First Men Will Go To Louisville (1917)

Columbia City Post ~ Wednesday, September 5, 1917

The first contingent of the representatives of Whitley county for the New National Army will leave this week for Camp Taylor, Louisville, Ky. Two men will leave on each of three days and this call is for but five per cent of the county's quota. All of the six men who go in the first contingent requested that they be permitted to go first and in all fairness to others we say that there were at least twenty more who volunteered and asked the local board if they might be permitted to be in the first bunch. All of them feel that since they are the chosen ones to go that they want to be among the first ones called.

The first pair to go will be Kellar Sheeler and Gale Frederick Yontz. The former is a son of Mr. and Mrs. George Sheeler of this city, and he has been claim agent on the Pennsylvania lines west of Pittsburg for a number of years. He is an expert in shorthand work and he also is thoroughly qualified as a stenographer and office man. In selected a man who will be of great assistance in carrying out the big task of organizing the new army, it would be hard to find a more competent or more reliable man than Mr. Sheeler is. He was married a year or more ago to Miss Merriette Brand, daughter of Postmaster and Mrs. John W. Brand, and it is probable that he would have been exempt on account of his employment, had he filed claims, but he felt that it was every man's first duty to serve his country when called. Mrs. Sheeler will live with her parents and the Sheeler home on east Van Buren street will be rented by Will Brand and wife for the present.

Fred Yontz is a son of Mr. and Mrs. San Yontz of the Yontz & Hallauer grocer firm, and he, too, is one of the prominent young business men of this city. He had a year of military training while a student in the University of Wisconsin which will make him of considerable value in instructing the new recruits. He has also practically had full business charge of the Yontz & Hallauer store so that his business experience can be utilized to great advantage by the government. Fred was married a few months ago to Miss Merle Weick, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Adam Weick, now of Warsaw. She will stay with Mr. and Mrs. Yontz and with her parents, during the absence of her husband.

Frank Hull, of the Hudson Dry Goods Company, and Donald Floyd Kennedy, who is a barber by trade, and who has been working for Edward Hollinger for the past year, will be the pair that leaves Friday. The former is a son of B. F. Hull and wife, of East Van Buren street. He was a former member of the Columbia City base ball team and he is one of the best athletes this city ever developed. He has been employed at the Hudson store for years and his steady application to his work and his never failing energy won him the recognition of his employers to such an extent that he became a member of the firm at the time Robert Hudson disposed of his interests in the local store. He is unmarried.

Donald Floyd Kennedy will probably have a chance to follow his trade in the army. Barbers are needed there just as much as in private life, and those who have been shaved by him know that he knows how to handle the razor. He is a married man, having a wife and one child, but he felt that his services should be offered to his country if the army could use him. He filed no claims for exemption.

The men who go Saturday are not from this city. One of them, Clyde Everett Bollinger, is from South Whitley, and the other, Dave Buttermore - well everybody knows he's from Busco. Mr. Bollinger is a brother of Ex-County Surveyor H. G. Bollinger and he is a hustler like his brother Harry, and will make a valuable man in the building up of the army organization.

Dave Buttermore will be the favorite of his regiment within a few months, for he can pretty nearly take on all comers in the wrestling game and lay them on their backs. All sorts of athletics are encouraged, for they help to put the men in condition for army life. Few men have a nicer disposition or are cleverer fellows to meet than Dave, and he had no thought of filing claims for exemption once he was called for the draft. He has a lot of friends in this city and in Busco who will wish him good luck and God speed.

None of the fellows in this bunch of six claimed exemption and they are all capable fellows who will work with a will at whatever task is assigned to them.

Messrs Sheeler and Yontz will leave on the Panhandle Wednesday morning and will be accompanied by their wives as far as Indianapolis. From here they go to Logansport and then direct to Louisville.