They Called Him BULLDOG

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

The Cavalry FAN DANCER

With leave being weeks away, the guys were getting anxious for a little entertainment. Henry said he'd seen a fan dancer in the big city and thought he could recreate it. The guys weren't convinced, but here's Henry out looking for his costume.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

NATTY NED the Cavalry Man

Click on image to see it larger.
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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

FLEAMARKET Cavalry

Just your average Cavalry fleamarket. Old trucks, boxes of Jello, and items you won't find anyplace else. Open only on Saturday. Best hour 14:50.

Click on image to see it larger.
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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

The PACKAGE from Home

A pack of gum? A love letter folded up like origami? What has these two fellows so fascinated and the third working as the lookout? My mind runs in all sorts of directions.

Click on image to see it larger.
This photo is from the Louise Bigelow Schnabel album, same as the last post with the goat.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

It's a horse! It's a Harley! IT'S A GOAT!

When confronted with this week's Sepia Saturday prompt I thought, "Cows, maybe cows. I know have pictures of cows." In fact I have some very nice 35mm slides of cows taken by Betty Schnabel's father. Cows give milk and eat grass. What's there not to like about a cow? But goats it must be. So I went on a search for a photo of a goat. I have posted a couple goat photos in the past (here and here), but I needed something of better quality. It had to say GOAT!

And then I found it. A very small snapshot in the old photo album of Betty Schnabel's mom, Louise Bigelow Schnabel. A page of photos of World War I cavalry fellas having a good time. But none of them was having as good a time as this fella riding a goat.

Now, I always thought the cavalry rode horses or camels, but a goat was a whole new idea. Perhaps this was just in training. Funds were low, just give them goats to get started. Imagine a parade ground with a cavalry riding goats. I'd give at least a buck fifty to see that.

In the case of this fella I'm guessing his pre-military form of transportation was a motorcycle. During the training Harley the goat would have to do.

Click on image to see it larger.

And I have to say—with a smug look on my face—that at least my guy is "riding" the goat and not trying to sit and have a chat with it as the Sepia Saturday fella is doing. I mean, come on. Make an effort. Sure, your hat is funnier than mine, but I bet mine was making vroom vroom sounds.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

Off to WAR

This is the weekend we in the U.S. honor those who have fallen victim to the follies of old men far from the front. I'm not one to say that war is never required, but it should be the very last option, never the first.

This photo shows a line of men about to be sent off to fight in World War I. On either side of them is full on flag waving patriotism. It's easy to wave the flag when you're not the one carrying it into battle.

Click on images to see them larger.

How many of these young men returned unscathed? How many suffered with nightmares for the rest of their lives and the label "shell shocked"? They were labeled as being weak, unmanly for not just getting on with their lives. The war was over, let it go. It took a long time for humanity as a whole to understand the mental damage done by war and be willing to openly talk about it and give it a name: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

So as we celebrate those who have passed don't forget to look around for the walking wounded amongst us. Those old men, still far from the front, continue to make life decisions for those they'll never meet.

I will be spending part of this Memorial Day with a group of World War II veterans. So few of these veterans are left and I know of many who still refuse, or cannot, talk of what they saw and did, let alone what happened to them. Their stories are dying with them and they will soon be forgotten.

Memorial Day is not just about BBQ's and good sales.

This post is my completely off topic contribution to Sepia Saturday.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

Lost and ALONE, but NOT FORGOTTEN

This is a repost from 2009. It is my submission for Sepia Saturday's remembrance of World War I. I reference two online folks who were able to fill in some of the lost information about the photo. One of them, Eloh, has been missing in action for many years from her blog. At some point someone has gone in and deleted all the very funny stories she told.

I again thank both of them for providing the information they did.

And I do recall that a writer from Wisconsin or Michigan—I can't remember—contacted me about using the photo in a story she was writing for a local paper. I was told I'd be sent a link to the article. Of course I never was. It's happened many times that I've given folks permission to use something with the stipulation they eventually either send me a copy of the book or a link to the piece. Too often they simply don't follow through with their side of the deal.
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I have no information about this photograph. I don't know if this World War I graveyard is stateside or in Europe. It's sad, mysterious, and just plain interesting. Nothing is written on the back. Perhaps someday someone will stumble across it in Flickr who knows something about it.

Click on image to see it larger.

List of names that I was able to clearly read:

1. Charles A. Vogt / Pvt 50Co.T.C. 17 Grand Div / Died 1919
2. Charles J. Vallier Jr. / Sgt. 311 Engrs  / Died Mar. 6. 1919
3. John C Zitzmann / Col or Sgt Heqrs Co 312 ??? / Died Oct. 13. 1918
4. Macgo Alston / Pvt CoD 304 Labor ??? / Died Jan. 6. 1919
5. Robert Illig / Pvt Co A 38 Engrs / Died 
6. Edward P Bowe?? / Wagoner
7. Clarence V. Fanning / Pvt Co D 312 Engrs / Died Jan. 7. 1919
8. Michael J Connolly / Pvt Hdqs Co ??? / Died ??? 
9. Walter C Skole / Mechanic CoG 344 Inf / Died ???
10. Albert C. Welch / Sgt. CoF 348 Inf / Died Feb. 5. 1919
11. Ernest Bisbee / Wagoner Sply Co 348 Inf / Died Nov. 4. 1918
12. Eugene B. Ball / Corpl 15 Engrs / Died Mar. 13. 1919 
13. David L Dosh??? / Cook CoM ??? / Died Feb. 9. 1919

To see the people in the photo even larger click here.

