Frederick Limb
“Came from Austria and fought in the German army under General Blücher against Napoleon, 1813–1814.” as per a note M.R. Limb left regarding his grandfather, Frederick Limb.
Martin Frederick Limb (1817–1880)
Martin Limb, born in the duchy of Nassau, arrived in the U.S. from Germany in July, 1849, at the age of 32. He had lived through considerable conflict in Germany and was not seeking more. During the Civil War Martin provided refreshment to soldiers and prisoners passing through Wooster by train, regardless of whether they were Union or Confederate. This did cause some trouble for him in June 1963.
Of Martin Limb’s five sons ▸
Carl M, William R., Marcus R., George S. were active in the Improved Order of Odd Fellows, Patriarchs Militant, which complemented the Ohio Volunteer Infantry in training, encampments, and competing in drills.
Marcus R. and George S. served in Company D, Wooster City Guards, Eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, later the Ohio National Guard.
Marcus R. and George S. were deployments with the O.N.G. to assist in domestic peacekeeping missions.
1898 ▸ George S. served with Company D in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, where he contracted yellow fever.
1916 ▸ Marcus R. served in El Paso, TX during the Mexican Border War.
1917-1919 ▸ Marcus R. served in Europe during WWI.
Ohio History: Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Wooster Digital History Project: Wooster’s Doughboys
The Ohio Adjutant General’s Department: Ohio National Guard History
Wikipedia: 146th Infantry Regiment (United States)
M.R. Limb & G.S. Limb Military: 1890-1916 ▸ M.R. Limb and George S. Limb, Military service 1890-1916
M.R. Limb & G.S. Limb Military:1916-? ▸ In 1916 George resigned from the military while at training camp. Marcus was deployed in the 1916 Mexican Border War serving in El Paso, TX.
M.R. Limb and his two sons, Marcus George and Frederick Carl (Fritz) all served in Europe during WWI.
Fritz Limb served in WWII.
Nancy Limb served as an Army nurse in WWII.
M.R. Limb & Sons Military: WWI ▸ For articles relating to World War I.
– 1894: Company D and coal miner strikes in Ohio.
– 1898: George S. Limb, Co D, and the Spanish-American War in Cuba.
– 1916-1917: Marcus Limb & the Mexican Border War at El Paso, TX.
– 1917-1918: Marcus Limb and sons, George Limb, Fritz Limb & World War I
– 1945-19??: Fred Limb & WWII
– 1946-19??: Nancy Limb & WWII.
Marcus Robert Limb (1870–1937)
1891: March 30. Enlisted. Private, Company D, 8th Regiment, O.N.G.
1891: December 30, Corporal.
1892: July 6, Sergeant.
1892: September 19, First Sergeant.
1894: March 30. Discharged. Re-enlisted same date and warrant continued in force.
1894: July 20. Discharged to accept commission as Second Lieutenant.
1894: July 20. 2d Lieutenant.
1895: November 29. Married to Lucille Bradshaw. Departed Wooster. Went south to study dentistry and establish a practice.
1896: February 10. Resigned Co D.
1901: Returned to Wooster with wife, Lucy, and son, Marcus George.
1902: June 30. Reappointed 2d lieutenant, Co D, 8th Regiment, O.N.G.
1903: May 16. Captain, Co D.
1916: June. Mexican Border service in El Paso, TX.
1917: June 15. War with Germany (WWI). Captain Co D, 146th Infantry.
1917: August 5. Captain, Company D, 146th Infantry.
1917: November. Adjutant 146th Infantry.
1918: June 11, Major, 146th infantry, Wooster, O.
1918: Camp Sheridan, Ala.; Camp Lee, Va.; American Expeditionary Forces.
1918: June 13, overseas.
1918: June 15, departure from Hoboken, N.J. on the USS Leviathan. (Son, Fritz, age 15, also on the Leviathan, as a Private.) Headquarters Company 146th Infantry.
1918: October 9-15, hospital (gassed in the Argonne battle).
1918: October 15-November 8, C.O. St. Dizier.
1918: 11 November Armistice signed at Compiegne.
1919: Ordered to report to 146th Inf. Transferred to 358th Inf. 90th Div. G.H.Q. Inspector Feb. 23rd to March 6th.
1919: March 8, reported at Gerolstein, Germany, to 90th Div., assigned to 2nd Battalion 358th Inf. Station Daun, Germany.
1919: May, awarded French War Cross.
1919: June 8th, left France.
1919: June 28 Treaty of Versailles.
1919: August 20, Honorable discharge Camp Pike. 15% disability.
Marcus Limb served in the Mexican Border War and World War I.
Both of MR Limb’s sons were ready for action, although only in their teens at the time. Fritz (1903–1955) and George (1899–1944).
Marcus Robert Limb – Captain/Major, US Army
George Schaible Limb – First Lieutenant, US Army
Marcus George Limb – Electrician 1st Class, Naval Radio Service
Frederick Carl Limb – 957783, US Army
Three of Marcus Limb’s children served in the military:
Marcus George (George) served in the Navy in World War I.
He was 17 years old and took time out from high school.
February 24, 1917: USNRF Rctg stationed Cleveland, O.
April 12 1917 – May 18 1917: Naval training Station Great Lakes Ill.
May 18 1917 – April 30 1918: Harvard Radio School Cambridge Mass.
April 30 1918 – June 3 1918: USS Canonicus.
June 3 1918 – August 31, 1918: USS Texas.
August 31, 1918 – September 1, 1918: USS Nevada.
September 1, 1918 – September 25, 1918: USS Utah.
