Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Paul Wilcox Soon to Sail for France (1917)

Columbia City Post ~ Wednesday, August 1, 1917

Paul Wilcox, son of Clinton Wilcox of the Farmers Loan & Trust Co., may now be on his way to France. He is a member of the company recruited from University of Michigan students in the 91st Ambulance Corps, which has been in training at Allentown, Pa., for the past five weeks.

It was the understanding of the men that they would be trained there for at least three months. The order for them to move in three hours came Saturday afternoon and was entirely unexpected by the members of the corps. Paul telegraphed his father that they had been ordered to prepare to move but a second telegram received by Mr. Wilcox from his son Sunday evening stated that they had not yet left but were not permitted to leave their barracks.

Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox were planning to go to Allentown for a few days soon, but they thought that they would wait until about the middle of the three months' training period. The word from Paul completely changed their plans, as their son will probably be gone before they could reach him.

The ambulance service is one of the most hazardous branches of the service. The drivers have displayed the greatest heroism in removing wounded from the battlefields, and the losses sustained by the various corps have been very great.

With the arrival of Paul Wilcox in France, Columbia City will be well represented. Dr. Merritt Ireland is on Gen. Pershing's staff; Ray P. Harrison is a first lieutenant with the expedition, and Jay Werstler, nephew of Henry Tantlinger, on the south side, is a private in company K, 16th Infantry of the regular army.

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