THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY IN THE
WORLD WAR*
BY PROFESSOR WILBUR H. SIEBERT
THE UNIVERSITY'S CONNECTION WITH THE
NATIONAL DEFENSE ACT
In 1920 the War Records Committee of
the Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology
published a large
and handsomely illustrated volume of
nearly 750 pages,
entitled Technology's War
Record. In March, 1922,
the Harvard University Press issued the
second volume
of Memoirs of the Harvard Dead in
the War Against
Germany, which covers the period from April 6, 1917,
to April 6, 1918. Both of these
institutions of learing,
as well as many others in the land,
have records in the
World War which they and the country at
large may
well be proud of. As the trustees of the Ohio State
University decided some time ago to
include the story
of Ohio State's participation in the
world conflict in the
semicentennial history of this
institution - a story that
I have been much occupied with for some
months past
- I have thought that I could not do
better than to give
you a partial prospectus of this
story. A prospectus
presumably contains information about a
proposed un-
dertaking, and should present such a
summary as to
arouse the interest of those to whom it
is addressed in
that undertaking when it shall have
been completed. A
* Read at the joint meeting of the Ohio
Valley Historical Associa-
tion and the Ohio History Teachers'
Association, Columbus, Ohio,
November 12, 1921.
(142)
|
(143) |
144
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
prospectus, then, ought to be brief and
interesting. I
wish that I might hope to be both in
this paper.
Certain gentlemen at Ohio State
University were
deeply concerned about military matters
before the
World War began, and had their ideas so
clearly defined
that they were able to play a very
definite part in the
framing of the National Defense Act of
June 3, 1916.
Some nine months before the German
troops crossed
the fatal frontier into Belgium, Dean
Edward Orton,
Jr.,read a paper before the Association
of Agricultural
Colleges and Experiment Stations in
Washington, in
which he proposed that the graduates of
university
military departments be made eligible
for service in
the United States Army through an
Officers' Reserve
Corps. It happened that General Leonard
Wood and
several officers of his staff were
present. The General
took part in the discussion of the
paper and later was
instrumental in having it printed and
circulated among
army officers on school duty and among
the presidents
of the colleges and academies giving
military instruc-
tion.
Meantime, Captain (now Colonel) George
L. Con-
verse, long the efficient commandant of
the University
battalion, was in full sympathy with
Dean Orton's
views, holding that in case of an
emergency that might
require the United States to put a
great army into the
field, our Government would have to
look to the mil-
itary departments of the state
universities for a large
part of its supply of commissioned
officers. Captain
Converse, was, therefore, eager to
develop the course in
military instruction at the University
and in 1913 was
enabled to do so through the employment
of two as-
The Ohio State University in the
World War 145
sistants who were at first paid with
money generously
contributed by Dean Orton and Mr. Ralph
D. Mershon,
both graduates of Ohio State, and later
through the
means provided by the university
trustees for the em-
ployment of a second officer.
These military-minded gentlemen were as
untiring
as they were far-sighted: they helped
President W. O.
Thompson, in connection with the
Association of Mil-
itary Schools and the War College
Committee on Edu-
cation at Washington, to draw up a bill
on behalf of
the land grant colleges which provided
for a larger
allotment of army officers to give
military instruction,
for the creation of Reserve Officers'
Training Corps of
which the college military departments
were to be units,
and for the establishment of an
Officers' Reserve Corps
to which the graduates of the Training
Corps would be
eligible. President Thompson secured
the introduction
of this bill simultaneously in the United
States Senate
and the House of Representatives in the
fall of 1915.
Mr. Mershon, who is widely known as a
consulting engi-
neer, became publicity agent for Dr.
Thompson's bill
and sent letters at his own expense to
the members of
the great engineering societies of the
country, many of
whom in turn appealed to the Senators
and Congress-
men from their districts.
In May, 1916, the four Ohio State
supporters of this
measure, Messrs. Thompson, Orton,
Converse and Mer-
shon, went to Washington and by skilful
management
succeeded in getting its provisions
incorporated in the
National Defense Act. In the following
September the
War Department issued General Orders
No. 49, con-
taining the instructions and
regulations for the estab-
Vol. XXXI-10.
