The following article was originally printed in the May 6, 1937 edition of The Eureka Herald.
“March of 77,000 Kansans Into World War Began 20 Years Ago
Twenty years ago last month the United States plunged into the maelstrom of the World War. Before the Armistice was signed a year and a half later 77,200 Kansas had been enrolled among Uncle Sam’s fighting forces and 2,680 of them had become casualties.
Kansas citizens were on the rolls of 35th, 89th and 42nd Divisions.
The 35th was a Kansas-Missouri division composed of the organized national guard of both states, 10,000 Kansas and 14,000 Missourians. It was mustered into service on August 5, 1917, received seven months training at Cap Doniphan, Lawton, Okla., and took part in the Battle of St. Mihiel, in addition to action in the Argonne.
The 89th Division was organized and trained at Camp Funston, adjacent to Ft. Riley, in Kansas. It was trained and commanded by Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood, who never had the opportunity, however, of leading it into action on foreign soil. The 89th became a part of the First American Army on August 10, 1917, and it was this Army which a trifle over a month later cut off the St. Mihiel salient in the first big battle in which United States troops participated. The division also saw service in the Argonne.
The 117th Ammunition Train, sometimes called the Kansas Ammunition Train, was a part of the 42nd National Guard Division, known as the Rainbow Division. It was organized in the summer of 1917 by Lieut. Col. Frank L. Travis, Iola, who commanded the outfit until a few days before the Armistice.
Kansas played a leading role during the war as a military training grounds. Ft. Riley, with its 25,000 acres, was the location of one of 14 officers’ training camps. Nearby was camp Funston with 4,000 buildings and accommodations for 70,000 men. Schools of line were located at Ft. Leavenworth.
Riley and Leavenworth are still important units in the nation’s military establishment but Funston is but a memory. It served as a demobilization center after the war but soon the buildings were torn down and it officially passed out of existence in 1923. Probably the most distinguished Kansan in the conflict was Maj. Gen. James G. Harbord, now retired and president of the Radio Corporation of America. He was chief of staff to General Pershing, commanded the marines at Chateau Thierry and led the Second Division in the great counter-attack at the second battle of the Marne, turning point of the war.
Two Kansans were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for their heroism. One of them, Geo. S. Robb, Salina, is now state auditor. As first lieutenant of the 369th Infantry, 93rd Division, he received the medal for gallantry in leading his battalion in an assault on the enemy near Sechault. Several years after the war ended a posthumous award of the medal was made to Erwin R. Bleckly for extraordinary bravery near Benarville, October 6, 1918. He was second lieutenant of the 130th field artillery, observer 50th Aero Squadron. Lieutenant Bleckly was killed trying to carry supplies to the “Lost Battalion.”
The Distinguished Service Cross was awarded to 110 Kansans for bravery in action.
Notable is the fact that Kansas ranked first among all the states in the physical fitness of the men it sent into the service. The percentage was 35 defects in every 100 men. The average for the nation and other states was much higher. The first Kansan killed in the war met his death before the United States got into it. He was W.P. Knapp, Independence, who was as a member of a Royal Artillery company of the British Army was killed Jan. 1, 1917.
The first Kansan killed as part of the A.E.F. was Cecil Rowan, Chanute, who was shot down while in the trenches with the First division on Nov. 1, 1917.
A Kansas Indian was the first member of his race to die in the war. He was Frank Cadue, Mayetta, a full-blooded Pottawatomie. He was killed in the trenches Nov. 4, 1917.
First Kansas sailor to lose his life was Edgar D. Rayburn, Kansas City, Kansas, killed on naval patrol Oct. 30, 1917.
Kansas had two of the youngest boys enlisted in the war. Herman E. Lange, Fort Scott, slipped into the 51st infantry, 65th division, fought overseas and was only 17 when mustered out.
Daniel E. Huffman, of Shawnee county, enlisted two weeks after his 15th birthday, was with the 115 Engineers and was gassed in the Argonne.
One war casualty related to Kansas is not listed in the official records. Liberty, a French bird dog, was the mascot of the 35th Division. Kansans brought him with them to the state when they returned from overseas. He died in Wichita in 1925 as a result of the mustard gas inhaled in the Argonne in 1918.”
