Collection of letters and photographs sent from George Emery Caswell to his fiancee Lillian Soltwedel during his army training at Camp Logan, Texas, and while he was serving in Europe during World War I. Also includes letters to Lillian's sister Myrtle Soltwedel from her beaux John Deathe and Rene Sayers, a variety of family photographs and photograph albums, and some ephemera.

George Emery Caswell (1893-1958) was born in Whitewater, Wisconsin, to Carroll Lewis Caswell and Ida Louise Roswell. He served in Company "C" of the 1st Wisconsin Infanty National Guard (1910-1912) and enlisted as a Sergeant 1st Class in the U.S. Army in Chicago on July 3, 1917. Caswell was made a Second Lieutenant of Engineering in the U.S. Army in 1919, a Second Lieutenant of Engineering in the Officers' Reserve Corps in 1919, and a First Lieutenant of Engineering in the Officers' Reserve Corps in 1922. Caswell served in World War I with the 108th U.S. Engineers and participated in the Somme Offensive (August 1918) and the Meuse Argonne Offensive (September 1918). Following the war he was honorably discharged with a commission as Second Lieutenant. He married Lillian Soltwedel (1895-1990, born in Whiting, Indiana) on November 22, 1919, in Chicago. Caswell's army records list his occupation as a photographer, and he documented his time in the military with extensive photographic records.

535 items

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