Published in the Grays Harbor Post,
Aberdeen, Washington, June 24, 1916.
Co. G of Aberdeen Answers
“Ready!”
The call by the President of
the United States to the
National Guard of the United States, has found no spot where
prompter or more efficient action has been shown than on Grays
Harbor. The call came at midnight Sunday and the fire bell
called the men to the Armory. During the week wonderful progress has
been made in completing the roster and efficiency of the local company.
From every quarter, men have
flocked to the standard, men of all ages, nationalities and occupations.
Major 0. R. Austin in the midst of one of the busiest medical practices in
the city dropped his work and reported for duty. He left Thursday noon for Seattle to accept his
position as head of the Regimental Infirmary with the 2nd Infantry, N. G. W.
Capt. R. H. Fleet of Montesano, dropped one of the most active business
affairs in that thriving city and reported to the state and was immediately
assigned as head of the Aeronautic Corps. Lieut. Cook of the Company dropped his
legal practice and became one of the most active of the recruiting officers.
The examples of these officers
were followed by the men of the company and others who flocked to the standard. Captain H. A. Comeau leaves a fine
business which was recently established, with his partner. The three
senior officers mentioned above, leave wives and families, but the call of
their country is first.
The recruiting was not confined
to any one nationality but men of all nations, residents of Grays
Harbor are represented in the men who applied for enlistment. Of
the first fourteen men who enlisted in Co.
“G” twelve had served in the Spanish American War. Seventy per cent of those who have
been accepted in the Infantry are foreign born. The men of the company whose
terms had about expired immediately re-enlisted for three full years. The men of Co.
“G” desire to make a record that will be a credit to the splendid
harbor country from which they go.
A splendid spirit of the
community has aided the work of the recruiting and Capt. Comeau acting for
the Company has asked the Post to extend thanks to the Hayes & Hayes
Bank and the Aberdeen State Bank for financial assistance; Geo. J. Wolff, A.
C. Gaillac and W. C. Mumaw for assistance: to L. L Maley for 500 “Think
of Me” cigars; to the press of the Harbor, to Mrs. Alvin Blood of
Hoquiam and the ladies of the Spanish American War Veterans for a dinner
served in that city; the employers of the harbor who agree to hold the
positions of the men open until their return. Also to Edward C. Finch for use of the
recruiting offices in the Finch building and C. C. Crowthers for offered use
of other quarters.
The women of the city have been
generous in their efforts to help.
A committee consisting of W. C. Mumaw, J. G. Lewis and Mrs. L. G. Humbargar
called a mass meeting in the city hail last evening and raised funds to
furnish necessary equipment for the men of Co.
“G” that in not supplied by the state. Mrs. J. A. Hood offered to pay the
life insurance of two members in Co. “G,” amounting to $66 each,
should necessity cause them to cross the borders into Mexico. This generous offer illustrates the
feeling of those able to help.
Among the men who have enlisted
and will go to the front is Gregor Latcoy, age 22, who came from Peres, Greece
in 1912. He wanted to enlist, but
did not have his first papers.
These were promptly gotten in Montesano and the young man enlisted the
same day. Aubry Archer, who was a member of Cavalry Troop B of Seattle, came
home to re-enlist with his old Co.
“G.” Nat B. Hart,
city electrician, gave up his lucrative position and promptly joined the
company. Mr. Hart saw service in the Philippines.
Luroy Herriman of Montesano,
deputy county clerk, who has many interests that require that he stay at
home, was offered his discharge by Capt. Comeau. Mr. Herriman replied: “I am
needed at home and I have many property interests besides the office I hold
that I should care for. But if I
did not go I should always feel that the other fellows had something in them
that I do not have, and I will go.” The secretary of the Croatian society
who saw service in Serbia
promptly joined Co. “G” and will
march to the defense of the American flag which he has adopted as his own.
The above are but a few
incidents of probably a hundred that might be related of the enlistment in Co. “G.” But one case of “frigidities
pedalitis” (cold feet) came to the attention of Capt. Comeau, and this
was shown by a man who had seen service in the Philippine war. He was
promptly let go, as Capt. Comeau announces that he does not wish any man in
the company who does not have a heart for the work ahead.
Captain Comeau.
Capt. H. A. Comeau, who is in
command of Co. “G,” is a member of the twelfth generation of
North America descended from Pierre Comeau, who settled at Port Royal, Nova Scotia,
the Acadia of Longfellow, in 1632.
