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WWI
McLean County Contributions
McLean County, Illinois
(Transcribed by: Teri Moncelle Colglazier)

When the cataclysm of war which had flooded Europe from the time of its outbreak in 1914 had finally overrun its bounds and swept across the Atlantic to the shores of America, in 1917, some of its waves broke into the farthest corners of our country. The awakening to the awful fact of war was somewhat slow; the people rubbed their eyes and for a time thought that it must be some horrible dream that it could not be true. But when once aroused to the truth that they, too, along with the peoples of all America and the sore oppressed population of Europe, were to taste the terror and suffer ing, it' not the actual devastation of war, they arose in spirit to the height of energy and sacrifice that must for many years, and even many generations, remain a page of their history which is glorious and un forgettable. It is the mission of this book to set down in some manner the activities and the life of that period the personnel and deeds of the men who went into the actual work of war, and the work and feelings of the larger body of people who at home carried on the manifold and sacrificial labors of the great struggle. The complete story may never be written, for the compass of no one volume could contain the myriad threads that made up the warp and woof of life in that time. But that its general outline may be pre served in somewhat permanent form; that at least the high lights of the picture may be set on canvas to defy the obliteration of forgetfulness, was the task which urged the compilers of this book. The first hint of the on-coming of war was felt in this county thru the Red Cross, a chapter of which had been formed in the year 1916. Even before the United States had broken diplomatic relations with Germany in the late winter of 1917, the national headquarters of the Red Cross sent out warnings to its chapters: "Prepare." Accordingly, the Bloomington chapter (afterward the McLean county chapter) early in the spring, began to get upon a war basis, both as to membership, money and organization. Starting thus early, the story of the achieve ments of the Red Cross of McLean county is one of the most pride-worthy phases of the war history. Hardly had the congress of the country actually declared war, until the youth of the county sprang to arms. They voluntarily enlisted in the army and navy by scores and hundreds from April of 1917 until the lists were closed in the latter part of 1918. The Bloomington recruiting station was one of the busy scenes of the community from the first days of the war, and many hundreds of young men had gone into the ranks and received their preliminary military training before the passage of the national draft law by which a general drain upon the man power of the land was inaugurated. And when the nation decided that a general draft law should become enforced, there was no part of the country which more willingly acceded to the martial needs of time than McLean county. Young men between the ages of 18 and 31 to the number of over 10,000 willingly enrolled in this county and submitted themselves to the call to arms at any time that the government might need them. The story of the workings of the draft boards, which examined and sent into service more than 2,000 young men of the county, is a story of labor arduously and painstakingly done on behalf of the men composing the boards, and of inspiring submission by the young men them selves to a call of duty such as had never before in the history of the country been placed before the youth of the land. Filled with sadness and yet touched with a coloring of supreme martyrdom is the story of how more than 150 young men from this county went forth to return no more. On field of battle, in dangers of the sea and land, by sickness of the camp and march, these heroic youth gave up their lives. Of those who returned from the war, not a few came with shattered bodies, torn by bullets or shells in ways which it will require years to heal, if indeed they ever become their former selves. Scores of young men will live thru the years carrying their scars. But not all the heroism of the war was with the men who went to battle. Thru two years of watching and waiting at home, the mothers and sisters and sweethearts of the youth toiled as they had never toiled before, to supply to the men in the service the things which they must needs have to meet the fierce test of the struggle. In branches of the Red Cross and its allied organizations, the women of the county spent hundreds of days and nights making literally millions of articles which the men might need in camp or hospital. Usual pleasures and pastimes were forsaken, and the whole thought and occupation of the women at home were centered on the supreme need of the country. The men who stayed at home the fathers and older brothers of the fighting men these, too, have written a chapter in the county history of the war. Their money furnished the millions of dollars which this rich county sent into the treasury of the nation to bear the fearful burden of war's expenses. Five times were they called upon to loan their money to the nation to carry on the war, and five times did they respond with open pocketbooks. Here are some of the things which McLean county people did to ward the overthrow of the world menace: Offered some 2,500 young men as volunteers for service in the army and navy. Sent more than 2,500 more young men into service through the operation of the draft law. Raised more than $11,000,000 in the five different liberty loan drives to lend to their government to prosecute the war. Gave some fifty or more of the leading physicians and surgeons to the service of the government during the war, on battle fields and camps. Gave a score or more of nurses to succor the wounded and sick on the field and in hospitals. Sent a half hundred men and women to the service in the work of the Y. M. C. A. and its allied humanitarian fields. Raised more than $140,000 for the work of the Red Cross in the two great drives of the war. Enlisted 14,000 men, women and children in the active membership of the Bed Cross in this county. Raised some $50,000 for the work of the Y. M. C. A. in war in the different drives for that purpose. Contributed the sum of over $170,000 in the United War Work drive. Donated thousands of dollars for the work of the Salvation Army, the Jewish Welfare campaign, the Armenian Belief campaign and other humanitarian projects connected with the war. Offered the very lives of more than 150 men from this county or former residents here, who died on battle fields, in camps and on the seas. Contributed to the use and comfort of the men in the service more than 441,114 articles valued at $123,000 through the work of the women of the Red Cross in McLean county. Organized the women and girls of the county into bands of tireless, unselfish working people whose time and strength was given without stint to the business of furnishing war-needed materials. Subscribed for more than a million dollars' worth of War Saving Stamps by which the thrift of the people of smaller means was promoted. [McLean County, Illinois, in the World War, 1917-1918; by Edward E. Pierson & Jacob Louis Hasbrouck c 1921]

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