They Called Them Soldier Boys: A Texas Infantry Regiment in World War I

Introduction

ix IntroduCtIon In a small Texas town, thousands of miles and nearly a century removed from the battlefields of France, the influence of World War I on the Lone Star State can still be observed. Two worn statues stand on each side of a World War I-era German artillery piece in the courthouse square of Crowell,the county seat of Foard County, Texas, in the northwestern part of the state. The statues are copies of E. M. Viquesney’s famous Spirit of the American Doughboy and Spirit of the American Navy. Both statues rest on pedestals and strike similar poses. The doughboy holds a grenade in his raised right arm but the left arm is missing below the elbow. The sailor’s arm is also aloft although the hand is missing. The artillery piece is spotted with rust.These three pieces form a monument to World War I soldiers from Foard County. The stories of the soldiers who came from Crowell and who brought back to Texas a German artillery piece deserve to be told, as do the stories of the many others who came from this region and fought in Europe.1 Texas has a long military tradition, dating from the Texas Revolution and carried on through the War with Mexico,the Civil War,and World War II,although perhaps it is felt less in the present because military organizations are no longer established on a regional basis. Nevertheless, the military experiences of Texans generally have been amply documented, although less so for those who fought in World War I. For instance, the collection of essays edited by Joseph G. Dawson, The Texas Military Experience: From the Texas Revolution through World War II largely overlooks the Texas military experience during World War I.However,the oversight is corrected in part with the recent publication of To the Line of Fire! MexicanTexans in World War I by Jose Ramirez, and Texas and Texans in the Great War by Ralph Wooster.2 Prior to the publication of those works, Lonnie J. White was the only historian to write extensively on the World War I Texas military experience.He examined the organization, training, and combat of the two Texas-Oklahoma divisions organized by the War Department in 1917 in Fort Worth and San Antonio, both of which saw combat in France.White’s The 90th Division in World War I:TheTexas-Oklahoma Draft Division in the Great War focused on the division comprised predominantly of Texas and Oklahoma draftees. That division, known later as the “Tough ‘Ombres,” was organized in San Antonio’s Camp Travis and saw extensive service in France. In 1984, White published Panthers to Arrowheads: The 36th (Texas-Oklahoma) Division in World War I.This work remains the only full study of the 36th Division in World War I, a unit that initially consisted mainly of Texas and Oklahoma National Guardsmen. While White’s works provide an excellent starting point for a study of the Texas military experience in World War I, he wrote in the preface to Panthers to x Arrowheads, “This study is not envisioned as the final word on the subject. Rather, it is hoped that it will open the way for more in-depth investigations of units, events, activities, battles, and individuals.” In essence, White perceived what he called “a notable gap in the military history of Texas and Oklahoma.”Unfortunately, White’s expectation that other scholars would study in greater detail the division’s units and personalities has been met with silence for the past twenty-five years. This study of one of the division’s regiments is in response to White’s call.3 This work tells the story of the 7th Texas Infantry Regiment, one of the Texas National Guard regiments that formed the 36th Division. Over a period of two years,the soldiers of that regiment,predominantly from North and Northwest Texas, joined the Texas National Guard, were mustered into federal service, trained at Fort Worth’s Camp Bowie, travelled to France, experienced combat, and returned home in the summer of 1919.Although their experiences in the Army and in combat were not necessarily unique among soldiers in World War I, their stories serve to broaden understanding of how World War I affectedTexans.What those soldiers experienced, what they felt, and how they expressed themselves to their loved ones back home is important to the history of World War I and of Texas, as their experiences form an important, albeit...