The Ohio State University in the
World War 147
lishment of the Reserve Officers'
Training Corps at
educational institutions, under Section
40 of the Defense
Act. This section authorized the
President of the
United States to found and maintain a
division of the
Training Corps at State universities
and other land
grant institutions, with the object of
preparing students
to perform the duties of commissioned
officers in the
military forces of the United States. When,
therefore,
the Government sent the young men who
had received
some training in the military
departments of the Ohio
State University and other similar
institutions to the
Reserve Officers' training camps, it
was virtually carry-
ing into effect a plan that had been
devised on Ohio
State's campus, carried to the national
capital by its
authors, and there enacted into law. I
will leave it to
you to decide whether the plan worked
or not.
THE MOBILIZATION OF THE UNIVERSITY.
Early in May, 1915, the Lusitania was
torpedoed
and sunk off the Irish coast, and more
than one hundred
American passengers lost their lives.
This was the
first of a series of gratuitous,
ruthless, and irrational
acts against the people of the United
States by the Ger-
man Government and its sympathizers and
agents in this
country, which led to the severing of
diplomatic rela-
tions, February 3, 1917.
At the end of March, 1917, Dean Orton
and Cap-
tain Converse prepared a circular
letter or call to all
commissioned officers of the University
Battalion since
1890, appealing to them to offer their
services to the
Government through the Officers'
Reserve Corps. This
letter was submitted to the University
Faculty on April
2, that is, on the very day on which
President Wilson
148
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
read his message to Congress, urging a
declaration of
war. After being approved by the
Trustees, this letter
was mailed out to 4,500 graduates and
former students
of the University, and the list of
these men with infor-
mation concerning their education and
military train-
ing was sent to the War Department, to
which the sug-
gestion was made that they be given an
opportunity to
apply for commissions or for entrance
to training camps.
A large proportion of these men
responded to the Uni-
versity's call, and promptly entered
the service.
Not only did the University thus
mobilize its gradu-
ates and former students for military
purposes, but it
also sent a communication to the
president and the com-
mandant of each of the other
forty-seven land grant in-
stitutions, suggesting similar action,
so that the War
Department might have access to the
three hundred
thousand graduates and former students
of those insti-
tutions who had received military
training, and were of
military age.
THE INCREASE OF CROP PRODUCTION
The next question which the University
helped to
solve was that of increasing the crop
production. It
will be remembered that the reserve
supply of wheat,
after two years and nine months of war,
was at a low
level in the spring of 1917, and that
crop prospects in
important wheat-producing areas were
bad at that time.
As chairman of the Executive Committee
of the Asso-
ciation of Agricultural Colleges and
Experiment Sta-
tions, President Thompson appealed to
these institu-
tions early in April to do everything
in their power to
increase food production for the
benefit of both our-
selves and other nations. This was an
appeal which
The Ohio State University in the
World War 149
brooked no delay, on account of the
rapid advance of
the planting season. Needless to say,
it met with im-
mediate and enthusiastic response
throughout the coun-
try. The action taken by the Faculty of
the College of
Agriculture of Ohio State University is
significant in
this connection. On April 14, that body
voted to recom-
mend that all colleges of the
University should excuse
such students as would pledge themselves
to engage in
agricultural labor from the first of
May to the end of
August, 1917. On April 17, the
University Faculty
approved the recommendation of the
Agricultural Fac-
ulty and promised full credit to those
students, with
satisfactory records, who should return
with a signed
statement from their employers
testifying to their faith-
ful performance of their duty. Seniors
fulfilling these
conditions were to be granted their
degrees at Com-
mencement. Within a few days after the
announce-
ment of this action over 1,100 students
withdrew from
the University, most of them to engage
in farm work
and some to enter the Army or the Navy.
At Com-
mencement on June 5, many Seniors were
graduated in
absentia. Other colleges and universities in Ohio asked
the University's advice and followed
its example in
this matter.
