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Preferred Citation

World War I Papers and Memorabilia Chiefly Regarding Thomas R. Pleucker, 1914-1930, in the Joseph M. Bruccoli Great War Collection, Accession #10875-r, Special Collections Dep., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These items were given to the University of Virginia Library Joseph M. Bruccoli Great War Collection by Mrs. Michael Lazare, New Milford, Connecticut, through Matthew J. Bruccoli, Columbia, South Carolina, on September 27, 1993.

Scope and Content Information

This addition to the Joseph M. Bruccoli Great War Collection consists of ca. 188 items, ca. 1914-1930, including a bust portrait of Francis Ledwidge, "Lance Corporal Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers," with a quote from a Ledwidge letter to Lord Dunsany; about 109 glass lantern slides of the Great War and other scenes; "ABC Picture Blocks," a set of children's alphabet blocks, each bearing on one side a paper slip with the letter of the alphabet, and on the other side, a slip bearing a halftone reproduction of a colored drawing of a World War I personality or item still in its original sales box and protected in a new storage box; a single copy of The Mehun News , May 16, 1919, a weekly newspaper published by Ordnance Troops at Atelier de Mehun-sur-Yevre, France, with poetry, travel articles, photographs, cartoons, and histories of ordnance units (transferred to Rare Books); and a photograph "showing how French 270 mm. guns are brought up to new positions as Allied drive advances" by Underwood and Underwood, New York.

Also present are ten military promotion and memorial certificates and posters, 1916-1919, pertaining to two American soldiers, of Oneida County, New York, George A. Laurin and Lloyd J. Laurin, who was killed in action on July 21, 1918, at Soissons, France, as a private, Supply Company, 2nd Ammunition Train. These include rosters for Troop "D" 6th Cavalry, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, listing George A. Laurin as a sergeant, and a roster for Troop "I" Fifth Cavalry, Camp Stewart, Fort Bliss, Texas, listing Lloyd J. Laurin as a private.

There are about seventy letters and other items regarding an American soldier, Thomas R. Pluecker (1892-1918) of Nacogdoches, Texas, who died of pneumonia at the American Expeditionary Force Base Hospital No. 17 shortly after arriving in France, on September 13, 1918, as a member of the Machine Gun Company, 64th U.S. Infantry. All of the letters are on patriotic or Knights of Columbus stationery, and are from Pluecker to his family, including his brother, Angus R. Pluecker, sister, Madie Pluecker, and his mother, Mrs. J.T. Pluecker, expressing concern for the family and the farm, mentioning his attendance at Roman Catholic religious services, and praising the activities of the Knights of Columbus and the Red Cross on behalf of the soldiers. He began his training at Camp Travis, San Antonio, as part of the [45th ?] Company, 12th Brigade, but was transferred to Camp MacArthur, Waco, Texas, 7th Division, Machine Gun Company, 64th Infantry, by July 20, 1918. By July 26, 1918, Pluecker was at Camp Merritt, New Jersey, after a five day train ride, and in a letter dated August 20, 1918, he mentions that he had previously left for France but was returned to Camp Mills, Long Island, New York, after a sub attack on the fourth day of the voyage. On August 28, 1918, his company left for France for the second time.

Index of Glass Lantern Slides

Aisne (L-1391, 1474)
Alsace (L-1395, 1454, 1478)
Arras (L-1389, 1452, 1463, 1475)
Artois (L-1390, 1431, 1451, 1468, 1472)
Benevoie (L-1385, 1407)
Bitschwiller (L-1428, 1450)
Cartoons (L-1378-1382, 1417, 1483)
Chalons (L-1466)
Clermont-in-Argonne (L- 1448)
Gerardmer (L-1465)
London (L-1430, 1439)
Oise (L-1400, 1449)
Paris (L-1381, 1382, 1415, 1477)
Remiremont (L-1394)
Rheims (L-1464, L- 1473)
Rome: the Catacombs (L-1387, 1388, 1406, 1445-1447)
Scheldt River (L-1426)
Soissons (L-1399)
Suez Canal (L-1412, 1429)
Verdun (L-1416, 1442)