Robb Centre News - March 2021

ROBB CENTRE NEWS GEORGE S. ROBB CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF THE GREAT WAR AT PARK UNIVERSITY MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

National Medal of Honor Day

BY ASHLYN WEBER

On March 25, 1863, Privates Jacob Parrott, William Bensinger and Robert Buffum, Corporals William Pittinger and William H. H. Reddick, and Sgt. Elihu H. Mason, were invited to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton's office in Washington, D.C., to receive the newly approved Medal of Honor, including a (now-ceremonial) visit with President Abraham Lincoln. The first recipients of the award, the six men had performed valuable services to the Union through their organization and dedication to the Great Locomotive Chase, also known as Andrew's Raid, an intended encirclement of Chattanooga, Tenn., from Confederate supply lines. After stealing a locomotive named General on the Western and Atlantic Railroad line (Atlanta to Chattanooga) on April 12, 1862, the Andrews crew damaged miles of railroad track and connecting bridges, and even more disabling to the Confederacy, cut nearby telegraph lines to wreak havoc on the valuable route and destroy as much property within the region as possible.

Ultimately, the obvious commandeering of the vessel in Big Shanty, Ga., and forced removal of the conductor (as well as passenger cars) revealed the scheme's intentions and resulted in the constant pursuit of Confederate forces for the entirety of the raid. All 22 of the Andrews crew were captured within the week after ditching the General in Ringgold, Ga., tried in military courts and found guilty of acts of unlawful belligerency. Between June 7-18, 1862, eight were hanged for their crimes to the Confederacy. Eight other crew members successfully escaped custody and made it across Union lines, and the remaining six were prisoners of war until being exchanged months later on March 17, 1863.

Medal of Honor Citation: "One of the 19 of 22 men (including 2 civilians) who, by direction of Gen. Mitchell (or Buell) penetrated nearly 200 miles south into enemy territory and captured a railroad train at Big Shanty, Ga., in an attempt to destroy the bridges and tracks between Chattanooga and Atlanta".

This was the new standard of action that merited the nation's highest valor medal. Since 1862, there have been 3,468 Medals of Honor awarded to members of the American armed forces. It was not until 1990, however, that the Medal of Honor received its own day of commemoration with Public Law 101-564, allowing for the president to proclaim a day of observance with appropriate ceremonies and activities in remembrance of those few who had received the Medal of Honor. The George S. Robb Centre for the Study of the Great War is proud to be the home of the Valor Medals Review Project, a Congressionally mandated systematic review of minority World War I veterans who may have been discriminated against in the awarding of the Medal of Honor. We are continuously in awe of the servicemembers we have investigated and are reminded of the sacrifice and bravery of those who came before them.

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Park Alumni and Students of World War I

BY ASHLYN WEBER

The following article is a continuation of the George S. Robb Centre for the Study of the Great War and Frances Fishburn Archives and Special Collection series, "Park Alumni and Students of World War I," highlighting the service career of Park University's veteran students and alumni.

Irwin Allen Hammer (June 5, 1895-July 10, 1982)

Irwin Hammer was born to William Houston (1866-1953) and Lula Faye Hillhouse (1874-1951) in Mount Vernon, Mo., the eldest of four children.

Raised on the family's farm in Lawrence County, Mo., Hammer was accepted to Park College in 1915, becoming a member of the band, track, basketball and football teams, the Orion Literary Club and president of the newly formed Park Athletic Association. His studies were soon interrupted by the outbreak of World War I; Hammer enlisted in the U. S. Army on April 20, 1917, at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., joining Battery A, 5th Field Artillery, 1st Infantry Division. Pvt. Hammer and his company left Hoboken, N.J., on July 30, 1917, aboard the U.S. Army Transport Ship Tendores, arriving in St. Nazaire, France, on August 13. Hammer and the 1st Division served in St. Mihiel, Cantigny, and the Meuse-Argonne, remaining in France until fall of 1919. While off-duty in Paris, Hammer attended the University of Toulouse for one semester, organized by the Army. Hammer was moved to the Regimental Infirmary, 6th Field Artillery in December 1918 and promoted to sergeant in February 1919. Hammer and his company left Brest, France on August 26, 1919, aboard the U.S. Army Transport Ship Zeppelin, arriving in Hoboken on September 5.

Hammer was honorably discharged on September 27, 1919.