The University, through its College of
Agriculture,
was to participate in still another way
in striving to
counteract the shortage in the food
supply. Governor
James M. Cox was thoroughly acquainted
with the agri-
cultural situation in Ohio, and on
April 11 sought the
advice of President Thompson, Dean
Alfred Vivian of
the Agricultural College, and Mr. Clark
S. Wheeler,
director of Agricultural Extension in
the University,
150
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
besides three others not connected with
Ohio State.
This conference decided to promote
agricultural pro-
duction throughout Ohio by various
means, including
campaigns among the farmers for
increased acreage and
intensive cultivation of the soil, the
supply of farm labor
through a number of employment
exchanges, calling on
the colleges and high schools to
release their male stu-
dents to go into farm and garden work,
and enlisting the
Home Economics Department of the State
University
in a canning campaign in order to
secure the domestic
conservation of foods in all counties
of Ohio. A State
Committee on Food Conservation and
Supply was
formed, which entrusted its campaign
principally to the
College of Agriculture and its
Department of Agricul-
tural Extension, both of which had
organizations cap-
able of carrying forward the drive
without delay. Prac-
tically the entire Agricultural staff
of the University be-
came Extension workers in the attempt
to prove the
correctness of the slogan, "Food
will win the war."
The women teachers and Extension
workers undertook
the immense task of teaching both
country and city
housekeepers how to utilize and
conserve the food supply
by baking war-bread according to
various approved re-
cipes, by introducing the "cold
pack" method of canning,
and by sanitary ways of drying fruits
and vegetables.
Verily, it was a great enterprise and
as successful as
could be wished, but I fancy no one
will think me dis-
loyal for saying that there were times
when I yearned
for a return to "normalcy" in
the culinary arrange-
ments of the American household and
restaurant.
The establishment of the United States
Food Ad-
ministration in Ohio in September,
1917, did not lessen
The Ohio State University in the
World War 151
the responsibility of the University in
its relation to
war problems. On the contrary, it
increased them by
calling for the services of a number of
additional repre-
sentatives, besides five of Ohio
State's graduates. These
representatives - fourteen of
whom are Faculty mem-
bers - came from various colleges of
the State Univer-
sity, and were appointed as
administrators, directors,
members of divisions, and advisers in
the Food Admin-
istration. Several were members of the
Agricultural
Faculty, including Dean Vivian, who had
already served
for several weeks as adviser to Mr.
Herbert Hoover,
the United States food administrator,
in Washington.
At the time of our entrance into the
war, the College
of Agriculture had twenty-six County
agents in the
field, this number having been
increased to seventy by
the time of the Armistice. In the fall
of 1917, the
University had eight Home Demonstration
agents in
cities and ten in counties, the latter
number being in-
creased to eighteen during the
following year. Besides
training a number of new workers, these
Home Demon-
stration agents gave nearly 1,700
demonstrations and
about 1,000 addresses before meetings
of women, the
total attendance at which amounted to
more than 370,-
000. The Agricultural Extension Service
of the Uni-
versity also directed the work of many
girls' clubs, with
a total membership of over 6,000.
Scores of villages
and towns off the main railroad lines
of the State were
reached by a motor truck equipped to
give demonstra-
tions, and a great quantity of various
leaflets and bulle-
tins, containing simple directions in
regard to food con-
servation, were sent out broadcast.
While the women were being thus
instructed, the
152
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
farmers of the State were not being
neglected, the Col-
lege of Agriculture and the
Agricultural Extension
Service co-operating with other
agencies in supplying
needed information concerning soils and
fertilizers.
Again, I must resort to figures. In
1916 the acreage in
Ohio planted to wheat was over
1,620,000, the yield
being well toward 24,000,000 bushels;
in 1917 the acre-
age had increased by something less than
250,000, and
the yield by nearly 17,220,000 bushels;
and in 1918
there was a further increase of acreage
of 420,000,
and in yield of 2,085,000 bushels. No
doubt, these
increases were partly due to the higher
price prevailing
during the war, but we may also assign
a share of the
credit to the activities of the
agencies engaged in stimu-
lating crop production. What has been
said about the
progressive increase in wheat is
measurably true con-
cerning corn, oats, barley, potatoes,
and other crops.
