Post Your Span-Am to WW I Full-Length Soldier Photos

[world war I nerd]

Scrawled across the reverse of this image of a 4th Division marked motorcycle with sidecar is, "Raymond Pensyl Withington, Picture taken in Germany, 1917."

 

I'm sure the writer of that caption meant 1919, not 1917.

 

Close up of the bike's 4th Infantry Division insignia.

[world war I nerd]

A great photo of a 56th Engineer Regiment searchlight and crew.

 

Close up of the Engineer collar disc and brass numerals "56" worn on the overseas caps of the light's operators.

[world war I nerd]

"Soldiers leaving France" with full packs, circa 1919.

[world war I nerd]

32nd Division, Engineer regiment veteran, 1919.

 

Last image for this installment ...

 

Close up of the above 32nd Infantry Division insignia.

[world war I nerd]

Unnamed trooper from Troop B, 15th Cavalry Regiment circa 1911.

 

Close up of the Cavalry trooper.

 

Another shot of the same Cavalry soldier, but this time he's holding a revolver.

 

Close up of the above.

[world war I nerd]

Navy dungarees, not sure of the date or the location. Could be pre-WWI.

 

Does anybody know?

 

Close up of the sailor and his denim dungarees.

 

Sailor with what I'm guessing is an electrician's rate from the U.S.S. Utah, circa 1913.

 

A closer look at the above electrician's rate.

[world war I nerd]

Out of focus shot of Frank Gabretti, 306th Infantry, 77th Division.

 

Look how tall his 77th Division shoulder patch is.

[world war I nerd]

Unnamed 9th Infantry (2nd Battalion), 2nd Division officer.

 

A better look at his upper-torso and his insignia.

[world war I nerd]

Men from the 36th Regiment of something (branch of service unknown) busting open a bottle of French 'Rhum', circa 1918 or 1919.

 

Larger view of the French 'Rhum' bottle.

[world war I nerd]

Squad of bandanna wearing military men, branch of service unknown, but probably national guardsmen, circa 1908.

[world war I nerd]

Buglers and drummers circa 1911 to 1917, wearing Bugler PFC chevrons.

 

In addition to the Bugler PFC Chevrons, a number of the buglers are wearing this unidentified mysterious three letter insignia on the left sleeve.

 

Anyone know what it is?

[world war I nerd]

Last image ...

 

Great studio shot of an unnamed 2nd Army engineer.

 

Close up of the engineer's insignia.

[Salvage Sailor]

4th Cavalry Regiment Troop L, Hawaiian Department 1914, Schofield Barracks, T.H.

[world war I nerd]

Thanks Salvage Sailor for another fine pre-WW I Hawaii Department image.

 

This photo, which dates to probably around 1906-ish, is a bit of a mystery to me. It.s an enlisted man wearing the 1904 pattern olive drab wool Service Coat, 1906 pattern Canvas Leggings, 1902 pattern Campaign Hat and a pair of, most definitely, non-regulation shoes! Regarding his civilian shoes, I have seen that style of shoe being worn in period photos numerous times before - mostly by National Guardsmen though.

 

What I can't quite figure out is this guy's collar brass. It's hard to say with any degree of accuracy, but the right side looks to be a pair of crossed rifles, while the left side seems to be a pair of crossed artillery barrels ... hmmm?

 

Close up of the mixed (?) infantry/artillery collar brass.

 

And a better look at one of his, those ain't military issue shoes.

[world war I nerd]

Inscribed on the back of this postcard is: "Aubrey S. Gray, Co. 'G', Signal Corps". The individual in the photo, however, is wearing the insignia of the 136th Artillery Regiment. He's wearing the 1909 olive drab woolen Service coat, whose collar was punched to accept two collar discs on each side. The fact that he's wearing only one collar disc on each side puts the date of this image to around 1911.

 

Close up of the above artillery collar disc and cap badge.

 

And a close up of the revolver and non-regulation (?) leather garrison belt with un-filled cartridge loops.

[world war I nerd]

A nifty photo of New York National Guard 'range' officers, wearing brassards proclaiming them as such, 1914.

 

A closer look at the New York collar brass and the Range Brassards.

 

And an even closer look at one of the Range Brassards.

[world war I nerd]

"Weighing Provisions for the U.S. Army in Mexico", presumably in 1916.

[world war I nerd]

This is kind of a cool image of artillery observers. Because of the presence of the 1918 Raincoat, this photo was probably snapped sometime in 1918. It's also the only period photo I've ever come across showing the Signal Flag Carrier in use.

