WWI Trench Warfare Exhibit

Project staff recently had the opportunity to assemble a World War I exhibit at The Library Center, in Springfield, Missouri. The exhibit contains artifacts from a local collector, Ron Leverenz, representing the different items an American soldier would have used in the trenches during the war. Among the items in the display are mortar shells, an MK4 Flare Gun, a Signal Corps Field Telegraph, a trench periscope, wire cutters, a gas mask and alarm, and a pair of officer's boots that were made in St. Louis. Check out some of the images below!

 

Also included in the exhibit are the uniforms of Claude H. Rathbone and Leslie Patterson. Rathbone was inducted into the Army in Springfield, Missouri, and served overseas on ordnance and supply duty. He commanded the Air Service Supply Depot Number 1 in Is-Sur-Tille, France until April 27, 1919, when he returned home and worked in the hardware business until his retirement.

Leslie Patterson, from Fair Grove, Missouri served in Company E, 110th Motor Supply Train. Patterson served overseas for eleven months and fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in 1918. Upon returning home, he was employed by the Welsh Packing Company and retired as a butcher.


Sources:

Artifacts courtesy of Ron Leverenze, Doughboy Military Collectibles, Springfield, Mo.

Photos courtesy of the Springfield-Greene County Library District.