Ohio Humanities Announces WWI-Related Funded Projects

By David Merkowitz, PhD, Assistant Director, Ohio Humanities

May 10, 2018

Dated November 1917, this photograph shows Colonel Webb C. Hayes standing with nine Italian military men in Padua, Italy. Learn more about the Hayes family and WWI by visiting the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums. Image via Ohio Memory.

World War I was an epoch defining event in world history. Ohio’s role in the war and the ways that the war and its aftermath shaped the history of Ohio continues to be significant and thoroughly underappreciated. Ohio Humanities, the state-based partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is pleased to be able to support the public humanities and history programming of history organizations across the state as they explore the history and its continuing impact of World War I on Ohio. In 2018, Ohio Humanities has invested $45,000 in four projects.

Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont is carrying out the project, “Patriotism & Protest: Engaging our Veterans.” The centerpiece of the project is the exhibit: “A Family of Service: The Hayeses in World War I.” This new exhibit commemorates the one hundred year anniversary of World War I, and seeks to interpret the history of the average soldier and public support and dissent towards the military action.

A consortium of organizations in Summit County - Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, The University of Akron Archival Services, the Akron-Summit County Public Library, and the Summit County Historical Society – have come together to produce the documentary film, “Summit County and the Great War: In the Words of Those Who Served.” The film brings 100-year-old letters, photographs, memoirs and other World War I-era documents housed in local collections to life through stories told via dramatic readings sandwiched between context-setting narration and on-camera expert interviews.

The Columbus Historical Society is developing an exhibition entitled "We Shall Remember Them: How Columbus Remembered The Great War."" This endeavor seeks engage the public in a discussion about how the city has chosen to remember World War I since its end in 1918.  "We Shall Remember Them"" will reveal the ways that Columbus residents shaped and communicated the war's memory, through the construction of memorials, monuments, cemeteries, and an urban landscape that reflected the names and events related to the war itself. The project will also consider the role veterans played in postwar Columbus society.      

The Kent Historical Society in partnership with the Kent Free Library is developing the exhibition, “Kent and the Great War” to commemorate the 100th anniversary of WWI.  The exhibition examines the war from soldiers’ and nurses’ points of view and contrasts that with the view put forth by the federal government and the U.S. military.  A wide array of artifacts will be exhibited including military uniforms and paraphernalia, photographs, newspaper articles, war posters, souvenirs, and postcards. The exhibition also premiers many outstanding, never-before-exhibited collections of photographs taken by soldiers, personal diaries, and letters to and from the front.

To learn more about these projects, please visit ohiohumanities.org in the coming months.

 The Creation of the 37^th “Buckeye” Division

By Cyrus Moore III, Ohio World War I Centennial Committee

May 2, 2018

Company C, 135th Machine-Gun Battalion, 37th Division. during Training at Camp Sheridan. Co. C was formed from the Machine-Gun Company of the 7th Infantry, Ohio National Guard. Photo courtesy of the Southeast Ohio History Center. 

Ohio was one of only a few states to have its National Guard form a complete division in the First World War. Because of its pre-war origins, the 37^th Division became known in the military as the “Buckeye” Division, and it adopted the bullseye from the Ohio state flag as its insignia. However, its composition was like that of other divisions, and contained many men who had not been part of the pre-war Ohio National Guard (ONG). The Ohioans who formed the core of the division were fortunate to be able to preserve their state identity in the massive Federal Army created by the War Department.

Before the Ohio National Guard entered Federal service in 1917, it was organized by a regimental system, with each regiment and its individual companies coming from a certain geographical area. It consisted of nine infantry regiments, one independent African-American infantry battalion, two artillery regiments, engineer companies, a signal battalion, ammunition trains, military police, and headquarters troops. Despite the variety, the ONG bore a closer resemblance to the volunteer armies of 1861 than the massive armies waging war in Europe in 1917. The crucial difference was the ONG’s use of brigades as self-contained formations, which contained two to four regiments and a few thousand soldiers. Armies in Europe were fighting on a much larger scale. Divisions were the standard formation, which consisted of multiple brigades and with tens of thousands of soldiers. To fight effectively in Europe, the ONG, along with the rest of the US military, had to reorganize on a divisional system.

Ohio began mobilizing its National Guard in the Spring of 1917. Existing ONG companies recruited to full strength as new recruits full of patriotic fervor joined up while new companies and even a new regiment were formed. The pre-war ONG lacked the artillery necessary to form a division, so cavalry and some infantry companies were converted to artillery. Through the influx of additional soldiers, expanding the artillery, and Ohio Governor James Cox’s heavy lobbying, the War department allowed the Ohio National Guard to enter the federal army as its own division, one of only a few states to do so.

