"Company K" LeMars Sentinel News Articles, beginning year 1917 Contributed by Linda Ziemann

LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel
Tuesday, March 20, 1917
(Headlines on the front page read:)

CO. K STAYS AT DES MOINES

A telegram received by the Mayor Smith from Adjutant General Logan late
last evening says:  "Mustering out of Second Infantry indefinitely
postponed."  This cancels all preparations of a homecoming for Co. K
this week and probably means that the Iowa guardsman are being held for
service in the war with Germany which yesterday's dispatches declare is
inevitable and drawing near.

CALL IOWA TROOPS
MUSTERING OUT OF GUARDS IS SUSPENDED
DUE TO THE ACTION OF GERMANY
New and Aggressive Action Will Be Taken To Protect American Shipping As
a Result of Sinking Unarmed Merchantmen

A Des Moines dispatch in last night's Sioux City Tribune says:
"Major Sturdevant, in charge of mustering out of the Second Iowa
regiment at Fort Des Moines received an order from the war department
late Sunday directing that the regiment be held until further orders."

The order came as bitter disappointment to the men, who had served eight
months on the Mexican border, and were within two days of home.  The
work of mustering out was practically completed, and the men were to
have left for home stations on special trains Tuesday afternoon.

Gossip at the fort is to the effect that the other Iowa regiments will
be called back in service within a week. 

Even thought the order is countermanded within a day or two, it will
require another week to muster the men out since everything has been
checked up to Tuesday night and all the paper work based on the
supposition that the men would leave for home on that day.

Last night's papers declare war with Germany seems inevitable and that
United States is preparing for aggressive action by striking at German
submarines which sunk three American vessels Sunday.  The dispatches
say:

"New and aggressive action to protect American shipping against German
submarines appears certain as a result of yesterday's sinking of three
unarmed merchantmen, with possible loss of American lives."

Calling of congress in extra session before April 16, loomed as the
strongest possibility, although President Wilson was understood to have
other courses under consideration.

With American ships already being armed, the most probably step would be
an active campaign to clear submarines out of the shipping lanes.  There
appears to be no plan to have the United States enter the war in the
sense that the European nations have entered it.

The fact that some American ships are on the other side of the ocean
unarmed is a factor in the situation, and as large warships are
ineffective against submarines, the problem for the government is to get
small submarine chasers.  Most of the American fleet is needed at home
to guard against operation of German submarines in American waters.

SUBJECT TO CALL
Obligation of Guardsman Under the Federal Law

Webster City Journal:  Owing to the many misinterpretations placed on
late laws dealing with the national guard, many people, and especially
the guardsmen themselves are at a loss to explain definitely the exact
status of the troops after mustering out.  Thorough information obtained
from acts of congress, enables the Journal to publish the facts
concerning the matters most under debate.

All national guardsmen are subject to a call of the president, to defend
the nation, until their enlistments expire.  This applies to all men,
whether under the federal oath or not.  In case of war, every man,
civilian or military, would of course, be subject to a call for
volunteers, but the guard units would be called first, and would go as a
unit wherever the president sent them.

The take of the federal oath known to army men as the "dual oath" places
men under federal jurisdiction, and they participate in federal pay,
which is more than the state pays.
Under this oath a man pledges himself to three years active service and
three years in the militia reserve.  Those not taking the oath are not
in the reserve, except those who enlisted after the June movement of the
militia.  These men, enlisting after the movements, are automatically
under the dual oath, by virtue of the law going into effect at that
time.

The dual oath does not, as its enemies have claimed, prescribe any great
amount of responsibility onto the civilian soldiers.  They are subject
to special calls of the president, while those not taking the oath are
not.  Special calls, however, involve only duty for defensive purposes,
and in such event it is very improbably that the federal oath men would
be called before any other guard unit.  An advantage of the dual oath is
that when under jurisdiction of the federal government the pay is much
more, and the men are not subject to call to put down strikes and riots
of local natures.  The state troops are subject to such calls.

