CALIFORNIA MILITARY DEPARTMENT HISTORY PROGRAM 2814 B Street

Sacramento, CA 95816

PFC Herman Conrad Meyer Papers Rockwell Field, San Diego

1918-1919

Scanned 13 July 2018 If used in a publication, please credit, “PFC Herman Conrad Meyer Papers, California Military Department

Collection”

HERMAN CONRAD MEYER, US ARMY, ROCKWELL FIELD, SAN DIEGO, 1918-1919

WWl MEMORABILIA DONATED BY HERMAN'S DAUGHTER, MARIE BO EN

• One-page biography, first created for St. Helena High School's WWl Institute (Napa County, CA) •

• Photocopy of Herman's Draft Registration Card, 24 Aug 1918 • 3 photos of Herman (2 in uniform; 1 in biplane, Rockwell Field) • 1 photo of planes over Coronado Island, San Diego, Thanksgiving Day,

28 Nov 1918 • Honorable Discharge, 13 Jun 1919, San Francisco • Veterans of WWl cap, Napa Chapter 929, with 2 pins attached • Letter from friend Earl R. Shope, wagoner, AEF, France, written 15 Sep

1918. Earl died of Spanish Influenza/pneumonia, 17 Oct 1918 in France. Herman received letter 26 Oct 1918. (The sleeve containing Earl's letter also has two items relating to Earl.)

Contact information for donor: Marie Meyer Bowen 3101 Rohlffs Way, Bldg. 23 Napa, CA 94558 risingsun64@comcast.ne 707.251.3969

WORLD WAR 1 INSTITUTE, "Untold Stories"

Herman Conrad Meyer, Private 1st Class, U.S. Army, 1918

. filitary service. My father was inducted into the U.S. Army October 23, 1918, at San Francisco, unaware WWI would shortly end and unaware he would be a Spanish Influenza survivor. While serving as a mechanic at Rockwell Field, San Diego-the first U.S. Army school to provide flying training for military pilots- Herman became ill, along with many others. Due to his on-site care by one of his sisters, he survived, recalling later that he had "watched bodies being carried out of the tent.'' He regained his health and was honorably discharged as Private 1st Class, Squadron D, December 17, 1918. He was 49 years old when I, his first child, was born, and, by that time, his only reference to his military service was simply to note that his sister had saved his life.

Childhood and adolescence. Herman was born in Pope Valley, Napa County, July 20, 1897, the youngest of six children. His parents, Swiss immigrants who had originally settled in St. Helena, owned a 32-acre farm a few miles from Henry Haus' blacksmith shop (a landmark site now owned by the Napa County Historical Society). About 1910, Herman was apprenticed to Henry Haus, from whom he learned what would be his trade for all his adult life: blacksmithing and welding. In 1913, Herman and his parents moved to San Francisco, where he enrolled in mechanic 's classes, possibly at Heald College. Orphaned by 1916, he spent several years living with his brother' s family in Winters, Yolo County.

After the war.. Between 1919 and 1942, Herman worked as blacksmith and welder in his brother's blacksmith shop in Winters. He served as volunteer fireman and volunteer deputy sheriff, and also played comet in the Winters Band during his residence in that town. (In 1976, 35 years after leaving Winters, he led the town's Centennial Parade as Honorary Fire. farshal.) I recall that in later years, he also played a mean h~onica and button accordion and was possibly the smoothest man on any dance floor.

After the next war .. When the U.S. entered ·- . Herman found employment as a mechanic at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. In 1943, he married 30-year-old. apa native and St. Helena resident Laura Delaney, whom he had courted since 1936. In 1 946. after the birth of their first child in Napa, the couple relocated to San Francisco where Herman had a successful career at the naval shipyard at Hunter's Point. A second daughter was born in 1948. In 1959, he retired, and the family returned to Napa.

