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

 

Last updated August 2017 by Larry R. Short

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