Marshall Dunnaville Sr.

Submitted by: Wilhelmina Leigh {granddaughter}

 

Marshall Dunnaville Sr. was born around 1888. Marshall Dunnaville 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

 

I never met my grandfather, Marshall Edward Dunnaville; he died before I was born. I have a few photographs of him, but none of him in his military uniform. The paper trail left from his World War I service indicates that he enlisted in the U.S. Army on August 1, 1918, in Roanoke, VA. He was a Private in Company D of the 807th Pioneer Infantry, a unit comprised of African-American servicemen, and he participated in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France.

While on his way to France and back, Marshall sent souvenir postcard folders to my grandmother-to-be, “the girl he left behind” but married upon his return. These folders featured scenes of Camp Upton, in Yaphank, Long Island, NY, and of Camp Lee, VA. The folder with photos of Camp Upton (postmarked August 25, 1918) was sent using a one-cent stamp, and the folder with photos of Camp Lee (postmarked July 8, 1919) was sent using a two-cent stamp! I would guess that he crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the U.S.S. Orizaba, because an unsent souvenir postcard folder with photos of this ship was also among his World War I memorabilia.

In addition, my grandfather brought back postcards of the “Guerre 1914-1916” that had been produced by the French government to show the damage inflicted by the Germans at various sites on their soil. When he returned to the United States, Pvt. Marshall E. Dunnaville was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army at Camp Lee, VA, on July 16, 1919.