These are some of "The Boys of Battery D," the first draftees from Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties before they were sent off to serve in World War I. It was taken in October 1917. Do you recognize any of them?
A hundred years ago, the first World War I draftees from Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties were fresh arrivals at Camp Dix, NJ. Initially, most were together in the same barracks and the same unit, Battery D of the 307th Field Artillery.
The picture was provided by Terry Krautwurst, who researched and wrote a history project titled "To End All Wars," which he then donated to the Genesee County History Department.
The project contains the biographies and documents on the 66 men and one woman from Genesee County who died in service during The Great War.
Krautwurst's latest post on his blog about Genesee County and that war is entitled "The County and the Kaiser. (The website, incidentally, also contains the honor roll biographies and many documents.)
The full unit photo of the men is numbered to help with ID, and three complete lists of the names of all the men from the three counties drafted in September 1917.
"I’m hoping that descendants and others able to recognize these men (either from memory of their grandfathers or from old family photos) will help put names to the faces in the photo so that the majority will be identified and thus properly honored by next November 11," Krautwurst says.
Click here to check out the post and get information about identifying the soldiers. Or you can start at the blog’s home page, here.
To contact Krautwurst, his email is: tkwrite@bellsouth.net
