wwi studio

WWI Vermonter Identified Photo – Irving C. Yates of Bellows Falls, VT – Trained at the University of Vermont, UVM in 1918!

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Here’s a good one!  A collector friend of mine pointed out a freshly listed eBay auction for an identified Vermont soldier during WWI.  Armed only with a name and general location, I was able to uncover a treasure trove of material on our seated friend.

 

Irving C. Yates was born in Manchester, NH in 1896 and soon moved across the Connecticut River to the good ol’ land of Vermont.  He lived in Bellows Falls for awhile before shipping off to Middlebury.  He enlisted at the University of Vermont and trained on those hallowed grounds (my Alma Mater) until August of 1918 when he shipped out for France as part of the 6th Division, 80th Field Artillery Battalion.  Presumably he worked in some capacity with 155mm guns.

 

After the war he moved to Brattleboro where he worked in the laundry industry.  He passed away in 1975 and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Bellows Falls, VT.

 

 

 

Irving’s WWI Service Record

 

World War One Draft Card

 

World War Two Draft Card

 

Irving’s 1940 Brattleboro Address

 

 

 

 

WWI Portrait Photo – 88th Division Iowa Doughboy – Died of Spanish Influenza in France, 1918

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Laurel L. Hanan of the 339th Machine Gun Battalion of the 88th Division succumbed to the Spanish Flu during the Meuse Argonne Offensive during the tail end of WWI.  Over 120,000 US servicemen were afflicted with Spanish Flu during the war, actually making the Flu more deadly than German machine gun bullets!  I was able to stumble across this photo on eBay and was happy to add it to my collection. I’ve added Laurel’s photo to his findagrave.com page, and have requested an update to his page.  Laurel was reburied in his hometown after the war.

 

Born: 13 NOV 1895
Died: 7 OCT 1918 – Spanish Influenza, France
Cemetery: ROSE HILL
Location: FREDERICKSBURG
County: CHICKASAW CO. – IOWA
Record Notes: WORLD WAR