Harold R. Andrews Post 139 of the American Legion celebrated its 100th anniversary In August 2020.

Interestingly, no mention of the local post receiving its official charter a century ago could be found in any August 1920 edition of either the Independence Reporter or the Evening Star, two primary local newspapers at that time.  

Plenty of news stories about the local American Legion post were printed at the time, however – just not about its charter. The stories instead detailed the many efforts of the local veterans to advance the mission statement of the fledgling American Legion (which would grow to become the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization); committed to mentoring youth and sponsorship of wholesome programs in the community, advocating patriotism and honor, promoting strong national security, and continued devotion to fellow servicemembers and veterans.  

In fact, less than a week before receiving its charter, Harold Andrews Post 139 had been busy hosting one of the biggest events the city of Independence had ever experienced in the first 50 years of its existence – a grand festival on Aug. 5, 1920, that included a closing of local retail stores, a downtown parade, a city-wide basket lunch, a concert by the Mid-Continent Band, a track meet, a baseball game, boxing matches, and fireworks.  

That colossal Soldiers Reunion and celebration marked the third anniversary of when several hundred Independence lads were mustered into active duty and then encamped at Riverside Park, in preparation of heading “over there” – to Europe - to fight in World War I.  

Harold R. Andrews, 25 at the time, was one of the Kansas National Guard members marshalled into service Aug. 5, 1917. He would eventually be the first Independence resident to die during what was then called The Great War.  

World War I pitted Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Japan, and eventually the United States. New military technology resulted in unprecedented carnage. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers claimed victory, more than 16 million people—soldiers and civilians alike—were dead.  

When World War I began in 1914 after Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand (June 28, 1914), no one had any idea that it would become the deadliest war in history at that time. Most believed the war matching the Central Powers against the Triple Entente and its Allied Powers, would not last long.  

For three years, then President Woodrow Wilson and the United States attempted to stay out of the conflict, but events such as the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania by a German U-boat and subsequent submarine attacks – along with the Zimmerman Telegram – ultimately made that impossible.  

Harold Andrews, a young lad who had moved to Independence with his parents in 1912, spent those three years – and several preceding ones – making a name for himself around the community as a hard-working young man. One of his first jobs was as chief clerk at the Booth Hotel, where he was regarded as a congenial young man. He later was employed at the LeHunt Cement Plant and at the Beldorf Theatre.

He was an all-around athlete. In his spare time, Harold enjoyed playing baseball, and as a member of the Independence Signals in 1915 was regarded as “one of the best baseball players the city had ever had.” Harold also gained some notoriety as a local pool shark, winning several tournaments at Ed Ziegler’s Mission Billiard Parlor on North Penn Avenue.

On April 6, 1917, Congress declared war on Germany. Earlier that week, when the war resolution was introduced, a “Patriotism Parade” snaked through downtown Independence, ending in front of a jam-packed Beldorf Theatre. The Reporter claimed “thousands were unable to get into the meeting” and stated that even had the Beldorf been six times in size, it still would have been filled to capacity.

Kansas Rep. S.H. Piper of Independence told the throng, “We are willing to die for that which is right… and we know our course is right.”

In a scene repeated all across the country, Harold Andrews and other members of the existing National Guard unit were joined by many other young Independence boys who rushed to enlist. (Others were later drafted by virtue of the Selective Service Act.) Within days, local men formed engineering and ammunition trains to go along with Company K, which continued to grow in strength. By August 5, 1917, they all were mustered into active service at the armory on west Main, and then marched to Riverside Park, where they made camp for nearly eight weeks.  

At the end of September, they were ordered to board Missouri-Pacific rail cars to Camp Doniphan at Fort Sills, Oklahoma for additional training. In mid-April 1918, the Independence contingent boarded trains for Camp Mills, N.Y., and headed “over there” on April 25, 1918 aboard the RMS Adriatic, arriving in Liverpool, England on May 7, 1918. They were then ferried across the channel four days later to join the American Expeditionary Forces under Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing.

