| A Citizens' History of Grand Rapids, Michigan with
program of the Campau Centennial, Sept. 23 to 26, 1926, Compiled
and Edited by William J. Etten, Published by A. P. Johnson Company for
the Campau Centennial Committee, 1926.
World War days tested the loyalty, patriotism and stability of Grand Rapids. They brought out, in a superlative degree, the majesty of the city's calmness. There were neither pre-war nor post-war upheavals, social or economic. As the hunter calmly awaits the charge of its quarry, Grand Rapids awaited the strains and pressure of war and met them. Being engaged largely in the manufacture of products intended for peaceful pursuits, some time elapsed before its industrial leaders could fit their factories to war production. Hence, during the early period Grand Rapids did not share in the business harvest which was so plentiful where war materials are produced. What the city may have lacked, however, in fitting itself to war conditions, it made up in promptness of response to the country's call for me. Within a few days after the president's proclamation of war, April 6, 1917, the Grand Rapids Naval Division had 21 more men than were required to fill its quota. By the end of the next month, the Grand Rapids Battalion, which later became a part of the 126th U. S. Infantry, had been recruited to its maximum strength. April 11, a great patriot demonstration was held at the Armory. This inaugurated a long period of war activity. It was followed by meetings in all parts of the city, nearly every noon and night, of men and women who had taken responsibility for the home trenches. A large Liberty bond organization was formed under the direction of Clay H. Hollister, president of the Old National bank. This was followed by the organization of the Red Cross, of food committees, war work organizations devoted to furnishing such comforts to soldiers and sailors as were not provided by the government; Y. M. C. A. work, the American Protective League, an organization devoted to the checking up of aliens and pro-German activities, and numerous other committees and organizations, each doing its bit to keep the home fires burning. Recruits were being trained day and night by the state naval and military organizations and, May 2, the Grand Rapids Division of the Naval Reserves received orders to mobilize for enlistment in the National Naval Volunteers. May 10, a cavalry troop consisting of nearly 100 men, raised in the city, left for a training station. In the meantime, Congress had passed the conscription bill, drafting eligible men into the military service, and June 5 was named for the first draft registration. All male citizens between the ages of 21 and 30, inclusive, were required to register, unless at that time members of military organizations in federal service. The 126th Infantry, organized from units of the Michigan Brigade of National Guard troops, in its final muster had the required strength of 3,625 enlisted men. It was intensively trained at Grayling, Mich. and Camp McArthur, Texas, and embarked on the President Grant for France from Camp Merritt, N.J., at midnight, February 18, 1918. The 126th was commanded by Col. Joseph B. Westnedge of Kalamazoo. Battalion commanders were Majors Jay C. McCullough, Albert C. Wilson and Earl R. Stewart. The first and only officer killed in action, First Lieut. Carl A. Johnson of Company M, was ambushed at an observation post near Soppe-le-bas. The American Legion named its post in Grand Rapids after Lieutenant Johnson. The 126th became a unit in the Thirty-second Division, which took part in many desperate encounters with the enemy. It is recorded as having been in the Alsace defensive sector; in the Chateau-Thierry, or Aisne-Marne, offensive; Soissons sector, or Oise-Aisne defensive (Juvigny); in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. In the latter action the division was used as a spearhead and fought for 20 days without rest or pause. The Thirty-second Division fought so nobly that the French called it "Les Terribles," or "The Terribles." Total casualties of the 126th were 562 men killed, 2,430 wounded or gassed. The regiment saw active service from May 19, 1918, to the day of the armistice, with but ten days of surcease, when it was sent to the rear for replacements. After the armistice, the regiment advanced to the Rhine, where it stationed near Coblenz as part of the Army of Occupation. May 14, 1919, the regiment entrained for Brest, returning to the United States on the Francis J. Luckenback, a small merchant freighter. It arrived in Boston harbor May 14, where the troops immediately entrained for Camp Devens. A complete history of the 126th Infantry has been ably compiled by Capt. Emil B. Gansser. The Eighty-fifth Infantry was made up almost entirely of men drafted from Grand Rapids and vicinity. It was diverted to Archangel, Russia, where it experience a service similar to that of Washington's army at Valley Forge. War Memorial Grand Rapids was quick to honor its war dead, but slow to decide upon a permanent cenotaph. A temporary war memorial was erected at Fulton Street park in September 1918, bearing the names of those who had died in the struggle for world freedom, with this tribute: "They Gave Their Lives That We Might Live." As this history goes to press a new and fitting memorial in granite is being completed in the center of the same park. It consists of two massive pillars after the Egyptian school of architecture. The names to be engraved upon this memorial schedule include all those from Grand Rapids who gave their lives in the world war. They are the following and some others, the list not being complete as this history is compiled: George Henry Allen
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Transcriber: Ronnie Aungst
Created: 10 May 1999