September 25, 1918 – November 11, 1918: USS Texas.
E 3c (R) 388 days; E 2c 196 days.
January 30, 1919: Released.
February 23 1921: Honorable discharge. Expiration.
USS Texas. E 2c (R). Called to active duty December 12 1917.
The U.S. National Archives has a collection of photographs taken of the Harvard University U.S. Naval Radio School that are worth looking at. Harvard University Naval Radio School
Frederick Carl (Fritz)
pg. 10152: RA Ft. Oglethorpe, Ga. Dec 3/17. 607 Aer Sq to May 11/18; Co D 146 Inf to Disch. Corp June 1/18; Pvt June 10/18. Meuse-Argonne; Ypres-Lys; Defensive Sector. AIF June 15/18 to Mch 31/19. Hon dish Apr 13/19.
Marcus –
pg. 10152: Captain Inf Aug 5/17 fr NG. Maj June 11/18. 146 Inf. Wooster O; Cp Sheridan Ala; Cp Lee Va; AEF, Meuse-Argonne; Defensive Sector. AEF June 13/18 to June 17/19. Hon dish Aug 20/19. 15% disabled.
Frederick Carl (Fritz)
1939 U.S., Select Military Registers pg 429
Limb, Frederick C 1 Lt
[NGUS CE 1 lt 16 Oct 39 O356950]
[F-pvt corp AC & Inf 3 Dec 17 to 13 Apr 19][F-USN as for elev sea2c 19 July 20 to 9 Nov 20]pvt 1sgt Engrs 18 Jan 22 to 24 Aug (Ohio pvt corp Inf 1 July 25 to 30 June 26) pvt 1sgt Engrs 7 July 31 to 1 Dec 36
Frederick Carl Limb (1903 – 1955)
957783, US Army
The newspaper article below, circa 1918, is pasted into Fritz’s father’s Transit Book. Fritz had earlier accompanied his father down to El Paso, TX, while his father was serving during the Mexican Border War.
The article also mentions that Fritz was writing of his experiences to his grandmother, probably his father’s mother, Margaret Schaible Limb (1837-1921).
From the Vidette-Messenger, Valpraiso, IN, dated Friday, 23 May, 1941, an article written much later in Fritz’s military career, looking back at his younger days.
Note that Mrs. Alice Wareham was the mother of Fritz’s wife, Grace Lucile Wareham, of Valparaiso, IN. Fritz and Grace were married 18 September, 1920. When they were separated and divorced, I do not know.
Local Visitor Has Record As Soldier Since Boyhood
Captain Frederick C. Lamb, who with Mrs. Lamb, is visiting at the home of the latter’s mother, Mrs. Alice Wareham, 3 Wayne street, has been a soldier for 23 years. He formerly resided in Valparaiso, but later moved to Gary.
When you talk about soldier boys, you are talking about Captain Frederick C. Limb, of Gary, Ind., who commands Headquarters and Service company, 113th Engineers, 38th Division, in training here.
Literally a soldier boy during the World War, Captain Limb practically learned his alphabet off of company guidons, and he used battlefields as playgrounds and hand grenades as fishing tackle.
Enlisted at 13
He enlisted during the World war when he was 13 years of age, and he fought through four engagements at the age of 14.
A native of Wooster, Ohio, Captain Limb was the son of Marcus R. Limb, dentist and onetime mayor of Wooster, who went to war as a battalion commander with rank of major in the 146th Infantry, 37th division.
When the 146th went to Camp Sheridan, near Montgomery, Ala., for training in 1917, young Limb, then nearly six feet tall and known generally by the name of Fritz enlisted in Headquarters company at the age of 13 years and 9 months.
When the 73rd Infantry Brigade went oversea, Limb went along. They gave him a Springfield rifle, and he became an expert marksman. They gave him a horse, designated him a mounted scout and put him to work carrying messages.
He became, officers who served under him recall, the most ornery young cuss who ever ranged up and down the front line, the most devilish youngster who ever chose the zero hour to pull pranks on his superior officers.
Like all youngsters, young Limb liked to go fishing. One day in the Baccarat sector over in the Vosages mountains, a battalion officer sent a noncom out with a group of ineffectives to do some work.
The non-com returned shortly, reported that he could not control his ineffectives because a series of powder discharges in an adjacent woods was frightening the ineffectives, who were afraid the enemy was sniping at them.
The officer led a raiding party—and found young Limb on the bank of a mountain stream, casually pulling pins out of the hand grenades and tossing them into the water, to kill fish.
Young Fritz had no fear of the Germans, whom he considered only as prisoners to be examined for souvenirs, and not much more awe for his commanding officers, notably his father, the battalion commander.
Once, at St. Maurice, in the Baccarat sector where headquarters was in a dugout, Major Limb was expecting an American airplane to fly over to read signals which the battalion was to display on the ground. It was to be an experiment in the use of planes in conjunction with ground troops.
Checks His Father
At that time Major Limb had been reading the riot act to everyone in the battalion, laying great stress on the importance of wearing the gas mask and helmet every time they went into the open.
An airplane droned in the distance, and young Limb gave the alarm. A little on edge to see the display went off all right, Major Limb tore up the steps to get outside.
“Daddy—” young Limb called as his father reached the top, “—you forgot your gas mask.”
Major Limb, fuming, returned, grabbed his gas mask, tore up the steps again.
As he reached the top—”Daddy!” Major Limb paused again. “—you forgot your tin hat.” The major tore down the steps again, tore out, only to find that the plane was signaling with a neighboring battalion in another regiment.
