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| Company D, at Camp Bowie, 1917. Click on any image to enlarge. |
As we celebrate Veterans Day this weekend, I thought it might be interesting to tell the story of a company of infantry formed here in 1917.
On September 5, 1917, Company D of the First Texas Infantry marched to the Kerrville depot of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad, boarded the train, and headed to Camp Bowie near Fort Worth. The depot was in the building which is now the home of Rails, a Café at the Depot.
Company D was made up of local young men, mostly from Kerr County, but also a few from neighboring counties. Among the men were Sidney Baker and Francisco Lemos, who died in battle in France, and Leonard Denton, who died from influenza.
In one photo, the troops are marching west in the 600 block of Main Street, just past where Broadway Bank is today. In the other, they are marching in front of the courthouse square, in the 700 block of Main Street.
In that photo you can see Kerr County's second and third courthouses, two cut limestone buildings that were torn down in the 1920s. Both of those structures stood near Main Street on the courthouse square; the current courthouse would be behind these old stone buildings.
The roster shows the company at Camp Bowie, which was near Fort Worth, Texas.
106 names are on the roster; three of those names are listed on the Kerr County War Memorial, a solemn structure on today's courthouse lawn; those three are among the 19 other Kerr County men who died in World War I.
The three men of Company D listed on the Kerr County War Memorial are Francisco Lemos, Sidney Baker, and Leonard Denton -- and those three are in the group pictured in the two photographs.
Leonard Denton never left Camp Bowie; he died from influenza in April, 1918, and is buried in the Turtle Creek Cemetery.
Baker is buried in France and Lemos is buried in Kerrville at the Mountain View Cemetery, near Tivy Stadium.
If the photographs are of Company D marching to the train station, as labeled, one of the photographs records Sidney Baker turning for the last time to walk on Tchoupitoulas Street, a street which would be renamed in his honor a few years after the photograph was taken.
I noticed several things about these two photographs of the young men marching along Main Street.
First, they appear to be taken around noon. Secondly, a horse drawn carriage travels with them, carrying about four women, and boys walk with the troops. Third, in one of the photographs a dog is tagging along.
Rev. S. W. Kemerer, the pastor of the Kerrville Methodist Church, wrote about the men's departure from the Kerrville train depot back in 1917:
"Probably the largest number of people that ever assembled at the Aransas Pass depot in Kerrville gathered Wednesday afternoon to bid farewell to Company D, which departed for new training quarters at Camp Bowie, Fort Worth.
"As Company D goes forth from our midst to fight for country and humanity, the heart of Kerrville and entire surroundings is with them.
"That was a memorable sight at the station," Rev. Kemerer writes, "when Kerrville gathered to tell the boys good-bye, and bid them God-speed on their first lap to the front -- to Somewhere in France.
"The train was making up, and the engine puffed and rang its bell sharply while performing its indispensable part in this gigantic tragedy of all time. A great throng was grouped about the station and lined up along the tracks. There were fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sweethearts and loved ones, friends and neighbors... We heard kindly greetings and brief jokes and repartee, but somehow they sounded a little forced and lacked spontaneity. There were no loud calls or shouts. A deeper note was sweeping the hearts of both the soldiers and the gathered throng. But there was the warm handclasp and low spoken well wishes, and sometimes only a look of blessing and farewell. God knew that many mothers' hearts were torn, that many fathers' hearts were too full for words, and that tears streamed from many eyes, so God also wept in the tender rain that fell, for He looked on and understood and loved.
"Then the bugle sounded, and the boys lined up. Captain Seeber uttered brief short orders. Each line became straight, every form erect. An orderly called the names crisply. What a response! It sounded short and sharp like the crack of a gun -- 'Here,' 'Here,' 'Here,' -- until every man had made answer....
"They were a noble company. They answered like men who had measured the task and were eager to engage in its accomplishment.
"So the train moved away, the engine with two flags fluttering at its headlight, the bell sounding ceaselessly, the soldier boys leaning far from the windows waving farewell. And the great throng waved farewell, and the lovely hills of Kerrville threw farewell kisses, and the clouds wept farewell."
Indeed, they were a noble company. In these photographs, we can see them as they march together, leaving Kerrville, some for the last time.
Until next week, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who collects items from Kerrville and Kerr County's history. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times November 11, 2023.
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