From staff reports
NEW BETHLEHEM – The Redbank Valley Historical Society is looking for memorabilia on World War I veterans in preparation for its upcoming programs on the war.
It is seeking photographs, letters, diaries, newspaper clippings or memorabilia of men who lived in the Redbank Valley area and answered the call to arms during the war.
Arrangements may be made for persons who have information or materials they are interested in loaning by contacting Cindy Morgan at (814) 365-5023, Donald and Brenda Shilling at (724) 545-1353, Glenn Kerr at (814) 275-3176 or Leroy Tabler at (814) 275-2928.
The first public program will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 6, in the handicapped-accessible basement level social rooms of the First Presbyterian Church at the corner of Penn and Wood streets in New Bethlehem.
“The date we have selected for the session has a special symbolic significance,” society president Cindy Morgan said. She added that it was on that precise date in 1917 that the United States entered what was to be later known as the “War to End All Wars.”
And in that war that began a century before the program’s date, the Redbank Valley area saw its men join the U.S. military forces, as had their ancestors in wars since the country’s campaign for independence in 1775.
“A lot of blood has been shed in our country’s causes over the nation’s history, and in the case of World War I, one of the soldiers who paid the supreme price was said to be the first to enlist from what now comprises the local school district-and he was the first to die,” Morgan said.
That soldier was Army Lt. Walter W. Craig.
Craig’s name is still widely known in the area, although many of the community’s residents may not know the full story about the young officer who had been born in nearby Climax in 1892. A few years later his family moved to New Bethlehem.
Craig volunteered for the Army five days after President Woodrow Wilson signed the declaration of war.
Craig’s story is just one of several regarding area men who entered the war, but his name remains in use a century later because the local American Legion post is named for him.
That post was actually established in 1919, the year the organization came into national prominence as one advocating for veterans’ rights.
Craig’s story will be shared in detail at the initial session, and the exploits of many other area veterans will be told during the two-program series to be presented by the local history group, Morgan said.
One of the soldier experiences to be covered in detail at one of the society’s World War I-themed programs is that of a Fairmount City soldier who had been born in Germany but whose family moved to this area when he was 5 years old.
He returned 12 years later to join in the battle against his former homeland, and he became a decorated hero for his exploits against the Germans.
“This story is one of heroism, of courage, of valor demonstrated under horrific conditions,” Morgan said.