The "Lancastrians Who Fought For The USA In WWI: Part II" Story

It was an ordinary day.  May 30, 1918, Liverpool, England and Pvt. J. Reah Hollinger of Lancaster, Pennsylvania had just arrived on his way to serve with the 111th Ambulance Company, 103rd Medical Battalion of the 28th Div. U.S. Army.  

Pvt. J. Reah Hollinger (left) next to his ambulance.  This
photograph is from the F&M diaries collection.

Pvt. Hollinger was a 1913 graduate of Franklin & Marshall Academy as well as a graduate of F&M College in Lancaster.  His 1919 diary, housed in the Martin Library of Sciences at F&M College, tells of his exploits during WWI.  Men from F&M and the Lancaster area felt a need and duty to enlist in their nation's military to serve their country as WWI flared in Europe.  But, as these same men were removed from Lancaster to fight, they often suffered from homesickness and therefore felt the need to document their wartime travels and experiences for their families.  

A monument honoring members of the 111th Ambulance
Company can be found at the Buchanan Park in Lancaster, PA.

These diaries can be found at F&M.  I was able to read parts of Pvt. Hollinger's story as he served under another Lancastrian, Captain Charles P. Stahr, a key figure in the Lancaster educational and medical community who eventually became a Brigadier General in the Army and who was honored in Lancaster when the local armory was named after him.  Hollinger's diaries cover the period from January 1, 1918 to June 20, 1919 and give insight into the experiences of an ordinary soldier in WWI as well as WWI medical care.  Dr. Stahr (Captain Stahr) enlisted in 1916 and served along the Mexican border in the campaign against Francisco (Pancho) Villa, a Mexican general and revolutionary.  After service there he returned to Lancaster and served with the 3rd Ambulance Co. of the National Guard.  When the war in Europe began he recruited 90 men from F&M College and Millersville State Normal School as well as the surrounding Lancaster area and began to train them as an Ambulance Company.  Although they never expected to fight in battle, the medical work they would do on the front lines required training and practice.  They practiced at the Lancaster Armory.  

Pvt. J. Reah Hollinger's name can be seen on the monument
as a bugler for the 111th Ambulance Company.

When war was declared, Pvt. Hollinger and 155 other men, traveled by railroad to Camp Hancock in Georgia where they started to train with the ambulances that would follow the unit across the Atlantic.  When they landed in England their company was split into smaller units with Capt. Stahr, now called "Skipper" by his troops, in command.   Pvt. J. Reah Hollinger was part of Capt. Stahr's 111th Ambulance which was one of four ambulance companies that were part of the 103rd Sanitary Train.  He was the bugler as well an an orderly in the company.  In France they oversaw a mobile First Aid Dressing Station as well as working the front lines, treating wounds and helping transfer wounded to field hospitals.  Reading the accounts of the 111th was compelling.  Pvt. Hollinger's account of the events told of the dangers they constantly faced, even though they weren't on the front lines of the war.  At one point he wrote that at the time there were no planes with "iron pills."  That was what German bombs were called.  Both Stahr and Hollinger made it home after the war.  There is a monument in nearby Buchanan Park to memorialize the 111th.  Hollinger died in Lancaster in 1996 at the age of 101 and was the last survivor of the 111th Ambulance Company.  I couldn't find the date that Brigadier General Charles P. Stahr died.  If you live within diving distance of Buchanan Park, stop sometime and view the memorial.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.