In case of another call those companies declining the dual oath would be
compelled on the first call to go through the red tape of another
mustering into federal service, the same procedure which took up so much
time at the call to the Mexican border.

LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel
March 27, 1917

WELCOME FOR BOYS
Three Thousand People Were At the Union Depot
MET BY BOOSTERS AT CHEROKEE
Bonfires, Music, Flags and Cheering of the Populace Greet the Returning
Members of Company K After Sojourn on Mexican Border

Nearly half the people in LeMars were at the station at 11:30 on Friday
night to welcome Co. K home from nine months service on the Mexican border.
The band and some thirty or forty citizens went down to Cherokee as an
advance guard of the welcoming party and when the train left Cherokee wired
LeMars to have the alarm given by the fire whistle and again as the train
left Marcus a second alarm was given that brought a large crowd to give the
boys an enthusiastic welcome home. The Sioux City companies were on the
same train and nearly one hundred citizens of that town came up as far as
LeMars to meet their soldier boys.

Upon arrival here the boys, after greeting relatives, fell in behind the
band and marched to the Armory where a lunch was ready for them and it was
long after midnight before the crowd dispersed.

All the boys are well and in as good physical condition as trained athletes
after their nine months training at Brownsville. They certainly do not
offer any argument against universal military training.

The welcome accorded the boys was most enthusiastic and they could not fail
to gather from it that LeMars was proud of her company and glad to welcome
them home. As the train came in from Cherokee one party of patriots large
and small had built a large bonfire alongside the track west of Oyens and at
eleven o’clock were out to greet with flags and cheers the soldiers who were
returning from service. It was a striking illustration of the spirit of the
country at the present time.

The following are members of Co. K who came home Friday. All are Plymouth
County boys except the three last named:
Captain—Jacob G. Koenig.
First Lieutenant—Wm. M. Rothaermel.
First Sergeant—Chris Koerner.
Mess Sergeant—J. U. Sammis.
Supply Sergeant—Chas. Ewin.
Sergeants—Leo Hodapp, Warren Lodge, Walter Held, R. S. Bowers, Lyle Board,
Harry Van deSteeg.
Corporals—Fred Eilers, Joe Sampson, Stephen Dier, Clarence McWorther, Albert
Ewin, Carlyle Kennedy, Harry Weagel, Wm. Jacobsen.
Cooks—Orville Tincher, Henry P. Marx.
Musician—Lisle Sexton.
Mechanic—Wm. Greeley.
Privates—Herbert Brown, Kenneth Clarke, Cecil Clarke, Mike Vokandis, T. R.
Strouse, Peter Shives, George Smith, Charles Kale, Raymond McCoy, Walter
Huxtable, Harold Collins, Luther Green, Nick Majeres, Hugo Peterson, Wm.
Pieper, John Witt, Lee Hoag, Oscar Chapman, Milton Fulghum.

The following were members of the company at the time it was called into
service or enlisted later and have since been mustered out:
First Lieutenant—J. C. Peterson.
First Sergeant—D. H. Vandermeer.
First Sergeant—Fred Nelson.
Sergeants—Wm. Forbes, Herman Becker, Homer Sampson, Chas. Lownsberry, Peter
Schmitt, Clyde Eastman, Clay Sexton, Randall Ivey, Garret Grahlman, John C.
Johnson, L. E. Cooper, Aloys Mathey, Reuben Fissel.
Corporals—Enoch Johnson, George Stephens, John Hart, Clay Butler, Albert
Bohlken, Wallace Kilker, Sumner Koch, J. V. Harker, Wm. Shoemaker, Norman
Redmond, George Lamb, John Shearon, Carl Schneider, Fred Hensler, Harold
Bogen.
Cooks—T. F. Davis, Roe Lobdell, Aubrey Ivey.
Musician—Art Hansen.
Mechanic—Art Ringer.
Privates—Gus Goebel, Ralph Parker, Joe Overman, Chas. Trueblood, George
Tattman, Jens Kloster, Walter Adler, Merl Roush, Charles Lamb, Oswald
Bartels, John Erdman, Homer Pattison, John Miles, Anton Jacobsen.

LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, June 29, 1917

WILL GO INTO CAMP
ORDERS ARE RECEIVED BY CAPTAIN J. G. KOENIG
TO REPORT HERE ON SUNDAY NEXT
Camp Faber is to Be Located in the South Part of Town on Alta Vista Street Near the College Grounds and Country Club.

Capt. Koenig received orders yesterday from the adjutant general to call into service all the men mustered into Co. K since war was declared and place them in camp here at home on July 1st. Orders to this effect have gone out to the men and 118 of them are expected to report here Sunday or the day following.  The order also calls for one sergeant on duty for each twenty-one men and one corporal for each seven so approximately twenty noncommissioned officers from the old men of the company will also go on duty at the same time leaving only about twelve or fifteen men of Co. K not required to report for service. The order states that the men will likely be kept in camp here at home until called into federal service. No announcement of the date of this call has been made but it is expected not later than August 5th, so the men will likely spend a month to six weeks in the home camp where they will drill according to a schedule to be arranged by the regimental officers.

The camp, which will be known as Camp Faber and is to be located in the south part of town, will be pitched on Alta Vista street between Court and Madison, between the college campus and the Country Club grounds.  As the company has tents for only eighty men some of the recruits will have to stay at the armory until the requisitions for additional equipment are filled.  The company is short of cots and will appreciate the loan of such as can be spared by the people of the community until their new ones are received.

The men are being called into state service, the pay for which is $1.25 a day for enlisted men, $1.50 for corporals and $1.75 for sergeants. But two of the three commissioned officers go on duty and these draw the regular service pay. An allowance of 40 cents a day for each man for rations is made but other expenses in connection with the camp are not borne by the state. 

The detail of noncommissioned officers for the camp has not been announced but the following recruits have received orders to report:

LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel
August 21, 1917

CALLED TO SERVICE
PLYMOUTH COUNTY BOYS WILL SOON BE IN FRANCE
SIXTY-EIGHT MEN LEFT ON MONDAY
Large Crowd Gathers at Union Depot To Wish the Boys God-Speed and a Safe
Return—Orders Came Unexpectedly and Caused Surprise.

The war came a little closer home to the people of Plymouth yesterday than
it ever had before when sixty-eight of her boys left for Des Moines with the
prospect of being in a very few weeks in France. Orders were received
Friday to take this number of men out of Co. K and send them to Des Moines
to become a part of the Third Regiment which is now in Des Moines in camp
and being recruited to 3,000 men, the number of men in a regiment in France.
The Third is under orders to proceed as soon as possible for Mineola Point,
New York, whence they will sail in a few weeks for somewhere in France.

The order created some surprise in the company and considerable regret in
the community as it had been hoped the home boys who had enlisted together
might be kept in one organization but as it was apparent the order was based
on the needs of the country and the good of the service, no complaints were
registered. A call for volunteers would probably have been responded to by
nearly all of the company but the plan suggested in the government orders
was followed in making the selections so far as practical. The number of
non-commissioned officers to go was stipulated in the order but the others
were selected by picking out odd numbered men on the muster roll until the
quota was filled. Since Lieut. Nelson received his commission Co. K is short
one man so only eighty-three men are left in the home camp here and no
information is at hand as to how the company is again to be recruited to war
strength.

The men left on an early morning yesterday, a special pickup up the Sioux
City, LeMars and Cherokee contingents. A band and several thousand people
gathered at the station to bid them Godspeed, everybody apparently
appreciating the seriousness of the situation.

The men were in command of Sergeant Ewin and reported for duty to the
officers of the Third at Camp Dodge last evening. The men who were drawn
for the detail and left to become members of the Third were sent out as
completely equipped, as the supplies at Camp Faber would permit. They took
all the rifles and still lacked fifteen or twenty of having enough to go
around. Most of them had uniforms and other equipment but in this respect
also they took pretty nearly everything in camp.

A shipment of 100 new rifles are expected any day. Following is a list of
the men who went:

Sergeants—Charles Ewin, Warren R. Lodge, LeMars; Claude L. Hodapp, Merrill.

