Utah USA Goes to War

145th (Utah National Guard) Field Artillery Monument,
Salt Lake City

After the United States entered the war on 6 April 1917, many Utahns were directly affected as relatives and friends joined the armed services or were drafted. Approximately 21,000 Utahns saw military service; of these, 665 died and 864 were wounded. Of the 665 deaths, 219 were killed on the battlefield or died from wounds received in action; 32 died of accidental causes; the remaining 414 died from disease and illness. Of the 10 percent (2,156) of the Utahns who served were of foreign birth or were members of U.S. ethnic or racial minorities. A number of Utah women, including 80 registered nurses, served during the war as nurses, ambulance drivers, clerical, and canteen workers.

In the summer of 1914, most Utahns were little concerned with the rumblings of war in Europe. Most felt that the fight had little to do with United States interests, advocated a strict policy of neutrality, and insisted that the United States not become embroiled in a European conflict. There were exceptions, of course, primarily among the Utah immigrant groups including the South Slavs, Germans, Greeks, Italians whose homelands had been caught up in the Great War. Utah German-Americans openly demonstrated their sympathy for Germany, held rallies, collected money for the German Red Cross, complained of the virulent anti-German propaganda in most English-language newspapers, and, in some cases, returned to Germany to fight.

New Army Recruits from Price, Utah, Heading Off to War

As the war continued, and America's position as a neutral became continually more difficult, especially with the loss of 124 American lives when the passenger ship Lusitania was sunk off the coast of Ireland in May 1915. After the outcry against Germany over the sinking of the Lusitania, Germany complied with American demands that ships carrying neutral passengers and cargo be allowed to sail without attack. By 1917, German strategists concluded that there best hope for victory was to resume unrestricted submarine warfare to keep essential war material from reaching the French and English, launch an offensive along the Western Front designed to end the nearly three years of stalemate, and to seek a secret alliance with Mexico which would restore to that nation the territory (including Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and California) lost to the United States in 1848. Faced with these events, President Woodrow Wilson saw no other option than to ask Congress for a declaration of war against Germany, which was passed on 6 April 1917.

Even before war was officially declared, Governor Simon Bamberger issued a proclamation on 24 March 1917 calling for Utahns to enlist in the Utah National Guard. Four months after war was declared, the Utah National Guard was drafted into Federal Service on 5 August 1917, sent to California, and then on to Europe where Utahns saw action along in the Argonne Forest, at Chateau Thierry, Champagne, Soissons, St. Mihiel, Verdun, and other locations on the Western front.

Three Utahns Who Served

Guy Empey of Ogden Served with the British Army (top left)
Hackett-Lowther Ambulance Driver Maud Fitch of Eureka, Utah (right)
George Grimshaw of Beaver, Utah,  13th Field Artillery, 4th Div. (lower left)

On the Home Front

Following the declaration, many Utahns became caught up in the fervor of wartime. Some people seemed to believe that German spies, saboteurs, and aircraft could be found almost everywhere. When it was reported that 800 sheep had been poisoned, the Utah Council of Defense contacted nearly every farmer and rancher in the state warning them to be on the lookout for suspicious individuals. Particular concern was expressed about members of the Industrial Workers of the World, who planned to use muratic acid, nitric acid, concentrated lye, and roach powder to kill cattle and hogs. State Chemist Herman Harms, responding to a nationwide rumor that German agents were lacing processed foods with ground glass or undefined forms of poison, examined 150 individual samples and found very little evidence of deliberate poisoning.

 Arthur W. Stevens, of the U.S. Forest Service in Utah, recalled:

Life became different. A sort of war-hysteria took over. Strange lights were seen in the sky at night, always at some other town. In time it was quite generally accepted that the Germans had a landing field down in Mexico, that they had super-pilots who could navigate at night and super-planes that could carry enough fuel to fly from Mexico into the United States and back again. . .

World War I helped bring Utah into the mainstream of American life as much as anything during the first two decades of the 20th century. As part of the national war effort, Utahns planted "victory gardens," preserved food, volunteered for work in the beet fields and on Utah's fruit farms, purchased Liberty Bonds, gave "Four-Minute patriotic speeches, collected money for the Red Cross, used meat and sugar substitutes, observed meatless days, knitted socks, afghans, and shoulder wraps, wove rugs for soldiers' hospitals, made posters, prohibited the teaching of the German language in some schools, and cultivated patriotism at every opportunity.

