The Doughboy Foundation’s mission is to keep the story of "the War that Changed the World" in the minds of all Americans, so that the 4.7 million who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during WWI will never again be relegated to the mists of obscurity. LEARN MORE
The Doughboy Foundation’s mission is to keep the story of "the War that Changed the World" in the minds of all Americans, so that the 4.7 million who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during WWI will never again be relegated to the mists of obscurity. LEARN MORE
VFW Post 176’s namesakes are Army Capt. Robert E Wilkins and Navy Lt. John Davis Edwards. Wilkins was a Newport News native who enlisted in the Huntington Rifles in 1895. He served with Company C, 4th Virginia Regiment, in the Spanish-American War in Cuba, Mexican border wars, and during World War I. Edwards, a native of Isle of Wight, moved to Newport News, Va., as a small boy. He enlisted in the Navy and was commissioned a lieutenant in 1914. During World War I, he was Chief Engineer aboard the USS Shaw when the ship was accidentally rammed by the HMS Aquitania about 40 miles off the coast of Portland, England. He would be posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his distinguished service in the line of duty.
VFW Post 1819 is named for two local Army privates who died during WWI. Pvt. William E. Henderson served in Company L, 2nd Battalion, 307th Infantry Regiment, and Pvt. John Michael Marino served in Company C, 112th Field Signal Battalion, 37th Infantry Division. Henderson was killed in action on September 14, 1918, along the Vesle River in France. Marino arrived in France in June 1918 and endured 150 days of intense fight before succumbing to pneumonia and dying on November 9, 1918, two days short of Armistice.
John Proctor and Arthur Hopson were members of the 369th Infantry of the National Guard, known informally as the Harlem Hellfighters. They were the first in the unit from Queens, N.Y., to die in WWI. In their memory, the local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter is named the Procter-Hopson Post 1896.
VFW Post 226 was named after the first and last military serviceman from Bayonne, N.J., to die in the line of duty during World War I. Martin Joyce, U.S. Navy, was killed aboard a ship headed to England and William Herbert, U.S. Army, was killed two weeks before World War I ended.
VFW Post 2294 was named after WWI veteran Samuel R. Shelton, who served and fought with the 818th Transportation Corps. He was honorably and medically discharged following the war, and died Nov. 11, 1920, due to his wounds.
VFW Post 2673 was named for Pvt. Robert E. Bottles, who was born in Montana on Oct. 16, 1900, near the Wyoming border. He enlisted on August 11, 1917, and was attached to Company K, Wyoming Guard, 3rd Infantry, before transferring to 2nd Company, 116th Ammunition Train. He was then transferred to Company B, 167th Infantry in France, where he spent five months and 19 days before dying in battle on July 27, 1918.
Fred E. Ellis was captain in command, Co. D, 2nd Kansas Infantry before being assigned to command of Headquarters Company. When the company merged with other companies, Ellis, now captain, was selected to 137th Infantry. He was soon made regimental executive officer and regimental adjutant before serving in France, where he saw active service in St. Mihiel and in the Argonne-Meuse offensive. After returning stateside Ellis was appointed to major and in 1921, was appointed as head of the Kansas Guards to succeed Col. Hoisington upon his resignation. However, a few day before he was to take over for Col. Hoisington, Ellis’ life was cut short in an accidental shooting.
VFW Post 273 was established in honor of Ira Spring, a Seneca Indian from the Tonawanda Nation of Native Americans. In April 1918, Ira was accepted by the draft board and sent to Camp Dix, NJ. Two months later he deployed overseas with Company B, 147th Infantry. On August 31, 1918, news reached home that Ira was missing in action in France and confirmed killed in action a couple of day later. Ira was one of 800 Native Americans from New York state to serve in the war, and the only one killed in action.
VFW Post 277 was charted on November 21, 1919, in honor of Philip J Ford, who was killed in action in July 1918. He was a member of the 165th Infantry. On March 15, 1940, the Post was renamed Ford Nelson VFW Post 277 in honor of Ernest R Nelson, who was KIA on August 12, 1918. He was a member of the 305th Infantry. On May 5, 1955, the Post was again renamed to become the Ford Nelson O’Sullivan VFW Post 277.
