Found 1 collection related to Soldiers -- United States -- Diaries

William Holmes Dyer was an African American physician in Kansas who served in World War I. While in Kansas, he was a member of the staff at Old General Hospital and was the medical examiner for Standard Life Insurance Company. Dyer was appointed a First Lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps of the 92nd Division, which saw action in France. He was trained at the special training camp for Black officers at Ft. Des Moines, Iowa, and was later assigned to the 317th Sanitary Train at Camp Funston, Kansas. In June of 1918, he set sail for France. These memoirs are written in a narrative form, and begin at the point that Dyer decided to enlist in the Army, continue through the Armistice and his return to the States, and end wtih his discharge from the Army. Dyer briefly discusses the period spent at Ft. Des Moines and Camp Funston and the voyage to France. He gives his impressions of the people and his surroundings in Brest, France, where his Division landed, and other cities and towns where they traveled as they made their way to the Western Front. Once at the front, there are no descriptions of battles, only of the death and destruction caused by the bombings and battles. He barely discusses his medical duties and only makes some mention of racial incidents, segregation, and racism in the Army. The memoir is handwritten and bound. Pasted into the volume are photographs of soldiers at Camps Funston and Riley in Kansas, postcards from France, and The New York Times clipping, "Buffaloes Return Colors from War". Also included are memoranda from Headquarters, copies of circulars from the 317th Ammunition Train, and his orders from the War Department. A photograph of Dyer is located on the page fronting the section titled "Brest, France". A transcription of the memoirs accompanies the manuscript. less