General Pershing created a division model for the American Expeditionary Force, known as a “Square Division” due to the four infantry regiments at the core. To compensate for the soldiers inexperience, Pershing and his staff made the regiments and divisions much larger than those of European armies. A typical US regiment would number over 3,000 men, while a division would be around 27,000.

In September and October of 1917, the Ohio National Guard began leaving its home state, bound for Camp Sheridan, Alabama. At Camp Sheridan the ONG entered the federal army and reorganized into a division. The Ohio National Guard became the 37th Division, known as the “Buckeye” division.

Table 1: Order of Battle (component units) for the 37th Division

Significantly, the regiments and battalions of the new divisions lacked any state designations. They were numbered according to their position in the Federal Army. State origins remained but only in the nicknames, which soon became official. Though some state regiments were renumbered and stayed mostly together, often men from the various state regiments were scattered across the division to raise the new regiments to strength. To further augment division strength, soldiers from other states and draftees from across the country were added to the constituent regiments.

Ohio National Guard officers were scattered even more than their men. The War Department wanted experienced Regular Army officers in high ranking positions, but National Guard officers could not be dismissed without causing resentment. Guard officers were used to fill lower positions wherever needed, and were thus often sent far from their original outfits.

When compared to the pre-Federalized composition of the Ohio National Guard, the 37^th Division is much more robust; it was better balanced in terms of infantry to other troop types, and contained equipment necessary for modern warfare, such as machine-guns and heavy mortars. Though heavily restructured, the division contained many Ohioans and preserved its state identity.

Bibliography

Cole, Ralph D. and W. C. Howells. The Thirty-Seventh Division in the World War, 1917-1919. 2   Vols. Columbus, OH: The Thirty-seventh Division Veterans Association. 1926.

Grotelueschen, Mark E. The AEF Way of War: The American Army and combat in World War I. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. 2007.

Teacher Resources Now Available: World War I and the American Home Front

By Kristen Newby, WWI Project Coordinator, Ohio History Connection

 The 1919 Victory Liberty Loan drive was the fifth and final issue of the Liberty Loan, bonds sold during World War I to finance the war. The Victory Liberty Loan was intended to raise enough funds to offset debt accrued from wartime expenses. This poster encourages Americans to purchase Victory Liberty Loans, showing a U.S. submarine approaching American ships. Via Ohio Memory.

As part of the Little Stories of the Great War: Ohioans in World War I project, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Ohio History Connection has released the first in a series of three free resource guides and classroom activities, with this set covering the American home front during World War I. Created primarily for high school teachers, the resource guide ‘Will you have a part in Victory?’: World War I and the American Home Front lists sample primary sources in the World War I Collection on Ohio Memory pertaining to civilian contributions to the national war effort. The war posters, letters, and photographs highlighted in the resource guide engage students with the many ways Americans supported the war, including purchasing war bonds and war savings stamps, volunteering with the American Red Cross, growing produce in victory gardens, and rationing food and conserving other materials like metals, rubber, and gasoline.

The classroom activity, Conservation in the First World War, includes three activities utilizing primary sources to engage students with food conservation measures used during World War I. These activities require students to explore the World War I digital collection, and each can be completed in one class period or assigned as homework. Students can critically examine World War I posters encouraging Americans to contribute to the war effort, read a bulletin published in local Ohio newspapers informing readers about reducing food consumption, or create a week-long meal plan for a family of five which incorporates home-grown produce and aligns with the U.S. Food Administration’s conservation days.

Check back soon for the next bundle of educator resources! If you have any questions, please contact project staff at [email protected]

Download the resource guide

Download the classroom activity

Faces in the Book: A Bridge between the U.S. and Italy

By Kristen Newby, WWI Project Coordinator, Ohio History Connection

April 19, 2018

In commemoration of the centennial anniversary of Armistice Day, the Museo della Battaglia Vittorio Veneto (Museum of the Battle of Vittorio Veneto) in Italy has created a website called Faces in the Book (facesinthebook.it) which commemorates the men of the American 332^nd Infantry Regiment who fought in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. Researchers Giorgio Marinello and Franco Giuseppe Gobbato created Faces in the Book in conjunction with a permanent installation at the Memoriale dei Cavalieri in Vittorio Veneto, highlighting America’s intervention in Italy during World War I.

This panoramic photograph shows Company E at Camp Sherman near Chillicothe, Ohio. By the end of World War I, more than 120,000 soldiers trained at Camp Sherman. More photographs of the 332nd Infantry Regiment are available on Ohio Memory here. Via Ohio Memory.

