Private First Class Charles R. Webb
United States Army, World War I - Camp Hospital # 33
August 2, 2023 - Early Years: Charles was born in the far east Texas town of Timpson, located in Shelby County on December 3, 1891. This was the same year that Jim Hogg became the first native Texan to be elected governor. His father David Austin Webb was born in Mississippi and Mother Gertrude Billingsley was also born in the Timpson community. His siblings were: Dan (1886); Talley (1889); Martha (1888; Frank (1893); Barney (1896); Duetta (1898); Ona Belle (1900) and Larry Austin (1903). Tragically Dan, Frank and Martha died at a young age. They lived on a family farm that their father worked to provide for them. His brother Barney joined the US Navy on February 10, 1917 and died at the Naval Hospital in Great Lakes, Illinois of measles and pneumonia the following month.
Military Draft: The Selective Service Act of 1917 required all men between the ages of 21 and 30 to register for the military draft on June 5, 1917, two months following the United States entry into the World War. Charley as he was known to family and friends complied at Precinct 16 in Houston, Texas where he now lived at the Rusk Hotel. His registration card (Form 1 # 856) noted: age 25; natural born citizen; employed as an Auto Top Maker for the Ford Motor Company; single; Caucasian; no prior military service; and no exemption to the draft was claimed. Physically he was described as tall and of medium built with light blue eyes, black hair and was not bald.
Military Service: Not waiting to be drafted, Charley voluntarily enlisted in the Regular Army in Houston on July 7, 1917. Following basic training at Camp Logan, Houston [undocumented], Private Charles Webb, serial # 1195963 joined Field Hospital # 5, Third Sanitary Train, Third Division at Fort Clark, Texas. He was promoted to the rank of Wagoner on March 1, 1918 [driver of wagons, ambulances, and escort wagons]. Thirteen days later, March 14 at the age of 26, Charley and his unit departed the port of Hoboken, New Jersey bound for the war in France. He listed his Mother Gertrude of Timpson as the next of kin.
Over There: Arriving some eleven days later via Liverpool, England the Fifth Field Hospital set up close the front lines and moved along with the Third Division caring for the sick and wounded that came from the carnage of war. During combat operations to the armistice of November 11, 1918 that ended the war, the division suffered 16,117 casualties.
Homecoming: On September 23, 1919 Charley was listed with Convalescent Detachment # 418 that boarded the troopship USS Powhatan and sailed from Brest, France homeward bound to the United States. He was listed with the “Walking Patients Requiring Dressing Class B”. His sickness or injuries were not stated and his World War I record shows no wounds or other injuries. On Saturday, October 4 the SS Powhatan docked at Hoboken, New Jersey to what was no doubt a very disappointing welcome to those soldiers on board. The Evening World Newspaper, New York, October 4, 1919, page 3 reported “There was no band on the Hoboken pier this morning to greet the 1,233 casuals from France on the transport Powhatan. The latter is the first troopship to arrive which has not been met by a band of music. An Army officer on he pier said that he supposed the musical greeting had been discontinued because of the irregular manner in which the troopships were coming home.” The newsclip also noted “On board was an eleven-year-old Belgian stowaway who smuggled himself aboard at Brest in a U.S. Infantry uniform. He was discovered the second day out”. Following debarkation, the soldiers were transported to nearby Camp Merritt for physicals, pay and discharge processing. On New Year's Eve, December 31, 1919 Charley was honorably discharged after twenty-seven months of service to his country. For that service was awarded the World War I Victory Medal with four battle clasps.
Post War: Returning home to Henderson Road, Precinct 1, Nacogdoches, Texas he helped his father work the family farm. Two years later he had moved to Houston, Texas where he was employed with the Ford Motor Company. On September 14, 1922 at the age of 30 he and Miss Donna Eileen Scott were married in Harris County. It is not know if they were blessed with children.
Final Years: Available Houston City Directory Records show that Charley worked for the Ford Motor Company for a number of years and then by 1950 became a building contractor and Donna a clerk for a pipeline company. On June 6, 1961 at age 69, he died at the Northwest General Hospital in Houston of heart disease. Charley was buried in the Forest Park Cemetery, Houston, Harris County, Texas. The final years of wife Donna could not be determined. Day is done, God is nigh.
SOURCES:
(1): Year: 1910; Census Place: Justice Precinct 8, Shelby, Texas; Roll: T624_1588; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 0156; FHL microfilm: 1375601
(2): https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/200189736/charles-r-webb
(3): Registration State: Texas; Registration County: Jones County
(4): "Texas, World War I Records, 1917-1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9MN-Z9CT-4?cc=2202707&wc=3... : 26 March 2015), Enlisted men > Walls, Albert A-Weber, Edmund J, 1917-1920 > image 4114 of 4461; Texas Military Forces Museum, Austin.
(5): The National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland; Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985; Record Group Number: 92; Roll or Box Number: 528
(6): Brief Histories of Divisions, US Army 1917-1918, Historical Branch, War Plans Division, General Staff, June, 1921.
(7): The National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland; Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985; Record Group Number: 92; Roll or Box Number: 256
(8): Year: 1920; Census Place: Justice Precinct 1, Nacogdoches, Texas; Roll: T625_1835; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 121
