Post by rickthelibrarian on Jul 9, 2008 12:31:08 GMT -5
After all my years of studying about the Philippines, I finally came up with a veteran in my family who served (briefly) in the Philippines!
I had an uncle whom I knew had served in World War I with the Marines, but I knew very little about his service. His name was Homer Hershey Slater. I was able to research him on Ancestry.com and found severa; muster rolls that contained his name and small details about him.
He was attending Stanford in late 1917 when he dropped out and joined the Marines under a false name, Willis E. Ward. I assume he didn't want my grandfather (his father) to find out. Ironically, my grandfather became an Army doctor and served in France. also in WWI, but the old guy was strict!! Anyway, he trained at Mare Island, which maintained a recruit training depot at the time. He was trained as a messman. In February, 1918, his "real" name caught up with him - he either "fessed up" or possibly the Marines did some checking. The "name change" was shown on the February, 1918 muster roll at Mare Island. He qualified as a "Marksman", the lowest of the three "steps" in the Marines for the rifle.
In April, 1918, he sailed, with other Marines to Guam aboard the US Army Transport "Thomas". While at Guam, he was assigned briefly to the 41st Company, but was either in quarantine or sick for much of the time, a problem that seemed to dog him for his brief USMC career. (NOTE: Here is the "Philippine connection": don't blink or you'll miss it!!) In August, 1918, he sailed to the Philippines to the Marine barracks at the Cavite Naval Station. Again, he was sick and in October, sailed back to Mare Island.
He served at Mare Island for most of the rest of his enlistment, which ended about May, 1919. After furlough, which lasted during the Christmas season of 1918 until early January, 1919, (I wonder if he patched things up with his family by that time?) he was assigned as a hospital guard. I assume the powers that be assumed he would do a good job guarding the location where he had spent so much time!!
On May 25, 1919, he was placed on inactive status. He was maintained in the Inactive Reserve until December, 1921, when his enlistment ran out.
He was my favorite uncle on my dad's side, but said little about his time in the Marines. He knew baseball like the back of his hand and had an excellent sense of humor. He would come to stay with us for several weeks at a time after his wife died in 1956. He would usually "forget" five bucks on the dresser of his guest room for me when he left - a big deal for a 10-year old, about 1959!
Again, a pretty "thin" connection, but I was glad to find out a little about his career, no matter how brief, with the Marines.
I had an uncle whom I knew had served in World War I with the Marines, but I knew very little about his service. His name was Homer Hershey Slater. I was able to research him on Ancestry.com and found severa; muster rolls that contained his name and small details about him.
He was attending Stanford in late 1917 when he dropped out and joined the Marines under a false name, Willis E. Ward. I assume he didn't want my grandfather (his father) to find out. Ironically, my grandfather became an Army doctor and served in France. also in WWI, but the old guy was strict!! Anyway, he trained at Mare Island, which maintained a recruit training depot at the time. He was trained as a messman. In February, 1918, his "real" name caught up with him - he either "fessed up" or possibly the Marines did some checking. The "name change" was shown on the February, 1918 muster roll at Mare Island. He qualified as a "Marksman", the lowest of the three "steps" in the Marines for the rifle.
In April, 1918, he sailed, with other Marines to Guam aboard the US Army Transport "Thomas". While at Guam, he was assigned briefly to the 41st Company, but was either in quarantine or sick for much of the time, a problem that seemed to dog him for his brief USMC career. (NOTE: Here is the "Philippine connection": don't blink or you'll miss it!!) In August, 1918, he sailed to the Philippines to the Marine barracks at the Cavite Naval Station. Again, he was sick and in October, sailed back to Mare Island.
He served at Mare Island for most of the rest of his enlistment, which ended about May, 1919. After furlough, which lasted during the Christmas season of 1918 until early January, 1919, (I wonder if he patched things up with his family by that time?) he was assigned as a hospital guard. I assume the powers that be assumed he would do a good job guarding the location where he had spent so much time!!
On May 25, 1919, he was placed on inactive status. He was maintained in the Inactive Reserve until December, 1921, when his enlistment ran out.
He was my favorite uncle on my dad's side, but said little about his time in the Marines. He knew baseball like the back of his hand and had an excellent sense of humor. He would come to stay with us for several weeks at a time after his wife died in 1956. He would usually "forget" five bucks on the dresser of his guest room for me when he left - a big deal for a 10-year old, about 1959!
Again, a pretty "thin" connection, but I was glad to find out a little about his career, no matter how brief, with the Marines.
