Stories of Service

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Rajab Ali

Submitted by: Tanveer Kalo

no photo 300 Private Rajab Ali served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The dates of service are: Known June 23, 1918 to May 29, 1919.

Private Rajab Ali on Januray 13, 1892 in Calcutta, India. He was amrried to Honuffa Ali. She was born on June 4, 1897 in Hooghly, India. He arrived to New York City from Liverpool, England on June 27, 1911. Ali settled down at 134 King St. Charleston, South Carolina after his arrival.

Rajab Ali registrated for the U.S. Army on June 5, 1917. It is importnat to note his drfat card listed his race as white. On June 14, 1916, Ali declared his intent for U.S. naturalization.

He was inducted in the army on June 23, 1918. Ali trained at Camp Jackson, South Carolina. He was part of field artillery unit 12th Battery August Automatic Replacement Draft.

Ali and his unit departed from Newsport News, Virgina on August 22, 1918 for France on ship Dante Allighieri.

Private Rajab Ali returned to his home in Charleston, South Carolina after the war. On October 6, 1919, Ali petitioned for U.S. naturalization.

Sher Khan

Submitted by: Tanveer Kalo

no photo 300 Sher Khan served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The dates of service are: Known July 22, 1918- December 6, 1918.

Private Sher Khan was born on January 13, 1890 in Locknow, British East Indies. He came to the United States sometime prior to 1918 and settled down in New York City.

On July 22, 1918, Khan was inducted into the U.S. Army in New York City. He was assigned to 152 Depot Brigade in Camp Upton, New York until his discharge. It is interesting to note that his New York state military service abstract listed him as not white. Sher Khan did not serve overseas. Private Khan was honorably discharged on December 6, 1918.

Sher Khan died on March 20, 1944 at age of 54. He is buried in Old Mission Cemetery in Wichita, Kansas.

Virgil Harry Stein

Submitted by: Douglas Frye

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Virgil Harry Stein served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The dates of service are: Known June 8, 1917 to May 17, 1919.

Stein, Virgil H., West Richfield Cemetery, Richfield, OH, WWI, DC/OB: b. 10 May 1891 in Clark, OH, living in the Bellville area for the past six and a half years, d. 12 Nov 1983 in Mansfield, OH, bu. 15 Nov 1983, a veteran of the US Army, SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1MMO

Name: Virgil H. Stein, Serial Number: 94124, Race: W, Residence: Rittman, OH, Enlistment Division: National Guard, Enlistment Location: Wadsworth, OH, Enlistment Date: 8 Jun 1917, Birth Place: Clark, OH, Birth Date/Age: 26 Years, Assigns Comment: Co G 8 Infantry ONG to 16 Aug 1917; Co G 4 Infantry ONG (Co G 166 Infantry) to Discharge Corporal 19 Sept 1917; Sergeant 8 Oct 1918. Champagne-Marne; Aisne-Marne; St Mihiel; Meuse-Argonne; Defensive Sector. Wounded In Action slightly 16 Oct 1918. American Expeditionary Forces 18 Oct 1917 to 25 Apr 1919. Honorable discharge 17 May 1919. Volume #: 16

Harry Shankman

Submitted by: Ronald Miller

Harry Shankman mug Harry Shankman served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The dates of service are: Known 1917/1919.

Harry Shankman’s W.W.I. Service History

PFC Harry Shankman: Private First Class, E-2, Service #1390206

Member of Company "L" (4th Platoon) . . . of the 3rd Battalion . . . Of the 132 Infantry Regiment . . . of the 66th Brigade . . . of the 33rd "Prairie" Division.

The 33 DIVISION (The Prairie Division) was comprised of the troops from the Illinois National Guard. They trained at Camp Logan, TX then sailed for France in May 1918. The 33rd served with the Australians at the Amines sector, and was represented by units at Verdun and at the Meuse-Argonne. As a division, the 33rd Division spent 27 days in active sectors and 32 days in quiet sectors. It captured 3,987 prisoners-a record for a National Guard Division - and advanced 36 km (22 miles) against the enemy while sustaining 989 battle deaths & 6,266 wounded.

Most combat operations were either about 70 miles north of Paris, or about 135 east of Paris.

The 66th Brigade was reformed from the 1st and 2nd Illinois Regiments as part of the 33rd Division at Camp Logan, Texas, in 1917. The Brigade arrived in France aboard the Mt. Vernon at the port of Brest on May 24,1918 for service in World War I. They marched across France starting on May 26th and were within 30 miles of Metz, France when the war ended. Before the Armistice was signed the Brigade had fought at Hamel, Chippilly Ridge, Gussair Woods, the Somme Offensive, Verdun, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and St. Mihiel during their six months in battle. After a brief period serving as part of the Army of Occupation in Luxembourg, the Brigade returned to the United States and was mustered out of federal service in May 1919.

Clarence W. Worst

Submitted by: Robert P. Worst, Sr.

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Clarence W. Worst served in World War 1 with the United States Army . The dates of service are: Unknown .

Served in France as an ambulance driver 1918, with the 28th Division Pennsylvania.

Served with a good friend, by the last name of Goode. They were know as Goode and Worst. Their commanding officer thought was so funny that he gave them a pass to Paris.