Frederick Carl (Fritz)
1943 Official National Guard Register, pg 706
0356950 (Ind)
B-Ohio 21 Mar 03
[NGUS CE 1 lt 16 Oct 39)
Pvt 1sgt Engrs 18 Jan 22 to 24 Aug 24; Ohio pvt col Inf 1 July 25 to 30 June 26; pvt 1sgt Engrs 7 Jul 31 to 1 Dec 36 — 2 lt Enges 2 Dec 36 to 1 lt 20 June 39
Text of talk given by Colonel Isreal, Chaplain 5436th Engineers commemorating Lt. Colonel Fred C. Limb, as an officer in the United States Army. Compiled from his 201 File by; Walter Kepner and Ray Stark.
World War 1 enlisted man(?) from 3 December 1917 until 13 April 1919. After World War 1 he served an enlistment in the US Navy. Was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Indiana National Guard in 1936. March 1941, entered the army of the U.S. as Captain, was promoted to Major in 1942, and to Lt. Colonel in 1947.
AWARDS
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS – GO 32 Hqs 37th Div 4 Nov. 1918
CROIX DE GUERRE – GO 14 Frency Army of the East 14 Sept 1918
WORLD WAR I Victory Medal – W/four (4) Bronze Stars
SILVER STAR – GO 24 HQs 38th Inf Div 4 May 1945
BRONZE STAR – GO 22 Hqs 38th Inf Div 26 April 1945
PURPLE HEART OAK LEAF CLUSTER – GO 3 Hqs 60 Gen Hosp 11 May 1945
AMERICAN SERVICE DEFENSE
AMERICAN THEATER
ASIATIC PACIFIC, w/four (4) bronze stars, two (2) bronze arrowheads
PHILLIPINE LIBERATION
Award of the PURPLE HEART for wounds received in action in, BAMBOA, LUZON PHILLIPINE ISLANDS.
Major Limb while on a mission to select a possible bridge site along the Wamusi River noted an L4H airplane that was apparently in trouble and about to attempt a forced landing. Upon arriving at the airplane the pilot was found to be unconscious and suffering from an abdominal wound resulting from enemy ground fire. The airplane was undamaged in the landing. Realizing that prompt action was necessary and that approximately 15 miles of foot trail over difficult terrain would necessitate a long delay in reaching adequate medical service, Major Limb decided to pilot the airplane with the wounded pilot to Higiture. Using machetes, a short runway was [cut]out in the high grass and the pilot was strapped into the rear seat. Turning the engineer patrol over to his second in command, Major Limb landed at Higituri approximately 30 minutes later.
AWARD OF THE SILVER STAR.
MAJOR FREDERICK C. LIMB, 0356950, corps of Eng. Army of the US.
For Gallantry in action in the Zambales Mountains, Luzon, Phillipine Islands, on 14 March 1945. Major Limb was accompanying the leading infantry elements in a frontal assault on a strongly held enemy fortified position. Intense enemy small arms and mortar fire halted the advance of his unit after numerous casualties were sustained by the leading elements of our forces. Major Limb, with complete disregard for his personal safety, exposed himself to the enemy fire and assisted several of the wounded of our forces to shelter. Completely surrounded by the enemy, Major Limb defended his position and beat off three determined enemy assaults. Major Limb, by his accurate rifle fire, inflicted severe enemy casualties and killed two enemy soldiers in hand to hand combat after they had gained his position. Although wounded by grenade fragments Major Limb refused to be evacuated and continued with the assault. Major Limb’s courageous actions was an inspiration to his fellow soldiers and reflects great credit upon himself and the military service.
Contained in a letter to his wife to be opened at his death.
It is my will and desire that I be buried with Military and Masonic honors, and that I be dressed in the Uniform of a Lt. Colonel, Corps of Engineers, Army of the United States. God grant that I may wear this uniform as proudly in death as in life.
Aurora, Missouri
Monday, 25 July 1955
pg
Veteran of Two Wars Dies
Fred C. Limb Dies Sunday Morning After An Attack
Military and Masonic Rites Conducted At Funeral Services Held Today.
A veteran of two world wars who had won almost every citation offered by the U.S. Army except the Congressional Medal of Honor died here early Sunday, victim of a heart attack.
He was Fred Carl Limb, who operated an appliance sales distributorship and was a part owner of the Wardrobe Cleaners.
Limb, a lieutenant-colonel in the U.S. Army reserve corps, came to Aurora in 1945 following his release from active duty during World War II, in which he received the Purple Heart after being wounded on Bataan. He was not captured by the Japanese having been taken out when injured.
Here in Aurora he was active in business and civic affairs, serving a while as police judge. He was active in the ABC post of the American Legion and in the Masonic order.
Funeral services were conducted at the First Baptist Churcy at 2:30 o’clock this afternoon by the Rev. Fred McPhail. Full military and Masonic rites were conducted at the grave in Maple Park cemetery. Arrangements were in charge of Arnold’s Wood funeral home.
Mr. Limb is survived by his widow, Mrs. Princess Maxine Limb; one son, Frederick Martin 6; and by a daughter, Belinda, 4.
World War II
Marcus George Limb – US Navy, Radar
Frederick Carl Limb – Lt. Colonel, US Army
Nancy Leigh Limb – Captain, US Army Nurse Corps
1947
Wooster Daily Record
Wooster, Ohio
Monday, 22 September, 1947
pg 10
Wooster Long a Guard Service Center
Nearly 80 Years of Fine Service Back of Co. H As Wooster Guards
By Elisabeth Quinby
As the new mobile armored Company H, 145th Infantry, 37th Division, Ohio National Guard swings into a 60 day recruiting period it will be representing nearly 80 years of Wooster military tradition.