Assembled and trained at Camp Sherman near Chillicothe, Ohio, one of sixteen army training camps across the nation, the 332^nd Infantry was part of the 83^rd Division, also known as the “Ohio Division,” as the most of its men were from Ohio. The 332^nd was training in France in May 1918, when General Pershing selected the unit to be sent to the Italian Front at the request of the Italian government. In late July 1918, a total of 4,000 soldiers and 125 officers, including the 331^st Infantry Regiment medical unit, arrived in Villafrance di Verona, Italy, under the command of Colonel William Wallace. The 332^nd was called to Italy for propaganda purposes with two responsibilities—to bolster the morale of the Italian people, and to trick Austrian forces into thinking there was a large American presence in Italy. The men regularly organized staged marches on the Italian lines along the Piave River, without engaging in combat, changing their location and uniforms daily to convince Austrian aero-observers that large numbers of American units were deployed there. Italian government officials even requested that the American unit selected have as few Italian-Americans as possible, so that Austria would not entertain the possibility that these were Italian troops disguised as Americans. The 332^nd also participated in public events like military medal decoration ceremonies, enabling them to interact with Italian civilians in cities and towns along the front.

Finally in October 1918, the 332^nd Infantry was summoned to advance to the front lines and cross the Piave. The 332^nd was assigned to the Italian 31^st Division, and marched as part of the British XIV Corps across the Italian line in pursuit of fleeing Austrian troops crossing the Tagliamento River. Allied troops continued to push forward and seized the Austrian position on November 4^th. Later that day, Italian and Austro-Hungarian officials signed an armistice agreement, ending conflict on the Italian Front, and bringing an end to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

View the portraits of the men who served in Company K of the 332nd Infantry Regiment here. Via Faces in the Book.

Faces in the Book features content from two books owned by a private collector; History of Company K which contains photographs of each member of the company, and a book which lists the names of the men of Company E. Each soldier’s photograph from History of Company K is available here, and the names and addresses of members of Company E are available here in a full-text searchable PDF document.

Creators Gobbato and Giorgio hope for Faces in the Book to “[establish] a bond between Vittorio Veneto and all those living in the USA, who will now have an additional tool to keep alive the memory of their ancestors, with the awareness that, after more than a century, their contribution in the Great War is still very much alive in the historical memory of our country and is continuously reflected in the relations between our two nations, based on peace and solidarity.” Faces in the Book highlights one of the many ways Ohioans contributed to World War I, and celebrates the memories of loved ones from across our state and nation.

The Museo della Battaglia Vittorio Veneto has an open call for documents or photographs relating to the 332^nd Infantry. For more information about Faces in the Book, or to speak to project staff about sharing your private collections, please send inquiries to [email protected]

In honor of National Library Week, we're excited to bring you this story highlighting the important role libraries played during World War I.

The Library War Service in Ohio

By Penelope Shumaker, Metadata Librarian, State Library of Ohio

April 12, 2018

The Camp Sherman library, May 29, 1918, via Ohio Memory.

During World War I, Camp Sherman’s Major General Glenn wrote to W.H. Brett, a librarian at Cleveland Public Library, to ask him to help change the perception that soldiers don’t have time to read, and to encourage the donations for camp libraries.  Glenn emphasized that “there is no one thing that will be of greater value to the men in his cantonment in producing contentment with their surroundings than properly selected reading material.”

Libraries across Ohio answered the call.  In 1917 the American Library Association authorized the State Library Commissioners to take charge of War Library Service in Ohio.  The board created the statewide book drive, called the Book-for-Every-Soldier campaign, which held book drives in every county.  Over 250,000 books were donated to this campaign.  The State Library of Ohio’s Traveling Library program also loaned 500 volumes to the 7^th Regiment of the Ohio National Guard.

Many of the books gathered in Ohio were directed to the camp library at Camp Sherman, which was located near Chillicothe.  A librarian from the Chillicothe Library, Burton Egbert Stevenson, was appointed as the Camp Librarian.  Stevenson was a noted novelist and war activist.  During the war he was a prolific writer in the War Library Bulletin and ALA War Service Library Report for Congress.  At Camp Sherman, Stevenson worked to have a comfortable and well-stocked library of 40,000 volumes.  To create an atmosphere of comfort and a sense of home, he successfully advocated for a fireplace in the library. 

Soldiers sorting deliveries in the newspaper room at the Camp Sherman library, via Ohio Memory.

