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Reflections: How tiny Platteville got its own National Guard armory · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Reflections how tiny Platteville got its own National Guard Armory
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  Speaker 1: Written by Roger mattel Forshaw Local News Network. This article
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  Speaker 1: is being read by an automated voice brought to you
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  Speaker 1: by Everlett. As we get ready to observe Memorial Day
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  Speaker 1: during the nation's two hundred fiftieth anniversary year, it might
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  Speaker 1: be a good time recall a bit of unique Kendall
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  Speaker 1: County military history. When the US entered World War One,
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  Speaker 1: many Kendall County residents were eager to serve their country.
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  Speaker 1: For some though, physical limitations prevented them not only from volunteering,
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  Speaker 1: but even from being drafted. One of those was Lisbon
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  Speaker 1: township farmer Charles Timmy Howell. While Howell was in perfect
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  Speaker 1: health otherwise, he lacked one thing. The Army and the
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  Speaker 1: other armed services absolutely required a trigger finger. When a youngster,
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  Speaker 1: Howell accidentally shot off the index finger on his right
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  Speaker 1: hand in a hunting act accident. It wasn't that Howell
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  Speaker 1: couldn't shoot. He was a crack shot even without his
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  Speaker 1: index or a trigger finger. But regulations were regulations, so
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  Speaker 1: Howell and several of his neighbors and others in Kendall
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  Speaker 1: County looked around for some way to support the war effort,
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  Speaker 1: eventually hitting on forming their own company of the Illinois
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  Speaker 1: Reserve Militia, the state's home guard. The Illinois National Guard
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  Speaker 1: had been federalized and was busy getting ready to fight
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  Speaker 1: the Germans overseas, so the irm was assigned to assist
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  Speaker 1: during civil disturbances, emergencies, or dizzasters until the National guardsmen
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  Speaker 1: returned from Europe. The group was organized as Company K,
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  Speaker 1: fifth Infantry, Illinois Reserve Militia. It was furnished surplus military
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  Speaker 1: equipment by the US Army and armed with Spanish American
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  Speaker 1: War vintage Springfield Model eighteen ninety two to ninety nine
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  Speaker 1: crag Jurgensen rifles. Company K, comprised of Yorkville and Platteville
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  Speaker 1: men in an about fifty to fiftieth mix, held weekly
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  Speaker 1: drills the old Yorkville City Hall on Courthouse Hill. The
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  Speaker 1: group soon moved its training and meeting place to a
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  Speaker 1: small building next to Corrigan's General Store in Platteville, and
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  Speaker 1: that's where it stayed until the war ended and Company
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  Speaker 1: K was mustered out. Although Company K was gone, Howell
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  Speaker 1: was bitten with military bug He and a couple of
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  Speaker 1: his neighbors thought it might be a good idea to
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  Speaker 1: establish a real Illinois National Guard company in Kendall County.
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  Speaker 1: Around nineteen twenty, he met with the ing's commander, General
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  Speaker 1: Milton J. Foreman and got a brusque rebuff. But Howell
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  Speaker 1: kept meeting and talking with people affiliated with the ING
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  Speaker 1: until he got the name of Stephen O. Tripp, a
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  Speaker 1: wealthy businessman who was the ing's quartermaster general. In the
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  Speaker 1: post war years, the ING was having recruiting trouble. The
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  Speaker 1: World War had ended and people were much more interested
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  Speaker 1: in making money than in military affairs. So when Howell
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  Speaker 1: told Trip he thought he could recruit a full company
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  Speaker 1: comprised of Kendall County far Tripp was receptive, and Howell
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  Speaker 1: proceeded on his mission. Regulations required that a company had
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  Speaker 1: to be established with at least a couple experienced military officers.
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  Speaker 1: Howell was able to coax Yorkville attorney David Maherder, who
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  Speaker 1: served as one of General John Pershing's staff officers in France,
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  Speaker 1: into being the new group's commanding officer with the rank
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  Speaker 1: of Captain. Salmer Thompson's, another World War One veteran, was
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  Speaker 1: recruited as first lieutenant, while Howell was appointed second Lieutenant.
