Clarence Monroe Stuver, Fireman 2nd Class

Clarence Monroe Stuver enlisted in the Navy at Kansas City, Missouri in October 1917. Stuver served in various locations throughout the war including the Naval Training Station in Great Lakes, Illinois, shipping yards in Boston and New York, and aboard the USS Kearsarge, USS Santa Luisa and the USS Chattanooga. The Stuver collection, contributed by the National World War I Museum, includes several postcards and letters written by Stuver to his family in Brookfield, Missouri.

German Submarines pulled by American Ship near the Azores

Stuver spent his first few months in the Navy at the Naval Training Station in Great Lakes, Illinois where he underwent training as a Fireman. After he completed his training Stuver served in Boston, Massachusetts at a Naval shipping yard. While in Boston, Stuver wrote to his family about the various illnesses at the shipping station, which included diphtheria and pneumonia. He also told them how he had been tasked with guarding prisoners, most of whom were deserters.










After the conclusion of the war Stuver sailed on the USS Chattanooga on a trip to Monrovia with Liberian officials. Stuver was discharged from the Navy in St. Louis, Missouri, on September 22, 1919.

Coaling on the USS Chattanooga

Naval Officers ashore in Monrovia, Liberia in 1919

Sources:

Clarence Monroe Stuver Collection, 1918-1919.  2012.93.  The National World War I Museum, Kansas City, Missouri.