigned to the very first all-colored 92nd Infantry Division’s 184th Infantry Brigade; 368th Infantry aka the “Buffalo Division”. Gus sailed from Hoboken NJ on the USS Geo Washington on 15 June 1918 and arrived in France on 19 June 1918.

Dalton Ranlet

Submitted by: Linda Gagen {niece}

Dalton Ranlet

Dalton Ranlet was born around 1900. Dalton Ranlet served in World War 1 with the United States Army . The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1917.

Story of Service

My uncle, Dalton Ranlet, lied about his age to enlist in the 11th Engineers (Railway), which was one of the first regiments to go to France. In November 1917 he died in the Battle of Gouzeaucourt, which was the first time an American unit fought as a unit in World War I. His body was lost in the rubble and not recovered until 1955. He was then buried in the Somme Cemetery, without notifying the family.

My mother was born three years after Dalton’s death and grew up hearing stories of her brother’s service and death. In 2012, I learned that he was buried in France while researching family history. That discovery began a long process of searching for records both in the United States and France to learn more about Dalton.

Over time I met the citizens and officials for Gouzeaucourt, who expressed an interest in creating a memorial to the 11th Engineers. With the help of my friend Leo, we located the 11th Engineer Battalion Association, who gladly funded the construction of a memorial.

Archie Henry Thomas

Submitted by: Gregory Neifeld {Great-Grandson}

Archie Henry Thomas born around 1885. Archie Thomas served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1909 and the service was completed in 1925.

Story of Service

Between April and September 1916, Archie was stationed on the Mexican border in California with the Oregon Third Infantry Regiment, Company I during the Mexican Border War. His regiment was activated into federal service after Pancho Villa’s raid in Columbus, New Mexico. While on the border, Archie was promoted to Corporal in July 1916 and he was promoted to Sergeant before his return to Oregon in September.

This was an era in which the U.S.-Mexico border was perceived as a potential location for a German-funded invasion by Mexico. Border service went into effect when this threat was exposed by the British interception of the Zimmerman Telegram. This message discussed Germany's alliance proposal for Mexico if the U.S. entered the European war against Germany.

Franklin Theodore Rhodes

Submitted by: Debra Dudek {Grand Niece}

Franklin Theodore Rhodes born around 1902. Franklin Rhodes served in World War 1 with the United States Army Air Corps. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1919.

Story of Service

Franklin T. Rhodes, known as Frank to his friends and family, enlisted in the Army Air Corps on November 17, 1917. Although he was only fifteen at the time, Frank and a group of friends joined the service together at the Army enlistment office in Fort Wayne.

Frank's parents, Elmer and Ida (nee Pope) Rhodes may have supported his bid to enlist in the Army at such an early age, however, no documentation or official release records exist. Frank recalled later how the the enlistment officer looked him, a strapping farm boy of 5'6 claiming to be 18, and how the officer did not hesitate to accept his enlistment papers.

It is possible he enlisted without his parent's permission, and they simply accepted the decision out of patriotism and Frank's ability to send money home for the family. Frank's older brother, George A. Rhodes had joined the 303 Motor Transport Corps in Detroit, MI around the same time. The Rhodes family had two sons in service, one in the air and one on the ground.