Although his military service was unexpectedly brief. he remained intensely patriotic; one of his most prized possessions-and, for the past 32 years, mine-was the SO-star flag he purchased in 1959 and displayed,often from our home's front porch. He maintained annual membership, and was an active participant, in Veterans of WWI-Napa Barracks 929 and The American Legion-Napa Post 113 until his death. He also was a lifelong Oddfellow, receiving his 50-year "jewel" in the early 1970's in Yolo County, and a member ofNapa's First Presbyterian Church.

Herman's health began to decline in the late 1960"s. and he die.cl February 9, 1977, in Napa. He is buried in St. Helena Public Cemetery. On the "Character'' line of his 1918 Honorable Discharge is the word "Excellent," which may be standard wording on an: b rable discharge. However, that word was particularly apt and described his character for the rest of his life. Family and friends over six decades still recall him as one of the nicest persons they ever knew (and "Yolo County's most talented welder").

Marie Meyer Bowen, Napa, California; June 21, 2009

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Ancestry.com - caillornia, World War l Ueath Announcements, 1918 ... bttp:/ /search.ancestry.com/Browse/print_ u aspx'!dbid=2245&iid=32 ...

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. LOS f,NG ELES . PORT L/~iJf;.O t) r::~ CLf P-P /i~(;} rt:OM -s.F CJ i-....,_., ..

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~~~. IN LI~~ .ARE P~~~ IN . D,E.~ T~ Funeral In France Rt.;enacted·~At Presidio

BY ' ' PRIVATE BOB _ tsuc.h aR Poured <lo\,u constnui-1a .salute · ~ad been firecl over the-Iollo'ITTng day. Their f"Om Two years ago, in a rairl-1 Jy iu F rance. ~Jo& V~JOS and their grave~ wJ1en they were r ades-all San Franciscans

!-..onke,l i:emet<"l'Y in France. E.::u-1 Shope, sf.ill sic1n by sfcJC,"~ la id to rest iri the 1ittlC French decreed that the bud<li .Jos. Voos mnl Earl Shope, wag- W<"re 'rebudcd in the nationul; town of Li Bourne. · ) should be bn riec.1 &ide b" side. one rs in Batt-cry 1). O:!.nd C-Oa'-f l'cmcter_y at the Presidio~ l . • :t; • rl'he close of i he wa r lJrought Artillery eorps, and pals since _ F"re:d 'k Strit~kfond, t heir old{ ~rhe boy~ · were schoo,mates about the e..""1:lmrning of the bo:--hood. ·were laid to r~t. iu "top sergp.ant ' ' was again . in'. fte.i·e, Uud . J)als afterward. UodiCs They were ,;hipped adjoin ing :?T:1\·,,g_ • clmrgc o[ the ccromo.nics. Joe, \Vhen the wm: h.rukc out, Yovs, from Ptnn •o on the same \'CS·

,f1rC",_1 'k E . !---trit• klarn1, firt-t Shre,c agnin got ou t his old· 17,_ mnl _Shop!'.', 18. ·bo th cnH~tcd. $_t•l, j u scnJc<l cn~kels. 'ro2elh­:.:f'rge<.11.1t of -the battery. had bngfo, _nn<l sowule~l "tnps :,-1 in -. tl1~c" focal .:- :art~llcrr: -1!!.Ji:l, cri tlrn . .r_ anived iu Som Fraitcis­::harge of the fouernl, comluct- pver Jus de parted co1nriu.l es-~ whi.ch was shortly. aitcrwnrd· -co. 'l'ogcthcr they ··were placed ~a by t1te dN1d ho;\'S

