Misc. Articles:
Boys Back from Army
Finley Comes Home
Lavonia's Quota
Off to Camp Gordon
2017 Registered in Sept. 1918
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Franklin Co. WWI Items
Boys Back from Army
"More Boys Coming Back from the Army," Lavonia Times and
Gauge 6 June 1919.
MORE BOYS COMING BACK FROM THE ARMY.
With every passing week the
boys keep coming back from their job which they have helped complete for Uncle
Sam. Since the paper was published last week Messrs. Fred Sewell, John Mason and
Glenn Dowis have returned all having been discharged from the service.
They all came in the first of the week and are glad indeed to get back after
a stay of little over a year in France. Fred was a military police all the time
he was in the service. He visited various parts of France and Italy while he was
away. He went thru the affair without a scratch and is looking well. He seems
very happy to be back with the homefolks again.
John was in charge of an ammunition depot for the greater part of the time
he was in the service. It was due in part to his good service the ammunition was
furnished the boys in the Argonne drive. He is looking well and is glad to be
back in his native land and among his own people.
Dowis was trained at Camp Wheeler and saw service for several months in
France. After the signing of the armistice he was with the Y. M. C. A. for a
period in France but has been discharged from both and is back and happy again.
Dowis went from this county but his people moved to South Carolina after he left
and he is undecided as to where he will make his home. He also went through
without an injury.
The boys who went from Lavonia are fortunate indeed so far as casualties are
concerned. Investigation shows that only one boy from Lavonia received injury in
battle. That boy was Tom Jones who was gassed slightly. He has about recovered
now. Lieut. Swinter McDaniel received a slight wound but we presume that he
enlisted from Carnesville. There were thirteen deaths in battle and in camps of
boys who went from Franklin County.
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Finley Comes Home
"Finley Is Back Home From Overseas," Lavonia Times and
Gauge 17 Jan 1919.
FINLEY IS BACK HOME FROM OVERSEAS.
FIRST SOLDIER TO RETURN WHO HAD DONE SERVICE AT THE FRONT. AT HOME ON
15-DAY FURLOUGH.
Mr. John
Finley, fresh from overseas service landed in Lavonia last Saturday at noon on a
15-day furlough. John was immediately surrounded by a crowd of curious inquirers
as soon as he put foot on Lavonia dirt and he has been busy answering questions
ever since. He was the first Lavonia boy to return who has done actual battle on
the fronts of France and his story of his travels and activities since he went
away is very interesting indeed.
The Times editor cornered him for a while and asked him every thing he could
think of about the war and his part in it. He is very free to talk but expects
you to ask him what you want to know. Finley saw service at Chauteau-Thierry, at
Toul and in the Argonne forests. He was in the artillery and was one of the men
to handle the big 13-inch guns. He says the guns he handled had a range of about
20 miles. This of course kept him out of the front trenches but he was very
often within three miles of no-man's land.
Finley volunteered for service on June 4th, 1917. He was trained at Fort
Washington and left in August of that year for France where he remained in
service for about 17 months. He was in actual fighting for about 12 months. He
was right there when the offensive began of July 18th, 1918. He also was right
there when the fighting was going on intensively at Toul. He was also active on
the Argonne front. He says that he has seen his comrades fall by the dozens and
that it was just luck that permitted him to go through the fray without a
scratch and return home to tell the tale. At one time he was under continuous
fire for seventeen hours.
We asked how our boys compared with the other as fighters. He says our boys
were the best going. He says that many of our boys were killed by our own
barrage advancing on the enemy too fast. He says the French have a great regard
for the U. S. A. and for our soldiers who went over. The French can't do enough
for the boys who did much to turn the tide of victory our way. We asked him if
it ever looked over there as if Paris would be taken. He said that opinion was
divided but that Paris was unsafe for a part of the time this year.
Mr. Finley was in Paris the night the war closed. He says the people were
simply crazy with joy on Nov. 11th. He will spend 15 days with his people in and
around Lavonia and will return to his company where he expects to serve about
four and a half months in America yet. He left France on Dec. 22 and landed at
Newport News.
He was well clothed and fed while in France. Also we asked about the
depredations of the Germans on invaded territory. He says he saw many boys with
both hands cut off and many other evidences of the torture the Germans inflicted
the people of the invaded territory.
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Lavonia's Quota
"Lavonia's Quota in Uncle Sam's Training Camp," Lavonia Times and
Gauge 18 May 1917.
LAVONIA'S QUOTA IN UNCLE SAM'S TRAINING CAMP
Lavonia and Franklin County is furnishing quite a number of young men
already in Uncle Sam's army. Among the young men who are at Fort McPherson
taking the Officer's training course are Fred P. Sewell, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Charlie B. Sewell, Clarence Campbell of Mercer University, but who was reared a
few miles from Lavonia, J. Paul Dendy who made his home in Lavonia previous to
his trip to the border about a year ago, Swinton McDaniel a lawyer of
Carnesville and son of Mr. Jas. McDaniel of Lavonia, Edwin Randall, son of Mr.
and Mrs. O. R. Randall of Atlanta but formerly of Lavonia, Ben Stovall of
Atlanta, son of Mr. and Mrs. T. A. Stovall of Lavonia. Also Mr. Emmet Morgan has
joined the marines and is now at Fort Sumpter, S. C. We are informed that Dr. N.
O. Tribble has joined a branch of the army service.
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Off to Camp Gordon
"Off to Camp Gordon," Lavonia Times and Gauge 31 May
1918.
OFF TO CAMP GORDON.
1878-1910