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  Speaker 1: Clyde Howell, Charles Howell's son, noted years afterwards that neither
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  Speaker 1: Mouherder nor Thompson were very interested in the project, but
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  Speaker 1: reluctantly agreed to lend their names to it to get
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  Speaker 1: it started. It wasn't long before both dropped out and
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  Speaker 1: Howell was promoted to captain the company's commanding officer. With
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  Speaker 1: a company formed, enough young farmers were recruited to Phillip's roster.
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  Speaker 1: It proved quite popular. Those who joined got paid not much,
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  Speaker 1: but it was cash money, a rarity in a rural community,
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  Speaker 1: and also got to participate in maneuvers and shooting contests,
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  Speaker 1: which proved extremely popular. Company E one hundred twenty ninth
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  Speaker 1: Illinois National Guard Infantry Regiment was officially accepted for service
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  Speaker 1: in July nineteen twenty three. Then the search began for
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  Speaker 1: a permanent meeting place. Howell and his corps of two
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  Speaker 1: other officers, Arthur Hubbard and Irwin Knutson, and the men
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  Speaker 1: of the company sold the community on building their own
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  Speaker 1: armory that could double as a community center. The men
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  Speaker 1: in the company donated one thousand, six six hundred dollars
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  Speaker 1: out of their own paychecks, and the community donated another
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  Speaker 1: two thousand dollars. Stock was sold to raise the balance
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  Speaker 1: of the money. With the total expenditure for the materials
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  Speaker 1: reaching five five hundred dollars, the men of the company
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  Speaker 1: volunteered to do the construction work. When finished, they had
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  Speaker 1: a large concrete block building suitable for company drill as
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  Speaker 1: well as for a variety of community events, including popular
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  Speaker 1: winter bank basketball games. Eventually, an even more popular indoor
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  Speaker 1: community swimming pool was added. Howell ran a tight ship,
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  Speaker 1: insisting everyone follow the regulations. One late summer, when the
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  Speaker 1: company was leaving for their two weeks training at Camp
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  Speaker 1: Grant near Rockford, one of Howell's best friends refused to go,
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  Speaker 1: complaining he was needed for the oat harvest. Howell had
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  Speaker 1: Kendall County Sheriff Robert Woodward, picked the man up at
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  Speaker 1: his farm and transport him to Yorkville, where went with
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  Speaker 1: the company, spending the next two weeks in Camp Grant's guardhouse.
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  Speaker 1: Company E was called to duty for the nineteen thirty
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  Speaker 1: one riots at Stateville Penitentiary, and again in nineteen thirty
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  Speaker 1: three for the coal mine wars in and around Taylorville, Illinois.
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  Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty three, bandits Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow
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  Speaker 1: raided the Platteville Armory and stole a number of firearms,
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  Speaker 1: including powerful Browning automatic rifles. The practice mobilizing for in
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  Speaker 1: state activities stood the men of Company E in good stead.
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  Speaker 1: When World War II broke out, The one hundred twenty
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  Speaker 1: ninth was federalized and many of its members served as
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  Speaker 1: officers in the Pacific Theater. Howell was bitterly disappointed that
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  Speaker 1: his missing trigger finger again kept him out of the war.
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  Speaker 1: Despite a plea to his personal friend, General George Marshall,
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  Speaker 1: who rose to lead the US Army throughout the conflict.
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  Speaker 1: Company E never returned to the Platteville Armory, though it
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  Speaker 1: was headquarters of Company L, third Infantry, Illinois Reserve militia
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  Speaker 1: organized and led by Howell during World War II. The
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  Speaker 1: armory was largely destroyed by fire in January nineteen forty six,
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  Speaker 1: but the basement, which was saved became the home of
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  Speaker 1: the old Platteville Veterans of Foreign Wars Post and a
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  Speaker 1: community meeting space, a tribute to Charles Howell's community spirit
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  Speaker 1: and vision. Looking for more local history visit