WWI - 146/148th Field Artillery Regiments - Items Needed for Book!

[JDR]

Greetings,

 

I hope this appeals to the right people, in the coming days I may also inquire in several Facebook groups regarding this same topic. Would really be interesting to see what turns up

 

Over the last year or so, I have been assisting the Fort Walla Walla Museum in Washington State with putting together material for a book covering the exploits of the 146th and 148th Field Artillery Regiments during World War One. In addition to two 1918 produced 155mm GPF cannons housed on museum grounds, both of which were used and souvenired by Walla Walla doughboys of Battery D 146th Field Artillery, the Fort WW Museum also has an extensive collection of items relating to both regiments but we are lacking in several areas.

 

The 155mm GPFs of Walla Walla, restored circa 2009

 

Sergeant Ezra Post, Battery D, posing with cannon no.2

This gun was named "Pansy" after Ezra's wife. Cannon no. 2 is the right-hand gun in the previous photo

 

To make things easy, here is a list of items I put together that the Museum and myself would be delighted to consider including in the book:

 

unit-marked field gear (webbing, equipment)

officer's uniform from either regiment

unit marked trench art (brass shells, belt buckles, ect.)

German souvenirs (hate belts, helmets, buckles, ect.)

original equipment used to fire the guns (shells, crates, sights, gunner's quadrant's, ect.)

monuments dedicated/featuring men in either regiment

original guide-ons for any of the batteries

photos of men serving overseas

a 148th tobacco humidor

a 148th painted helmet

 

Looking forward to checking out what people have, please feel free to share what you got here or with me over messages! The book will not be a huge production, the theme will be around PNW doughboys who served in both regiments, but it would be neat to include original items as best as we can. For items listed above, I am offering to take HD photos should mailing to me and returning back to sender seem like a viable option. Here are several photos I have taken of 146th items at the Ft. WW Museum:

 

146th Field Artillery Marked Shell

 

2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery mug

 

146th Field Artillery painted steel helmet

Battery E

 

Another 146th FA helmet

Battery E

 

Unit-stenciled coat belonging to Sergeant "Red" Lake of Yakima, WA

Battery E, 146th Field Artillery

 

Souvenir ink well made from the fuses of German shells

Brought back by a member of the 146th Field Artillery 

 

Two German made tobacco humidors, souvenired by Sergeant Ezra Post

Battery D, 146th Field Artillery

 

Business cards belonging to Sergeant Ezra Post

Battery D, 146th Field Artillery

 

One of several copies of The Long Range Sniper newspaper printed in Germany

From the belongings of Colonel Paul Weyrauch, 146th Field Artillery

 

Segment of a "yardlong" photo

Depicting Battery E, 146th Field Artillery

 

Thanks for taking alook at what we got so far, this is really only a tidbit of the museum's collection. The largest gap we have regarding men from the local area are those who served out of Oregon in the 148th Field Artillery, most of whom were from Pendleton OR. It is to my understanding that 148th Field Artillery items are quite scarce, however it would honor me to document anything I can for the project and for the owners should my offer appeal to anyone.
 

Thanks for your time and please feel free to message me anytime!

 

Headstone of Private First Class Conrad Hoff; the only killed in action

doughboy buried in Walla Walla from the 146th Field Artillery

Battery D, 146th Field Artillery

 

 

Three Walla Walla veterans of Battery D, 146th Field Artillery

posing with the very 155mm GPF they used during WWI

Circa 1955

 

Best Regards,

-J.D.

[B Frank]

My canteen; L.C.C. & CO. 1917

[B Frank]

Captioned photos of my Grandfather's (Battery F, 146th)

[B Frank]

This humidor I donated to the Washington National Guard State Historical Society Museum ~ 

 

[B Frank]

Unrepaired photo of my grandfather's, standing far right.
No writing on back.

[battery c, washington, battery f 146th, spokane]

[B Frank]

My grandfather's discharge papers with later medal and clasp documentation ~ 

[B Frank]

My unnamed humidor ~ 

[JDR]

@B Frank,

 

Awesome Ben! Would love to have scans of your grandfather's photos sometime too, I cannot remember if you had shared them with me or not. Love the different photo groupings you have been sending my way too!