Children Working a Utah Sugar Beet Field During the War 

As United States rallied for a total war effort, the government called upon Utahns, like all Americans, to support the war effort by producing more, consuming less, purchasing war bonds, serving, and supporting those who entered the armed forces. States and counties established councils of defense to help organize men, women, and children, as well as businesses and organizations, in their wartime activities. Utah's economy prospered as wartime demands for farm and orchard produce, sugar, beef, coal, and copper placed a demand on production far beyond peacetime conditions. Particular emphasis was given to increasing the output of sugar beets and their processing at Utah’s 24 sugar factories.

No produce was wasted, as women were encouraged to bottle all available fruits and vegetables. Many Utah communities held canning demonstrations, and a cellar or pantry full of canned goods judiciously consumed over the winter was a tangible expression of a family’s patriotism. Citizens were encouraged to become members of the Red Cross and participate in its activities in direct support of the war. For many women, work with the Red Cross was of particular importance as a concrete demonstration of their involvement in the war effort, and Red Cross chapters were organized throughout the state.  

The launching of war bond drives was usually accompanied by celebrations, extensive newspaper articles, and when necessary, the strong arm of intimidation. Authorities used Family War Cards to record the names and demographic information about the members of a household—including their nationality and citizenship status; the amount they had paid for Liberty Bond drives and War Savings Stamps; and whether they belonged and donated to the Red Cross. Local newspapers often printed lists of subscribers. This could add up to an atmosphere of social coercion. All told, Utah surpassed the quota set for it and raised a total of $80,854,840 for the war effort. 

German Prisoners of War at Fort Douglas

Fort Douglas was an important military facility during the war. Thousands of recruits were trained at the fort and a prison was set up at the fort to house 870 enemy aliens, who had expressed pro-German sentiments or were considered dangerous, and as well as draft resisters from all states west of the Mississippi. An adjacent but separate part of the prison housed 686 German naval prisoners of war, who were sent to Utah after their ships were seized by American forces in Guam and Hawaii.

Aftermath

“This is the greatest event in the history of the world,” proclaimed a jubilant Simon Bamberger, the governor of Utah, of the 11 November 1918 Armistice that ended World War I (WWI). A hundred years later, Governor Bamberger’s proclamation may be debated, but without question the signing of the Armistice was one of the most important events of the 20th century and one whose consequences still resound today.

Railroad workers at the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Depot Celebrating the World War I Armistice

Most Utah servicemen returned home early in 1919 to cheering crowds, impressive parades, enthusiastic celebrations, and generous parties even though the influenza epidemic necessitated some precautions. Many joined the American Legion as posts were established in most Utah cities and towns. They were honored when the nation proclaimed 11 November as Armistice Day, a national holiday, and were moved when "Memory Grove," located along City Creek at the mouth of City Creek Canyon just north of the downtown Salt Lake City, was dedicated on 27 June 1924, as a permanent memorial to the soldiers killed during the war.

Like many other Americans, Utahns became disillusioned with the formal peace treaty ending the war. They were also divided over Woodrow Wilson's primary objective, the establishment of the League of Nations. Heber J. Grant, who became president of the LDS church in 1918, was an advocate of the League of Nations, while Reed Smoot, an LDS apostle and Utah's senior senator in Washington D.C. was an outspoken critic of the league. The war was something that many seemed to never really understand, a situation that hampered international cooperation and understanding and led to increased tensions and another war within a generation.

Veterans Parade in Ogden, 1919

President Woodrow Wilson visited Salt Lake City on 23 September 1919, to advocate for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles by the United States Senate and its provision for the United States joining the League of Nations. Wilson spoke to an overflow audience in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, asking the questions, “Shall we guarantee civilization or shall we abandon it?” Two days later, in Pueblo, Colorado, Wilson collapsed while giving a speech and later suffered a massive stroke. 

Less than four months after Wilson’s memorable visit to Salt Lake City, General John J. Pershing, the Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during the war, came to Utah. After a welcome at the Union Pacific Railroad Station, Pershing and his staff joined in a parade downtown. Following an inspection tour of Fort Douglas, Pershing spoke at a patriotic program held in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. The visits by Wilson in September 1919 and Pershing in January 1920 recalled the previous joyous celebrations on 11 November  1918 and the return of Utah soldiers in early 1919. In one sense, the visits were an acknowledgement of Utah’s contribution to the victory and verified that Utah’s loyalty to the nation was recognized at the highest levels.

World War I Pagoda Memorial Listing Utah's
Fallen in the War, Salt Lake City

Sources: Utah History Encyclopedia; Utah Historical Society; Utah Historical Quarterly, 2018 #3; Utah's World War I Monuments