He came from a race of men who refused to take the oath of allegiance
to the king of England in
1755 and were deported with the rest of the Acadians to Louisiana. Their lands had been
confiscated and granted to the Tories, who left the United States after the war of
1776. The family shows a long line of soldiers and men of affairs, leading in
the various communities where they have lived in the United States and Canada. Our Captain Comeau was
born at St. Johns, New Brunswick, across the bay from where
Pierre Comeau first settled. His
father was pure Acadian and his mother Irish. Capt. Comeau inherited from his
ancestors the independent military spirit. During the many years he has been
in Aberdeen he has been active in athletics
and in developing Co. “G,”
following Captains O. R. Austin and R. H. Fleet. His men are loyal to him and
a number came from a distance to enlist in Co.
“G” to be under command of Captain Comeau.
The company reached its 142nd
name yesterday at 4 o’clock, but recruiting has been continued in order
to strengthen the companies who will go into camp at American lake Sunday
without their full complement.
The record of recruiting in Co. “G: has not been equaled in the
state, the city of Seattle
not making an equal showing.
Leave Tomorrow at 8:30
Co. G will entrain tomorrow
morning at 8:30 for American lake, where the 2nd Washington Infantry
will assemble and after a brief drill go to the Mexican border. The roster of the company is as
follows:
Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers of Co.
“G” N. G. W., 2nd Inf.
Capt.—Harry
A. Comeau.
1st
Lieut.—Earl V. Springer.
2nd
Lieut.—Frederick M. Cook.
1st
Sergt.—B. H. Short
Sergts.—W.
S. Mitchell, Montesano, Calven Teeman, Donald Cook, T. W. Schumacher, W.
Rosekrans, Frank E. Burrows, Elmer Smith.
Corp.—Homer
B. Cross, Victor Hugo, Louis Lambert, Elma, Paul Vernon, Vernon West, Louis Helbig, Melzer C. Hill,
Merril Rice, Montesano, Wm. Morton, Elma.
Lance
Corp.—Harry A. Gleason.
Art.—Chas.
Mitchell.
Musc.—Frederick
Caldwell, Nat Hart.
Cooks—Frank
L. Call, Robert Mayberry.
Privates, Aberdeen—Ernest C.
Axland, Percy Boutyette, Chas. W. Beemer, Thomas Jugam, Frederick B.
Nickolson, Carl R. Larson, George Erickson, Gerry Brain, Ernest Doyle, Harold
Spoon, C. Walter Czezepcenski, Cashimere Bebich, J. O. Meyers, William
Anderson, Chas. A. Gilmore, Wm. Appleyard, Leanard Hill, Wm. Young, Henry Weatherwood,
Robert O’Hara, Frank Hill, Jacob Zembal, Clark Mitchell, George Selig,
Kenneth Harrison, Frederick Stream, Coleman F. Lockett, Glen Bennett, Wm.
Bowen, Harvy R. Moore, Roy L. Newhart, Guy Morgan, Walter Abicht, Wm. Hanson,
Frances Deechanie, Wm. Coffey, James Haynes, Frank R. Perkins, M. A. Morse,
Mark B. Masco, John H. Kay, C. M. Maurice, C. W. Beemer, L. Edinger, C. E.
Gilbreath, Fred Gilbreath, Dewey Godfrey Albert Bourner, C. A. Gilmore, M. J.
Orville, B. D. Smith, S. Lewis, E. M. Tice, A. K. Wathcer, K. McNeail, A.
Kavala, E. C. Hay, F. W. Mount, E. Meadoes, O. A. Nichols, S. J. Walters, B.
Heglin, C. B. Edwards, Ted Smith, Geoge Latson, Lee Pearson, L. Lahey, R.
Holzer, Fred Taylor, Ed. Taylor, George Bradshaw, Guy Jassup, Daniel Lahey, James
Norton, Sherman Tiller, Merl M. Shorey, Lawrence Regon, Loren Annis, Clinton
Carlson, B. L. Fox, Wilder Carter, Jacob Davids, M. R. Holser, Earl Knapp,
James Norton, Frank Hill, Tom J. Sylvester, James W. Doran, Earl Quimby,
James P. Cryster, Chester Hess, James Carstairs, Chas. Currin, P. Hughes,
George Cain, J. C. Davids, C. F. Cook;
Privates—Ancel
Love, Seattle; Jack Davis, Hoquiam; Wm. Putman, Hoquiam; Daniel C. Pennick,
Melbourne; Chas. Demacon, Cosmopolis; Percy Garner, Westport; Alfred Moyer,
Seattle.
Additional Online Resources
The California State
Military Museum
History
of the Washington Army National Guard
Volume 5 - Washington National Guard in World War I
Watching
and Waiting on the Border, by Roger Batchelder
The California National Guard at the Mexican Border 1916
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