 

Also figured I would throw this here as well. The museum in Walla Walla had a casket flag donated from the family of a KIA 146th Battery D doughboy. Really just a special but sobering item to have handled:

 

 

In addition to the flag we also traced down an owner of a 148th Field Artillery painted helmet, check that off the list! If anyone has anything else they have from the 66th Brigade that you'd think would be a great fit please reach out to me or the Fort Walla Walla Museum!

 

Best Regards,

-J.D.

[B Frank]

I shared a lot of 146th info with you all at once. A lot got lost in the shuffle.
I'll put his photos in a zip folder and send 'em to ya. A lot of great captions. Candid, honest.

I'll also do the same with some of the pertinent (downloaded) newspaper clippings and docs I have. 
It'll help me organize the mess of files I've accumulated over the years.


 

[B Frank]

Here's one with a the Silver Star mention, whose brother died in action.


Twin Falls Daily News, June, 27, 1919


 

Twin Falls County in the World War, 1920

[B Frank]

On 12/4/2023 at 10:30 AM, UnteroffizierFSAR9 said:

Over the last year or so, I have been assisting the Fort Walla Walla Museum in Washington State with putting together material for a book covering the exploits of the 146th and 148th Field Artillery Regiments during World War One. In addition to two 1918 produced 155mm GPF cannons housed on museum grounds, both of which were used and souvenired by Walla Walla doughboys of Battery D 146th Field Artillery, the Fort WW Museum also has an extensive collection of items relating to both regiments but we are lacking in several areas.

 

The 155mm GPFs of Walla Walla, restored circa 2009




The-Kennewick-Courier-Reporter-February,12-1920

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[B Frank]

Hoover Institution Library & Archives

[B Frank]

Random find ~ 

Walla-Walla-Union-Bulletin-May,29-1989-p-1

[usmedalman]

I just stumbled across this topic. Nice work. I grew up in The Dalles, OR and traveled western Washington a lot growing up. Surprisingly, I do have this item in my collection.

 

 

[JDR]

12 hours ago, usmedalman said:

I just stumbled across this topic. Nice work. I grew up in The Dalles, OR and traveled western Washington a lot growing up. Surprisingly, I do have this item in my collection.

 

 

 

@usmedalman,

 

Thanks for sharing! I just checked the name of your tag in the 66th Brigade History book's roster and it appears that no address is listed. Would you happen to know more on James O. Blize? 

 

 

Items from either regiment seem to be pretty scarce these days so I always enjoy seeing more items in collections! Just recently I took photos of a IDed 148th F.A. grouping which included a coat with the scarce "bucking bronco" patch worn prior to the adoption of the 3rd US Army "A and O" patch. If time and the owner allows it I will see that photos of that coat are shared here. 

 

Best Regards,

-J.D.

[AustinO]

Blize was from Dayton, Washington.

[usmedalman]

8 hours ago, JDR said:

 

@usmedalman,

 

Thanks for sharing! I just checked the name of your tag in the 66th Brigade History book's roster and it appears that no address is listed. Would you happen to know more on James O. Blize? 

 

 

Items from either regiment seem to be pretty scarce these days so I always enjoy seeing more items in collections! Just recently I took photos of a IDed 148th F.A. grouping which included a coat with the scarce "bucking bronco" patch worn prior to the adoption of the 3rd US Army "A and O" patch. If time and the owner allows it I will see that photos of that coat are shared here. 

 

Best Regards,

-J.D.

Yes, There is a book available as a pdf at the Library of Congress that has him in it a Pfc with hometown of Spokane. Which is probably what he put on his enlistment documents. After the war he may have lived elsewhere. Here is the link:

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/public/gdcmassbookdig/historyofsixtysi00wrig/historyofsixtysi00wrig.pdf

 

[usmedalman]

8 hours ago, JDR said:

 

@usmedalman,

 

Thanks for sharing! I just checked the name of your tag in the 66th Brigade History book's roster and it appears that no address is listed. Would you happen to know more on James O. Blize? 