On June 1, 1921, Hammer married Annie Catherine Smith (1901-94) in Knob Noster, Mo.; the couple had two children, Margie Helen (1922-2008) and Donald Irwin (1926-2004). Hammer became a superintendent of public schools in an unknown district in Kansas, serving in that role until 1927, when he attended the University of Colorado. Hammer received a master's degree in 1927 and completed a doctorate in education at the Teachers College at Columbia University in 1938. Hammer was a professor of education at the University of Omaha (now University of Nebraska Omaha) between 1928-35, chairman of the department of education and instruction at the Nebraska State Teachers College between 1937-45, and professor of education at Western Washington University between 1945-61. Hammer's final position was as a professor of education at the University of Florida between 1961-72, retiring soon afterward to Lacey, Wash. Hammer died at a retirement facility in Lacey on July 10, 1982 and is buried in Mills and Mills Memorial Park, Tumwater, Wash.

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The American Red Cross

BY ISBELLA TASSET

By the time the Doughboys were sent overseas to fight in the Great War, many American women were already stationed there, aiding the war effort in a different but equally impactful way. The women of the American Red Cross served as nurses, ambulance drivers, canteen workers and physicians. They worked to the point of physical exhaustion to ensure that the wounded were saved if they could be, that civilians were kept from starvation and fatal illnesses, and that Allied soldiers had the necessary provisions. Through these efforts, they forged the beginnings of a reputation for humanitarian aid in times of crisis that is internationally associated with the symbol of the Red Cross to this day.

The American Red Cross Civil War nurse Clara Barton founded the Red Cross in 1881 as a humanitarian organization dedicated to giving aid to both soldiers and civilians in times of crisis. In its first few decades, the American Red Cross remained a relatively small and decentralized institution, although it was able to focus its efforts during both the Spanish American War and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, it sent a neutral mercy ship loaded with medical gauze, anesthetics, clothing, camp supplies and 170 nurses and surgeons instructed to render medical aid to the wounded on both sides. Because of its desire to remain neutral, $350,000 of the $1.5 million in medical supplies sent overseas was donated to the Central powers, and another $230,000 went to the German and Austrian Red Crosses.

When the U. S. entered the war, however, the position of the American Red Cross changed dramatically. Little more than a month after the U. S. declared war on Germany, President Woodrow Wilson created the American Red Cross War Council, transforming the American Red Cross into a quasi-governmental organization. The new council set about shaping the American Red Cross into an agency for the promotion of American ideals and medical practices, while the females previously directing the organization were relegated to an advisory committee. As a result of this change, the number of members in the American Red Cross swelled to 20 million adult members and 11 million youth, and the number of volunteers grew to 8 million. Nearly one-third of the American population became either a donor or a volunteer. As a result of this massive increase, the American Red Cross created 3,757 new local chapters and established 17 new base hospital units in Europe with 65 nurses each.

Wartime Roles The American Red Cross used its expanded membership and influence to increase its assistance to civilian victims of war. In cooperation with the US Army, the American Red Cross financed 50 civilian medical units.

There, trained nurses and physicians treated refugees malnourished and sick with diphtheria, scarlet fever, typhoid, influenza, and pneumonia. The American Red Cross additionally funded 7 American Women’s Hospital units in France staffed by female physicians who weren’t permitted to serve in the Army Medical Corps. This group of physicians established dental care units and dental educational centers for civilian and refugee children and a center for hygiene education at the Industrial Fair Building on the Place Bellecour.

There, the famous “baby show” exhibited American methods of keeping an infant healthy for thousands of French townspeople every day.

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The American Red Cross also assumed new roles in direct support of allied military forces. A motor service composed of 12,000 volunteers-the majority of them female-provided transportation for allied military forces to camps and canteens across Europe and the U. S. A canteen service provided shelter, recreation, food, refreshments, welfare services, communications, medical supplies and clothing, and donated comfort kits.

Local chapters of the American Red Cross’ production core donated a total of 372 million such relief articles valued at nearly $94 million by the war’s end.

Auxiliary hospitals were established for the treatment of common soldier afflictions including measles, trench foot, mumps, battle fatigue, infections, wounds, and gas burns. In the complete absence of antibiotics, tending to the wounded required frequent changing of dressings, the use of antiseptics, and often amputation. To fulfill these and other services, the American Red Cross employed thousands of nurses and physicians, and was responsible for providing training for the majority of all American nurses serving overseas during the war.

Psychological Effects The popular image of a red cross nurse-a young, smiling woman in a clean uniform diligently tending to a wounded soldier in a comfortable bed-hardly conformed to the reality. Nurses were responsible for many sick and dying patients laid prone on cots on the floor, often made insensible by their various wounds, diseases, amputations, and chemical injuries. The nurses themselves endured cold and unsanitary conditions, shortages in equipment, irregular meals, and sleep deprivation. They also risked disease, chilblains, infected fingers, fatigue, and shell shock. Of the 296 American Red Cross nurses who died as a result of war, most of those casualties were the result of disease.

