Centennial of US Entry into World War I

On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked in a joint session of Congress for a declaration of war against Germany. Congress declared war on April 6, bringing the United States into the Great War.

Bovina would lose two men in the war. Clark Miller, uncle of Clark Lay, died in April 1918. James D. Calhoun, my grandmother Anna Bell Barnhart's first husband, died in October that same year. A third man, Clarence Lee, would die in 1922 from injuries received during the war.

I plan over the next few months to report on some of Bovina's soldiers from the Great War - I'm still working on creating a list of all of Bovina's World War I vets. So far, I have a list of 38 men. It may grow (or even shrink) as I verify these.

Some past blog entries about the war:

I did one in November 2010 about my grandmother Anna Bell Barnhart's first husband, James D. Calhoun: http://bovinanyhistory.blogspot.com/2010/11/james-calhoun-and-great-war.html. I will be starting a new blog in November sharing some of the letters my grandmother and James exchanged during their 11 month marriage.

James D. Calhoun (1889-1918)

This is James's service information from the New York State Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917–1919. Adjutant General's Office. Series B0808. New York State Archives, Albany, New York.

In March 2011, I reported on the death of the last World War I vet and noted that Fletcher Davidson was Bovina's last surviving World War I vet. http://bovinanyhistory.blogspot.com/2011/03/last-vet-of-great-war.html. I've since realized that Bovina had at least one vet who survived Fletcher - Donald Lee died in 1995 at the age of 99.

H. Fletcher Davidson (1895-1987)

This is Fletcher's service information from the New York State Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917–1919. Adjutant General's Office. Series B0808. New York State Archives, Albany, New York.
These cards are accessible through Ancestry.com and through the New York State Archives website.