 

 

Items from either regiment seem to be pretty scarce these days so I always enjoy seeing more items in collections! Just recently I took photos of a IDed 148th F.A. grouping which included a coat with the scarce "bucking bronco" patch worn prior to the adoption of the 3rd US Army "A and O" patch. If time and the owner allows it I will see that photos of that coat are shared here. 

 

Best Regards,

-J.D.

One think about the 41st Div. was that it was stripped of its combat elements prior to shipping overseas. The two FA Regts. formed the 66th FA Bde. which was a 1st Corps asset. The two regiments were often supporting different sectors and so they might have different Battle Clasps on their Victory Medals.

[JDR]

4 hours ago, usmedalman said:

One think about the 41st Div. was that it was stripped of its combat elements prior to shipping overseas. The two FA Regts. formed the 66th FA Bde. which was a 1st Corps asset. The two regiments were often supporting different sectors and so they might have different Battle Clasps on their Victory Medals.

 

@usmedalman and @AustinO

 

Thank you guys for that, I will ensure my digital copy of the roster from the 66th Brigade book gets updated. We plan on including at least all the PNW based doughboys in the publishing by name so Blize will be one I will ensure to add!

 

And yes it is quite interesting how much the 41st was billeted out especially the 66th FA Brigade. I will have to look through my notes, but both regiments, and individual battalions even, were re-assigned to multiple allied/AEF units for artillery support almost constantly. The introduction I plan on using for the book covers Second Battalion of the 146th Field Artillery (Batteries C and D) while they were assigned to the French VI Army for a short period during the Champagne-Marne Defensive actions in July 1918. Its no wonder the men of the Brigade called themselves "gypsies!"

 

Also here is the victory medal of Sergeant Ezra Post found in the Fort Walla Walla Museum's archive. He is the same NCO I mentioned earlier in this thread who named his GPF after his wife:

 

 

Best Regards,

-J.D.

[Illinigander]

Back to the monument- it is very neat to see the 155's both have retained their transport limbers.  Rare item.

illinigander

[JDR]

27 minutes ago, illinigander said:

Back to the monument- it is very neat to see the 155's both have retained their transport limbers.  Rare item.

illinigander

 

@illinigander,

 

They sure are! From what I understand all four cannons and limbers were present in town prior to two of the guns being scrapped in WWII.

 

From what I have been told, the limbers were thought to have been lost for several decades as they had been stored separately in the Fort Walla Walla park and away from the actual cannons. When the restoration team began surveying the cannons in the early 2000s, one of the limbers was found on the bank of a nearby creek and overgrown with foliage; essentially left there since the last major paint job the guns went through in the mid-1960s.

 

Here is a photo of what one of the 155mm GPFs of Battery D looked like prior to the restoration taken circa 2005:

 

 

Glad the old beasts got some love with the community restoration! Considering how unique of a history these have it would have been a crime on Battery D's service to see them rot to nothing.

 

Best Regards,

-J.D.

[JDR]

Greetings!

 

Picked up a new item for my personal collection that I figured I would share here!

 

WWI victory medal with five clasps belonging to Private John K. Heilig of Battery B, 148th Field Artillery Regiment. Born in Philadelphia, Pvt. Heilig was serving with Troop A of the Oregon Cavalry prior to WWI and has Portland Oregon listed as his home address:

 

 

Best Regards,

-J.D.

[B Frank]

The_Athena_Press_Fri__Jun_27__1919

[Edelweisse]

Beautiful work and dedication…hard work and pure history to be proud of…Thank you.

[JDR]

@Edelweisse,

 

Thank you for the kind remark! 

 

Wanted to also share a new find here special thanks to @kiaiokalewa. A 148th Field Artillery beer stein made during the 66th Brigade's time on occupation duty in the Rhineland. No makers mark unfortunately, most of the 148th Field Artillery Regiment's souvenir ceramics would have been made near where the regiment was billeted in Höhr Germany:

 

 

 

 

 

The stein is warmly welcomed here in Walla Walla!

 

Best Regards,

-J.D.