100 years ago the northwest 41st army division was on its way to France

[Argonaut]

this is the 100th anniversary of the 41st division's deployment to WW1 France. My grandfather was there as I am sure some of you longtime northwestern family member realitives were as well. The last members arrived in France in February 1918. They defeated the Central powers in less than a year after the British and French ad been at war since 1914. The unit was made up of Northwestern national guard units and conscripts that trained in Camp Greene Nc the summer and fall of 1917. The unit history is a bit shrouded as General Pershing divided the unit as it arrived in France into replacements for other intact units but members fought in every American involved battle of the war. The Commander was LT General Hunter Liggett. As I get older, my thoughts frequently drift to my grandfather that I never knew, I have artifacts from his time in France some that were sent back to my great grandmother from the theater. There last duty station was post war in Bitburg Germany a place I was stationed and lived for several years. Please, everyone have a thought for our young men and women deployed and in harms way this season of renewal. I would love to hear 41st division WW1 stories from families of the people involved. My grandfather was drafted out of the family homestead in Culdesac Idaho

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[Sstrand]

The 41st got shot up pretty badly in the Pacific during WW2.
I went into the National guard in 1954 or 1955. We were in the 41st, the Sunset division.

Sheldon

 

[Argonaut]

The 41st got shot up pretty badly in the Pacific during WW2.
I went into the National guard in 1954 or 1955. We were in the 41st, the Sunset division.

Sheldon

Yes, they were trained in amphibious operations, front and center in many Pacific landings........this is also the 140th anniversary of the Nez Pierce Indian wars (with chief Joseph) that my family was involved with in central Idaho. My Great (many times) uncle owned Mt Idaho. He bought it with proceeds from gold mining in California in 1849 from Moses Milner, a well known mt man and scout for Custer. Milner was absent from the Little Bighorn because he was sick and couldn't deploy with the unit. His niece, my 3 times great grandmother (that I knew) was the first teacher in Idaho County. She lived to be 102 years old, kept her own house until she was over 100. After cleaning up several massacre sites during the Indian war, she was pretty soured on Indians. On her 100th birthday the Lewiston newspaper sent a young Indian reporter to interview her.........she actually ran him off with a shotgun....at 100 years old!!!

 

[Mark W.]

My dad served in the 41st in the National Guard here in Silverton and later after Helicopter maintenance school in Salem at the Air Field. Would have been some where in 54-55 to 63-65 I know he was in for 9 years. No deployments over seas. I have his complete uniform (Master Sargent) minus hat hanging in a dry cleaning bag and a garment bag to pass down to one of the kids someday.

 

[wired]

100 years ago my Great Grandfather was recovering from the Halifax explosion that blew out the hearing in his left ear when his troop transport sank in Halifax Harbor. He was always under the impression a German Uboat sank the munitions ship that destroyed Halifax but it was a maritime accident. He was 15 when he went to join the American Army in 1917 and they told him to buzz off so he went to Canada to join the Canadian forces who werent so age discriminatory. Spent the next year fighting in the trenches and then 3 more in the British " Irish Constabulary" putting down the Irish Insurrection as a "Black and Tan" doing full on war crimes stuff. Came back to the US and lived out his life as a L.A. County Sheriff.

 

[WasrNwarpaint]

I salute those men that fought for freedom and what a stark contrast to today's young men of the north west, I fear if there were a draft the draftees would drop their weapons and run .....like the Iraqi's

 

[Sstrand]

Wasr
The "draft" would blow your hat off as they set speed records leaving the country!!!!!!

Sheldon

 

[Argonaut]

Wasr
The "draft" would blow your hat off as they set speed records leaving the country!!!!!!

Sheldon

Unfortunately, Jimmy Carter set a precedence by pardoning the last group of illegal immagrents to Canada so they would think all they have to do is wait for a liberal (Democrat) to be elected and all would be forgiven. It is a lesson we lost, After we won the Revolutionary war, the "sympathizers" were run out (sometimes sporting tar and feather clothing) of the country permintly without regard to there birthplace or nationality. One of my grandfather's was a well known British Colonel, he lived out his years in Canada.

 

[Sstrand]

Argonaut
I had forefathers on both sides in the Revolutionary war.

Sheldon

 

[Argonaut]

Argonaut
I had forefathers on both sides in the Revolutionary war.

Sheldon

Me too......one even changed sides......he came over as a Hessian (German) mercenary for the British, was captured by the Spanish in Florida, escaped imprisonment in New Orleans and joined George Rogers Clark's troop of Rangers fighting the British and Indians on the (at that time) western frontier. He was renowned for his riflemanship and ability to train troops. Later joined Daniel Boone (who called him the little German) and eventually died of old age in one of Boone's settlements in Kentucky after raising 9 children........true stories can be better than fiction.

 

[DenimChicken]

Me too......one even changed sides......he came over as a Hessian (German) mercenary for the British, was captured by the Spanish in Florida, escaped imprisonment in New Orleans and joined George Rogers Clark's troop of Rangers fighting the British and Indians on the (at that time) western frontier. He was renowned for his riflemanship and ability to train troops. Later joined Daniel Boone (who called him the little German) and eventually died of old age in one of Boone's settlements in Kentucky after raising 9 children........true stories can be better than fiction.

How in the world did you learn all this?

 

[wired]

How in the world did you learn all this?

If his family is anything like mine theres a strong oral history backed up with a few busy bodies who research and document everything. I can tell you everything and family member , war story etc going back to the first one off the boat in 1634.

 

[Argonaut]

How in the world did you learn all this?

