Volume 17 , Issue 13

April, 1919 Far West Troops of 40th Division Home On 2 Ships

The Evening World, Saturday, April 5, 1919, had the following headlines: Principals In Alleged Plot To Get Aged Woman's Riches," "War Minister Talks of Bigger Germany After The War," and "Far West Troops of 40th Division Home On 2 Ships." Just a few of the many front page headlines on that date.

As to the Far West troops of the 40th division him on two ships, there were California movie men among guardsmen back from war and other ships.

The Edgar F. Luckenbach from Bordeaux landed 2,281 A. E. F. soldiers at the Bush Terminal, followed by the El Oriente, also from Bordeaux with 65 casuals.

The troops on the Luckenbach were commanded by Col. Leonard M. Farrell of San Jose, Cal. of the 159th Infantry. Two thousand men of that regiment were abroad, with he Headquarters troop of the 40th Division of which the regiment was a part, and the 115th Headquarters train. This was the Sunshine Division which had the shoulder insignia of a blazing sun on a blue field.

The 159th Infantry was made up of the Second and Fifth California Infantry. It sailed from the United States August, 1918, and after being moved to Amiens furnished three-fourths of its strength to organizations in the front line as replacements, suffering casualties of from 12 to 15 per cent, Col. Farrell said.

Many moving picture men of the Los Angeles region were members of the 40th Division, notably Joseph S. Keaton, familiar to movie fans as to his face if not as to his name as a counterfoil of the fat Arbuckle person. Keaton had the most prominent part in the entertainments organized abroad.

Private Thomas Fitzsimmons was anxious for news of the baseball situation; he played shortstop for the Brooklyn Nationals in 1917.

Other units of the 40th Division came in later on the transport Wilhelmina which brought a total of 1,721 soldiers. These were the 79th Brigade Headquarters and detachments of the 157th Infantry, 115th Sanitary Train, 115th Supply Train and 160th Field Hospital.

The ship also brought 56 officers and 630 men convalescing from wounds or illness, several hundred casuals and a detachment of be hospital No. 13.

New Yorkers on the Wilhelmina were Lieut. H. R. Brown, Medical corps who has been with Base Hospital No. 25 at Allerey and Private R. W. Davies of the 107th Infantry, whose home was at No. 2078 Bathgate Avenue; he was gassed at Cambral.

The transport Ana Cortes with five casuals of the Ordnance Departments was also due on that same day.
  |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

---