Earl Pettyjohn was in the 337th Infantry Regiment of the 85th Division of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. On April 18, 1918, Earl Pettyjohn received his order of induction into military service of the United State from the President of the United States, Order Number: 796, Serial Number: 462. On April 27, 1918, Earl Pettyjohn reported for duty at White Cloud, Michigan at 6:00 p.m.
Earl Pettyjohn was among the many drafted men that arrived to Camp Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan for entrainment and service in World War I. It has been reported that: “when a selected man arrives at Camp Custer, he goes first to the depot brigade, where he receives a through medical examination and is given his uniform and equipment. He is then given his first military instructions and is later transferred to a special branch of the service—the infantry, the artillery, or some specialized branch of fighting”.
Earl Pettyjohn’s Division was first established as part of the National Army, on August 25, 1917 at Camp Custer, Michigan, thus it became known as the Custer Division. It comprised the 169th and 170th Infantry Brigades.
This insignia, which consisted of the initials C.D., was the Custer Division symbol or patch that was worn by the men of the division. The Custer Division was named in honor of the Civil War cavalry officer General George Armstrong Custer and also for the camp at which it was trained.
Camp Custer was built in 1917 for World War I military training. The camp site was originally a site chosen by the Spiritualists before the Civil War for a Utopian community to be named “Harmonia”. The reader should note that this is where “Sojourner Truth” lived for the first ten (10) years in the Battle Creek area of Michigan from 1857 to 1867.
The camp was laid out in rectangular form with wide streets on which are situated the Barracks for the soldiers, officers’ quarters, hospital, rifle range, drill grounds, quartermaster buildings, etc. The following description further elucidates the Camp Custer’s capabilities: “Besides the Barracks, there are other interesting camp institutions: a remount station where thousands of horses and mules are trained and equipped for army service; a camp bakery with a capacity to furnish bread for a city of 40,000; a water system with a supply of artesian water of 3,000,000 gallons daily; and a laundry as large as any in the state”.
The camp, which comprises ten thousand (10,000) acres, has accommodations for approximately 40,000 men. Camp Custer, which is now called Fort Custer, has trained and/or demobilized more than 100,000 troops during the various wars throughout its history.
Drilling Recruits at Camp Custer for WWI
Camp Custer, which was a site for “cantonments” or a training center for recruits, was called a “national university that takes a young man from the farm, the shop and the office and in a few short months graduates soldiers, trained and equipped, ready to fight the battles of democracy”.
Camp Custer Artillery for WWI
It has also been said that “Camp Custer turns out trained soldiers for the great United States army, but is also graduates men who gain in its training a better conception of the value of clean living, a knowledge of discipline and an education which fits them better for the obligations of a citizenship in a great democracy”[i].
The Commanders of the Custer Division were: Major General J. T. Dickman (25 August 1917), Brigadier General S. W. Miller (25 Nov 1917), Major General James Parker (18 Dec 1917), Major General Chase W. Kennedy (27 Feb 1918), Brigadier General G. D. Morse (23 Dec 1918).
85th
Division Staff at Camp Custer – 1918
The typical uniform warn by the “Custermen” in World War I looked like this (see picture below):
After a year of training, the Custer Division left Camp Custer and traveled to New York. On July 6, 1918 in New York, Earl Pettyjohn sent his nephew Lloyd Westgate, of Fremont, Michigan, a Post Card (see below):
Back of Post Card
Front of Post Card – U.S. Swiss Embroidery
In August 1918, the Custer Division left the United States for England. From there, the 339th Infantry Regiment sailed to Russia to fight along the White Army in the Russian Civil War against Bolshevik Revolutionary Army forces. The remainder of the Custer Division was stationed in Lorraine, on the Western Front in France as a depot division where individual organizations supported the IV, V, and VI Corps.
