OUR HEROES COME HOME

Erie, Pennsylvania

The Day after Bastille Day

When I started this journey over twenty years ago, I was focusing on the story of my great uncle, Russell Archie Harvey. I found letters he wrote to his mother from France during the Great War when my mother died in 1992. Sadly, I did not look at the box for almost six years.

I have learned so much since that day, including the fact that my great grandmother, Phidelia Skiff Harvey, was a five blue star mother. Her only son, Archie; her son in law, Earl Beardsley; two grandsons, Roy Ward Hall (my uncle), and Lynn Parker were all in France with American Expeditionary Forces. Another grandson, Dayle Wanamaker, was also in the U.S. Army as a photographer, but I have yet to find documentation on his service in France. A son, a son in law, three grandsons. I cannot  imagine how a mother/grandmother would feel with five of  her loved ones in service during wartime.

Archie sent this handkerchief with Junkerath embroidered on it to his mother from Germany. The 90th Division was part of the Army of Occupation in Germany after the Armistice. The pins, enameled blue star pins, were pinned to the handerchief. I found it with the box of Archie's letters.

I know so much more now and here are some specifics:

·       Russell Archie Harvey (my great uncle): U.S. Army 90^th Division/357^th Infantry/Co. K—Company Scout. The 90^th Division was out of Texas and Oklahoma, sometimes called “Tough Ombres” for the patch they wore with the letters T and O. Archie was drafted while working as a farmhand in Iowa, then sent for training in Camp Dodge, Texas. He survived but died five years after the war, no marriage, no children.

One version of the 90th Division should patch

·      

         Earl Beardsley (my great uncle, married to my Aunt May Harvey Beardsley, Archie’s sister): U.S. Army 37^th Engineers/Co. E. Uncle Earl and Aunt May lived in Cleveland, Ohio and we made frequent visits to their lovely home. They had no children, but it was Aunt May who had the foresight to save Archie’s letters and other artifacts.

·       Roy Ward Hall (my uncle, 21 years older than my mother---she was born while he was in France): U.S. Army 28^th Division/112^th Infantry. The 28^th Division was called the “Keystone” Division since most of the men were from Pennsylvania. Many of the men in the 112^th Infantry were from Erie, Crawford, and Warren Counties. My Uncle Roy and Aunt Georgia Hall lived in Dunkirk, New York for most of my childhood. They had no children. I knew that Uncle Roy was wounded in the war and carried shrapnel in his hip all his life. The Army tried to induce him to rejoin the Army for World War II. Uncle Roy was 42 years old in 1941.

One version of the 28th Division shoulder patch

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      Lynn Parker (1^st cousin, once removed): U.S. Army 80^th Division/313^th Machine Gun Battalion. Lynn was the son of Salinda Harvey Parker, another of Archie’s sisters.  He died in 1934 at the age of about 42. The 80th Infantry Division was nicknamed the "Blue Ridge Division"as it was initially composed of draftees from the mid-Atlantic states of Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

One version of the 80th Division shoulder patch

·      

          Dayle Wanamaker (1^st cousin, once removed): U.S. Army Photographer. Dayle was the son of Edith Harvey Wanamaker, another of Archie’s sisters. My family visited Dayle and Aunt Edith in North Carolina in the 1950s. He made a small wooden doll chair for me, which I still have.

My understanding of each of these men and their efforts during the war has evolved with my research. Now I have read books about the 90^th Division, the 357^th Infantry, the 80^th Division, the 313^th MG Battalion, the 28^th Division, the 112^th Infantry, the 37th Engineers, and so many more. I am grateful to those who have written such books, including several that were written just after World War I. 

With the evolution of my thinking, I believe that my family members here are representative of the American Doughboys who fought in the Great War, men with faith who were loyal to America.

L to R. Roy Hall, Lynn Parker, Phidelia Skiff Harvey, Archie Harvey, 

Earl Beardsley. c. 1919     My Great Grandmother Phidelia is 67 years old in this photo.

This is one of my favorite photographs. It was labeled "Our heroes come home"

 in the family scrapbook, in Aunt May Harvey Beardsley's handwriting.