In addition to the book drives, Stevenson wrote to every newspaper published in Ohio and western Pennsylvania, requesting five complimentary copies of each publication for the library.  His efforts resulted in over 300 papers delivered to the cam.  Along with the fireplace, these newspapers gave the soldiers a reminder of home with the local news coverage from the soldiers’ hometowns.

In the ALA’s War Service Library Report. Stevenson noted soldiers’ interest in books challenged his expectations.  While men often read fiction, he wrote, “when I started this work…I had some very plausible theories about the kinds of the books the men would want; but I soon discarded them.  We have requests for every sort of book, from some books by Gene Stratton Porter to Boswell’s ‘Life of Johnson’ and Bergson’s ‘Creative Evolution.’  We have had requests for Ibsen’s plays, books on sewage disposal, and so many requests for ‘A Message to Garcia’ that I had a supply mimeographed” (1918).   Only banned books – such as those advocating pacifism, or with pro-German, anti-capitalist, or pro-socialist themes, were not made available by Stevenson and other camp librarians like him.  However, Stevenson continued to work to have a wide variety of books for the soldiers, and contributions from libraries and parlors across the state helped him achieve this goal. 

The Library War Service hit its peak in 1919 but continued directing reading materials towards service members through the end of the war in 1920.  Meanwhile, Camp Sherman was one of the last World War I Army training camps to be commissioned in 1921.  Additional information on camp libraries and the Library War Service’s efforts can be found via the following sources:

The American Library Association Archives: A Book for Every Man: The ALA Library War Service

The American Library Association: Library War Service

Ohio Memory (to see images and other Camp Sherman-related images, click here)

Introducing the Ohio Poppy Project

By Amy Rohmiller, Ohio World War I Coordinator, Ohio History Connection 

April 4, 2018

Help us commemorate the sacrifices of Ohio’s World War I service members! The Ohio World War I Centennial Committee is collecting homemade poppies from communities across Ohio for the commemoration of the Armistice that ended World War I and to recognize the hundreds of thousands of forgotten Ohioans who served in that war.

The Ohio Poppy Project wants to help communities across Ohio connect to their World War I history and honor World War I soldiers across the state. Our goal is to collect poppies until fall 2018 and display all the collected poppies at the Ohio History Center in Columbus as part of the 100^th anniversary of the end of World War I on November 11, 2018.  Making poppies can be an easy, meaningful way for your historical society, community group, school class, or scout troop to commemorate The Great War.

Ohio played a major role in World War I in almost every area you can think of.  As a state, Ohio sent the 4^th most troops in the country and about 5% of the entire nation’s military manpower. Ohio was the home of Camp Sherman, the third largest training camp for soldiers. Over 120,000 soldiers trained at the camp outside of Chillicothe. 

Poppies became a symbol of World War I and the contributions of our nation’s soldiers during the war with the publication of the poem In Flanders Fields by John McCrae. The poem memorializes soldiers who fought on the Western front, especially in northern Belgium. This area saw some of the worst fighting of the war. Poppies continue to be a symbol of World War I today.

If you would like to join our commemoration and make poppies, we have resources and templates to help.

• Lesson plan on the history of poppies and World War I
• Template for paper poppies
• Variety of templates for other materials

If your class or group makes poppies and would like to have them displayed at the Ohio History Center during the 100^th anniversary of the end of World War I, you can ship them to:

Ohio World War I Committee
Ohio History Connection,
800 East 17^th Ave,
Columbus OH 43211

The Ohio Poppy Project is inspired by the Kentucky Poppy Project.

Ohio Women in World War I

By Shannon Kupfer, Digital Initiatives Librarian, State Library of Ohio 

April 3, 2018

Women have served in every United States war since before the country had a name.  Sometimes they served in secret, dressing in men’s garb and hiding their identity.  Those who wished to serve openly sometimes did so as nurses, an occupation that was crucial to the war effort but which relegated them to a role more “appropriate” for females.  Others served through efforts such as growing victory gardens, knitting warm woolens for American troops, or working in other domestic wartime efforts. 

Then came World War I and the Naval Act of 1916.  Signed into law by Woodrow Wilson, the Naval Act of 1916 – also called the Big Navy Act – was designed to increase the Navy’s size, with a goal of making it the largest in the world.  To that end, recruitment was a high priority, and it was through a loophole in the recruitment language that women gained entry into the armed services.  Specifically, the language said that “all persons who may be capable of performing special useful service for coastal defense” were eligible to enlist, but made no mention of limiting recruitment to men.  According to Prologue Magazine, “After reviewing the act, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels and the Bureau of Navigation (the forerunner to the Bureau of Personnel) concluded that the language did not prohibit women from enlisting in the reserves. The act gave the Navy a previously untapped resource that allowed administrative operations to be carried out by naval personnel and freed able-bodied men to serve aboard ships.”  The women would be given the title Yeoman (F); “F” stood for “female,” though the women quickly became known as “yeomanettes.”  Initially, their duties were largely clerical and administrative, but expanded to include mechanical work, cryptography, making of munitions, and other duties.  By the end of the war, thousands of women had enlisted in the armed services.

