All aboard for the war

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At the Ashland Depot in August of 1917, Guy Spencer said goodbye to his girlfriend (name unknown) and boarded a train for World War I. Less than a year later, during the 1918 flu pandemic, he died from the influenza and was buried in France.Julia Woosnam/Powell collection

There was a time when going to war meant stepping on a train.

In April of 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war.

"Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is involved," Wilson said.

Mobilizing America took time. Wilson asked for volunteers and an initial draft of half a million men, all of whom needed equipment and training.

The small standing army barely had enough artillery and machine guns to support itself, let alone the nation's 80,000 National Guard soldiers, who were eager to join the fight.

Ashland's guard troops were the 1st Company of Oregon Coast Artillery. The unit had seen action during the Spanish-American War, and within a few months of Wilson's speech, volunteers swelled its ranks to 120 men.

Amidst cheers and tears at the Ashland depot in August of 1917, the company climbed aboard the train that took them north to Fort Stevens, at the mouth of the Columbia River. On board were Donald Spencer and his younger brother, Guy.

"The family had a long record of military service," said Victoria Law, director of the Ashland Railroad Museum. "At least three older brothers had also served in the National Guard."

Until there were enough artillery pieces manufactured, the men spent their days at Fort Stevens in monotonous drill and study for overseas duty.

In December, the Guard unit was absorbed into the regular Army. Donald Spencer was appointed 1st Lt. in Battery C, 65th Coast Artillery, and Guy Spencer, a sergeant in the Guard, became a private in his brother's unit.

In March of 1918, they sailed from San Francisco through the Panama Canal and arrived in New York two weeks later.

There they were packed into the H.M.S. Mauretania, sister ship of the Lusitania, the ship German U-boats torpedoed in 1915, starting America down the path to war. They crossed the Atlantic in a week, and two weeks later, they were marching in the rain toward another train that took them to Limoges, France, for more training.

"Don had been Ashland's first postman, delivering mail in 1909," Law said. "After a while, the Army transferred him into their postal service and he served out of Paris and Tours, in central France."

It wasn't until the end of July of 1918 that the men moved out for battle and the "real excitement" they had come for.

By then, it was too late for Guy Spencer. On July 13, Guy died in Don's arms. He was buried at the Suresnes American Cemetery, five miles west of Paris.

He died of the influenza that came to be known as the Spanish flu, which spread around the world in 1918 and killed anywhere from 30 million to 100 million people. Not since the Black Death of the 14th century had so many people died so quickly.

Don returned home after the war in January of 1919 and continued his career withthe post office. He died in 1967.

Bill Miller is a freelance writer living in Shady Cove. Reach him at newsmiller@yahoo.com.

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