A long-forgotten record of achievement lies behind today’s Guardsmen.
Shortly after the Civil War a young high school faculty member — F.G. Steel — formed a small army of school boys. Himself a veteran of the Civil War, Steel directed his boys in military maneuvers strictly from the latest 19th Century ideas in warfare.
* * *
THE WANDS THEY used as weapons in storming the hill which then occupied the present site of the Bowman Street School are far different from the real guns and the modern vehicles with which Company H is equipped.
Later, when the Wooster City Guard was organized on October 4, 1879, many of the Steel Cadets exchanged their wands for the slow-loading and firing guns of their day.
Soon after the formation of the Guard, the group became Company D, 8th Regiment, Ohio National Guard.
ONLY FOUR MEN IN Wooster today know much about the early days of the Steel Cadets and Company D. They are Jack Russell, Joe Fischer, Reuben Bechtel, and Jesse Marshall.
All four men are in or nearing their eighties and Mr. Bechtel and Mr. Russell are the only surviving Wooster members of the Cadets.
Company D, with J.W. Clark as its first captain, was to have thirty-six strenuous years.
* * *
AN EARLY ASSIGNMENT came on May 8, 1880, to stand guard at Silver Creek during the coal strike. Its last assignment as a unit was in 1916, when Company D, as part of the U.S. Army, went on border duty at Las Cruces, New Mexico. The company was mustered out of U.S. service on March 22, 1917.
Following World War I in the fall of 1920 Governor Victor Donahey of Ohio called for the formation of a new local unit to be part of the 37th Division, which was then being formed.
Major Marcus R. Limb undertook the task, which resulted in the activation of Company K, 145th Infantry, Ohio National Guard. The company was sworn in on October 19, 1920. It served with distinction until 1928, when the company was moved to Akron and replaced with Company G, a unit commanded by Julius A. Stark, now chief of staff of Ohio’s 37th Division.
COMPANY G, THIRD REGIMENT, Ohio State Guard was activated during the war years and was commanded by Capt. Ross Weygandt of Wooster. It was de-activated at midnight on September 12, 1947.
Newest Wooster military unit is Company H, Ohio National Guard, which was activated earlier this year. Capt. Charles McDlarran of Wooster is its commander. Lieutenants are Alfred Coppola, Ira Ryder, jr., and Paul Malarkey.
All the long years of the preceding units are studded with historic assignments and outstanding honors won in various competitions.
In February, 1881, the City Guard was mustered in for state service as Company D, 8th Regiment, Ohio State Guard. Officers were J.W. Clark, captain; J.A. Ogden, first lieutenant; C.V. Hard, second lieutenant. In 1882 Pvt. James Taggart was appointed Regimental Quartermaster and Company D distinguished itself at the Toledo camp in September, 1882, for taking the $500 drilling prize.
* * *
THE YEAR 1884 WAS memorable for a number of things — the Company was called out on the Cincinnati strike, but was ordered home when they arrived at Orrville, the Company also served two strife-torn days at Ashland, protecting the jail and courthouse at the time of the hanging of Horn and Gribbens.
“The crowd at Ashland climbed over the high wooden fences,” Jack Russell recalls, “and finally they knocked one whole side down. They were determined to get in on the hangings, and they did.”
The active years rolled by. Company D was drilling at the old Academy of Music where the west store of the Freedlander Co. now stands. It later moved to the “old plow shop” better known in those days as the McDonald Agricultural Works located on Diamond Alley and South st. The building they used is still standing and was used as a warehouse by the McIntire Company until it was recently acquired by the William Annat Company here.
“We used the huge third floor of that building,” Jack Russell says, “One time we were drilling there and Jacob Snyder, a Union veteran, mistook the drill order and walked out the third floor door. He fell to the ground and was pretty well shaken up. We laughed about it all the rest of the years were were in the company.”
* * *
IN THEIR LATER DAYS, Company D moved to the old armory built by B.B. Lake on East North st. Modern Woosterians are still using that armory, which has been converted into bowling alleys.
In 1885 1st Lt. Hard was elected major, Robert Cameron 1st Lt. and D.W. Kimber, 2nd Lt. They went to Philadelphia that year for their prize drill.
Philadelphia was having a Soldier’s and Sasilor’s reunion at the time. Mr. Jack Russell remembers that the town was filled with colorful troops — the Lomax Rifles, the tough Bush Zouaves, the Houston Light Guards, the Montgomery Grays, and many others.
* * *
COMPANY D WAS NOT TO be outdone in sartorial splendor by their competitors.
“Potter and I,” says Mr. Russell, “put on our fine gray dress uniforms and went out to see Philadelphia in a big way. We thought we cut a good figure but not a single person spoke to us. Most of them took one look and turned away in disgust.
We wondered what was wrong. “Why,” we asked a Philadelphian we managed to corner. He glared at us. “No one in Philadelphia likes Southerners,” he told us. “An there we were all decked out in Confederate gray — with nothing else to put on.”
Company D camped at Gallion in 1887 and participated in a prize drill at Washington, D.C., a long trip in those days. The company went to Columbus for the parade at the opening of the Ohio Dentennial Exposition on September 22, 1888.
* * *
BECAUSE 1889 WAS THE year of the George Washington Centennial at New York City, Company D prepared for a long trip, a fine time and another national event to record on its log.
Jack Russell and Joe Fischer will never forget that trip.
