New Britain herald., 1919-09-18


 world war records, there will no doubt 1 be- found the achievements of Com p1nies F. and I who fought in the 18th Division, and whose work from the very outset of arrival in France on Ocaober 5, 1918, until after the armi- stice was signed calling the war to an end, was filled with labors on most of the important fronts that the A. F. F. distinguished itself. Company E Is Oldest. Go. F is the oldest of the two local companies having been formed on March 20, 1872, by the late Charles B. ErichSon, who was made captain, l and who later rose in the military ranks as colonel of the First Connect icut Regiment. Co. F was organized after the famou" battery formed at the close of the Civl war, was moved to Branford. The battery was under the captaincy of the late George Had ley, a brother of the late R. w. Had ley, The original roster of Co. F con- tained between 60 and 70 members. samuel Whaples was elected first lieutenant and Fred Hemingway, sec ond lieutenant of the new company. The company met for drills in the old \ Turner hall. During this time, Co. D 1 was the only other company in this city, and prom inent in it's ranks was the late P. Corbin. Captain Erichson \ renained edr.in command of Co. E for 13 yeaIs.
 ,-a G0f. Thompson EnlistS. One June 20, 1877, a young man destined to make his mark in the military world enlisted as a private in the company. He is Alfred l.. Thompson, the present city clerk of
 
 vated to corporal and later sergeant of the company. He became second lieutenant of the company in 1883. Lieutenant, Thompson was prom oted to the captaincy of Co. F. in 1884 continuing in this rank until 1890 when he was made lieutenant colonel of the First Connecticut Regim ment under Lieutenant Colonel >Erichson who was made colonel
 Lieutenant Colonel Thompson was i in charge of the regiment following trouble that caused the discharge of all the field and line officers of the regiment. During this period, Colo nel Thompson organized Co. c, of Rockville, ar outfit that was looked upon later as one of the best in the regiment.
 Drill On Thcater Site.
 A change in the drilling place was decided by the company and it moved to the site of the old North church, l. now occupied by the Palace theater. Thus structure was destroyed by fire and when the late John Hanna com pleted .is armory building on East Main street, drilling was held there.
 During this period of time, the late Robert J. Vance, then representative from this city in the General Assem- bly,, succeeded in securing the erec- tion of the present armory at the cor ner of Grand and Arch streets. The new armory was opened in 1887 with a carnival that proved a financial success for the local companies.
 At tho time Lieutenant Colonel Thompson was captain of Co. F his Geutenants were Howard Wilson and George Mclean, now dentist in Hartford. The latter was a brother tn-law of Colonel EriCl1son's and was a competitor of Captain Thompson for the election of commanding officer of the company. He was later made captain of Co. E, vixen Thompson was chosen lieutenant
 J. R. Andrews Elected.
 Captain Mclean, resigned when he moved to Hartford, and in his place was elected Joseph R. Andrews, one Of the leading citizens of the city at present and who served as the F cap tain for about four years.
 The next leader of Co. F, was A. l.. Hauweras, an emploYe of the Herald as compositor. It was under Captain Hauerwas that Go. E marched away in '98 for service in the Spanish American war. The first war service that Co E encountered was started at Mantle and later the entire regiment was encamped in Virginia. Go. E bears the distinction of having Lieu tenant G. A. Hadsell, then second lieu tenant of the company, as the first commanding officer to land with troops in France, during the World war
 Company Finally Disband.
 Captain HauweraS resigned to move to Waterbury and his successor was Frank Smith a Hartford resident who had moved to this city. Discomfort in the ranks reached a point where the company decided to disband It re- mained out of existence a short time and was then re-organized through the efforts of Walter w. Bullen. MT Bullen was honored by the new com kpany, and was elected captain
 Captain Bullen was later chosen a major and in his place was chosen Hanford l.. Curtis the present city comptroller. p K. Raymond Low was named captain when Captain Curtis svas chosen on the staff, a place that he now occupies in the quartermas- ter department. When the Co. E boys marched away in 1916 to the Mexican border Captain E. R. Low was in command. He was relieved in com mand before the boys went away overseas, the company being under