[world war I nerd]

A rare photo showing one of the many types of flotation vests that were issued to, and worn, by Doughboys heading both to and from France. This image is of an officer from Company C, 330th Infantry Regiment, 83rd Division on his way to France in 1918. By the way the flotation vests were commonly referred to as "Drowning Jackets" by the men who wore them.

[world war I nerd]

Interesting image of mounted AEF officers. Note the fur collar on the trenchcoat worn by the left hand officer. My guess is that this photo was taken in Germany in 1919. The lieutenant is identified as "Lt. Peters ... a good sport", on the reverse

[world war I nerd]

"Sig Stewart and Earl Walsh", both of whom are wearing souvenir German belts with "Gott Mit Uns" belt buckle. When I bought this thing, I thought the pair were holding juice cans of some sort. As it turned out they appear to be sign painters holding tin cans filled with paint. Again, my guess is that this is another German occupation image from 1919.

[world war I nerd]

Frank Souliere is said to have been the youngest Doughboy to have served in the AEF.

 

Apparently Frank's parents lied about his age, saying that he was 16 years old, when they petitioned President Wilson to allow him to enlist. Wilson signed off on the petition and Frank who was in fact just 12 years old enlisted in the U.S. Army on April 8, 1917 ... just two days after America had declared war on Imperial Germany.

 

At the time, Frank's father was serving with the French Army in France. He is alleged to have said that going to war would be good for the boy ... so off he went.

 

Frank served 19 months overseas as an interpreter and runner for the 18th Engineer Regiment.

 

While going about his duties he was wounded twice - once in the face by shrapnel. At the time he was discharged from the Army in 1919, Frank had earned three gold overseas service chevrons and two wound chevrons. He was only 14 years of age!

 

Still bearing the shrapnel scars on his face from the last war, Sauliere served again as a captain in the USMC Reserves during WW II.

 

 

 

 

Close up of Franks insignia, an Engineer collar disc, and a Service of Supply shoulder patch.

 

The badge on Fran's overseas cap is the badge for an interpreter in the French Army. The French used a color coded system to identify what language the wearer could interpret. The color of the backing cloth to which the Spinx head badge was pinned was matched to the specific language the interpreter could translate. Apparently, there is no surviving list explaining what color goes with each language.

[world war I nerd]

Despite the poor quality of this image, it's content is still incredibly interesting. It depicts eight 3rd Army officers' all of whom are wearing steel helmets that have been painted with the 3rd Army's insignia. In addition, a couple of the officers are sporting two pistol magazine pouches on their belts, and one has the 1917 pistol lanyard, which is very seldom seen in photos, clipped onto the butt of his .45 automatic. Also, one officer is wearing the officers' four pocket medical belt, and two others have at least four, or possibly five, overseas service chevrons each.

 

Close up of the officers with multiple overseas stripes.

 

The same again, but this time in grayscale.

[Salvage Sailor]

4th Cavalry Regiment Troop L, Hawaiian Department 1914, Schofield Barracks, T.H.

 

On 4/6/2019 at 5:56 AM, world war I nerd said:

Thanks Salvage Sailor for another fine pre-WW I Hawaii Department image.

 

 

....and thank you WWI nerd for the plethora of images you've posted.

 

Another Cavalryman, this time a Sergeant, 5th US Cavalry, Troop K, Schofield Barracks, T.H. 1910 - Double disks, US & K 5th Cav

 

In 1901, the Regiment, minus the 2nd Squadron, embarked for the distant Philippine Islands to help put down the bloody Philippine–American War being fought there. In 1902, the 2nd Squadron proceeded to the Philippines to join the rest of the Regiment. Dismounted, they battled in the jungles of the Pacific to help end the rebellion and defeat the army of Philippine revolutionary Emilio Aguinaldo.

 

After returning to the United States, in March 1903 the troopers of the 5th Cavalry were spread throughout Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. Some of them fought Navajo Indians in small battles located in Arizona and Utah; a rarity in the twentieth century. The Regiment remained split up for five years until January 1909, when Headquarters along with 1st and 3rd Squadrons were reassigned to Pacific duty to strengthen the U.S. military presence in the new territory of Hawaii.

 

 

Although there was a small Army population on the island of Oahu, the deployment of cavalry troops mandated a permanent Army post. By December, Captain Joseph C. Castner had finished the plans for the development of today's Schofield Barracks. The 2nd squadron arrived in October 1910, to help in the completion of the construction. In 1913, threats to the United States-Mexico border brought the 5th Cavalry back to the deserts of the Southwest, where it was stationed at Fort Apache and Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

 

[world war I nerd]

Last photo of the day ... an equally unimpressive photograph, as far as clarity goes, of the same group of 3rd Army officers.