“They marched us from the Battery clear up Main Street. While those cobblestone streets hurt our feet our spirits were high. All the way to our encampment just off the Bowery the people of New York showered paper down on the marching troops,” they recall.
That was the time also, that Brandon McClure of Company D proved once and for all that he was the champion pie-lover of them all. McClure his fellow troop members claim was afraid that he wouldn’t get his favorite dessert in the big city. He packed a whole grip full of those little 5-cent pies to fortify himself while we were encamped at New York, and for snacks along the way.”
McClure was the subject of another pie story — the pre-Battle of Christmas Run fracas when Guy Teeple stole McClure’s hoarded berry pie and caused a one man revolution.
* * *
NO ONE SEEMS to know quite when the Battle of Christmas Run took place, but he survivors all agree that it was the Battle of the Century, so far as Wayne County, Ohio, was concerned. Nearest guess at the date is in the early 1890’s.
The warriors gathered for lunch out on the old fairgrounds which were then on the Lincoln highway, west of Wooster, alongside Christmas Run.
Not only Company D was involved in the mock battle, but also members of the G.A.R. and the Lakeville Guards.
It began in earnest after lunch, lasted until dusk. Old soldiers grounded their arms and fought hand to hand as the battle fury increased.
Cal Spear had brought his horse for the occasion.
* * *
‘HE RODE LIKE A GREAT general right in the thick of battle,” Jesse Marshall says. “Sam Hildebrand was one of the wounded — with his cap blown off and his face burned with gunpowder — spite of the ruling that no real ammunition was to be used.”
A haze from the battlefield rose into the murky day and hung all afternoon about fifteen feet above the battling heroes.
McClure was the only pre-battle casualty. His uniform was badly stained with berry juice from the stolen pie which Teeple finally threw at him. McClure was at that time a noted strawberry grower, and Teeple was the scion of the family which owned Teeple’s Galleries, a photographic studio on the southeast corner of the Public Square. It stood where the New Quinby building now stands.
While Capt. J.A. Ogden headed Company D, the men in the ranks were constantly on the alert for his unpredictable orders.
* * *
“ONE THAT I REMEMBER,” says Jack Russell, “is Fours right, double time, HALT.”
Those were the years of the 16-man roller skating platoon which executed perfect drills on skates. The unpredictable orders once caught Mr. Russell and his skating partner, Harry Pearson, in a tight spot. They broke up the figure when they were unable to stop, and wound up sailing through the armory in opposite directions.
It was Capt. Ogden too, who routed out a Company D honor guard of twenty-four men on one of the coldest nights Wayne County ever had. The men went up to the Hart home on Larwill st., Wooster, to fire a salute in honor of Dr. Hugh Hart, father of Wayne Hart, of Wooster. Dr. Hart had just been appointed surgeon general of Ohio by Governor Campbell.
“The men were half frozen, but they did their duty happily for their fellow member,” Jesse Marshall recalls.
In the spring of 1890 Capt. Ogden resigned his post because he was moving away from Wooster. The company also lost its second lieutenant, Forbes Alcock, who was later to head the Canton Wrights, one of the crack drill teams of the country.
* * *
UNDER THE NEWLY ELECTED Capt. W.J. Mullens, the regiment encampment at Massillon, July 29-August 3, 1890, was the high spot of the year.
“No one ever forgot Massillon,” Jesse Marshall says. “That was the time the police department got so mad at Company D that they arrested the whole bunch, took them down to the mayor’s office, and held them until 2 a.m.”
Cause of Company D’s wholesale arrest started with the sudden hatred they had worked up against a newspaperman named Skinner.
Skinner printed a story in the Massillon paper comparing the Eighth Regiment with the tramps who had killed a policeman up the railroad tracks a piece — and then had had the nerve to come out to the enraged encampment.
“We caught him, got a tent fly ready, put him in and tossed him in the air till he cried for mercy. He was really scared,” Jack Russell describes the prank. “The citizens of Massillon didn’t like it.”
When “the law” arrived instead of taking the whole regiment, they arrested Company D.
* * *
“I ALWAYS GIVE VOLRATH credit for using his head at that time,” Marshall adds. “He was a lawyer and told Company D to appoint three or four members to take the blame for tossing Skinner in the fly.”
“Then he furnished Wayne County bonds instead of the Stark County variety, and everyone finally walked away, free men.
“The sheriff caught on and came out for us — but by that time the Company had gone back to Wooster.”
That November Sgt. Joe Fischer, one of the three living Wooster members of Company D was elected second lieutenant.
The 1891 was another year the company never forgot. It was then in the heyday of its long history. They had few outside interests in those days, which accounts for the enormous amount of time the members devoted to hard workouts with the company. The incidents that are recalled today are mainly the out-of-the ordinary ones which brought laughter into a serious project.
* * *
THEY CAMPED AT MEYERS LAKE, near Canton, from August 18 until August 24 in 1891.
“The greatest temptation there, besides stealing one of the lake boats for a hair-raising cruise, was the straw stack,” Jesse Marshall says. “We finally had to throw a guard around it day and night to keep someone from sneaking up and settling it on fire.”
Company D’s history includes attending the World’s Fair at Chicago in 1893, official duty in the coal strike in Belmont and Guernsey Counties in June, 1894. Lt. Joseph Fischer resigned on July 12, 1894 with First Sgt. M.R. Limb (later Mayor of Wooster) elected to take Fischer’s place. The Company made a practice march to Chippewa Lake and back in 1895 and the big event of 1896 was attending the inauguration of Gov. William McKinley at Columbus.
