Pieces of Iowa’s Past This Week: Iowa in

March 15, 2017

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, published by the Iowa State Capitol Tour Guides weekly during the Legislative Session, features historical facts about Iowa, the Capitol, and the early workings of state government. All italicized text/block quotes in this document are taken directly from historical publications with the actual spelling, punctuation, and grammar retained.

The declared war on Germany in April 1917. During the years of American involvement in World War I, 114,224 men and women from Iowa served in the armed forces of the United States. Among them were 96,726 enlisted men; 4,975 officers; 611 nurses in the Army; 1,044 enlisted men and 30 officers in the Marines; 10,211 enlisted men, 525 officers, 40 nurses, and 42 yeomen in the Navy; and 20 cadets at West Point.

Of the men drafted for service, 51.7 percent were farmers or farm laborers. Despite their absence from the state’s farms, Iowa’s agricultural economy boomed. War disrupted European farm production and expanded the market for American foodstuffs. In Iowa, production of food for export rose to unprecedented levels and brought extraordinary prosperity to the state’s economy. Unfortunately, this wartime demand encouraged overproduction.

With the conclusion of hostilities and the reduction of European demand after 1919, Iowa farmers faced glutted commodity markets and falling prices. By 1920, they were caught in the grip of an economic depression.

(From the Iowa Official Register)

Notable Figures and Events | Two Iowans Were the First to Die in World War I

Merle Hay was one of the first three American soldiers to die in WWI. He voluntarily enlisted in May 1917. He was assigned to Company F, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, and in June 1917, he shipped to . Merle Hay, , and James Gresham were posted in trenches near Artois, France, when the German army attacked on November 3, 1917. All three Pieces of Iowa’s Past March 15, 2017 2

died that day, becoming the first three U.S. casualties during World War I. Merle Hay became the first Iowan to die during that war. All three were buried in France and then reburied in the United States. Merle Hay is buried in Glidden, Iowa, his hometown.

Marion Crandall* was the first American woman to die in a combat zone during World War I and was also from Iowa. She was born in Cedar Rapids in 1872. After finishing high school, she attended Sorbonne University in Paris. Upon returning from France, she taught French at St. Katherine’s School in Davenport, Iowa.

She returned to France in January 1918, believing her knowledge of the language and the area would benefit the allied soldiers fighting there.

On March 27, 1918, she was working at a YMCA canteen and was killed when the building was hit by German artillery shells.

Crandall was buried in Sainte-Menehould, France, and later reburied in the American Cemetery at Meuse-Argonne, France.

*Sources disagree on the spelling of Crandall/Crandell

Links of Interest

Iowa in World War I