In January, 1918, the College of
Agriculture dis-
covered by germination tests that the
supply of seed-
corn in Ohio was very poor and quite
inadequate to the
farmers' needs. This was due to the wet
season during
corn harvest in 1917, and the early and
severe winter
that followed. Through the children of the rural
schools a seed-corn census of the
entire State was under-
taken, which showed conclusively that
the supply was
very short. Accordingly, the University
sent its special-
ist in farm crops into southeastern
Pennsylvania and
into Delaware to test and select
seed-corn, with the re-
sult that 63,600 bushels were bought
under a special
arrangement in these localities, and
distributed in many
counties of Ohio during April. Thus was
made possible
The Ohio State University in the
World War 153
the planting of thousands of acres in
corn that other-
wise would have gone unplanted.
The Agricultural Extension Service of
the Univer-
sity supplemented all this war work in
behalf of in-
creased food production and
conservation by publish-
ing and distributing about three and a
quarter millions
of circulars, bulletins, posters, etc.
THE SECOND EXODUS OF STUDENTS
We have already seen that more than
1,100 students
withdrew from the University in the
middle of April,
1917. The second exodus took place a
month later, when
Governor Cox, having received
discouraging reports of
the war in Washington, held a
conference with the
presidents of the state-supported
universities and nor-
mal schools, after which he issued an
executive order
opening the doors of these institutions
for the with-
drawal of such of their remaining male
students as
were not exempted under the policy of
the Federal Gov-
ernment. The object of the governor's
order was to get
these young men into the productive
industries, which
were being retarded by a shortage of
labor. The dis-
missal of these students carried with
it the express un-
derstanding that those involved would
receive credit for
the rest of the year, according to
their standing at the
time. Nearly four hundred and fifty
withdrew on May
15. Altogether 1,570 men left the
University in April
and May. This was considerably more
than a third of
the student body, and it was estimated
that hundreds
more would take their departure before
this second
exodus was over.
154
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
CHEMICAL WARFARE AND OTHER TECHNICAL
SERVICE
Just as conditions on our farms
determined the
part the Agricultural departments of
the University
were to play in the great war-game, so
also the new
and highly developed style of warfare
afforded special
opportunities for service to Ohio
State's Engineering
departments, including Chemistry,
Metallurgy, Indus-
trial Arts, etc. One of these special
conditions was
created by the use of aeroplanes and
another by that of
toxic or poison gases. When the United
States entered
the war, the Germans had been resorting
to gas attacks
for two years, that is, from the spring
of 1915. Amer-
ican chemists and technicians must,
therefore, devise
defensive measures against those
attacks and develop
methods of gas manufacture for offense.
There was
much technical work needed also in
connection with
the production of aeroplanes, ordnance,
standardized
motor trucks, etc.
Already, in the early part of March,
1917, the
Faculty of Ohio State's College of
Engineering had
adopted a resolution offering its
services in industrial
research to the Government. Within two
months the
Bureau of Mines at Washington was
engaged on in-
vestigations relating to the employment
of gases in
warfare, under the auspices of the
National Research
Council. Mr. George A. Burrell, a
former student of
the University who was the foremost
authority on
gases in the country, was at once
placed in charge of
these investigations and appointed
Chief of the Re-
search Section of the Chemical Warfare
Service of the
United States Army. Along in May he
telegraphed that
The Ohio State University in the
World War 155
he was sending a representative to
Columbus to submit
problems in gas warfare for
distribution among the
University's chemists and other
technical men. During
the following summer these specialists
received fre-
quent visits from representatives of
the Chemical War-
fare Service. Late in August, 1917,
this Service was
ready to start the production of toxic
gases on a semi-
commercial scale; and Professor William
McPherson of
the Chemistry Department, who had been
on duty in
Washington for a month or more as a
chemical adviser,
was placed in charge. Needless to say,
the staff of
assistants which he brought together
included some of
his colleagues from the University. By
November 1,
the methods of producing phosgene and
chlorpicrin in
large quantities had been developed to
such an extent
that it was decided to build gas
laboratories and fac-
tories in connection with the United
States Shell-filling
Station at Edgewood, Maryland. The men
in charge of
these enterprises and of the
manufacturing processes
carried on at Edgewood Arsenal were
largely drawn
from the Faculty and graduates,
especially in Chemistry,
of the College of Engineering, and did
their full share
in helping to make Edgewood Arsenal
"the greatest
chemical plant in the world."