Corporals—Albert V. Ewin, Harry O. Weagel, Theodore R. Strouse, LeMars;
Herbert M. Brown, Ireton; Vincent C. Bradshaw, Kingsley.

Privates (1st Class)—Milton D. Fulghum, Clear Lake; Lee E. Hoag, Moweaqua,
Ill.; Henry Marx, LeMars; William Pieper, Remsen; Peter E. Shive, Cherokee.

Privates:

Anderson, Elmore D., Marcus.

Barr, Carl H., Akron.

Bergin, Edward P., LeMars.

Bohl, Dewey M., Merrill.

Bonneville, Lorenz N., Alton.

Bristow, Clarence L., Merrill.

Calhoon, John, LeMars.

Clarke, Cecil A., LeMars.

Dickson, Walter D., Marcus.

Edwards, Frank, LeMars.

Evans, Lloyd F., Sioux City.

Fideler, Sylvester M., Remsen.

Gainor, Edwin D., Hinton.

Hahn, George L., Ireton.

Hamann, Addes C., Merrill.

Hammer, Charles P., Kingsley.

Hardie, Will D., Kingsley.

Harker, John T., Merrill.

Harvey, Floyd, Pierson.

Harvey, Ray, Pierson.

Harvey, Vivan A., Marcus.

Heiden, Laurence E., Merrill.

Holland, Frank, Kingsley.

Hoschler, Albert E., Akron.

Houlton, Fay H., Ireton.

Huxtable, Wayne E., LeMars.

Kalles, George, LeMars.

Kanago, Melvin R., Merrill.

Killian, Albert L., Sioux City.

King, William J., Sioux City.

Klohs, Charles H., LeMars.

Livermore, Glen, Kingsley.

Maxon, Philip E., Akron.

McDole, Harold, Kingsley.

Miller, William, Ireton.

Murray, Frank A., Kingsley.

Nash, Edward C., Kingsley.

Powers, Estill, Kingsley.

Reid, Charles E., Ireton.

Satterlee, Wylie J., Ireton.

Sawyer, Alfred L., Ireton.

Schmidt, Clarence, LeMars.

Schmidt, Philip, LeMars.

Smith, Merlin, Kingsley.

Spink, Edgar A., Kingsley.

Sullivan, Gerald W., LeMars.

Thatcher, Clark A., Kingsley.

Trewartha, William T., Merrill.

Tweedy, Linfred S., Ireton.

Walsh, Vincent J., Marcus.

Wasmer, John W., LeMars.

Woods, Chas. M., Kingsley.

Woollard, Robert, Kingsley.

Yungbluth, David, LeMars.

A committee of young ladies at the station presented each of the boys with a
large basket of lunch as he boarded the train, the baskets having been
packed and donated by sixty-eight ladies of the community.

Touching this reorganization of the Third Regiment, the Des Moines Register
says:

The actual work of expanding the Third Iowa Regiment to a full war strength
of 3,600 men will begin at Camp Dodge today, when the transfer of additional
men to the Third from the First and Second Regiments will be completed. The
men selected from the First and Second regiments will all report to the
Third regiment today or tomorrow, all of the Second regiment delegations
being scheduled to move this morning.

The work of expanding the regiment is not as simple as might be supposed.
All drill formations will have to be altered, and the company formation will
be rather by platoons of thirty-two men each than by squads of eight men.

The Third Regiment will be larger than any two regiments which went to the
border a year ago, and the work of the officers will be correspondingly
increased.

It is hoped during the period that the men will remain here, to obtain a
smoothness of regimental drill with the new strength, and to accustom
officers and men to working under the new conditions. Each battalion will
contain more than one thousand men, whereas under old conditions, a
battalion was often under the five hundred mark.

A Headquarters company of about 284 men is to be formed. It will probably
have two captains, two first lieutenants and two second lieutenants. No
commissioned officers have been transferred from the First and Second
regiments, and about forty new assignments will have to be made.