Woodsfield High School newspaper article on Okey, an alumna of the school, via Ohio Memory.

Ouida Mabel Okey, of Graysville, Ohio, enlisted in the Marines on October 22, 1918 – two months after Opha Mae Johnson became the first woman to enlist in the Marines – and continued her service through July 31, 1919.  Ms. Okey was one of three women from Ohio to serve in the Marine Reserves, the other two being Mildred A. Cowell of Marietta and Mary A. Williams of Youngstown.  According to the Woodsfield High School Dynamite, Ms. Okey’s alma mater’s newspaper, she was one of two hundred women chosen from a pool of five thousand applicants, and served in the Casualty Section of the Adjutant and Inspector’s Department of the Marines.  She, and other women like her “look[ed] after the details connected with discharges, allowances, the welfare of the wounded, their recreational activities and many other things…Besides this, the girls drill, do guard duty, etc.  In fact the girls are Marines.  Their ranking titles are the same and their punishment for infractions of discipline is the same as it is for their big brothers in the service for similar violations.”  Remarkably, at least for the time, the women also received the same wages as men, assuming they were also able to rise to the same rank. 

Though women were now allowed to enlist, other avenues for supporting the war effort still existed for them.  Many thousands chose nursing as a way to provide needed medical expertise, as well as comfort, to soldiers in need.  One such woman was Clara Edith Work Ayres.

Ms. Work Ayres was born in Attica, Ohio, in 1880.  At the age of twenty-three, she married Wayland Ayres, but her marriage was short-lived; in 1906, Mr. Ayres injured his hand and died three days later after contracting tetanus.  After her husband’s death, Ms. Ayres moved to Chicago, graduating from nursing school in 1913.   Not long after, just prior to America’s entry into the war, Ms. Ayres volunteered as a nurse for the Red Cross and was assigned to work in France.  Unfortunately, however, Ms. Ayres never arrived; while awaiting departure from New York, she was killed on her ship during a practice firing of weapons.  Incidentally, Ms. Ayres is considered to be the first American civilian to die in World War I, though this is debatable.  According to historian Marjorie Waterfield, the 128 Americans that drowned as a result of the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 were actually the first American civilians to die in the war, but Ms. Ayres was the first to be killed after America’s entry into the war. 

For women at home, the war offered opportunities that were not generally available to women during peacetime.  Women were often called upon to work in factories, holding jobs that were typically occupied by men.  Others worked with the Young Women’s Christian Association (Y.W.C.A.) to provide activities to men residing at Camp Sherman or other training camps, based inside or outside the U.S.   The Y.W.C.A. also facilitated relationships between American women and non-English speaking women residing in the U.S.: “Multitudes of foreign born women ignorant not only of the language of our country, but also of its laws and customs are left helpless when their men are summoned to the service…” The Y.W.C.A. responded to this need by opening centers where “foreign-tongued women may find friends at all times.”  The Y.W.C.A. warned of the perils of war for women who were unoccupied in productive efforts, including “blurring high ideals…letting down personal restraint…permitting loose social relationships.”   The war, on the other hand, “has opened to women a variety of employments hitherto regarded exclusively as men’s work,” making women the nation’s “second line of defense.”

 Those who chose not to, or were unable to, work outside the home or serve in the Navy or Marines still found ways to contribute to the war effort.  The Wagner Park Nursery Company of Sidney, Ohio, produced a pamphlet which advised women that “It is not only a patriotic duty to do your share in making your own ground bring forth needed vegetables but it is a privilege that yields rich dividends to you both in pleasure and health.”  Meanwhile, organizations like the Red Cross made knitting for soldiers a popular method of showing one’s support for soldiers; with the rallying cry of “knit for Sammie!” – “Sammie” being a nickname for soldiers fighting for Uncle Sam – women across Ohio and America knit a variety of clothing and accessories, often using patterns issued freely by the Red Cross themselves.

In September, 1918, just one month after the first woman enlisted in the Marines, President Woodrow Wilson expressed his support for a federal amendment to give women the right to vote.  How could the United States fight for liberty around the world when half of its citizens were denied the fundamental right of suffrage?  The companion argument, however, was based on sacrifices, such as those made by Ouida Okey, Clara Ayres, and the countless unnamed women who contributed to the war effort at home.  Their contributions entitled them to equal protection and equal rights, and those contributions, and the rights they gained, continue to inspire women a century later.

