On April 13, 1917, shortly after the United States declared war on Germany, Schrantz was elected captain of the Carthage Light Guard. The Carthage company then departed for Camp Doniphan, Oklahoma, where it became a part of the Thirty-fifth Division as Company A, 128th Machine Gun Battalion.
The Thirty-fifth Division trained through the winter at Camp Doniphan and left for Europe in the spring of 1918. After more training in France, Schrantz's company participated as a reserve force in the reduction of the St. Mihiel salient, which was created during the initial German invasion in August 1914.
After the conclusion of the St. Mihiel offensive, the division joined a new attack in the Meuse-Argonne region. The offensive lasted from September 26 to October 1, and by its end the division had suffered more than six thousand casualties. Five enlisted men were killed in Schrantz's battalion, and two officers along with thirty two enlisted men and thirteen attached ammunition carriers were wounded. After the Meuse-Argonne, Schrantz's company was moved to the relatively quite Verdun sector where it spent the remainder of the war.
After his return to Missouri in May 1919, Schrantz worked as a journalist for the Carthage Evening Press newspaper. Schrantz saw combat again in World War II as a colonel in command of troops transports. After the war he returned to the Evening Press as editor until his passing in 1958.Schrantz's memoirs are contained in large leather bound books that, alongside his memoir, are packed with photos and maps of his military adventures. The memoirs are notable, not only for the periods they cover, but also for their lively narrative that provides an interesting insight into the life of an ordinary soldier during the twentieth century.
Sources:
Patrick, Jeff. Guarding the Border: The Military Memoirs of Ward Schrantz, 1912-1917. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 2009.
Votaw, John F. The American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. New York, New York: Osprey Publishing, 2005.