In France, the Custer Division served primarily as a replacement depot division, furnishing some 20,000 replacements to other organizations. Several units, however, remaining intact—the 160th Field Artillery Battalion, the 310th Field Signal Battalion, the 2nd Battalion, 310th Engineers and the 310th Ammunition Train—saw action on the Western Front, in Lorraine in the St. Mihiel operation, and in the Meuse-Argonne sector.
Western front, 1918
While in France, Earl Pettyjohn caught a bad case of pneumonia and nearly died. In a famous Russian battle, Earl Pettyjohn’s entire unit was unexpectedly killed. Earl Pettyjohn, having been hospitalized from pneumonia, was the only survivor. In Detroit, Michigan, there is memorial honoring all the soldiers that fought and / or died in Russia and Earl Pettyjohn’s name is reportedly among them.
At the close of the war, parts of the Custer Division served in Germany in the American Army of Occupation. In April 1919, the Custer Division was inactivated. From April 1, 1919 to April 21, 1919, Earl Pettyjohn served in the Demobilization Company. He was also entitled to a Government bonus of $60.00. Moreover, Earl Pettyjohn received his final payment, Voucher Number 1632 from Captain F.A. Tallmadge—Disbursing Officer to include Mar 31/19 by Captain M.S. Crosby, QMC, and Regimental Supply Sergeant[ii]:
Wagoners
Initials: Serial #:
Grade: Enlistment: Term: Pay:
Travel: Bal:
EVP 2048725 CP Apr 27/18 1 yr. 86.20 6.85 92.05
Whitecloud, Mich.
Earl Pettyjohn’s Signature for
his Final Pay
The copy of the record appears to have been burned from the fire of July 12, 1973. It is fortunate for the author to be in possession of this record since the majority of the Army military records for the period of 1912 through 1959 were destroyed from the fire.
From these records, it as been learned that Earl Pettyjohn was ranked Corporal and he was a Wagoner. What was a Wagoner? Wagoners, who seemed to have been chosen for their knowledge and experience as previous farmers, drove wagons pulled by horses full of supplies; they were an army transport unit. A Wagoner can be likened to a modern day “truck driver”. Later, in World War II, Army trucks replaced wagons, and tanks replaced horses in the army. Wagoners provided a core of trained wagon drivers to supply front line positions and they joined the forces at the Western front during World War I.
The following picture survived from a Wagoners’ Special Reserve from England (Yorkshire Wolds) that served in World War I.
By August 1919, however, the last elements of the Division had returned to the United States. During the years of peace that followed, it continued to exist in the VI Corps Area as a Reserve Division with Reserve Officer personnel.
The war along the Western Front led the Germans and their allies to seek a peace treaty, which was ultimately held in 1919 at the Paris Peace Conference. As a result, the Treaty of Versailles was signed in June 1919. The Treaty effectively crippled Germany of its military and economic power. It also returned much land to France and drastically reshaped Europe.
Earl V. Pettyjohn – World War I
Earl Pettyjohn received a World War I Victory Medal, which was also referred to as the “Allied Victory Medal” for his honorable service for active duty at any time between April 6, 1917 and November 11, 1918; for service with the American Expeditionary Forces in European Russia between November 12, 1918, and August 5, 1919; or for service with the American Expeditionary Forces in Siberia between November 23, 1918, and April 1, 1920.
Ribbon – common to ALL of the Allies
The ribbon consists of a double rainbow with red joining in the center. The ribbon is edged with narrow stripes of white. The rainbows were selected to represent a “new era” and the calm after a storm, which alluded to World War I. It also represented the combined colors of the Allied forces, which joined together for a common cause. The two rainbows also represented the two groupings of nations—Allied and Associated, meeting the heraldic color for conflict and bravery. The use of the double rainbow also provided symmetry and balance and avoided having the ribbon confused with that of the British 1914 Start (although not a rainbow, is similar).
WWI Victory Medal
The estimated number of men that were killed fighting in World War I ranges from around 8.5 million to 10 million, with over 20 million wounded. The United States mobilized 4.3 million military men: 50,000 died and 230,000 were wounded. No American civilian died[iii].