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All the Hometown Boys
Wisconsin's 150th Machine Gun Battalion in World War I
Brad Larson
“Larson provides an intimate, soldier’s eye chronicle. Writing with compassion and respect, Larson lets the men tell their own stories of how they lived, fought, and never stopped yearning for their loved ones and home.”
—Edward Lengel, author of Never in Finer Company: The Men of the Great War’s Lost Battalion
In the summer of 1917 three Wisconsin National Guard companies came together to form the 150th Machine Gun Battalion of the now famous 42nd “Rainbow” Division. As true comrades, they relied on one another for support as they fought in every major battle of the American Expeditionary Forces, including the landmark battle of Chateau Thierry, which cost the unit dearly. As one of Wisconsin’s most celebrated units, a soldier from the battalion was selected to represent the state at the unveiling of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C., in 1921.
Today, the 150th is all but forgotten, in part because their unit history was never written. Through letters, diaries, and other recollections, Larson tells us the story of these Guardsmen’s experiences. He traces the path of their wartime service and considers the impact of war’s trauma and tedium on their lives.
Brad Larson has been the director of the Oshkosh Public Museum since 1989 and has been researching and presenting public programs about the 150th Machine Gun Battalion for many years. He is the author of Voices of History, 1941–1945.
Praise
“Definitively researched, impressively informative, exceptionally well organized, and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in presentation and commentary style, All the Hometown Boys is extraordinarily informative and inherently engaging read from beginning to end.”
—Midwest Book Review
“Scholars will praise Larson for his vast amount of research. He has spent a lot of time crafting a worthy story.”
—Mitchell Yockelson, author of Forty-Seven Days: How Pershing’s Warriors Came of Age to Defeat the German Army in World War I
Of Related Interest
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Unsafe for Democracy
World War I and the U.S. Justice Department’s Covert Campaign to Suppress Dissent
William H. Thomas Jr. |
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Larger images
April 2019
LC: 2018045758 D
248 pp. 6 x 9
14 b/w illus.
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