LOOKBACK: AHS gave WWI tribute in 1919 Austinian
Honor Roll of alumni, classmates now displayed at Austin VFW
By Tim Ruzek
Four years had passed since Austin High School published a yearbook.
In May 1919, students revived the AHS “annual,” making it a tribute to classmates and alumni who served in World War I (1914–1918), which ended Nov. 11, 1918 (a date since recognized as Veterans Day).
“Do you know that it will be the best (yearbook) ever — that it is dedicated to the boys in service and contains a picture of every boy on our Honor Roll as far as we have been able to get them?” an Austin Daily Herald advertisement stated May 13, 1919.
AHS printed its first yearbooks in 1914 and 1915 but stopped for three years.
In the 1919 Austinian, seniors noted the publication was “our way of showing all honor to the blue stars of our service flag, representing the men who will come back to us and all honor to the gold stars representing the men who have given their ‘last full measure of devotion,’ for Freedom, Justice and Humanity.”
“We are proud of every one of them,” the Austinian wrote. “Austin High can never hope to pay the debt of gratitude that she owes them.”
That year, the Austin High Alumni Association’s Altruist publication was combined with the yearbook. People could order a copy for $1.50 through an AHS senior or by calling the high school.
“If you want to show your loyalty to good old Austin High, buy an annual!”
A year ago, I came across a framed print of the AHS “Honor Roll” while going through items in the Austin High museum.
Austin’s Veterans of Foreign Wars’ club seemed a proper home for this piece of history. VFW official Scott Wiechmann accepted the “Honor Roll” and has it displayed there.
Those on the Honor Roll — including Jay C. Hormel — needed at least to have entered their sophomore year at AHS with four credits and served in any branch of military service. Seniors asked the public to help make the list by providing names and photos of servicemen.
Numerous additions of the Honor Roll were published later in the Herald.
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The 1919 Austinian’s first 25 pages honored WWI servicemen. Photos showed the “Honor Roll” and the school’s 151-star service flag dedicated by the Class of 1919 to the 151 servicemen.
One page only showed an American flag in color — a rare printing feature at the time — and multiple pages displayed servicemen’s photos.
Each serviceman who died during WWI received his own page with a photo and writeup.
Cpl. Charles Earl, who left AHS his senior year in April 1917 to enlist in the U.S. Marines, was fatally wounded in France during “the great battle of Chateau Thierry.”
“His star was the first one on the High School service flag to turn to gold,” the Austinian wrote.
Loren Woodle, an AHS graduate, also was seriously wounded June 5, 1918, in the same battle and same day as his friend, Cpl. Earl. Woodle died months later in February 1919.
Lt. Osper Anderson, a 1914 AHS graduate, died from influenza Dec. 21, 1918 — possibly tied to the global Spanish flu epidemic in 1918 to 1920.
Leonard Pickett, who graduated on his 16th birthday with Austin High’s Class of 1915, was killed in combat in France.
Irvin Pettit, who left school in 1913 as a junior and enlisted later when his friend was killed in the war, also died in combat.
Capt. Olaf Damm (the namesake of Austin’s VFW Post 1216 — Olaf B. Damm since it started in 1924) enlisted at age 18 after attending AHS for three years.
Named corporal in 1910 and later lieutenant in 1917, Damm was killed in 1918 from an accidental grenade explosion. At his funeral, about 15,000 people honored Damm, who was commissioned captain 10 days after his death.
A page titled “A Tribute” wrote about the flag and servicemen making “our hearts thrill with pride.”
“They represent us. They have worked and are working for us on the battlefields of France, on the oceans and on our farms. They are doing the work that we fain would do ourselves but cannot.”
During the 1918–19 year, Austin’s school board started a company of high school cadets “when the dark cloud of war hung over America” in fall 1918.
Mr. Draegert, a retired army lieutenant, helped the cadets progress rapidly.
“They seemed to step off with a new air; they threw out their chests and tilted their chins so that they really looked wide awake and ambitious,” the Austinian wrote.
The Austinian also highlighted the school’s “War Saving Society,” started in 1917 to involve members in saving money to buy 25-cent thrift stamps issued by the U.S. government to support the war.
With AHS thrift-stamp drives in 1917 and 1918, “the high school, as a whole, showed their loyalty to school and Uncle Sam.”
Austin High’s “Victory Boys and Girls” club consisted of members each working to donate $5 to “bring comfort to one soldier for five weeks and thus keep him in a fighting condition.”
“They willingly sacrificed many of their enjoyments for the benefit of our American soldiers by pledging a sum of $682 in order that our soldiers might win the war.”