The regiment, lined up in review formation, will require at least a ten acre
field to allow any freedom of maneuver whatever. It may be remembered that
the provisional regiment from the negro training camp, less than 1,200
strong, was barely able to gather in the big Drake auditorium, and the new
Third is more than three times as large.

The first contingents of Iowa troops, including one company from Mason City,
a battery from Davenport, and a troop of cavalry from Marengo and points in
Iowa county, is now on its way to Deming, New Mexico. Orders are expected
late this week for the movement of the Second regiment to Deming. The
government hopes to complete the transportation of the National Guard to its
southern camps before the mobilization of the conscript army in September,
in order to conserve rolling stock of the railroads.

The War Department has announced that drafted men will not be used to fill
up the guard regiments depleted to fill other regiments to the new war
strength. Unless this is changed, or recruiting of new guardsmen is
permitted, it might be possible that the First Iowa and Second Iowa would be
consolidated on the border, as the two regiments now are not equal in man
power to the single Third regiment.

LEADERS EFFICIENT

TROOPS ARE SURE TO BE WELL OFFICERED

ARE MEN WHO HAVE SEEN SERVICE

Full Roster of Brigade and Regimental Commanders Has Not Been Given But
Assurance Is That the Men Are Such as to Command Confidence.

The soldiers of the Third Iowa infantry, the first Iowa troops that will go
to France, will be well officered.

The full roster of brigade and regimental commanders has not been given out,
but announcement that Brig. Gen. William A. Mann will command the new crack
national guard division, and that Maj. Douglas MacArthur will be his chief
of staff, gives assurance that the men at the top will be just the sort of
men the Iowa fathers and Iowa mothers would pick, if they had the choice, as
the men to take care of their boys in a strange land.

Gen. Mann, who by the way, headed the list of brigadiers promoted to major
generals by President Wilson Tuesday, is a soldier from the ground up, but
the sort of soldier that fights with the men and not over them.

For the last two years as chief of the militia bureau of the War Department,
he has come in most intimate contact with the newspaper men. Correspondents
from the four corners of the country have made daily visits in his office,
for in all that time there has been some national guard activity in their
states that required watching.

Gen. Mann, head over heels in the work of reorganization of an under
disciplined army, was never too busy to answer questions. No red tape and
no petty censorship would close him up. There was a steady stream of
newspaper men calling at his office after his promotion to congratulate him.

Before advancing to the ranks of general officers, Man was colonel of the
Sixth Infantry. He sent into Mexico with Pershing at the head of the Sixth.
He has been in every scrap in the last forty years, from the Indian
campaigns on the plains in the 70s to the Mexican chase, and always with the
“doughboys.” He is the fatherly, big brother sort of officer, never upstate
and just as likely not to stop and swap yarns with a bunch of buck privates
if he’s feeling a bit lonesome.

Maj. MacArthur, who will be promoted to colonel, was handicapped at the
outset by being the son of a distinguished father, Lieut. Gen. MacArthur,
one of the commanding figures f American military history, but when he got a
chance he proved that a good man can win recognition in his own right.

Because he finished first in his class at West Point, MacArthur was assigned
to the engineers, which frequently is equivalent to burying an ambitious
officer. Finally he landed on the general staff, and the old heads on the
staff—he is only little over 36—found that he had a head on his shoulders.

During the Mexican trouble Secretary Baker appointed Maj. MacArthur military
censor. Maj. MacArthur then began the education of the newspaper men in
military matters. He met the crowd twice a day and stood a bombardment of
questions, establishing a confidential relationship with the press that
brought all the Army’s cards face up on the table. He had the fullest
confidence in the press and the press in him. There isn’t a double cross on
the score between the major and the newspaper men.

When he left the censorship to get ready for France, the newspaper men
adopted a testimonial and then called in a body on Secretary Baker to
present it. So far as is known, this is the only case on record where the
press has sped a parting censor with verbal bouquets. It shows that
MacArthur is the right sort and just the kind of man to be entrusted with
the heavy responsibility the officers of the national guard expeditionary
force will have.

IAGenWeb


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