It is called Genealogy..............I have documented family members back to Charlemagne. The other part of the story with my German grandfather (Gorge Ludwig Rupert) gets better yet. He was with George Rogers Clark (the older brother of William Clark, off Lewis and Clark) when they rescued some surviving white women hostages by the name of Pursley from the Indians. One of the women, Elizabeth Anne, had a birth defect in the form of an arm that ended at her elbow with some unusable fingers attached. The Indians had killed or starved many of the hostages but were afraid of Elizabeth and treated her realitivley well during her approximate 3 year captivity. She became my grandfather's wife and is who he raised 9 children with. One advantage I have with very early relations, is the people that came to America in 1648 were well known members of the Plantagenet (royal family) of England and France so all those people are very well documented. It is fun activity to explore when your body relegates you to less physical activity.

 

[DenimChicken]

It is called Genealogy..............

Tracking that part. I'm more curious where you learn or find the very specific things that I wouldn't think would be common knowledge or well documented. What sorts of document, sources, etc. did they use to record stuff like that?

 

[Argonaut]

Tracking that part. I'm more curious where you learn or find the very specific things that I wouldn't think would be common knowledge or well documented. What sorts of document, sources, etc. did they use to record stuff like that?

The internet is a magic place. You can simply google well known family members and the records come to light. At say. Your 6th great grandparents, there are thousands of people with the same relation. Someone has probably already documented activities and stories. Most information is gathered and stored by the Mormon's on everyone. I belong to Ancestory.com (A Mormon owned company) and can spend weeks just running down information, leads and even photos. There isn't a lot of information on some of your people but many will have a lot already documented. Things like draft records, military pension applications, obituaries, census records are very informative and are all readily available on line. My dad used to tell me "be careful, you will find a horsethief somewhere".......I havn't Found that but one of my grandfathers was drawn and quartered as a traitor and another one was beheaded 200 years apart, both at the London Tower. DNA testing is also interesting and helpful but mostly verifies the information found via research.

 

[wired]

It helps having an uncommon surname . English naming traditions help too. You'll often find large families with at least one of the children carrying the middle name of the fathers first name. In my family weve been throwing the same 4 names around for about 400 years and likely longer. Once youve got names you can find wills, county documents, war records etc. Then you can start piecing movements together. My family was pretty typical of the westward expansion. Indentured servitude in the 17th century , which is generally pretty well documented, Revolutionary war service which is also well documented thanks to the late 19th century daughters and sons of the American Revolution craze, the Mormons have docs on everything. Civil war was over and the slaves had been freed so they packed it up and followed the cattle trails west.

My grandmothers spent their lives doing this stuff combing through courthouses across the south and west. You could do the same thing in a weekend now. One thing I made sure to do as a kid was talk to my grandparents and great grandparents to get their oral histories. I know stuff about their families they never knew.

 

[wired]

I will say that some of the Oral histories are kind of wonky but are sometimes backed up by artifacts . My Grandfather told me about his Uncle who left Philadelphia for the Alaskan Gold Rush and shipwrecked off the coat of Argentina . My Great Grandfather made it back after walking 9 years overland and working on the Panama Canal as a foreman during construction. Ive got a pile of South American coins from the 1890's to back it up. His brother stayed in Argentina and ran a cattle operation and has a large contingent of the family there to this day.

He also told me about an ancestor who was aboard the HMS Bounty and was not one of the mutineers and had to survive the trip back to England with Captain Bligh and be tried as mutineers. I cannot confirm that and it may not be real. Grandpa was a bullsh!tter but he was one of those guys who could be telling you the truth as he knew it and it probably was true but you still wouldnt believe a word he said. His dad was a Montana Cowboy who died in the Influenza outbreak in 1919. Ive got a Colt 1848 baby dragoon with loading lever and stage coach scene( $$,$$$ ) that belonged to him.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I salute those men that fought for freedom and what a stark contrast to today's young men of the north west, I fear if there were a draft the draftees would drop their weapons and run .....like the Iraqi's

I believe you do the majority of the young men and women of the Northwest an injustice. They have been there for Iraq and Afghanistan. There were substantial CO's in WWI

 

[Ura-Ki]

I would take offence to the statement the boys (and girls) from the PNW now days would drop their rifles and run away. My two boys both serve, My first born is on his 6th year in the Marines 3rd armored, and my second is a Coasty in motor life boat school as an instructor about to start his second hitch!
Not all the youth from the PNW ( or any where else) are as shallow, self serving snowflakes as it might seem!
We have several members on this forum who are young and have served, or are serving still!

 

[Gaucho Gringo]

It is called Genealogy..............I have documented family members back to Charlemagne. The other part of the story with my German grandfather (Gorge Ludwig Rupert) gets better yet. He was with George Rogers Clark (the older brother of William Clark, off Lewis and Clark) when they rescued some surviving white women hostages by the name of Pursley from the Indians. One of the women, Elizabeth Anne, had a birth defect in the form of an arm that ended at her elbow with some unusable fingers attached. The Indians had killed or starved many of the hostages but were afraid of Elizabeth and treated her realitivley well during her approximate 3 year captivity. She became my grandfather's wife and is who he raised 9 children with. One advantage I have with very early relations, is the people that came to America in 1648 were well known members of the Plantagenet (royal family) of England and France so all those people are very well documented. It is fun activity to explore when your body relegates you to less physical activity.

My maternal grandmother told me for years we were related to kings and queens of England as passed down in family oral history. After doing a genealogy search about 10 years ago I found it was true that members of the Plantagenet family had gone to Ireland and settled there. I ofetn wondered why I was drawn to books about the Plantagenet from an early age. I wish I had been able to show her this while she was still living but she ha died before anyone knew what the internet was or had access to it. Ironically the family tree also includes Oliver Cromwelll's grandfather in it. It is very interesting to trace your family's origins. On my wife's side they are related to Meriwether Lewis. I am the only one of my family(wife, 2 children & 2 grandchildren)who is not related to him.