As the Spanich-American War approached, officers in Company D changed rapidly. By the time war was declared in 1898, F.C. Gerlach was captain.
* * *
THE ORDER TO ASSEMBLE, for the Spanish-American war was given on April 28, 1898. Company D went to Akron to join its regiment and thence to Camp Bushnell at Columbus. Members were mustered in to United States service as Company D, 8th Regiment, O.V.I. and ordered to Camp Alger near Falk Church, Va. The 8th Ohio became part of the second brigade, First Division, Second Army Corps, along with the 6th Illinois and the 6th Massachusetts. Brig. Gen. G.A. Garrettson was commander. The 8th O.V.I. was designated as President’s Own, and left New York aboard the U.S.S. St. Paul on July 6. They reached Santiago on July 10, camped near Aguadoras River, and later on Seville Hill.
In August, when they were encamped on San Juan Hill, the 8th OVI was ordered to embark on the Mohawk for New York. Members of Company D were finally discharged officially on November 21, 1898.
Company D stayed in service as a detached company assigned to the Eighth regiment. The company camped during the summer of 1899 at Cedar Point. Meanwhile, the regular training was being kept up, and in 1900 Company D took second place at St. Louis in competitive drill. Also in 1900, the company attended the inauguration of Gov. Nash at Columbus.
“Mind the time Sammy Hildebrand slipped on a banana peel when we were marching in Columbus,” Jack Russell reminded Jesse Marshall.
* * *
“DID HE FLOP! I thought he was really going some place,” chuckled Marshall.
President McKinley’s inauguration in Washington, D.C., was attended in force by Company D. That year the Company went to the Buffalo Exposition and had a side trip to Niagara Falls. They took second prize in competitive drill at the Columbus State Fair, September 4. In September, also, they attended the President’s funeral at Canton.
The Company, although still going strong, was becoming more involved in other activities, other interests. Many of them went into the famed Canton Wrights, along with their old second lieutenant Forbes Alcick — who by this time was beginning to be weighed down with the medals he’d received as commander of the drill team.
In 1903, when James B. Rahl of Wooster, was serving as second lieutenant, the company “received new 1898 model rifles and participated in regular Army maneuvers at West Point, Ky,” according to the record. They served in the coal strike crisis at Jefferson Co., O., in 1906, attended the Taft inauguration in 1909, stood flood service at Zanesville in 1914.
The latter turned out to be something of an adventure for the company, since railroad communications were cut off in all directions from Wooster, and the company first attempted to find passage out through the bottoms toward Shreve. At noon they arranged passage over the Erie at Creston, packed baggage and supplies in wagons, and walked to Creston. A number of shifts brought them to Columbus, then to Lancaster, where ten boats took them eventually to Zanesville. Baggage had to be transported over the intervening bridges by handcar.
In 1916, Company D was called into service during the Youngstown strike in January. In July of that year the company, with 138 men and three officers, was mustered into United States service.
Twenty-eight of the men were eliminated in the physical examination, and — to Company D’s sorrow — one member deserted.
* * *
CAPT. M.R. LIMB, 1st Lt. Fred C. Redick and 2nd Lt. William Jolliff and Company D left on August 31 for El Paso, Texas. On Sept. 28th the company was assigned to border duty at Las Cruses, N.M. The company was ordered to Fort Benjamin Harrison for mustering out on March 22, 1917.
Back in Wooster there were still a few months before Company D was called to action, July 15, in World War I. Lt. Jolliff had resigned, with 1st Sgt. Walter R. Yost commissioned 2nd lieutenant to take his place.
Company D had come a long way from the Steel Cadets who stormed the old tree on the Bowman street hill fifty years before World War I.
The company roster back in the heyday of Co. D is incomplete because of scanty records. It includes many family names that are still well-known in modern Wooster —
* * *
THERE WERE HUGH ANNANT, James Taggart, Ross Funk, Ed Hard, Irvin McClarran, Joe Keister, and Samuel Hildebrandt;
Jack Russell, Ed Gray, Curt Snyder, Charles Barrett, Charles Worley, Harry Pearson, Dr. Brown, Sherman Lundy, John Potter, Dr. Whitmore, Harry Deemer, and Brandon McClure;
Charles Zimmerman, James Shamp, Charles Clark, Jacob Snyder, Charles Weber, Will McClure, Frank Smith, Jim Peppers, John Reamer, John Keller, Dr. Hessler and Will Myers;
Horace H. Clemmons, George Winters, Lou Cook, William Banker, Lynn Jeffries, Harry Imgard, Harry Floor, Fred Floor, Wesley Keller, C.V. Hard, James A. Ogden and Joseph Cumberland;
Rube Bechtel, Fred Faber, Joe Fischer, Frank Fletcher, Ed Bates, Al Peckinpaugh, Cal Spear, Fin Luce, Charles Clark, Will Allis, Frank Gott, Cary Taggart, Jud Proger, Charles Taylor, Bert Ebinger, Sam Bissell, Charles Curry, Charles Dice, James Glass, Harry Scovil, Guy Teeple, Will Shively, and Harry Kramer;
Jesse Marshall, Walter Potter, Julius Sugars, Addie Ross, Ross Wallace, William Long, Andrew King, Leander Geiselman, Jesse Spear, Jesse Wilhelm, Frank Motz, George Webb, Jesse Robison, Russell Smith, Emmett Manges, John Bloxhan, Robert Cameron, Forbes Alcock and many others, added each year until World War I.
