"Hoosier Doughboys" to march in the Freedom Festival Parade

Submitted photo Linton native Doug Roush, on the right, and two of his history-buff friends, Doug Blackford and Wade Harshman will be marching in Saturday's parade.

The interesting series of events that led to the identity of that local WWI soldier came about because of Linton native Doug Roush and two of his history-buff friends, Doug Blackford and Wade Harshman, who wanted to call attention to the Great War, as it was called, by forming an educational history unit.

This year's parade starts at 10 a.m.

Roush said they began doing research on historic units and specifically oriented toward the early 20th century American soldier and decided to represent the 1st Indiana Artillery or what would later become the 150th field Artillery of the 42nd Division, the famous Rainbow Division and call themselves the Hoosier Doughboys.

"I didn't know at the time this choice would be very fortuitous in our historic unit selection," noted Roush.

Roush went on to say that many people find history a bit dull and lacking a certain spark of life because there usually isn't a personal connection.

However, when they began researching source information on WW I, Roush said it came as a pleasant surprise when he was given a diary written by a soldier who served at "the front" in that war.

"When my two friends, Blackford and Harshman, gave me the diary, A Soldier in World War I: The Diary of Elmer W. Sherwood," they said it was pretty good and maybe I should read it," noted Roush.

"As I started to read the diary, I found curious references to a place identified only as Linton. I thought, Linton, Iowa? Linton, New York?"

Roush went on to say that to his surprise his friends had found the personal writings of a man who was in the actual artillery unit that his group chose to represent, and he was from Linton, Indiana.

"Growing up in Linton, I never heard of any reference to Elmer W. Sherwood or knew of his diary, which is considered one of the best first hand 'at the front' accounts of the Great War," Roush said.

Sherwood's diary speaks of his life in the trenches, the constant threat of different poison gas raids, the strafing of German aircraft, and the incredible noise of war.

Sherwood also said in his diary that there was an ongoing concern for food, and rats and body lice were just a given for those involved in fighting that war.

Later, Sherwood spoke of his time serving in the occupation forces in Germany and how he was billeted with families who had sent their sons to fight in the German army.

"He speaks of his thoughts about the United States and his very interesting and unapologetic patriotism for taking part in freeing the world from imperialism," Roush explained. "He also has other interesting accounts to the time period."

One of those accounts -- which conveys the vast difference in later wars -- was Sherwood's mention of "Rabbit," his personal horse for which he was responsible and the reason he was relieved of his rank for allowing "Rabbit" to sustain a serious bruise. He could not be reinstated of his rank until "Rabbit" regained his health.

Roush added that one of Sherwood's more chilling accounts was of an Alabama infantry regiment of the Rainbow Division. The Alabama Regiment was ordered to counter attack the "Bosh" and recapture trenches from an earlier German offensive. The Alabamans, without order, ran the Germans out of their newly captured trenches with only Bowie knives because as Sherwood documented in his diary, "They had simply ran out of ammunition."

Sherwood wrote that it didn't surprise him or any of the Doughboys who knew the Alabamans because they didn't know fear.

Ninety years later, elements of the First Indiana Field Artillery still exist in the Indiana National Guard. These present day artillery units can directly trace their lineage to the famous unit in which Linton native Elmer Sherwood served and wrote his notable historic diary. These units today include Battery A-Danville, Battery B -- Spencer; and Battery C -- Lebanon.

After the war, Sherwood returned to Indiana University where he had quit as a sophomore to enlist in the Indiana National Guard.

After graduating IU, Sherwood taught English at Linton High School and then went on to serve as a state legislature in the Indiana House of Representatives where he would sponsor bills to create the Indiana War Memorial Plaza and the American Legion National Headquarters in Indianapolis.

Sherwood served as Clerk of Greene County from 1922-35. He also served as editor for the National Legionnaire, the official publication of the American Legion. Later, Sherwood left Indiana and moved to Vero Beach, Fla. He died in 1979.

Roush said as he and the Hoosier Doughboys color guard march in this 2009 Fourth of July parade with authentic Great War uniforms with associated accoutrements, it is their hope to bring attention to all the veterans of that time period and to bring awareness of Mr. Sherwood -- who also marched in several Linton parades -- to the citizens of Linton.

"Once I let my friends in the Hoosier Doughboys know about this diary being the work of a soldier from my hometown, it became very compelling to want to march in this parade as a tribute to his memory and an honor to his service," Roush said.

"Time and history are fellow travelers and seem to get smaller and smaller as we look at them together from our mental rear-view mirror," noted Roush.

Roush is dedicating his copy of Sherwood's book to the Linton High School library in the names of his brother, Lt. Steven E. Roush and his dad, CMPO Earl M. Roush.