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| Frank Kendall James, Sr. - 2nd LT, 9th Infantry |
The circumstances of the arrangement aren't known to me, but Frank was placed in the care of Joseph Lee Kendall and Hannah Rose Lee Sackrighter Kendall. The two were Methodist ministers and friends of John James. He was raised by the ministers, alongside a foster brother, Olney, as their own. He took on their last name for most of his youth. By 1900, we find the Kendalls in Bowen, Nebraska. By 1910, the itinerant ministers had moved to Tacoma, Washington, where Frank attended high school. He enrolled in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (apparently with some study of German literature) in the early 19...teens?
Hostilities in Europe escalated, and American sentiment turned against Germany and its allies with the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915. The Zimmermann Telegram was the proverbial nail in the coffin, and the United States declared war on Germany in April of 1917. President Wilson knew that the comparatively small US force would need to be significantly bolstered in order to have effect on the outcome of the war. Conscription was required to achieve this, and Frank was drafted in Nebraska in August of 1917. Frank knew of his adopted status, at least by this point, as he used his father's surname in his records.
He attended officers' training camp at Camp Funston, Kansas, receiving his commission as 2nd lieutenant in early 1918. When he departed for France (18 Jul 1918) onboard the captured vessel Princess Matoika, he was attached to a machine gun company in the 9th infantry. He apparently corresponded with his birth father, John, as one of his letters was shared, at least in part, in the Salt Lake Tribune, 25 Oct 1918.
It seems that he was rather sanguine in his involvement. Perhaps it was but a false front...I haven't located precise details on his engagements and movements during the Great War. My studies of the conflict have led me to the conclusion that the constant barrage of artillery and machine gun fire, in addition to chemical warfare made the trenches seem about as hellish as any place on earth could ever be. I don't think the world has ever since seen such terrible fighting in such a limited area for such a long period of time.
My great grandfather's letter aside, he returned home, uninjured, and resumed civilian life. Home, as it turned out, appeared to be Utah, a place Frank had not lived in since infancy. I'm not sure how he was welcomed home by his father John, but I assume that the prestige of his son's service helped motivate him to at least put on a good show of fatherly affection. Shortly after his resettlement in Utah, he married Clarice Rachel Romney, of serious Mormon stock. Despite this, Frank remained a Methodist throughout his life. He worked as an accountant for US Smelting and Mining his whole adult life. He maintained contact with his foster brother, the Reverend Olney Lee Kendall. To Frank and Clarice was born only one son who survived infancy (there were two other children who were either stillborn or died very early on), my grandfather Frank Kendall James, Jr. Frank Sr died of a heart ailment 11 Feb 1964.
It's amazing to think that it's been 100 years since the armistice was signed ending hostilities in Europe. America's involvement in the conflict was brief in comparison to other nations, but no doubt every bit as shockingly brutal. As many more people were involved, nations quickly learned there is little glory to be found on a battlefield cratered by thousands of artillery rounds, the air acrid with smoke. War had become a rather impersonal affair, with killing carried out by machines often beyond visual range. And although deemed to be "the war to end all wars," it wasn't.
My great grandfather risked his life fighting for allies, when his own homeland wasn't under serious challenge. I have cousins for whom this conflict represented an existential threat. This day I honor their sacrifices to keep the world free from domination by one power or another. This day I pray that we need not ever have to kill so many in order to maintain this freedom.