1 comrnd~'i. fa ther -l o~. l\lt-Q~rnid! cha pla~t4 muster.cd. iuto £cdcl'al s_·cnh;c, m thcu: finul rcstiug place to-And as U1e dust.. !ell upon thl'-tr pr t he 62ml ,dule 1t was 1u· nµd s.out lo France. - , _ dn~r. , ~askcts1 Bugler J oe Sh.rev.c, of,W:rance, took pat·t in t he serv; · ,rhjY were botbe made wrig- , Voo!i -is ~irvh-ed by his faUi­the smuc battery, soundcd lPcc. ~ ouers, nnd were "bnnkics" iu er mid motl1c1\ .Jos. A. Yoos sr, { ta p~_:, ,f.(!r l11e. d e-J>a.rtci11m.ls.:-t'' Othc...,r iorm,er 111 embC' r $: of l_hf t ents.'. i.n bil~ets, au_d on trans- ·who _i·csirle •. t 1375 Haight -st, pals m life ; pals togc thef 111 6211(1 C. A. C. were present t o ports. . __ -_

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,~mc! a- si~tcr, ' .!frs. S tafford, the Great Ad-venture. Jt, ,. - ·:, pny_ noal homage to theh: con~~ .. Both· cofltr8.ctct1 ! 1 ~lth.;q:v.~and Loke-s t. .A moth-""":- . • .• • ' . r . .1-~cles. ~ A, m il_i t nr.r s:ilt!tc_ wa i~ _uiui:1~lj: li'l.'ntice hi:,: . _ ~ :ei· :ui~ {stfu- of S hope lhe at :_~L:...1:~:.~~~~o~~J~~ 'l~:..!.'~' ~ ~}1rN11 ,ov~r thp~ gr~aygs u __ d1ea Oct. J ~·.l '.~~:__ _!1 clle~~i.JOs Oli';va!i-1}~ Daly City.

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9.4'2012 4:10 p~

Earl R Shope - Overview - Ancestry.com bttp://trees.ancestry.comltree/46632740/person/6574643980/print

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Old Pal

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Timeline

1897 At.g

1900 Age:3

1910 Age: 13

Earl RShope Birth Aug 1897 in Te.as

Death 17 ()(;t 1918 in Li Bourne. France

Birth Texas

Residence Fresno city, Fresno, catifomia

Residence Township 1, San Mateo. California

1918 Military Jli France

Age: 20 Private ("wagoner"), Bal D, 62nd Art. CAC, 97th Div. , American Elcpeditionary Force (AEF); serial# 823 405. Erlisted in SF's "Market St. Artillery Jli 1918; sailed on HMS Baltic ot.i at NJ.

1918 Death 17 Oct Li Bourne, France

Age: 21 Died of Spanish lrtluenza/secondary pnelJ'TlOOia during Meuse-Argonne offensille (as a wagoner, he was not in battle per se); he was one of over 5,000 "doughboys" to perish of Spanish Influenza/pneumonia in October 1918. (See attached list of deaths.)

1918 Oct

Age: 21

1921 1 Jan

Burial #1 Liboume, Gironde, Aqlitaine, France

Buried next to his SF friend and fellow wagoner, Joseph Voss, who died of pneumona 16 October.

Burial #2 San Francisco National Cemetery, Presidio, San Francisco

Body returned from France to be buried at the Presidio, Section Naws Site 1441-A; also see findagrave.com Memorial# 3541916. Joseph Voss is buried beside him ( Joseph's surname is speffed Voos in the article-correction has been requested).

Family Members Parents

James Watson Shope 1871-1955

Sarah "Sallie" Stillwell 1875-

Spouse & Children

No Spouse

Source lnfonnatlon

1900 United States Federal Ceil.51.lS

1 citation provides evidence for Name, Birth, Residence

1910 United States Federal Census

1 citation provides evidence for Residence. Birth, Name

California, World War I Death Announcement/i, 1918--1921 2 citations provide evidence for Death, Name

California, World War I Death Announcements, 1918-1921

1 citation provides evidence for Custom Event

u.s. National Cemetery Intennent Control Forms, 1928--1962

1 citation provides evidence for Name. Death

U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1n5-2oo6

1 citation pn:Mdes evidence for Dea1h, Name

Web: California, Find A Grave Index, rns-2011

1 citation provides evidence for Name, Death

12/4/2012 5:05 PM