“Old soldiers fade away” – Missouri veteran served in the predecessor to U.S. Air Force in WWI 

By Jeremy P. Ämick
via the War History Online web site

During World War I, enlisted men such as Linkenmeyer flew as observers/gunners in the second seat of the De Havilland DH-4, which was modeled after an aircraft used by the British forces. The fence surrounding Woodland Cemetery-Old City Cemetery in Jefferson City, Mo., hems in hundreds of graves, many of those occupied by veterans of the nation’s wars, said Nancy Thompson, chairman of the Cemetery Resources Board of the City of Jefferson. But within the confines of this hallowed space lie the resting spots of only two known WWI veterans—one of whom served in the budding American Air Service, which years later morphed into the the U.S. Air Force.

Harold Linkenmeyer was born in Jefferson City on July 18, 1893, the son William Linkenmeyer, a German immigrant who later became chief engineer for the former G.H. Dulle Milling Company in Jefferson City.

In later years, when the younger Linkenmeyer came of age, he embarked upon his career by becoming a machinist for the former A. Priesmeyer Shoe Company in Jefferson City. This is where he was employed, his military service card indicates, when his draft lottery number was selected.

Inducted into the U.S. Army on September 20, 1917, the 24-year-old Linkenmeyer was assigned to Company M, 356th Infantry Regiment, which was “composed chiefly of men from Cole, Boone, Henry, Andrews, St. Louis and Jackson Counties” in Missouri, as was written in the official company history from World War I.

As the book goes on to explain, Linkenmeyer and his fellow recruits faced many challenges while stationed at Camp Funston, Kan., surviving “epidemics of Meningitis and other less serious diseases” in addition to overcoming a “shortage of clothing, equipment and facilities for training” during the early weeks of their initial training cycle.

Read the whole article on the War History Online web site:

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