* * *
AFTER WORLD WAR I, Company D was never reactivated. In its place Company K, 145th Infantry, Ohio National Guard was formed by Major Marcus R. Limb — long active in Company D — at the request of Governor Victor Donahey.
Company K was to be part of the 37th Division then forming. It was on October 19, 1920, that Company K was sworn in. There were three officers and sixty men, about fifteen of whom were World War I veterans, the rest largely seniors in the Wooster high school class of that year.
Walter R. Yost, now Chief of Police in Wooster, was the first captain of Company K. The other officers were Julius Stark, now chief of staff of the 37th Division, O.N.G., and Edward Ross, Ralph Harpster was first sergeant; Ernest Martin, supply sergeant; Paul Lyon, mess sergeant; and Merle Conrad, clerk.
This organization achieved such a high degree of efficiency that it was placed on the Board, of Honor at President Warren Harding’s funeral at Marion, O., in 1923.
* * *
“PERHAPS THE MOST marked difference between Company K and its predecessors,” Capt. Yost says, “was the control of its administration and training by the regular army — for at this time one regular army instructor was constantly on duty with the organization to aid and assist in building its abilities up to the standard of requirement of the regular army.
“This standard had been required by the reorganization bill of 1916, which made the Guard responsible for 18 divisions of the 27 divisions then known as the First Line of Defense.”
In 1928 Company K was moved to Akron to assure that city of a full battalion of infantry, and was replaced with another unit — Company G, Ohio National Guard — which was commanded by Julius A. Stark. At that time Capt. Yost’s active participation ended.
* * *
IN EARLY SUMMER, 1941, Company G was called up to duty with the 37th Division, shortly before the United States entered World War II.
On Thursday, May 18, 1944, nearly three years after Wooster’s National Guard company entered regular army service, a meeting of the Board of Trade offices was announced to discuss the organization of a unit of the Ohio State Guard in Wooster.
On Friday evening at 8 p.m. details of the new company were fully discussed, and at a second meeting, on May 24, Ross S. Weygandt was recommended as commander of the new unit.
Several days later, Horace M. Doyle and Mayor Ralph E. Fisher were appointed as lieutenants in the unit. Doyle was appointed 1st Lieutenant, Fisher 2nd Lieutenant.
Drills were held in the Wooster Armory, which was leased from Ohio M. Yocum on May 31, 1944. Company G was formally mustered into service on Wednesday, June 16, 1944.
In slightly less than one month, after the decision to organize the State Guard unit in Wooster, a full company of 60 men had been mustered in. They attended Camp Light at Zaleski, Ohio, that first summer — leaving Sunday morning, July 16, with only a small part of the necessary equipment because delivery had been delayed.
Company G attended three annual training camps with members giving a good account of themselves at all of them, as Capt. Weygandt emphasized at last week’s farewell dinner.
Wooster’s latest military organization is Company H, 37th Division Ohio National Guard, which is commanded by Captain Charles McClarran of Wooster. Strength now stands at half of the authorized 150 enlisted men and 7 officers.
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COMPANY H, ACTIVATED this spring, is a heavy weapons company and is the fourth lettered company of the Second Battalion of the 145th Infantry. The battalion is commanded by Lt. Col. William Morr, who distinguished himself in all of the campaigns of the 37th Division during World War II.
Close to the heart of Col. Julius Stark, of Wooster, chief of staff of the 37th Division, is his home company.
“A real job is confronting the people of Wooster in organizing and maintaining Company H,” Col. Stark points out.
Overall strength is seven officers and 150 enlisted men with enlistments extending over a period of twenty-four months.
Company H has leased the grandstand at the fairgrounds for use until a new armory is built in Wooster.
“I believe we will find many men who served in World War II most anxious to enlist in the organization, for various reasons,” Col. Stark says. “The pay, from an enlisted man’s viewpoint, will be the best in the history of the National Guard. This company will be composed almost entirely of specialists. It will be motorized and, at full strength, will have some forty motor vehicles.
“The type of training the organization will do cannot help but be interesting and should attract intelligent young men who are interested in preparing themselves to help in the defense of their country, should the occasion ever arise again.”
While come of the most urgently needed posts have already been opportunities are open for those enlisting in Company H, as Capt. McClarran has previously announced.
This modern-day motorized company is operating in a world that has come a long way from the turn of the century world.
But it will still have to go some to beat the record of achievement hung up more than half a century ago by the Steel Cadets and their successors in Company D, 8th Regiment, Ohio National Guard.
Wooster Daily Record
Wooster, Ohio
Monday, 22 September, 1947
pg 10
Wooster Long a Guard Service Center
Calendar of Co. D Action From 1879 Through 1917 On Various Fronts
This is the calendar of Co. D from 1879 to 1917.
1879 — Wooster City Guard organized, Oct. 4, 1879, Capt. J.H. Carr, 1st Lt. J.N. Clark, 2nd Lt. M.L. Benham, 3rd Lt. F.G. Steel.
1880 — Silver Creek coal strike duty.
1881 — Mustered into state service as Co. D, 8th Reg., Capt. J. Clark, 1st Lt. J.A. Ogden, 2nd Lt. C.V. Hard, camped at Pentasula, Aug. 23 to 29.
1882 — Pvt. James Taggart appointed regimental quartermaster. Camped at Toledo Sept. 4/19. Took third prize of $500.
1883 — Capt. Clark resigns. Capt. Ogden elected June 8. 1st Lt. C.V. Hard, 2nd Lt. Robert Cameron. Camped at Canal Dover, Aug. 14-20.
