These Boys Volunteered April 11, 1917

April 7, 2018 at 12:42 am (Uncategorized, WWI)
Tags: Battle of the Argonne Forest, Company B 16th Infantry Regiment, Company E 16th Infantry Regiment, Five Points Atlanta, Fort Thomas KY, GA, Liggett's drug store, Lorton Webster Register, St. Mihiel, Valdosta GA, William B. Register, William O. Frazier

Ray City, GA Men Volunteer for WWI

On April 6, 1917, after Germany broke the Sussex Pledge not to torpedo U.S. merchant vessels and after the decoding of the Zimmerman Telegram which sought to recruit Mexico as a German ally, the United States declared war. Days later, on April 11, 1917, three Ray City men, Lorton Register, William Balley Register and William O. Frazier, went to Five Points, Atlanta, GA where they volunteered for service in the United States Army.

When the U.S. declared war on Germany in 1917, the Army Recruiting Station for white men was above Liggett’s Drug Store at Five Points, Atlanta, photographed here circa 1922.

For white men, the Army Recruiting Station in Atlanta, GA was above Liggett’s Drug Store at Five Points on Peachtree Avenue. Black men reported to the “substation for negroes” at 40 Walton Street, about a mile west of Five Points near the campus of Morris Brown College.

An April 12, 1917, article in The Atlanta Constitution reported:

These Boys Volunteered Wednesday

There’s A Recruiting Station Near You.

Army: 504 P. O. Building, Substation over Liggett’s drug store, Five Points. Substation for negroes, 40 Walton Street.

Navy: 514 Post office Building.
Marine Corps: 29 1/2 Marietta Street.
Registration bureau of the National League for Woman’s Service 172 1/2 Peachtree Street (upstairs).

Again Wednesday the recruiting offices for all three branches of the service were about the busiest places to be found around Atlanta. While the army did not quite come up to Tuesday’s mark, it is expected that Thursday, the first day that recruits will begin training at Fort McPherson, will break all records. Navy and Marine corps each spent a very busy day with a good number shipped and more waiting examination.

The article lists 163 volunteers, including the three Ray City men.

William O. Frazier was sent to Valdosta, GA for induction. Lorton Webster Register and his brother, Balley Register, were sent to Fort Thomas, KY.

New recruits at Fort Thomas, KY, April 29, 1917

Army tents at Fort Thomas, KY circa 1917. Lorton W, Register and William Balley Register, of Ray City, GA were inducted here in April 1917

Army Barracks at Fort Thomas, KY circa 1917

WWI soldiers at Fort Thomas, KY circa 1917. Gilliam Collection, Eva G. Farris Special Collections, W. Frank Steely Library, Northern Kentucky University.

WWI soldiers at Fort Thomas, KY mess hall circa 1917. Gilliam Collection, Eva G. Farris Special Collections, W. Frank Steely Library, Northern Kentucky University.

Lorton W. Register would be killed in action on March 1, 1918, at St. Mihiel, France. Balley Register went to France as a private in Company B, 16th Infantry but became partially disabled and came home from the war without seeing action. William O. Frazier became a private in Company E, 16th Infantry Regiment, was sent to France and fought in Sessions, Neuse River, and the Argonne Forest where he was severely wounded. He eventually made a full recovery and came home from France after the war.

WilliamHosey (@EuroBirdBrain) said,

April 7, 2018 at 6:00 am

William Register was my Grandfather. I have visited the grave site, in France, of Lorton on a few occasions.

Reply

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