Another notable group
of professors and graduates of the
Engineering Col-
lege was occupied with gas research
under Colonel
Burrell at the American University in
Washington,
while other members of the University's
great family
were on duty in Washington, D. C., in
various depart-
ments of the Government. At Cleveland
Heights was
another colony of Ohio State men
engaged in chemical
156 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
research under Colonel Frank M. Dorsey,
a graduate in
Chemical Engineering of the Class of
1908.
Dean Orton, of the College of
Engineering, who, as
we have seen, had been active in
framing and passing
the National Defense Act, was
commissioned a major
in the Quarter Master Officers' Reserve
Corps in Jan-
uary, 1917, and after serving as
assistant to Lieutenant
Colonel Chauncey B. Baker of the
Regular Army,
another Ohio State graduate, was given
the task of
standardizing motor trucks for Army
use. Later he
was assigned other important duties in
connection with
the Motor Transport Service, being
assisted by certain
Ohio State men.
Several members of the Engineering
Faculty were
engaged in radio development work in
Government
laboratories in Washington, either
under the Signal
Corps or under the Radio Division of
the Bureau of
Standards. Benjamin G. Lamme, '88, and
Ralph D.
Mershon, '90, both noted electrical
engineers, served on
the Naval Advisory Board. Major General
William C.
Langfitt, '80, of the Regular Army, was
overseas as
chief of staff of all lines of railway
communication,
chief of utilities, and chief engineer
officer, and was in
charge of light railways.
MEDICAL, DENTAL AND VETERINARY SERVICE
The Faculty members and the graduates
of the Med-
ical, Dental, and Veterinary colleges
of the University
had, of course, their lines of service
determined for
them by their respective professions.
Numbers of them
enlisted in the Medical Reserve Corps,
and saw active
service in the camps or overseas, in
base and other
The Ohio State University in the
World War 157
hospitals. Fully one-third of the staff
of the larger of
Ohio State's colleges of Medicine went
into active serv-
ice, and many more would have gone,
except that the
Government created lists of
"essential teachers" late in
July, 1918, and thus prevented them
from enlisting.
This was true of a number of teachers
in the colleges of
Veterinary Medicine, Dentistry, and
Homoeopathic
Medicine of Ohio State and of various
instructors in
similar institutions elsewhere.
Three-fourths of those
Faculty members of our college of
Medicine who went
into service, were commissioned as
medical officers in
the Army and the other fourth in the
Navy. These men
served as members of draft boards, as
sanitary inspec-
tors, camp and division surgeons,
surgeons on trans-
ports and combat ships, battalion
surgeons on the battle
line in France, and as officers in
charge of regimental
first aid stations, in field hospitals,
base hospitals, regi-
mental infirmaries, and evacuation
hospitals. The
Medical College officered and manned a
Naval Reserve
Force medical unit from its Faculty and
students, with
a personnel of about forty. This unit
was assigned for
duty to Hampton Roads, Va., where the
Navy had a
training camp for 30,000 men and an air
station, the
University Medical Unit being
officially known as the
United States Naval Hospital No. 5.