1884 — Co. D called on Cincinnati strike, but ordered home on arrival in Orrville. Served two days at Ashland O. protecting jail and courthouse at the execution of Horn and Gribbens. Co. D won 1st prize of $150 at Bucyrus. Camped at Woodlawn Hills near Cleveland.
1885 — 1st Lt. Hard elected major. Prize drill at Philadelphia, Pa. Robert Cameron elected 1st Lt. D.W. Kimber, 2nd Lt.
1886 — Lt. Kimber resigned. Quartermaster Sgt. James Taggart Appointed regimental quartermaster. 1st Sgt. H.N. Clemens elected lieutenant. Brigade encamped at Mt. Vernon. Took 1st prize in Cleveland drill. Capt. Ogden resigned in October and 2nd Lt. H.N. Clemens elected captain. 1st
1887 — Camped at Gallion Aug. 23-28. Prize drill at Washington D.C.
1888 — Division camp at Columbus. Parade at opening of Ohio Centennial Exposition Sept. 24.
1889 — Geo. Washington centennial in N.Y. City in April. Capt. H.N. Clemens resigned in July. Former Capt. J.A. Ogden elected.
1890 — Capt. Ogden resigned. 2nd Lt. Forbes Alcock resigned. W.J. Mullens elected captain. Corp. W.G. Whitmore elected 2nd lieutenant, then (later) 1st lieutenant. Encampment at Massillon July 29-Aug. 3. Corp. A.B. Peckinpaugh elected 2nd lieutenant.
1891 — Capt. Mullens resigned. H.L. Kuhns elected captain. Lt. Whitmore resigned. Lt. Peckinpaugh elected 1st lieutenant. 1st Sgt. Joseph Fisher elected 2nd lieutenant. Encampment at Meyers Lake, Canton, August 18-24.
1892 — Camped at Sharon, O. Aug. 4-10. Prize drill at Crestline.
1893 — World’s Fair in Chicago. Encampment at Chicago July 28-August 8.
1894 — Coal strike in Belmont and Guernsey counties. Lt. Fischer resigned. 1st Sgt. M.R. Limb elected 2nd lieutenant.
1895 — Practice march to Chippewa Lake and back in August. Camp at Newark, August 31-Sept. 7.
1896 — Inauguration of Gov. McKinley at Columbus. Lt. Limb resigned. Lt. Peckinpaugh elected captain. 1st Sgt. John S. McClure elected 1st lieutenant. 5th Sgt. F.C. Gerlach elected 2nd lieutenant. Camp at Cleveland in July.
1897 — F.C. Gerlach elected captain, Sgt. W.G. Barnard elected 1st lieutenant, and Corp. Gus Unger elected 2nd lieutenant. Camp at Steubenville Aug. 25-30.
1898 — Spanish American War. Ordered to assemble April 28. Mustered into U.S. service as Company D, 8th Infantry, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Sailed for Santiago, Cuba, July 6. Returned Aug. 26, discharged Nov. 21.
1899 — Co. D retained as a detached company, assigned to the 8th Regiment. Company camp at Cedar Point.
1900 — Attended Gov. Nash’s inauguration at Columbus. Camp at New Philadelphia, Aug. 7-12. Drill at St. Louis, Mo.
1901 — President McKinley’s inauguration at Washington, D.C. Camp at Toledo. Buffalo exposition and trip to Niagara Falls. Drill at Columbus State Fair. President McKinley’s funeral in September.
1902 — Capt. Gerlach elected major. Camp at Newark Aug. 4-11.
1903 — M.R. Limb elected captain. ? Rahl elected 2nd lieutenant. Division encamped at Newark, took part in regular army maneuvers at West Point, Ky.
1904 — Maneuver camp, entire O.N.G. second battalion, at Athens. Co. D’s figure of merit on rifle range for 1904 was 13:21.
1905 — Camp McKinley at Newark, July 2-8. Figure of merit, 63:86.
1906 — Company D gets 100 percent in U.S. Army inspection. Duty at coal strike in Jefferson Co. Maneuvers in Tuscarawas Co., including entire guard (Co. D earned credit for capturing the enemy’s wagon train on the fourth engagement.) Figure of merit in rifle practice, 58:22.
1907 — Camp at Camp Perry rifle range, Aug. 18-25. Figure of merit, 51:37. Attended dedication of McKinley monument at Canton in September.
1908 — U.S. Army maneuvers at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Sept. 2-9. Rifle practice figure, 65:49.
1909 — Attended Taft inauguration. Annual camp at Camp Perry. Strike duty at Aetna steel plant, Belmont county.
1910 — Encampment at Marietta. Ordered to Columbus on strike duty.
1911 — Capt. Limb appointed captain of regimental rifle team in camp in Steubenville, Sept. 2-9. Participated in military parade reviewed by Gov. Harmon, Gen. S. Miles Sickles, McCook and others.
1912 — Camp at Ft. Benjamin Harrison July 29-Aug. 3. Participated in maneuvers.
1913 — Active service in Zanesville flood district. Camp at Camp Perry, July 6-15. Participated in parade at Bucyrus July 5, at a meeting of Spanish-American war veterans.
1914 — Camp at Camp Perry, Aug. 13-20.
1915 — Second place in regiment at indoor match. Camp Wilkin, Yellow Springs.
1916 — Call to service in Youngstown strike. Left for Columbus, June 29, to be mustered into U.S. service. Sent to El Paso, Texas, with a month, also, of border duty at Las Cruces, N.M.
1917 — Mustered out of U.S. service on March 22. Called for World War I on July 15.