The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1930-07-03
Stearns Co. In
the World War
Thursday, July 8, 1880
BY Irene Dunn

sJ "Oiio war TtCOIu may pS
of interest to those who have fol.
lowed this account thus far.
IN all, 1902 residents of Stearns
served in the U. s. Army, including
IL nurses; IA, including five nurses
in the U. S. Navy; SO in the U. S.
Marines giving total of 2,152. This
does not include those who served
in other Allied armies, or the con-
siderable number of men born in
Stearns or associated Herewith who
gave an outside address.
According to Minnesota in the
War with Germany" our state sent
to war 104,416 soldiers, 1926 sail
ors and 2,845 marines, or a total of
11S,497 fighting men and nurses
Stearns county's percentage of this
is 1.81.
In comparison with that figure it
is worth while to recall the per-
centages of dead and of wounded
previously given. They were 2.3s
and 2.35 per cent respectively, show
ing that the men from Stearns did
not lag behind when the time of
actual uSntlnS came.
An estimate of the volunteer per-
centage of our community may also
be of interest, although the exact
number of volunteers in this war
cannot be exactly ascertained as,
for men of draft age, voluntary en-
isements in the army were stopped
by the government after Dec. Is,
19l7, and in the navy and marine
corps after Auguset 8, 1918.
A request to the war department
regarding the volunteer percentage
for Minnesota brought the reply
that 1889 service men from here
were brought into the U. S. Army
through the selective draft, leaving
44,13S men and women listed as vol.
unteers, thus giving a percentage
for the state of 1924.
OF Stearns county's contingent.
7OS are listed as volunteers, 1,444 as
under the draft giving a percent
age of 32,89. st. Cloud, Stearns
county, sent 365 volunteers, 435
draftees, giving a total of 300 SER
Vicemen and women, and a per-
centage of 1852. St. Cloud, Ben
ton and Sherburne counties, sent
81 volunteers and 10 drafted men.
or total of ISL, with a percentage
of 31.67. The total for the city of
st. Cloud is 416 volunteers, 545
drafted men, the total being 961 in
dlvlduals who gave a st. Cloud ad-
dress Gncluding rural routes), and
giving the city a percentage of 49,
81
1t is with considerable satisfac-
ton that I call this city's volunteer
percentage-six points above that
the state aVerage-to the attention
OF the Minnesota State Historical
society, by which Minnesota in the
war with Germany" was published.
AS Tar as remember, st. Cloud is
mentioned twice in volume I, once
when it is stated briefly that an
army recruiting station was located
mere for some months and again 70.
15), when it is asserted that in the
hrst months after the war had in
VolVed Europe in 1914, St. Cloud
was named as being almost unani-
NOUS for the Germans" If that was
true and don't know whether st.
Cloud citizens will unanimously
agree that it was, though naturally
Americans of German ancestry felt
sympathy for the land of their
1orefathers-at least the volunteer
percentage proves that when once
the die was cast, and the United
States had definitely entered the
conflict on the side of the Allies,
st. Cloud citizens answered the cali
10 arms even more spontaneously
than the state as a whole.
An item in the st. Cloud Times
OF July 19, 1918, confirms the above
percentage figures. It reads:
Sgt. Chandler GU. S. recruiting
officer) has KEEP we'll above the
standard since coming to this CITY.
He has made mark of third in
rank for this city in the state en-
listments." At that time st. Cloud
was fifth or sixth in population.
An item in the Aug. 1, 1918, issue
of the Times reads:
Since coming to this city last
Feb. 6, Sgt. Chandler has enlisted
and sent to camp just 165 men. This
was considered by Major Yost
Estate recruiting offcer) to be an ex-
ceptional piece of business for this
office" I am just reminding the
Historical society that there are one
or two items it might have added
in referring to st. Cloud, in case it's
original statement might lead read
ers to think that our city was re-
miss when the call from our coun-
try actually came.
It is impossible in a survey of this
kind to mention all the civilians
who assisted the government in the
all-important work of keeping
things going behind the lines" A
number of local young women did
canteen work abroad, or recon-
struction work, or war camp COM
munity work in this country, or
aided in hospital work after train
ing with the Student Reserve Corps
for Nurses. Among those who
went overseas from st. Cloud were
Miss Eleanor Mitchell, who had
considerable experience in can
teen work in France, near Verdun;
Miss Nina Cater, of ST. Cloud, r.
6, who was the first local young
woman to be sent from this dis
trict as nurses aid and who did
Red Cross work in France; Misses
Harriet Ahlers and Mildred Smith
who did recreation work abroad
following the armistice; and Miss