As we get ready to observe Memorial Day during the nation’s 250th anniversary year, it might be a good time recall a bit of unique Kendall County military history.
When the U.S. entered World War I, many Kendall County residents were eager to serve their country. For some, though, physical limitations prevented them not only from volunteering, but even from being drafted. One of those was Lisbon Township farmer Charles “Timmy” Howell.
While Howell was in perfect health otherwise, he lacked one thing the Army and the other armed services absolutely required – a trigger finger. When a youngster, Howell accidentally shot off the index finger on his right hand in a hunting accident. It wasn’t that Howell couldn’t shoot – he was a crack shot even without his index (or trigger) finger. But regulations were regulations.
So Howell and several of his neighbors and others in Kendall County looked around for some way to support the war effort, eventually hitting on forming their own company of the Illinois Reserve Militia, the state’s home guard. The Illinois National Guard had been federalized and was busy getting ready to fight the Germans overseas, so the IRM was assigned to assist during civil disturbances, emergencies, or disasters until the National Guardsmen returned from Europe.
The group was organized as Company K, 5th Infantry, Illinois Reserve Militia. It was furnished surplus military equipment by the U.S. Army, and armed with Spanish American War vintage Springfield Model 1892–99 Krag–Jørgensen rifles.
Company K, comprised of Yorkville and Platteville men in an about 50/50 mix, held weekly drills at the old Yorkville City Hall on Courthouse Hill. The group soon moved its training and meeting place to a small building next to Corrigan’s general store in Plattville, and that’s where it stayed until the war ended and Company K was mustered out.
Although Company K was gone, Howell was bitten with the military bug. He and a couple of his neighbors thought it might be a good idea to establish a real Illinois National Guard company in Kendall County.
Around 1920, he met with the ING’s commander, Gen. Milton J. Foreman, and got a brusque rebuff. But Howell kept meeting and talking with people affiliated with the ING until he got the name of Stephen O. Tripp, a wealthy businessman who was the ING’s quartermaster general.
In the post-war years, the ING was having recruiting trouble. The World War had ended and people were much more interested in making money than in military affairs. So when Howell told Tripp he thought he could recruit a full company comprised of Kendall County farmers, Tripp was receptive and Howell proceeded on his mission.
Regulations required that a company had to be established with at least a couple experienced military officers. Howell was able to coax Yorkville attorney David Mewhirter, who served as one of Gen. John Pershing’s staff officers in France, into being the new group’s commanding officer with the rank of captain.
Salmer Thompson, another World War I veteran, was recruited as first lieutenant, while Howell was appointed second lieutenant.
Clyde Howell, Charles Howell’s son, noted years afterwards that neither Mewhirter nor Thompson were very interested in the project, but reluctantly agreed to lend their names to it to get it started. It wasn’t long before both dropped out, and Howell was promoted to captain, the company’s commanding officer.
With the company formed, enough young farmers were recruited to fill its roster. It proved quite popular. Those who joined got paid (not much, but it was cash money, a rarity in a rural community), and also got to participate in maneuvers and shooting contests, which proved extremely popular.
Company E, 129th Illinois National Guard Infantry Regiment, was officially accepted for service in July 1923.
Then the search began for a permanent meeting place. Howell and his corps of two other officers, Arthur Hubbard and Irwin Knutson, and the men of the company sold the community on building their own armory that could double as a community center.
The men in the company donated $1,600 out of their own paychecks, and the community donated another $2,000. Stock was sold to raise the balance of the money with the total expenditure for the materials reaching $5,500. The men of the company volunteered to do the construction work.
When finished, they had a large concrete block building suitable for company drill as well as for a variety of community events, including popular winter basketball games. Eventually, an even more popular indoor community swimming pool was added.
Howell ran a tight ship, insisting everyone follow the regulations. One late summer when the company was leaving for their two weeks’ training at Camp Grant near Rockford, one of Howell’s best friends refused to go, complaining he was needed for the oat harvest. Howell had Kendall County Sheriff Robert Woodward pick the man up at his farm and transport him to Yorkville, where went with the company, spending the next two weeks in Camp Grant’s guardhouse.
Company E was called to duty for the 1931 riots at Stateville Penitentiary and again in 1933 for the coal mine wars in and around Taylorville, Illinois.
In 1933, bandits Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow raided the Platteville Armory and stole a number of firearms, including powerful Browning Automatic Rifles.
The practice mobilizing for in-state activities stood the men of Company E in good stead when World War II broke out. The 129th was federalized and many of its members served as officers in the Pacific Theater. Howell was bitterly disappointed that his missing trigger finger again kept him out of the war, despite a plea to his personal friend, Gen. George Marshall, who rose to lead the U.S. Army throughout the conflict.
Company E never returned to the Platteville Armory, though it was headquarters of Company L, 3rd Infantry, Illinois Reserve Militia, organized and led by Howell, during World War II. The armory was largely destroyed by fire in January 1946. But the basement, which was saved, became the home of the old Platteville Veteransof Foreign Wars Post and a community meeting space, a tribute to Charles Howell’s community spirit and vision.
Looking for more local history? Visit http://historyonthefox.wordpress.com/