Sources:

HistoryLink: Knitting for Victory – World War I, accessed 3/29/2018

National Archives: Prologue Magazine, “The Story of Female Yeomen During the First World War;” accessed 3/28/2018

National Parks Service: Women’s Suffrage and World War I, accessed 3/29/2018

Red Cross Knitwear, accessed 3/29/2018

Smithsonian Magazine, “During World War I, Many Women Served and Some Got Equal Pay,” accessed 3/28/2018

Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Women in World War I, accessed 3/29/2018

Toledo Blade: “Historian Tells Story of Nurse Who Died at Start of World War I,” accessed 3/28/2018

United States Army: Women in the Army,  accessed 3/28/2018

Sources from Ohio Memory:

YWCA Pamphlet: War Work for Women, accessed 3/28/2018

YWCA Pamphlet: One Year with the War Work Council of the Y.W.C.A., accessed 3/28/2018

Seeds for your War Garden brochure, accessed 3/28/2018

Ohio Memory Blog: “Camp Sherman: ‘Ohio’s Soldier Factory,’” accessed 3/29/2018

Ohio Memory Blog: “Ohio Memory Madness 2014: Ouida Okey, the Girl Marine,” accessed 3/28/2018

Help Reveal the Untold Stories of Ohioans During World War I!

March 23, 2018

In this letter, Ohio native Harlan W. Johnson writes that a German spy was discovered at his camp in Austin, Texas, where he was attending the School of Military Aeronautics. Via Ohio Memory.

In an effort to commemorate the World War I Centennial, the Ohio History Connection is digitizing World War I collections from its own holdings, as well as cultural heritage institutions across Ohio, as part of the Little Stories of the Great War: Ohioans in World War I project, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). These collections are freely available in the World War I in Ohio Collection on Ohio Memory (www.ohiomemory.org).

As part of the Little Stories of the Great War project, the Ohio History Connection has developed an online transcription tool. You can help us share more of the story by helping to transcribe handwritten letters, diaries and more at http://transcribe.ohiohistory.org/! Transcribed text is added to the digital item’s record on Ohio Memory, making the content easier to discover and use. By taking time to transcribe these documents, you are helping to uncover and share the important experiences of Ohioans during the Great War. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact us at [email protected].

“Spring Forward, Fall Back”: Daylight Saving Time and World War I

By Kristen Newby, WWI Project Coordinator, Ohio History Connection

March 13, 2018

Last Sunday at 2am, America (with the exceptions of Arizona and Hawaii) turned its clocks forward one hour. Although we look forward to longer days with more sunlight in the spring and summer, and an extra hour of sleep in the fall, our bodies struggle to adjust our internal clocks to the time shift. People often suggest that daylight saving time is an obsolete measure, and actually counteracts its original intentions. Daylight saving time was a hotly contested topic even in its beginnings during World War I.

Germany was the first to enact daylight saving measures in April 1916, when Germany and its allies turned their clocks forward, with the United States and Great Britain soon to follow. On March 19, 1918, Congress passed President Wilson’s proposed Standard Time Act, or “An Act to save daylight and to provide standard time for the United States,” which divided the country into the five time zones in use today. Additional hours of daylight were intended to both increase productivity for wartime industries as well as conserve energy, as more hours of daylight meant less fuel consumption to for artificial light. With national and local programs for rationing food and conserving valuable materials like metals and rubber, daylight saving time was another way civilians on the American home front could support the war effort.

The May 30, 1918, issue of the Perrysburg Journal features this "On the Spur of the Moment" column by American humorist Roy K. Moulton, in which he describes a woman arrested for selling watered milk, claiming her cows ate “dew-laden grass” due to the lack of morning sun. Via Chronicling America.

Many believe daylight saving time was instituted to provide farmers with more daylight to increase agricultural production, especially during the war when there was a huge push for victory gardens at every home. However, farmers were one of the largest opponents of daylight saving time because more hours of daylight in the evenings meant fewer hours of daylight in the morning, which they heavily relied on for harvesting, preparing produce for market, and milking dairy cattle.

On August 22, 1919, the Medina Sentinel announces the repeal of the Standard Time Act. Via Chronicling America.

On April 20, 1919, the Standard Time Act was repealed over President Wilson’s veto, although some local governments maintained its use. Daylight saving time was re-instituted during World War II on February 9, 1942, when clocks were moved ahead an hour until the war’s end. After its repeal in September 1945, its use was once again deferred to local decision makers.