Update: The net is an amazing place. This photo can now be put into context with the world. Eloh, from the hysterically funny blog http://elohssanatahw.blogspot.com/, and Lori, a genealogist from http://www.familytreesmaycontainnuts.com, together filled in the pieces. I present to you their findings.

From Eloh:

I looked at the larger photo, wow, there is some "silent film" going on isn't there. A whole movie in the expressions and body language.

The woman, possibly Graves Registration? She's wearing what seems to be a campaign ribbon on her lapel. It could be a flower stem or a pencil in her right hand and it looks like papers between her purse and body.  I'm stumped with the pockets both full of hankies. They could be scented, but the exhumed remains really wouldn't be that stinky.  Maybe she just has a heart, maybe fashion?

The full bird colonel is obviously upset with her. He is used to getting things his way.  On his collar is the Engineer insignia and the Combat Infantrymans. Color is a problem with the rank of the other two, but one thing about the Army, some things stay the same.  I'll still be guessing that the oak leaf is gold and that Major is the Colonels' Aid. (Personal secretary).  Color problems again, and again it would normally be a silver bar of a First Lieutenant, could be a Captain at that angle of the photo, but he is young and not paying attention to his surroundings, he is only interested in what that Bird Colonel wants. He is also wearing Engineer Insignia. I can't make out the patch, left shoulder it would tell us what "Army" he was assigned to.
(7th Army has been in Europe since  WWII)

I noticed in your list of names a Junior and thought it the most likely to connect up to something useful.  I was lucky as he did have a child.

This is a relocation of soldiers killed in France.

Charles J. Vallier Jr. / Sgt. 311 Engrs  / Died Mar. 6. 1919

Born:  10 Jul 1888  Place:  Of, Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Died:  6 Mar 1919  Place:  , , , France
Wife's Name
Mae MINN

Born:  Abt. 1892  Place: 

one child listed as still living.

It will be very interesting to find out where his body is today.

From Lori:

I am pretty sure the cemetery is Suresnes, Ile de France, France. The American military cemetery at Suresnes was established in 1917 by the Graves Registration Service of the Army Quartermaster Corps. A majority of the World War I dead buried there died of wounds or sickness in hospitals located in Paris or at other places administered by the Services of Supply. (Many were victims of the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919.) The graves area consists of four burial plots: three of World War I, with a total of 1541 graves, and one of World War II, containing the graves of 24 unknown soldiers, sailors, or airmen.

At least one of the names (Ernest Bisbee) on the list is buried there. I didn’t find any family trees looking for Charles Vallier.

Thanks to both of you for helping to fill in the pieces. Perhaps someday someone looking for information about their ancestors will find this photo online.

Update: Thank you to Natalie Karst for finding and sending the following two newspaper clippings relating to Walter C. Skole in the list above. Because of her sleuthing we now know the cemetery was Carbon Blanc and that it is possible the woman in the photo is Edith Wilson, wife of President Woodrow Wilson.

It's always so rewarding when I post something and even more comes back to me than I initially posted. I can't thank those who participate enough. It's a little thread of history.

Click on images to see them larger.

To see another post about a U.S. soldier who lost his life during war please visit my link to the Sgt. C. E. Mower which now contains many new images from the shipboard newsletter from the 1940s provided by reader D. Kauffman.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 7 available at Amazon.

Visiting the YMCA in SCOTLAND DURING WORLD WAR I

As soon as I saw the image for Sepia Saturday this week I knew exactly which photo I needed to feature. The problem…where did I put it?

This real photo post card is from a collection of cards that belonged to my Scottish maternal grandmother. There is nothing written on the back so I have no idea who any of these folks are. I am guessing it was taken in Scotland. Perhaps some of these people were friends of my grandmother; none of them look familiar.

There are a lot of stories here that we'll never know, but oh my it is fun to speculate.


Click on image to see it larger.
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And thank you to all who have bought copies of my new book. I hope you enjoy it.

Tattered and Lost: Forgotten Dolls

Judging TIME

Isn’t life really all about the details? Memories would mean nothing without the details of the moments, moments in time.

And details are what draw me to photos. Often it’s the details I can’t see, but suspect might be there. In the case of these two images I had no idea what I had. I just thought they were guys, probably military, hiking across a field. They’re small photos so it wasn’t until I scanned them that I said, “Whoa!”

Click on either image to see it larger.

This weeks Sepia Saturday is about time, which I think in the case of these fellows was pretty important. For them time management was the difference between more time and the end of time.

A clock is not needed to judge the importance of time.

The THREE SOLDIERS

Click on image to see it larger.

WORLD WAR I THEATER mystery

This real photo post card is a companion piece to the last image I posted from World War I. Another mystery. I have no idea where it was taken.

Click on either image to see it larger.

The MYSTERY AFTER THE WAR

I have no information about this photo other than it was given to me by my best friend. It is a real photo post card sent by her grandfather.

Click on either image to see it larger.




Obviously, it's military personnel taken six months and two days after the armistice with Germany ending World War I. Other than that, it's a mystery.

I hope someone steps forward someday to identify this place, but I'm highly doubtful. Those with real memories of the war are all but gone. This is just a tattered and lost image.

From WJY of The New Found Photography comes the following information:

The armistice of November 11 would end the fighting, but not the war. The actual peace treaty would be negotiated between January and June of 1919. The Treaty of Versailles would be signed on June 28. Until then, American soldiers stayed in their barracks wating to see if they would go home or back to the front. This is, most likely, a shot of Americans hanging out near their barracks.