Frank in WWI
My great uncle, Frank Anderson, enlisted at age 20 in "F" Company of the 17th Engineers (Railway) on June 29, 1917. He was the third child of Gustof and Mathilda (Peterson) Anderson born July 19, 1896 in Waukegan, Illinois. He was a first generation Swede.
His civilian occupation was a railroad
trackman on the E J & E (Elgin Joliet and Eastern Railroad) and he may have had the same job in the Army although he listed Chauffeur as a vocation skill on his enlistment. After the war Frank returned to the E J & E.
He was sent to St. Nazaire and Nantes, France where he was part of the massive effort to build and repair railroad track in the large seaport facilities and warehouse complexes being built to support and supply the American Expeditionary Force.
Frank was honorably discharged from service at Camp Grant, Rockford, Illinois, as a private on April 7, 1919. He served with the American Expeditionary Forces from July 28, 1917 until March 25, 1919.
The regiment was composed of about 1,100 men. About 750 or 70% were from the south the rest from northern states. Training was in Atlanta, Georgia. They left Atlanta for France on July 26th 1917.
You can see that not much time was spent in state-side training since he was to do the same job in the Army as in civilian life. He was promptly discharged upon his return from France.
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