My grandfather served in the Army in WWI, 89th Division, 340th Field Artillery, 164th Field Artillery Brigade. The 89th Division was formed at Camp Funston, Fort Riley, Kansas, under the command of Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood. Enlisted men came from Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Nebraska, my grandfather's home. The 89th, nicknamed "The Rolling W" for its sleeve and helmet insignia, participated in the battles of St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

You may not know that postcards seemed to be an important element of a soldier's life in WWI. I have many things from my grandfather's service in the War (and occupation in Germany after Armistice). Among the things I have a a few dozen postcards. Some he kept strictly as war souvenirs, some were sent home to my great-grandmother, his sister, an uncle in the "Soldier's Home" in Washington DC (worth researching), and others. Somehow, he got possession of the cards he had sent to family members.

Most are photographs turned into postcards. Some are colorized, or artist's renderings, and some are just photos. For this to be a worthwhile post, the images need to be clear enough for you to get something out of them (obviously). I photographed roughly a dozen that I thought worth sharing, and uploaded them to a site for posting. Let's see how they look.

The first is from Camp Funston, Fort Riley


I assume this is also from Fort Riley


Now to France:


This written on the back of the above photo




Written on the back of the above photo






I'll post these now for two reasons. First, I don't want to mess something up and lose what I've done thus far. Second, probably a good Idea to see if these postcards reproduce with enough clarity to make this a worthwhile exercise. If so, I've got more.

All are showing perfectly, so keep sending!

I think they look pretty good. You tend to think of World War I in terms of trench warfare. These next few pictures show how dependent the armies of all nations were on horses to fight the War. I have heard that many wept at the devastation brought upon equines during this War.

My grandfather's unit






Just kind of a neat picture. I don't recognize my grandfather up there.




Written on the back of the above picture.


Company C? Maybe


I have an inert 37mm shell engraved for Armistice Day. Can anyone confirm that this is one version of a 37mm Hotchkiss? I know there are lighter, multi-barreled versions of that artillery piece. I just don't know what else this would be.


Colorized


I have always really liked airplanes, but I don't know what kind of planes these are, or honestly, even what nation they're from.

With regard to the last photo, those are French Salmson 2 a2 aircraft and the squadron was the American 88th aero squadron deployed (Expeditionary force) to the western France front for battle field intelligence gathering during WW1. lots of info on the web about them with lots more photos if your interested.

quote:

Originally posted by ltz400:
With regard to the last photo, those are French Salmson 2 a2 aircraft and the squadron was the American 88th aero squadron deployed (Expeditionary force) to the western France front for battle field intelligence gathering during WW1. lots of info on the web about them with lots more photos if your interested.

Thank you

Thank you for all that. I had a great uncle who was at Camp Funston for a time during the war before going to France.

And as usual, SIGforum came through with an immediate identification of the aircraft and unit. That led me to this great collection of photos including some that clearly show the cowboy on bucking horse unit insignia.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/...57640113936146/page1

The “cowboy on a bucking horse insignia” is from the Wyoming National Guard in World War I. The familiar bucking horse and rider that came to be the symbol for Wyoming went through 3 different iterations, all representations of actual horses and riders, before the current familiar logo of Steamboat (some controversy over the identity of the cowboy). That logo, linked by Sigfreund, was the first, from 1918. One story is that the commander mounted the horse, Redwing, and the resulting storm led to the first drawing and insignia.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:

I have an inert 37mm shell engraved for Armistice Day. Can anyone confirm that this is one version of a 37mm Hotchkiss? I know there are lighter, multi-barreled versions of that artillery piece. I just don't know what else this would be.

That is a French “Canon de 75 modèle 1897”, a 75mm artillery piece. It was one of the many pieces of equipment we were loaned when we arrived in France.

I can’t share pics easily right now, but here’s a Hotchkiss 37mm infantry support gun on the mount used by infantry: WIKI PAGE