By mid-June, Andrews and Company K were in the trenches near Alsace. In July 1918, Andrews’ popularity among his peers, as well as demonstrations of character and leadership, resulted in a promotion to the rank of sergeant. Within days of that promotion, Andrews and K Company - part of the 3rd Battalion, 137th United States Infantry Regiment, 69th Infantry Brigade, 35th Division, under the corps of Major Gen. Hunter Liggett – were in the trenches near the Vosges Mountains.  

If you don’t think there was good reconnaissance in those days, think again. Corporal Walter Rhodes of Neodesha later reported that on their first day in the trenches, the Germans sent over a little balloon with a note: “Welcome 35th.”  

Surely few, if any, of Company K – or any American soldiers for that matter – fully understood the conditions they would face.  

Descriptions of World War I fail to illustrate the true horror of the grueling trench warfare. Barren wasteland of what was once beautiful cities and countryside; unbearable living conditions, rat infestations and disease, and poison gas attacks were dilemmas while still in the maze of trenches – front trenches, support trenches, communication trenches, reserve trenches. Upon entering “No Man’s Land,” the soldiers faced barbed-wire entanglements, field artillery, heavy howitzers and other large guns; and unspeakable carnage from close-range machine-gun fire.  

Harold spared his parents those details, writing at least three letters in early August indicating he was in the best of health and reporting he and the local boys were “enjoying the experience and his opportunities to get some first-hand work in on the Huns.”  

In September 1918, the regiment moved by truck from the Vosges Mountains to the city of Nancy in northeastern France, and then into reserve (where they were still under fire from heavy shells for 8-10 days) for the attack on Saint-Mihiel in mid-September.  

This attack was so successful that the 35th Division was soon headed for the greatest American battle of the war. Known by several names – the Battle of the Argonne Forest, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, and later bundled together and called the Grand Offensive or the 100 Day Offensive – it would ultimately be the decisive battle of the war.  

Over the next several days, K Company and the entire 35th traveled about 10 miles each night, without flashlights, towards the front of the Argonne Forest. Hiding out in the trees during the day in hopes of making the big push a surprise. They arrived just hours before the planned attack.  

According to Cpl. Rhodes, at 7 p.m. Sept. 25, General Pershing himself gave the NCO’s a talk. Within a few hours, with light packs and extra ammunition, the 35th was heading to “No Man’s Land” of the Argonne Forest … with Company K the lead company in the division.  

After zig-zagging through several trenches, the men of K Company were on their stomachs just behind Dutch barbed wire. German artillery shells were breaking 25 yards ahead of them, friendly machine-gun fire coming from behind them. Zero hour for Company K arrived at 5:30 a.m. September 26, 1918. The men rose to their feet, rifles and bayonets in hand, and went over the barbed wire, heading straight for the German lines.

What an adrenaline rush it must have been. The 35th Division was heading into the pits of Hell, but they had good support.  Both at Saint Mihiel and at Meuse-Argonne, it received armored support from the 1st Tank Brigade under George S. Patton. Battery D, providing artillery support for the division, was led by none other than Harry Truman.  

Company K’s first objective: Vauquois Hill, an impregnable natural fortress the Germans had held since the early days of the war. The French told the Americans the hill could not be taken before Christmas.  

“(The hill) which the British and French had pounded for four years in an effort to take it from the enemy, was taken by the 35th Division in exactly one hour and 40 minutes,” William Walters, also of Independence and Company K, wrote to his wife. “This alone shows the fighting spirit of the American army.”  

But the company’s trial by fire had just begun. It was an ordeal that lasted six days and six nights, with little or no food, only snatches of sleep, and an uninterrupted rain of shells, gas, and bullets from infantry, artillery, and warplanes. The 137th Infantry took every objective assigned it, but in the taking suffered casualties of nearly half of the 2,800 combatants engaged before the regiment was relieved by the 1st Infantry on October 1, 1918. Company K was hit even harder. Shortly after their big push, only 52 of its 250 men reported for roll call.  

