Jump to content

Doughboy Photo Weekend for a Change


ASMIC2971
 Share

Recommended Posts

I'm generally a cloth insignia collector but occasionally I find items to help others with their collections, or items that are pretty cool in my eyes. Over the years I've searched every bin of photos in hopes of finding some good images showing certain units and/or insignia being worn. Show after show, hours upon hours of aching back and sore knees I came up empty. However, each time I saw a bin of photos I would dig in tirelessly searching for the diamond in the rough. As in all collecting, persistence pays off and I finally could justify all the time invested. This past weekend while out at a few stores I found a photo, then much to my surprise a second one came out of the pile too.

 

Sadly the first photo I pulled out was unnamed, I even debated about leaving it for the next collector until I brought it out of the dark corner of the store it had been hiding in. Only then did I notice an extremely hard to see 32nd Infantry Division patch on the mans sleeve, coupled with the photo studio being in Winona, MN. Back in the keep pile it went as I began to drool over the second photo. A post it note adorned the plastic sleeve it was in with a name and hometown. When I got home I promptly began researching and much to my surprise, the post it note was accurate.

 

Vincent Bodelson of Vasa, MN enlisted in the Army on February 23rd, 1918 as a Private. He went overseas with H Company 117th Infantry of the 30th Infantry Division seeing service in Belgium. According to the book put out by the county he was wounded in action of the 25th of September 1918. Private Bodelson had his photo taken at a studio in Minneapolis, my guess on his way home from overseas. I'll definitely be doing more research on this as there are letters in a historical society between him and his sister; as well as his WWI Bonus file.

 

I guess I'm a patch collector with a small collection of WWI photos too.

post-5665-0-39882300-1562632468.jpg

post-5665-0-91431400-1562632479.jpg

post-5665-0-50373500-1562632488.jpg

post-5665-0-14224700-1562632498.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

YES, many great finds are still out there, it's just a matter of searching & perseverance. A few of my very best finds were literally 'out of the woodwork', & totally unexpected.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Drew he was gassed just before the assault on the north end of the St Quentin Canal during the push on the Hindenburg Line. He did write one or two letters to his sister from the hospital, so will be neat to read them.

 

Great images, will have to trade some patches for them at some point. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Drew he was gassed just before the assault on the north end of the St Quentin Canal during the push on the Hindenburg Line. He did write one or two letters to his sister from the hospital, so will be neat to read them.

 

Great images, will have to trade some patches for them at some point. :)

I figured that he was either gassed or hit by artillery shelling before the battle. The 117th didn't begin the assault until the 28th based on my cursory internet search.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...