Interesting grouping of W. Laurence Hazard, pre- Spanish American War to WWII

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This guy had an interesting life. Willard Laurence Hazard was born in Washington DC in 1876. He jointed the Corcoran Cadet Corps probably in the fall of 1890 or spring of 1891 and stayed in the National Guard at least through WWI (and quite possibly into WWII). He was given his 25 year service medal in 1916 so I feel good about the year he entered the Corcoran Guard inspite of newspaper discrepancies. He went to Texas in 1916 as a first Lt. with the 3rd DC during the Border War. Came back in early 1917 and tried to enlist on April 6th but they Nationalized his Guard unit instead. He started out in CO I 163rd Inf 41st Div and went to France in 1917. This was a replacement division. He subsequently joined 128th Inf Regt 32nd Div. He was in the front lines a couple months then was one of the 400 sent home to train new units in August 1918. He was made Captain and company commander of Co M 383rd Inf 96th Div. In civilian life he was a career government worker starting work at the Pension Bureau right out of high school in 1893 and working there until they merged in 1930 creating the VA. He worked for the VA until his death in 1943. His death was unexpected. He was still active up to then and was stationed at Fort Meade. I do not know in what capacity. The gray WWI helmet is odd. What are the odds he was in civil defense and he painted his WWI helmet for that? Why else would he have an air raid siren? Notice the newspaper clipping after the wristwatch that talks about presenting the watch!

 

Just for fun a couple John Philip Sousa original pieces. W L Hazard's mother (Mary Taber Hazard) was a pianist in the same opera association as Sousa and Hazard's uncle (her brother) Edward Taber wrote the opera.

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Few better pictures of the Corcoran Cadet 3 Year medal