Paxton High School - Reflector Yearbook (Paxton, IL)

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Paxton High School Reflector 23 ment early In December and was assigned to duty as a bookkeeper Decern ber 2Cth in the Rock Island Arsenal. Word to his family Feb. 1st. 1918, in- dicated that he was to be immediately transferred to some other place, but that he was uninformed as to its location. Sergeant Randall Bear, '13. Randall Bear, of Ludlow, enlisted at Chicago, in the Quartermasters Department in December. 1917. He was assigned for training to Camp John- son. Florida. From there he was very soon transferred to ('amp Hill, New Port News. Va. He was made a sergeant soon after his enlistment. Randall entered De Pauw University in September after graduating from P. H. S. He later transferred his credits to the U. of I., where he continued his college woik until the time of his enlistment. We are informed that he has now completed the requirements for graduation, and will be regularly graduated from the University next June without being required to be present. Corporal Claude E. Stine, ’13. Claude Stine entered the National Army, September 4. 1917, being one of the seven from Ford county to volunteer to report at Fort Dodge, Des Moines. Iowa, as the first contingent from the quota provided in the draft for tuis county. The brief preliminary or advance training thus obtained re- sulted in his being made a corporal before the arrival, a few weeks later, of the major number that were ordered to report for training in September. Some weeks before the holidays, he was given a short leave of absence which he utilized in visiting relatives and his many friends in Paxton. He came over to the school house on military training day. and upon invitation of Mr. Thacher took charge of the drill and maneuvers that were in progress. The «kill with which he directed the work and the military pep he put into it’ most favorably impressed the high school students with the efficiency of his training, and his ability as an officer. Arthur Currie, ’13. Arthur Currie, who lives near Roberts, was one of the first to be called by ,he selective draft. He is now in training at Camp Pike. Little Rock. Ar- kansas. Arthur attended the University of Illinois a number of years since graduating from P. H. S.. and of course, military drill was not entirely new to him. Indirect reports from him indicate that he likes the life of a soldier in training very well indeed. A certain percentage of the soldiers stationed at Little Rock were recently called to France, and he expects to go in re- sponse to the next call, which is daily looked for. CLASS OF 1914. In the class of 1914 there were ten boys. Of these, four are numbered among the million and more young men of America who are wearing th

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22 Paxton High School Reflector officially discovered in time to cheat some particular Kaiser Sub. of its in- tended prey.. He is now a member of the 8th U. S. Marines, 106th Company at Gal- « veston. David Danielson, ’13. David Danielson enlisted on the 3rd of December, 1917, for service in the Quartermasters’ Department and a few days later was ordered to Jef- ferson Barracks, St. Louis. Here lie was immediately assigned to clerical duty in relation to grocery supplies for the hospital. TWO BROTHERS Leonard Aspergren Bernard Aspergren Bernard Aspergren, '13. Bernard Aspergren enlisted at Rock Island in the Ordnance Depart-

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24 Paxton High School Reflector khaki brown or the navy blue. These four are Austin Sandstedt, Chester Hammerlund, Walter Larson and Albert Overstreet. Walter Larson, '14. Walter Larson, who, for the greater part of three years, since his grad- uation, has been a student at the U. of I., enlisted in Co. G. of the First Illi- nois Infantry. This has since become the 131st U. S. Volunteer Infantry. He was first sent to Cicero. 111., then to Camp Grant, and still later to Camp Logan, Houston, Texas, where he still was when last heard from. He re- ports that lie is well satisfied with the life of a soldier, at least in so far as it has thus far become known to him. Albert Overstreet' 14. Saturday, February 9, Albert Overstreet, of the class of 1914, surprised all but perhaps his most intimate friends by enlisting as a mechanic in the aviation section of the Signal Corps, at Chanute' Field. He reported the Mondaj morning following for duty. And so the good work goes on. There is little doubt that our boast that a Paxton High School Service Flag with a hundred stars will soon be reached, possibly before this issue of the Re- flector comes from the press. Austin Sandstedt, '14. Austin Sandstedt enlisted in November, 1917, as a musician in the U. S. Naval Reserve band, New York city. He left at once for New York where he is at the present time looking forward with bright anticipations toward a musical journey across the stormy Atlantic, early this coming summer. Austin is an expert—perhaps we should say an artist, in the use of his favorite instrument, the baritone saxophone. We fervently trust that in some mysterious way the martial music which he will help to create shall not only serve to nerve our soldiers' hearts and arms, but will also serve in some mea- sure to soothe the savage breast of our cruel enemies. Corporal Chester Hammerlund, '14. ( hester Hammerlund is one of the four members of the Class of 1914 who are now wearing the khaki uniform. The other three are Walter Larson. Austin Sandstedt and Albert Overstreet. Chester drew a lucky draft number ((of course there are two ways of looking at this, but most of the boys take the optimistic view of it), and left Paxton with the second contingent from Ford County September 19th. 1917. For about six weeks he was‘in training at Camp Dodge, Iowa, as a member of Co. H, 346th Infantry. He was then trans- ferred to Camp Pike, Arkansas, and became a member of Co. L, 349th Infan- try. About the middle of January, he was advanced from the rank of private to that of corporal. A very good likeness of Chester may be found in the group picture on another page.