The Clay County News recognized the county’s surviving veterans of World War I in the issue of November 10, 1988. Sixteen of the fellows remained, five from Sutton, Jack Helzer, Harry Hunnell, Albert Krause, Carl “Jack” Nolde and William Peter.
World
War I began on July 28, 1914 and lasted until November 11, 1918. It was not
called by that name at the time – it was the “war to end all wars” as President
Wilson called it though H. G. Wells invented the term. “The World War” was the
common term, after all, it was supposed to be the only one, a numeric
designation wouldn’t have made sense.
 |
| This monument in the Sutton Cemetery is in honor of World War I veterans and was donated by Carl H. (Jack) Nolde |
The
first use of “world war” was in German as early as 1904 in an anti-British
novel, “Der WeltKrieg,” meaning
“world war.” The point was that a large
enough conflict involving multiple nations over a large territory, possibly
multiple continents deserved special recognition.
So
our Clay County veterans of 1917-1918 were a part of something new, big and
different and they should be remembered for that.
The
war was triggered in July, 1914 with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand,
heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A network of treaties and
agreements were invoked and soon every European nation was either mad at, or
aligned with everyone else. It’s a good, if complicated story and instructive
in human nature.
Americans
were not at all interested in playing a role and worked hard to stay neutral.
But German submarine attacks on shipping and the discovery of the Zimmerman
telegram which exposed a German plot to bring Mexico into the war with promises
of the return of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona (another cool story) led Congress
to declare war on April 6, 1917.
The
U.S. had a small military capability and needed to fix that quickly. The
Selective Service Act passed in May and on June 5, 1917 the first WWI draft
registration was held, all on one day to find all men between the ages of 21
and 31.
A
second registration was held on June 5 and August 24, 1918 to pick up new 21
year olds. The third registration on September 18, 1918 caught everyone from 18
to 45.
Twenty-four
million men, about 25% of the total population were recorded in those records
which are now on the “must-have” checklist for genealogists. Height, build,
color of eyes and hair, residence and other information appear on those cards.
It is often the only place a guy owned-up to his middle name.
 |
| Jack Helzer |
John
“Jack” Helzer (Aug 7, 1900-Feb. 24, 1992) was a young soldier having lied about
his age being just 16 when he enlisted in Omaha. His father retrieved him three
weeks later and he enlisted again when he became of age. He “got stuck in the
Hawaiian Islands” and served two years and 11 months. He later became one of
the youngest WWI vets to go to the Veterans Hospital for surgery. He was also
the youngest of these vets in the article at age 90 in 1988.
 |
| Harry Hunnell |
Harry
Hunnell was homesteading near Sheridan, Wyoming when he was called up and spent
13 months in Europe attaining the rank of sergeant. Part of his duty was in the
Army of Occupation. Hunnell lived in Sutton several years and was living in
Henderson at the time of the article.
 |
| Albert Krause |
Albert
Krause enlisted in 1917 and was one of nearly 50,000 recruits to train at Camp
Funston on Fort Riley near Manhattan, Kansas. He was in France from May to July
in 1918 and in Germany on Armistice Day in November. He served in the Army of
Occupation and was discharged in July, 1919. Albert Krause was the oldest of
these 16 Clay County vets in 1988 at the age of 98 ½.
 |
| Jack Nolde |
Carl
H. “Jack” Nolde typed his way through the war. He was in the first group of 10
to be drafted in Sutton, took the train Lincoln, to Junction City, Kansas and
then to Camp Funston. On the second day at Funston he was assigned to duty as a
typist and never participated in drills. He also did typewriter repair and
served for 29 months, much of it at Plattsburg Barracks in New York.
 |
| William Peter |
William
Peter was a Corporal in the 163rd Depot Brigade at Camp Dodge, Iowa.
He was discharged December 8, 1918 and was living at the Sutton Home in 1988.
An
early donation to the Sutton Historical Society was booklet titled the
“Complete List of Clay County Men Registered for Military Draft listing the
1,237 from that first registration of June 5, 1917. Names are sequenced by
“Order No.” identified as the order the names came in a drawing suggesting this
was the order called for duty.
Number
One in Clay County was Frank M. Korgan of Inland. He was followed by Lawrence
E. Nelson of Verona, Geo. H. Harms of Glenville (sic), Cecil Jackson of Edgar,
etc. Arthur Hornbacker, No. 11, John Wolf, No. 13, Phillip Roemmich, No. 16 and
Arthur Schwarz, No. 17 led the Sutton registrants.
The
booklet states that the First Draft had 306 men “examined” with 113 drafted meeting
the criteria for service. If I’m interpreting the information properly,
Reinhold Heinz of Sutton was Order No. 306 just making the list for the first
draft.
By
the time U.S. forces were significantly engaged in WWI there was just over one
year left of hostilities. A relatively small percentage saw combat as is true
in most conflicts but especially true in this one. One of our family folklore
stories is of an uncle called to active duty who was with a bunch of recruits
on the train platform in Edgar on November 18, 1918 as word came of the
armistice. After a period of confusion, someone, the story goes, probably
without actual authority to do so told the recruits to go back home and wait
for further instructions. It was a good call as their orders were later
cancelled.
The
other Clay County WWI veterans and their home towns in the 1988 article were: Jack Stratton, Fairfield; Ward
Haylett, Clay Center; Earl Buchtel, Clay Center; Emil Skalka, Spring Ranch;
Merle Shafer, Edgar; Rolland Kreutz, Harvard; Robert Smith, rural Lone Tree;
George Harms, Fairfield; Charlie Hazelton, Clay Center; Louis Goldenstein,
Glenvil and Ervin Spencer, Clay Center.
Our
WWI veterans enjoyed continued camaraderie as members of the Clay County World
War I Barracks engaging in civic activities, holding business meetings and
gathering for dinner monthly. Jack Stratton was the last Quartermaster of the
Barracks who in April, 1984 distributed a letter to all members stating the
obvious that they were all slowing down, eye sights were failing and enjoyment
was becoming a chore. A few responded agreeing to disband and the final
treasury of $21.73 was donated to the Care Campaign for Africa.
There
are two special memorials in the Sutton Cemetery commemorating World War vets.
Pearl J. (Cassell) Bender, wife of Major John R. Bender dedicated the cemetery
flag pole to The Unknown Soldier in 1933 in memory of Major Bender. He is likely
better known for athletic endeavors (star halfback at the University of
Nebraska) and coaching success at St. Louis University, Kansas State,
Tennessee, Houston and Washington State.
Jack
Nolde purchased a special monument for the cemetery in 1940 to remember the
comrades. That monument stands next to the Benders’ flagpole.
These
gentlemen had lost a long list of comrades in the years preceding 1988. The
Sutton Historical Society has a continuing, intermittent project to remember
and document the stories of local veterans of each of the nation’s wars. Any
help in researching, writing or organizing such information is always
appreciated. Contact Jerry Johnson at 773-0222 to join us if you think this is
worthwhile.
This article first appeared in the December, 2013 issue of Sutton Life Magazine. Contact Jarod Griess for more information about the publication at 402-984-4203 or neighborhoodlife@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment