Old Missoula

City Beats Quota In World War I

The bold headline announcing “War Ended” in the Missoulian of Nov. 11, 1918, brought to a close some of Missoula’s darkest days.

Of the 939 Montana men who gave their lives in World War I, Missoula lost 39 and Montana State University lost 21, of whom some were also Missoula residents. Upon the signing of the Armistice Missoula was recovering from one of the worst flu epidemics in its history and the state was in the midst of one of its greatest drouths.

Yet Montana sent into the service a total of 41,133 men, exceeding by 25 per cent its percentage of quota, the highest of all the states in the Union. Montana also suffered the largest per capita loss of any state in the Union.

Thousands Volunteer

Prior to the passage of the Selective Service Act of May 18, 1917, thousands of Montanans had voluntarily entered the various branches of military or naval service. The National Guard of Montana was sworn into federal service April 7 with 1,539 officers and men.

Many Montanans were sent to Camp Lewis, a cantonment in Washington State, 600 miles away. Montana troops were sent abroad and used as replacement troops for other regiments. Several fell at the battle of Cantigny, many fell in defense of Paris at the Marne, and others at Saint Quentin and the Argonne.

Missoula Assists

With the nation Missoula threw its resources into the war effort upon the entrance of the United States into the war against Germany April 6, 1917.

Missoula went over the top in the Liberty Loan campaign, the United War Work campaign, the Red Cross drive and others. The county subscribed $3,549,350 to the Liberty Loan campaign when its allotment was only $2,380,700. H. H. Parsons and Mrs. F. S. Lusk were cochairmen.

Liberty Loan committee members included F. A. Schlick. J. P. Lansing, H.O. Bell, D. F. McGowan, Walter H. McLeod, Dr. T. T. Rider, Dr. E. G. Ellis, E. H. Boos, G. C. Rice, and Dalton Risley.

McLeod Heads Drive

Missoula County contributed about $32,500 to the United War Work campaign, $7,500 over its allotment. The drive was led by C. H. McLeod.

The Women’s Council of Defense and the Missoula County American Defense Society contributed aid to the war effort also.

In 1918 Missoula County did its part in producing the 400,000,000 feet of lumber which went out of Montana for war materials. The Missoula area sent coyote hides for manufacture of warm clothing for soldiers in the trenches. The hides were brought to the sheriff’s office during and after January 1918.

The war gave a shot in the arm to the sugar industry in Missoula. Importation of sugar was cut off by the war. German U-boats prevented shipment from Java and the only places from which it could come were the United States, Cuba, Hawaii and the Philippines. When the war broke out, England was using 2,500,000 tons of sugar and two million tons of it came from the North Sea. Practically a million tons more had been behind the German lines since 1914.

Consumption in the United States in 1917 was 4,500,000 tons. The necessity of keeping production with consumption offered the northwest a challenge.

Student Training Corps

Montana State University was one of the 500 institutions to establish a student army training corps [SATC] Oct. 1, 1918. The corps was organized to fit men for officer’s training camps by giving them military training and at the same time regular college work.

Quarters for the students, hurriedly constructed, included a tent city, the mess hall in the gymnasium and the barracks. Capt. James H Bonner and Prof. Charles A. Farmer of the School of Forestry drew the plans for the barracks.

Named for Simpkins

The first barracks to be completed – Oct. 8, 1918 – was named after Claude Simpkins, a University graduate, who was killed in action in France. The second barracks, completed in mid-November, was named in honor of Marcus Cook, University student and Missoula resident, who died when the Tuscania was torpedoed en route to France early in February. G. D. Forssen, long-time Missoula contractor, was in charge of the construction.

In October 1918 Section A of the SATC consisted of 302 men and Section B at Ft. Missoula consisted of 209. Six commissioned officers and a commandant instructed the SATC. In January 1918 Washington J. McCormick, a graduate of the University, was commissioned captain and appointed commandant of cadets at the University.

The SATC was formally closed in Missoula in December 1918.

War Mothers

A Missoula soldier who gave his life at Cantigny in the Battle of Marne, May 28, 1918, was honored by Missoula women who named the Missoula chapter of War Mothers for him. The soldier, Robert J. Maxey, lieutenant-colonel and son-in-law of Judge and Mrs. Hiram Knowles, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Maxey advanced with the first wave and in the face of heavy shell and machine-gun fire located the objective of his battalion. Although fatally wounded, he gave detailed instructions to his second in command and caused himself to be carried to his regimental commander to whom he delivered important information before he died.

The chapter in his honor was organized Nov. 26, 1918. Its president, Mrs. J. E. Power, and Mrs. E. F. Wilburn of Missoula were the only delegates of the Treasure state at the first annual convention of the War Mothers of America in Evansville, Ind., the home of the first American boy to die in France.