Congress passed the Uniform Time Act on April 13, 1966, under President Lyndon B. Johnson, which established daylight saving time across the United States and re-instituted the five time zones defined in the original 1918 legislation. The length of daylight saving time was later extended in 1986, and most recently in 2007 to the current daylight saving period from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November.

Ephraim Rose, Story of a World War I Soldier from Ohio

By John Haas, Manuscript Curator, Ohio History Connection 

March 9, 2018

Our story is about Ephriam Rose, an African American Ohio National Guardsman, born in West Jefferson Ohio in 1898.  In August 1916 his family was living in Lima Ohio and he joined the Ohio National Guard at Dayton and was a member of the 9^th Separate Battalion of Infantry Ohio National Guard.  At that time the Army and the United States National Guard was segregated and many states had separate or independent units of African American soldiers in their various state National Guards.   As you can see by the date, August 14, 1916, the United States had not entered the war yet and it was peace time in Ohio. 

In late 1916 the Ohio National Guard was mobilized to send troops to the Mexican border to guard it from incursions by Mexican Revolutionary Pancho Villa, and possibly other Mexican Revolution soldiers.  According to the sources here at the Ohio History Connection the 9^th Battalion of the Ohio National Guard stayed in Ohio.  However a newspaper article about the Rose family and their World War I service, states that Ephriam Rose served on the Mexican Border.  I believe that to be a mistake since it appears the 9^th Battalion stayed in Ohio.  They helped construct the Ohio National Guard training base and mobilization center at Camp Willis in Upper Arlington Ohio. 

When the United States entered World War I in April 1917 the entire Ohio National Guard was mobilized, including the 9^th Separate Battalion of Infantry, and prepared for war.  All the old Ohio National Guard unit numbers were changed to fit into the U. S. Army mobilization structure and the 9^th Battalion of Infantry of the Ohio National Guard became the 2^nd Battalion of the 372^nd Infantry Regiment.  The 372^nd was made up of all African American National Guard units from various states including Ohio, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Tennessee, Massachusetts and Connecticut.  The 372^nd was part of the 93^rd United States Infantry Division and they trained near Newport News Virginia.   The other units in the 93^rd Infantry Division (Provisional) were the 369^th Infantry Regiment, formerly the 15^th New York Infantry, known as “the Harlem Hell fighters”;  the 370^th Infantry, which had been the 8^th Illinois Infantry Regiment, “the Black Devils”; and the 371^st U.S. Infantry who were mostly non National Guard draftees or volunteers. 

Our soldier, Ephriam Rose, was listed as a Bugler with Company G, 2^nd Battalion, 372^nd Infantry regiment.  As you can see by the picture enclosed the Ohio History Connection has his dog tag, a photo, his Official Roster entry and a newspaper article about his service.  His unit left Newport News Virginia on March 30, 1918 aboard the Susquehanna and arrived at St.-Nazaire France.  He is listed as a member of the AEF, American Expeditionary Forces, from that date till he arrived back in Hoboken New Jersey on February 11, 1919, aboard the U.S.S. Leviathan.  The Leviathan sailed from Brest France on February 3, 1919. 

While in France the 2^nd Battalion, and our Ephriam Rose, of the 372^nd Infantry Regiment served with the French Army 157^th Infantry Division, the Red Hand Division, commanded by General Mariano F. J. Goybet.  You might ask: why did the 372^nd (and the 371^st as well) serve with a French Division?  Well the American general officers did not want to command black troops and did not want Black troops serving with their White troops.  So both the 93^rd Infantry Division (Provisional) and the 92^nd Infantry Division, also an African American unit, were given to the French Army and served with them till the war ended. 

Ephriam Rose and the 372^nd entered the front line trenches for the first time on May 31, 1918 and launched their first major offensive action on September 21^st, 1918.  Between June and September most of the original African American officers had been removed and replaced by white officers.  Boards of Examination had been set up to evaluate officers and that was the result.  Despite the loss of their long service and familiar officers the troops of the African American regiments performed remarkably well.  Ephriam Rose and the 2^nd Battalion of the 372^nd were in the front lines near Verdun and Hill 304, a place made famous and infamous during the 1916 Battle for Verdun.  Later they moved through many French towns including Bois de Brocourt, Juvigny, Brienne-le-Chateau, Vitry-le-Francois, Jessecourt, Hans and Ripont.  From September 26^th through October 8^th they participated in the great Meuse-Argonne Offensive with the 371^st Infantry and both were attached to the 157th French Red Hand Infantry Division.  Ephriam Rose and the 2^nd Battalion of the 372^nd captured part of Bellevue Signal Ridge and Bussy Farm. They attacked and eventually captured Sechault and later the town of Monthois.  The American units and the 157^th French Division were taken out of the line on October 8^th.  In the last month of the war they were in the Alsace and Lorraine defensive sectors but did participate in combat operations.    

