kanemono Posted November 10, 2014 #1 Posted November 10, 2014 This is a group to Chaplain, Captain Arthur Ivan Foster, 117th Infantry, 59th Infantry Brigade, 30th Division. This group has been quite the research project. I would like to thank all of the forum members who helped me identify Captain Foster. I bought a drawer full of Chaplain groups from a long time collector. This group came from a family in upper New York State, and, along with the group was a Rochester, NY city medal engraved to a L.A. Teamerson. The medal seemed to be the same medal that the Chaplain was wearing in the photograph. This, as it turned out, was not the case, however, it did cause me quite a bit of confusion. I contacted the U.S. Army Chaplain Museum only to learn there never was a L.A. Teamerson who served as a Chaplain in WWI. Then Jeff Floyd found out that Leo A. Teamerson, from Rochester, served in 4 and 5 Companies, Coast Artillery Corps at Sandy Hook. He had no overseas service and was promoted to sergeant in November 1918. He was discharged 17 Feb 1919. Also, the design of this medal, made by Bastian Brothers, was used by Scituate, Massachusetts; Rochester, NY; Willoughby, Ohio; and Nashville, Tennessee. Many members of the 30th Division were from Nashville, Tennessee. At this point I knew the Chaplain was a member of an Infantry Regiment with a three digit number and the first two numbers were “1”s, and in the 30th Division. I then had a great stroke of luck, there were a few items that went with the group I had accidently not taken with everything else. These items included a 117th Infantry Chaplains collar device along with a 30th Division patch. The Chaplain for the 117th Infantry was Arthur Ivan Foster from, Nashville, Tennessee. Here is the identified group and the paperwork I found.Dick
bertmedals Posted November 10, 2014 #3 Posted November 10, 2014 Great research -- well done and congratulations on finding an excellent group!
kanemono Posted November 26, 2014 Author #6 Posted November 26, 2014 Thanks to everyone for the comments. This was a very interesting group to research. Like any puzzle, very satisfying when solved. Dick
Bugme Posted November 26, 2014 #7 Posted November 26, 2014 I love the Infantry collar devices with the integrated crosses. Great grouping!
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