Harvey Leo Windbigler
- Two More Enlist
- Two more Lowell boys, Charles Tanner, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Tanner, and George Minninger, son of the late Mat Minninger, have enlisted in the army, both boys going into the coast artillery service. They will leave today for Ft. Wayne and from there will go to Columbus, Ohio.
- This makes nine of our boys who are now serving Uncle Sam as follows: Harvey Windbigler and George Holmes, coast artillery; John Windbigler, Chester Wood, Cleon Wisner and Boyd Davis, infantry; Donald Quincy, navy, and the two men mentioned above.
From The Lowell Tribune, May 3, 1917, page 5 (page 9 on microfilm), column 3:
- A card from Harvey Windbigler, who enlisted in the army, says he is located at Fort Thomas, Ky., and so far likes army life fine.
From The Lowell Tribune, May 17, 1917, page 4, column 1:
- ENLISTED AND REJECTED
- Harvey Windbigler
Cecil Windbigler
Glenn Surprise
Leslie Peterson
Charles Tanner
Walter Bates
Milo Loyd
from The Lowell Tribune, July 12, 1917, page 1, column 4:
- Five More Soldier Boys
- Dan Kirchenstein and Ben Nally left Tuesday of last week for Ft. Wayne, where they enlisted in the army. They passed the examination and have been assigned to their regiment.
- Chester Ruley and Floyd Huebsch left Thursday morning for Ft. Wayne Ind., where they went to enlist in the U.S. Army. They will serve in the infantry.
- A letter from Harvey Windbigler informs us that he has passed the examination and is now one of Uncle Sam's soldiers, and is in the Field Artillery. Harve was rejected twice--once for the aviation corps--but he was determined to fight for his country and was at last accepted.
The following article was found on page 4, column 1 of the July 26, 1917, Lowell Tribune:
Writes a Letter
Camp Robinson, -- July 20, 1917.Hello everybody:
This is Friday noon, so will get busy and answer or rather fill my promise to write. This is a hilly, sandy country. It gets very hot here during the day but at night it is always cool. This camp is for artillery only, light and heavy, that means 3 inch guns and 47 10 inch guns. I am with the 3 inch guns. we were out drilling all morning. There are 6 horses to each gun. There are 190 men in our battery, but we lack 20 men so we now have 170. We get $70 a week from the U.S.A. to run the battery on. There are boys here from every state in the Union. There are about 4,000 men here now, more coming in every day. Harry Petrie and Ed Metcalf arrived the other morning. They are both in my battery. We drill between 7 1/2 and 8 1/2 hours. Everybody likes the drill, so we are coming fast. I am 6 miles east of Sparta, 20 miles east of LaCrosse, 172 miles west of Milwaukee and 252 miles from Chicago. This is a summer camp. I feel fine, get plenty to eat.
Have more time, so can write more. We were out drilling again this afternoon. We now have carriage drill. That means 6 horses, 3 men riding and driving the horse beside them, 3 men riding the gun.
We had baked beans, cold slaw, rice pudding and lemonade for dinner. Everybody is washing up, because tomorrow, Saturday, is inspection. We hold the record for being the cleanest in the mess hall and fastest drill men here. The mayor takes his hat off to us, so we feel real proud. All our big officers are to be transferred to Ft. Bill, Okla. They are all fine men, so the boys hate to have them go. My char is the ground, my table a 1x6 about 18 inches long. It is getting too dark to write. The new guard went on some time ago, so that means past 8 o'clock. Tell everybody hello for me. Send me the paper. Good night.
HARVEY LEO WINDBIGLER
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