redlands history | world war 1
The call to war By JERRY RICE
A
century ago, as the nation mobilized to fight in World War I, so did the city of redlands and its residents. today, a quartet of local researchers — historian ann Deegan, Smiley Library director Don Mccue, archivist nathan gonzales and associate archivist Maria carrillo — are collaborating on a book that will tell the story about local involvement in what became known as “the War to end all Wars.” “It’s been a passion project for all of us for the past few years,” Mccue said. the team collected mementos, including photographs, and remembrances from decendants of those involved in the war effort both here and abroad. a 700-page database of information from multiple sources was compiled, including news reports and letters that were sent to family and friends in redlands and published in the Daily Facts. “those letters really bring home the experiences of what they were going through overseas at that time,” said Mccue, adding that servicemen from redlands mostly
red cross nurses on orange street in redlands redlandsmagazine.com || fall fall 2016 2016 18 | |redlandsmagazine.com
Photos courtesy A.K smiley librAry
icle buehler’s husband, caleb Pearson, in this circa April 1918 photo, and brother, omer buehler, both died from wounds suffered near the end of World War i. omer’s first name is misspelled on the American legion plaque, right, at hillside memorial Park in redlands.
fought in France but also were in Italy and russia. one story the authors uncovered was that of William carson. a private in the Marines, he was in the Battle of Belleau Wood near the Marne river in France in June 1918, then died from wounds he suffered the following
month in the Battle of Soissons. carson’s family in redlands didn’t know about his fate when the war came to an end on nov. 11, 1918, after germany signed an armistice agreement with the allies, and didn’t learn it until the William carson next year. “Imagine the pain and the anguish of his mother not knowing what’s going on, then finding out that much later that he was dead,” Mccue said. the war left 9 million soldiers dead, including nearly 117,000 americans — 39 of those were from redlands. “the numbers were staggering,” Mccue said. “there were many stories of bravery and heroism that needed to be told. We grabbed the most compelling ones, including those about what life was like in redlands at that time.” tenatively titled “redlands in World War I,” the 50,000-word book is being published by History Press and will be available next spring.