Dr. H. H. Snively, '95, now director of
Health of
Ohio, who was with the Thirty-seventh
Division in
France and Belgium, had command of the
hospital sec-
tion of the 112th Sanitary Train and
for part of the
time of the Sanitary Train itself. The
hospital section
consisted of the 145th, 146th, 147th,
and 148th Field
hospitals composed mostly of students
from six different
158
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Ohio colleges, the officers being
graduates of the College
of Medicine of Ohio State. Most of the Ohio State
students were members of the 146th
Field Hospital.
From July, 1918, until the Armistice
was signed these
hospitals, Colonel Snively relates,
"were subjected at all
hours of the day and night to some form
of enemy ac-
tivity." Thousands of sick and
wounded passed through
them on the way back from the front. At
the time of the
Ypres-Lys offensive in Belgium these
field hospitals
had the exciting experience of being
moved by Packard
trucks at top speed from Toul to the
Belgian front to
participate in the closing battles of
that offensive. After
the close of the war on the west front,
Colonel Snively
went as chief of staff of the American
Expedition to
Poland to combat typhus fever. He
equipped and in-
spected hospitals in different parts of
Poland, and helped
to organize the Polish Red Cross, with
which he served
in the campaign against Kiev. He
commanded a large
evacuation hospital at the railway
station in Kiev, be-
sides serving in other hospitals and in
the siege of War-
saw. These statements will have to suffice
in illustra-
tion of the kinds of service also
rendered by the repre-
sentatives of the College of
Homoeopathic Medicine and
the College of Dentistry.
Concerning the College of Veterinary
Medicine some
additional remarks are necessary. The
Veterinary Ser-
vice in the Regular Army constituted a
corps in the
Medical Department of the Army. Six
members of
the Veterinary Faculty received
commissions, Dean
David S. White being also appointed a
member of the
Advisory Board to the Surgeon General.
This board
adopted, with some modifications, the
organization of
The Ohio State University in the
World War 159
the British Veterinary Service. Later
Dean White was
placed in charge of veterinary supplies
and equipment,
with headquarters at Washington. Next
he devoted
his efforts to the creation of combat
equipment for
veterniary units in the field, and,
after organizing a
veterinary school for commissioned
officers at Camp
Greenleaf, Ga., he was sent to join the
American Expe-
ditiorary Forces in France, and
perfected the organiza-
tion of the United States Veterinary Service
there.
Two hundred and three graduates of the
Veterinary
College-nearly one-third of the total
number-entered
the Army and were in active service,
one hundred and
eighty-seven receiving commissions.
OVERSEAS AND AT THE FRONT
According to individual war-record
cards in the
University's possession, Ohio State had
nearly 5,000
men in all branches of the service. Of
these at least
1,300 were sent overseas. According to
Professor E.
H. McNeal, who has worked out the story
of the Uni-
versity men overseas with great
thoroughness and to
whom I am indebted for the facts
contained in this part
of my paper, Ohio State had men in
every branch of the
service in Europe and in every action.
But few of these
men belonged to the First Division, A.
E. F., which
landed in France in June, 1917, and
occupied a sector in
September, but did not get into much of
the fighting
until May 28, 1918, at Cantigny, where
they gave a good
account of themselves by capturing the
position. A few
Ohio State men were with the
Seventeenth Engineers
that participated in the march of the
first American
troops through London, August 15, 1917,
and one was
160 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
with the Twelfth Engineers that led
this historic march,
was promptly afterward assigned to the
western front
with the British, and actively
participated in the Cam-
brai offensive of November, 1917, and
the Somme de-
fensive of March, 1918. From May 31 and
through
the early part of June nine American
divisions were
engaged in stopping the Germans at
Chateau-Thierry in
the Marne offensive, towards Paris as
the objective.
According to my incomplete returns,
seventy-eight Ohio
State men were in the engagements of
this region, which
are collectively known as the second
battle of the
Marne. This was really the
turning-point in the war,
when the Germans lost all they had gained
in the pre-
ceding month. Colonel Benson W. Hough,
a graduate
of the Law School, was in command of
the 166th In-
fantry in this battle. After the
victory on the Marne
the Allies took and kept the offensive.