Sgt. Harold R. Andrews, 26, of Independence, Kansas … was one of the earliest to fall. In the initial days of the push, after the division had taken the French towns of Vareenes and Baulny, Company K was advancing on Montrebeau Woods, near the village of Charpentry, when Andrews was cut down by shrapnel from a nearby arterial shell.  

Lt. Harry Ball of Company K, who witnessed the event, wrote to Andrews’ parents and said their son “died in just a short time and did not suffer.” Lt. Ball regarded Andrews as a personal friend and one of its best and most popular sergeants. “(He) gave his life for his country – it is the noblest and most glorious things possible for a man to do,” Ball wrote.

The letter to his father concluded “Mr. Andrews, you have every right to be proud of Harold, for he had a most excellent record in the army.”  

Captain Roy S. Gibson, who formerly commanded Company K, recalled Andrews: “Blackie, as he was known to us, had only friends in his company. I … was very much attached to him, with his red blooded ‘man’s man way.’ I have never seen a more willing soldier, nor one more loyal. …He has made the supreme sacrifice; and I know he died as he lived, a brave soldier.”  

Corporal Rhodes of Neodesha spoke of Company K’s record as “one of the most brilliant of the whole war.”  

“We kept going for six nights and five days, fighting like hell, thinking of nothing but finishing the war, K Company in the lead all the time,” Rhodes said, probably echoing the sentiments of the entire company. “The German machine guns were often within 25 yards of our position. Many a night a machine gun made me lie flat and wish I was a chigger.  

“I would not take $1 million for my experience,” Rhodes concluded, “but if I had to do it again, I would sell it for one franc.”  

The decorated war hero, Sgt. Alvin York, said of the battle: “God would never be cruel enough to create a cyclone as terrible as that Argonne battle. Only man would ever think of doing an awful thing like that.”  

After a 10-day rest in the rear, the 137th Infantry returned to the thick of the fighting until they were relieved just two days before The Armistice was signed Nov. 11, 1918, ending the Great War.  

The regiment returned to Kansas, where it demobilized at Camp Funston (located at Fort Riley, Kansas) in early May, 1919.  

The Independence and Montgomery County soldiers returned home, but without Andrews and dozens of other fallen comrades. Andrews lies at rest in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France, just six miles northeast of where he fell in service to his country.  

On Oct. 22, 1919, more than 50 veterans met at the Knights of Columbus hall in Independence and organized a local American Legion post. The war-weary veterans voted to name the post in honor of their beloved sergeant – Harold R. Andrews. Several of the men had mentioned him when writing home during the war, telling of his cheerfulness and fine disposition, which kept the men from “getting the blues.”  

The Independence Legion applied to state and national leaders for a charter, and made plans for the initial Armistice celebration that November. They began meeting regularly, and grew in numbers. In February 1920 it leased Sunflower Hall, the second floor of the Sunflower Pharmacy, 309 N. Penn Ave., as the original hall for the local Legion.  

So, when the post’s official charter was granted in August 1920, it was really not surprising that the event garnered little attention. After all, Harold R. Andrews Post 139 had already been exceedingly active for nearly a year … promoting the four pillars upon which the American Legion was founded: Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation, National Security, Americanism, and Children and Youth.  

Today, a century later – through a variety of programs and events that advocate patriotism, promote honor, and benefit veterans, service members, their families, local citizens and the youth – the members of Harold R. Andrews Post 139 remain committed to continuing that long illustrious history of service to the community of Independence.                        

(Information for this article was obtained from the online archives of the Independence Daily Reporter, the Evening Star, and the South Kansas Tribune; as well as from Lt. Col. David Pendleton (Ret.) of Caney, who volunteers at the World War I Museum in Kansas City, Mo., and wrote an article which appeared in the Sept. 10, 2020 edition of the Montgomery County Chronicle.)