These scenes and the high mortality rates that resulted from insufficient medical practices had negative psychological effects on a generation of women. The disillusionment with modern society evidenced by the writings of nurses including Vera Brittain and Mary Borden indicate that females too shared in the sentiments of the Lost Generation. As much as WWI was a time of struggle and violent trauma, there were also some positive psychological benefits from service in the American Red Cross for some of the women who served, in that it gave them a sense of purpose outside the family and enabled the formation of friendships cemented by hardship.

Historical Impact By the end of the war, the American Red Cross had developed from a small organization into a national humanitarian agency with an extensive membership base and an international reputation. In total, it devoted $120 million to relief overseas and raised $400 million during the two years that the U. S. was active in the war. This proved to be necessary training for the even greater challenge that confronted the medical community directly following the war: the Spanish influenza pandemic.

During that crisis, the American Red Cross used its newfound abundance of resources to mobilize nurses, dietitians, and members of the motor corps. It also helped establish tent cities to take some of the burden of overcrowded hospitals and produced more than 371 million relief articles (clothing and surgical dressings) by the end of February 1919. Many nurses and female physicians stayed in Europe after the war to tend to influenza victims among refugees as well as to establish public health programs and to provide social welfare services to the displaced. An estimated 3,953 volunteers were engaged in this work, 2,503 of them women.

The effects of World War I-and of the American Red Cross’s involvement in it-on the feminist movement of the early twentieth century is mixed. Like African American activists, suffragettes argued that it was hypocritical of the U. S. to fight for “democracy” and “freedom” abroad when it denied over half of its citizens the right to vote. The 19th Amendment was ratified just two years after the war, and it’s possible that part of the support for this momentum arose from a desire to prove the nation’s commitment to its ideals.

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But at the same time, women during and after the war were given no opportunity for true rank or any commission. Female physicians weren’t allowed to serve with the military in any official capacity and still wouldn’t be granted that ability until World War II. Yet another excluded group of capable female medical personnel were the 1,800 African American women trained by the Red Cross who were refused the opportunity to go overseas due to, according to a 1927 report, “the question of separate quarters for them” being “the greatest problem in connection with their appointment.” The fact that women didn’t serve in the same way that men had, even if it was because they weren’t allowed to, may have weakened the post-war feminist movement.

Further, with men returned from the war and the influenza pandemic at an end, women left their positions in the Red Cross and returned to traditional roles. It’s an unfortunate truth that the remarkable service the women of the American Red Cross rendered to their country came about because of a time of devastating crisis.

However, it doesn’t make their sacrifice less poignant, nor their courage less admirable, or their compassion less worth emulating.

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Valor Medals Roundtable Discussion

March 26, 2021 11 am CST/12 pm EST There's no expiration for valor. The George S. Robb Centre for the Study of the Great War at Park University is hosting a Valor Medals Roundtable Discussion on Friday, March 26, to honor those World War I servicemembers who, in spite of deserving deeds, may have been unjustly denied high level valor awards owing to their racial or religious backgrounds. The Valor Medals Roundtable Discussion will be a virtual opportunity to learn more regarding this systematic review, authorized in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2019, related to African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, Jewish Americans, and Native Americans that served with distinction during World War I. Please inquire with Timothy Westcott, Ph.D., director of the Robb Centre, for more details on this event, at tim.westcott@park.edu.

Sponsorship Opportunities Research Investors The George S. Robb Centre for the Study of the Great War invites research investors to join the Valor Medals Review effort to properly recognize our servicemembers. The research is supported by legislation (S. 1281/H.R. 2249) signed within the National Defense Authorization Act on December 20, 2019,

To discuss investing in the project, please contact: Nathan Marticke, Chief Advancement Officer Park University - 816-584-6844 nathan.marticke@park.edu.

Give Today! http://advancing.park.edu/valormedals (No federal appropriations are funding the project) Strategic Partners Partners are critical to advancing the mission of the Valor Medals Review. Endorsements, research support or other non-financial support of the successful completion of the Valor Medals Review is invited.

To discuss becoming a strategic partner, please contact: Dr. Timothy Westcott, Director George S. Robb Centre for the Study of the Great War, Park University - 816-885-2345 - tim.westcott@park.edu

THIS MONTH'S PHOTO: Doughboys on route to trenches in the Aisne Sector, France. Taken March of 1918, held in the National Archives and Records Administration.

Centre Staff Dr. Timothy Westcott Director Email: tim.westcott@park.edu Ms. Ashlyn Weber Associate Director Mr. Joshua Weston Senior Military Analyst

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