The 372^nd Infantry Regiment suffered casualties consisting of 91 men killed in action and between 600 and 700 wounded or gassed.  The full strength of the regiment would have been about 3000 men.  The afore mentioned newspaper article says our Ephriam Rose was wounded in battle, but his roster entry does not mention that.  Most of the roster entries do mention if that soldier was wounded, but no 23 volume roster can be completely accurate and so he may have been wounded and it may have not been recorded properly.  The 372^nd and the 371^st U.S. Infantry Regiments were awarded numerous medals and awards for their service in France.  Each unit was given a regimental Croix de Guerre, 168 individual Croix de Guerre, 38 Distinguished Service Crosses, four Medal Militaire and two crosses of the Legion of Honor.  The unit Croix de Guerre was presented to the 372^nd at the Port of Brest France by Vice Admiral Moreau, the Maritime Prefect of Brest, before a large audience of French and American officers and soldiers. 

The 372^nd Infantry Regiment raised over 10,000 French Francs for a monument to be established near Monthois, the scene of their one of their major battles.  They deputized General Goybet and Colonel Quillet to act as trustees to get the monument erected.   From the unit history of the 2^nd Battalion, 372^nd Infantry is the following quote:  “ On September 30, 1929 a commission consisting of members of the Ohio State Senate and Legislature visited the battlefields of France and formally received and dedicated this outstanding monument and achievement for the great State of Ohio.”

https://www.legion.org/memorials/237065/372nd-us-infantry-memorial

http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/photo/fr_372.jpg

http://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/site_details.php?SiteID=802

http://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/site_details.php?SiteID=802

 As mentioned above Ephriam Rose and Company G, 2^nd Battalion, 372^nd Infantry Regiment arrived back in the US of A on February 11, 1919 at Hoboken New Jersey.  But he was one of four brothers that served in World War I.  His brother John H. Rose served in France with the 116^th and 537^th Engineers; brother Paul Rose served in France with the 304^th Service Battalion;  brother Joseph W. Rose served in France with the 365^th Infantry Regiment; plus three brothers in law also served.  The article describing the Mr. and Mrs. John H. Rose family of Lima Ohio can be found here:

https://newscomoh.newspapers.com/image/36878012/?terms=ephriam+rose&pqsid=0cmPGVoB9yUoniJ_WwIFMA:433000:163979533

Ephraim Rose and his brothers all show up in the 1920 census living in the same home and address as shown in the 1910 census.  However Ephraim Rose died on November 8, 1922, age 26.  Cause of death was listed as Chronic Parenchymatous Nephritis (Nephrosis) with pulmonary complications.  In laymen’s terms is was a disease of the kidneys producing kidney failure.  The death certificate notes the disease was contracted while in the US Army.  This lends credence to the mention of his being wounded while in France, despite the fact it is not noted in his official roster entry.    He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Lima Ohio. 

Sources and Resources:

Pictorial History of the Three Hundred Seventy-Second Infantry Army of the United States, 1941, Atlanta: Army Navy Publications, 1941.

The American Negro in the World War.  Emmett J. Scott, Chicago, Homewood Press, 1919. (this book is has been scanned and can be viewed on line.) 

Ohio Memory has several pictures of the 372^nd Infantry Regiment, marching in downtown Columbus and their flags:

http://www.ohiomemory.org/cdm/search/searchterm/372nd%20infantry!artifact*%20picture%20manuscript*%20object*%20specimen*%20video!picture%20objects%20/field/all!format!format/mode/all!any!any/conn/and!and!and

  Numerous web sites have material and images for the 372^nd Infantry Regiment on line:

• Ebony Doughboys: https://ebonydoughboys.org/index-11.html
• History Detectives, Season 6, Episode 2:  http://www.pbs.org/video/history-detectives-season-6-episode-2/
• Two newspaper articles from the Lima News (Lima, Ohio), 1918:  https://newscomoh.newspapers.com/  
•  Ancestry;  I found the Rose family and Ephriam Rose in the 1910 and 1920 census and the Official Roster of Ohio Service Men is available on Ancestry as well. 
• There exists a web site related to the General Mariano F. J. Goybet family:  http://goybet.e-monsite.com/pages/general-mariano-goybet-and-the-red-hands-1.html
• And there are several other sites mentioning General Goybet and the 157^th Red Hand Division:  https://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=18657 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariano_Goybet