It was at this
time also that a separate American Army
was organ-
ized, which conducted the St. Mihiel
campaign and
wiped out the salient bearing that name
between Sep-
tember 12 and 16. One hundred and five
Ohio State
men record their participation in this
successful under-
taking. The great American contribution
to the Allied
cause was to come, however, in the
participation of the
Americans in Marshal Foch's general
offensive of Sep-
tember 26 to November 11, with Sedan as
its objective.
The American divisions, twenty-three in
number, took
over the front from the Argonne Forest
to the River
Moselle. The only reason that Sedan was
not taken was
the signing of the Armistice. There
were thirty-seven
University men in this fighting, most
of whom belonged
to the Thirty-seventh Division, or old
Ohio National
The Ohio State University in the
World War 161
Guard. There were some Ohio State men also in
the Somme offensive, on the British
front, September
27 to October 18, which broke the
Hindenburg line be-
tween Cambrai and St. Quentin. Colonel
Stanley H.
Ford, an Arts College man of the class
of 1898 and for
years an officer in the Regular Army,
was chief of staff
of the Twenty-seventh Division and was
in this cam-
paign, as was also the 301st Heavy Tank
Battalion,
"the only American heavy tank
unit," says Professor
McNeal, "to get into action."
Two American divisions, the
Thirty-seventh and
the Ninety-first, took part with the
Sixth French and
the Second British Army in the
Ypres-Lys campaign,
October 30 to November 11, which
expelled the Ger-
mans from Belgium. We had at least
seventy-one men
in this offensive.
The 332nd Regiment of the Eighty-third
American
Division, containing twenty-eight of
Ohio State's men,
was sent to defend the Piave River in
Italy in July, 1918.
They were in the battle of Vittorio
Venito and other
engagements, which resulted in the
retreat of the
Austrians. After the Armistice the
332nd served as
part of the Italian Army of Occupation.
Two hundred University men accompanied
the
American Army of Occupation into
Germany, which
began its march to the Rhine on
November 17, and
crossed the German frontier on December
1. By the
10th of the latter month it was in
possession of Coblentz
and the neighboring region.
Our records show the following numbers
of men of
the various branches of technical
service on overseas
duty:
Vol. XXXI-11.
162 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications 258 in the Medical Corps. 151 in the Engineering Corps. 110 in different kinds of Aviation Service. 69 in the Quartermaster Corps. 51 in the Veterinary Corps. 40 in the Signal Corps. 37 in the Dental Corps, and lesser numbers in the other branches. Eighty-eight men received citations and decorations, and the names of one hundred and five appear on the University's Roll of Honor. Ohio State University will ever cherish the memory of its heroic dead. "Oh valiant hearts, who to your glory came, Through dust of conflict and through battle flame, Tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue proved Your memory hallowed in the land you loved." |
|
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY IN THE
WORLD WAR*
BY PROFESSOR WILBUR H. SIEBERT
THE UNIVERSITY'S CONNECTION WITH THE
NATIONAL DEFENSE ACT
In 1920 the War Records Committee of
the Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology
published a large
and handsomely illustrated volume of
nearly 750 pages,
entitled Technology's War
Record. In March, 1922,
the Harvard University Press issued the
second volume
of Memoirs of the Harvard Dead in
the War Against
Germany, which covers the period from April 6, 1917,
to April 6, 1918. Both of these
institutions of learing,
as well as many others in the land,
have records in the
World War which they and the country at
large may
well be proud of. As the trustees of the Ohio State
University decided some time ago to
include the story
of Ohio State's participation in the
world conflict in the
semicentennial history of this
institution - a story that
I have been much occupied with for some
months past
- I have thought that I could not do
better than to give
you a partial prospectus of this
story. A prospectus
presumably contains information about a
proposed un-
dertaking, and should present such a
summary as to
arouse the interest of those to whom it
is addressed in
that undertaking when it shall have
been completed. A
* Read at the joint meeting of the Ohio
Valley Historical Associa-
tion and the Ohio History Teachers'
Association, Columbus, Ohio,
November 12, 1921.
(142)