Dewey E. Willoughby

Submitted by: Denise Arie

Dewey Willoughby 300

Dewey E. Willoughby served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The dates of service are: Known June 18, 1916 - July 3, 1919.

Sgt 124th Machine Gun Battalion (National Guard Division from Illinois) - fought along the Western Front of Le Hamel and in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Was gassed while serving. Died of related health issues at age 47. Son of Wilson and Laura Logue Willoughby. Husband of Leona Roberts Willoughby.

William "Bill" Connolly

Submitted by: T. J. Cullinane

William Bill Connolly

William "Bill" Connolly served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The dates of service are: Known 1917 - 1919.

Remembering Our Family’s World War One Veteran

William Alfred Connolly
(September 6, 1895 – May 13, 1962)

Long before he was wounded while serving as a Sergeant in the Quartermaster Corps during the First World War, Massachusetts native William A. “Bill” Connolly had somewhat the reputation of a daredevil. Whether he was acting on a dare or fleeing from a ruler wielding harridan of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, Connolly jumped from a second story window at St. Joseph’s Institute at 43 Green Street in Lynn. He somehow survived unscathed, at least until he returned to school the next day….

Bill was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Thomas F. Connolly and Ellen (Logue) Connolly. When Bill was just a toddler, his mother died after falling down a flight of stairs. Bill and his younger brother Steve, who would one day become the writer’s grandfather, were taken to the nearby city of Lynn to live with relatives. As we read above, Bill was educated by the Sisters of Saint Joseph, but as they say, “it didn’t take.” When Congress declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, Bill was 21 years of age and living at 45 Eutaw Ave in Lynn.

Private Sadeck Ali Mollah

Submitted by: Tanveer Kalo

no photo 300

Private Sadeck Ali Mollah served in World War 1 with the United States Army . The dates of service are: Known August 3, 1918 to October 12, 1918.

Private Sadeck Ali Mollah was born on Janurary 14, 1891 in Hooghly West Bengal, India. He arrived to the United States prior to 1917.

He settled in Charleston, South Carolina and New York City.

By 1917 he lived at 134 King St Charleston, South Carolina.

He married Elisabeth A Pfoff on May 3, 1918 in Bronx, New York.

In South Carolina, Mollah was a peddler and merchant before being inducted in the U.S. Army.

Mollah was entrained on July 14, 1918 and sent to Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina. He was inducted into the U.S. Army on August 3, 1918. it is interesting to note that on Mollah's World War I draft, his race was listed as white or Caucasian.

He was sent to Camp Upton in New York and was part of the 32 Company 8 Battalion 152 Depot Brigade until August 14, 1918. Private Mollah was then transferred to Company M, 3rd Dev battalion until his death.

Sgt. Stubby

Submitted by: Laura A. Macaluso

Stubby

Sgt. Stubby served in World War 1 as a military service animal. The dates of service are: Known July 1917-April 1919.

In 2018, Stubby, a street dog from New Haven, Connecticut, will achieve what few other canines who served during World War I can claim: he will be the subject of a full-length animated film shown across the nation. He is already seen by thousands of tourists every year—a version of him stands erect near Cher Ami the famous carrier pigeon of WWI in the National Museum of American History. His famous coat of medals, a harness and a collar are all in the museum’s collection of nationally significant war material.

Although the story of Stubby can be traced through the medals and inscriptions his coat and collar document, the question still boggles the mind—just how did a street dog end up traveling with a Doughboy on the western front during the last eighteen months of a horrendous world war?

The Western front today is peaceful. Off the beaten track for most tourists, eastern France, where the Yankee Division fought, is a land of rolling hills, farms, vineyards, forests and small towns. Military cemeteries for World War I—French, Belgian, German, American—are not hard to find. Bob Conroy and Stubby could have ended up in one of the American cemeteries, just like 80 members of the 102nd Regiment after the small, but deadly Battle of Seicheprey in April of 1918, but, they did not, and after healing from gas and shrapnel wounds, continued participating in all of the campaigns of the war until its end on November 11, 1918.

Private Birendra M. Biswas

Submitted by: Tanveer Kalo {Affiliation name:value}

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Private Birendra M. Biswas served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The dates of service are: Known August, 20 1918 to December 30, 1918.

Birendra M. Biswas was born in Calcutta, India. Biswas' exact birth date is contested because several of his documents have different dates. He immigrated to the United States in 1912. and settled in 355 Hicks Street Brooklyn, New York.

Private Biswas was inducted into the U.S. Army on August 20, 1918 in Brooklyn. It is interesting to note that both his World War I and New York military service abstract listed his race as white. He was assigned to the Quartermaster Corps at Camp Meigs in Washington D.C. until his discharge. He did not serve overseas.

He filed a petition for naturalization while serving in the U.S. Army on October 24, 1918.

Biswas was honorably discharged on December 30, 1918.

After the war, Biswas returned to Brooklyn. By 1920 he still lived at 355 Hicks Street. By 1930, Biswas lived by himself at 2732 West Street and worked in the crystal gazer industry. His 1930 listed his race as Indian and language as Bengali. He lived at 27-95 Ocean Parkway.