Soldier Boys Depart - Part 2 (1917)

Continued from Soldier Boys Depart - Part 1
Columbia City Post ~ Saturday September 22, 1917

The train pulled in promptly at 9:39 and the boys entered a special coach on the rear. Fred McKnight, of the Panhandle company, had been sent here from Logansport to take personal charge and he saw to it that the men had every accommodation. The local board also boarded the train to see that the required number was all present and as soon as this was done the signal was passed to the conductor and the train moved out.

Hundreds of flags were waved in farewell, and the boys left, knowing that they occupied a warm place in the hearts of the folks back home. After they climbed on the car, they opened the windows and talked to their relatives until the train left.

The crowd was so large that many relatives were unable to get near their boys to say good bye, waving at them from a distance, instead. Jim Galvin presented the boys with a box of cigars just before the train left, so they will all have a smoke on the way, if they want it.

When the train over the Panhandle arrived at South Whitley, at ten o'clock, the young men leaving for Camp Taylor, Kentucky, the South Whitley band and a large number of school children met them at the depot. There was a large crowd of friends and relatives present to bid the boys farewell.

There was only one substitute out of the forty-seven men. Russell Albert Bowdy, of South Whitley went in place of Keslar Ray Beers, of Etna township, who was operated upon for appendicitis just two weeks ago. Beers is the young fellow who walked into Clerk Plattner's office Wednesday morning to answer roll call. He stated then that he was ready to go if the board wanted to take him. He was so weak then that he had to be assisted from the office but he was game.

Photograph courtesy of the Whitley County Historical Museum.

The men who went.

The following eight men substituted for those who will go later:

• Samuel Gale Raber, South Whitley, for John B. Rouch.
• Wesley Dakin, South Whitley, for Paul Dwight Pence.
• Walter G. Wetzel, Columbia City, for Homer Sandison Ohmart.
• Ralph Strouse, Columbia City, for William H. Oberkise.
• Norman Lowell Karnes, South Whitley, for Herschel C. Gray.
• Raelin Victor Phend, Columbia City, for Void Truman Humbarger.
• Sidney E. Ort, Churubusco, for Guy H. Thompson.
• Otto Brubaker, Churubusco, for Kesler Ray Beers.

The following men composed the balance of the lot:

• C. Guy Crowell, Columbia City.
• Lewis Glotzer, Fort Wayne.
• Myron J. Growcock, Columbia City.
• Earl R. Bordner, Columbia City.
• Victor L. Gaff, Churubusco.
• Lee Nichols, South Whitley.
• Charles V. Hickman, Coesse.
• Noah J. Wolfe, Columbia City.
• George A. Hawn, Columbia City.
• J. A. Pence, Columbia City.
• Adam Fausz, Columbia City.
• Grover C. E. L. Brown, Columbia City.
• Harry N. Dimmick, South Whitley.
• Homer B. Ray, Columbia City.
• James Trout, Columbia City.
• Ralph D. Slessman, South Whitley.
• Charles E. Dinius, Columbia City.
• Lloyd J. Stough, Columbia City.
• Edgar M. Lorber, Columbia City.
• Charles Hildebrand, Columbia City.
• Earl George Jones, Columbia City.
• William L. Johnston, Larwill.
• Marshall Harshbarger, Columbia City.
• Lozon A. Williamson, Columbia City.
• Charles Egolf, Larwill.
• Adlai White, Columbia City.
• Daniel E. Small, Columbia City.
• Walter L. Blain, Columbia City.
• Firmer R. Born, Columbia City.
• Marshall J. Kates, Columbia City.
• Oris Winebrenner, Churubusco.
• Lester O. Crowell, Columbia City.
• John E. Clingeman, Columbia City.
• Lawrence J. Byall, Columbia City.
• Floyd E. Hyser, Roanoke.
• Walter J. Miller, Churubusco.
• Noah S. Tillman, South Whitley.
• Harry Elmo Burris, Columbia City.
• Amos E. Walker, Columbia City.