The 1st Army Artillery Park was first organized from various Companies in the Coast Defenses of San Francisco at Ft. Winfield Scott, California on 1 March 1918. During May 1918 the Artillery Park moved to Camp Mills, New York for final preparations before embarking for overseas duty. As they mobilized for sailing overseas they also passed through Camp Merritt, New Jersey.

On 15 June 1918 the Artillery Park under the command of Lt. Colonel William H Tobin went to the Port of Embarkation, Hoboken, New Jersey with 23 officers and 690 enlisted men and boarded the transport USS Kroonland. The other units aboard with the Artillery Park were: 33rd Division Casuals consisting of 1 officer, 78 enlisted men; 16 Casual officers; Engineers consisting of 9 officers, 2014 enlisted men; 23rd Depot Company with 3 officers, 100 enlisted men; 24th Depot Company with 2 officers, 98 enlisted.

On the 15th of June the Kroonland with her cargo of 54 officers and 2980 enlisted men set sail for St. Nazaire, France, in a convoy of 13 transports, escorted by the cruiser USS North Carolina and 14 Destroyers. The 13 ship convoy consisted of these troopships: Rijndam, LaLorraine, DeKalb, Finland, Appeles, Princess Matoika, Wilhelmina, Lenape, Czar, Pastores, Covington, George Washington and the Kroonland.

Upon arrival at St. Nazaire, France the Artillery Park went to O&T Center No. 5, located in Angouleme, France. Other units stationed there were the 47th Artillery, C.A.C., 54th Ammunition Train, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th HMORS (Heavy Mobile Ordnance Repair Shop) and the III Corps, IV Corps and V Corps Artillery Parks.

One Army Artillery Park was in France and operated with the First Army. The Second Army Artillery Park was ready to sail, but did not reach France. An Army Artillery Park consisted of three sections: 1) the motor section of 6 truck companies, 2) the depot section, consisting of a headquarters and 3 park batteries, and 3) an attached mobile ordnance repair shop. The whole park consisted of 1 Lt. Colonel, 3 Majors 14 Captains and 13 Lieutenants and 1,930 enlisted men. The motor section of the park was to be used to supplement the ammunition service of the army artillery units. The depot section was the repository for all spares of cannon and all other materiel for units of army artillery. The attached repair shop was used to affect the more important repairs for units of army artillery that could not be affected by the troops locally with their own repair facilities.

In August of 1918 this Army Artillery Park was assigned to the First Army and was then known as the First Army Artillery Park. While with the First Army it participated in the following battles:

1st Army Artillery Park:
St. Mihiel Offensive, France: 12 September-16 September 1918.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive, France: 26 September-11 November 1918.

Generally an Army Artillery Park consisted of these vehicles: 1 Ambulance, 8 five-passenger cars, 13 rolling kitchens, 92 motorcycles with side cars, 168 three-ton cargo trucks, 15 ration and baggage trucks, 5 artillery repair trucks, 8 light repair trucks, 3 equipment repair trucks, 5 supply trucks and 12 tank trucks.

After the Armistice was signed the First Army Artillery Park was returned to the States in May of 1919 and went to Camp Mills, New York. On 26th May 1919 the First Army Artillery Park was demobilized at the Presidio of San Francisco, California.

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Artillery Park Muster

If you have a family member who served in the First Army Artillery Park, please email me and I will add information on them here in this section.

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PFC Carl O. Furaas, HQ, Motor Section

PFC Carl O. Furaas of (now Lake Bronson) Bronson, MN, served with HQ, Motor Sect., Army Artillery Park, 1st Army during World War I. He enlisted in the US Army on December 17, 1917 and went to Ft Winfield Scott for heavy artillery. Arrived overseas September 1, 1918. Saw action at Meuse-Argonne in ammunition service. Became ill November 14th and sent to hospital. Came back on the French liner La Lorraine on January 29th, 1919 and was discharged on February 18, 1919 at Camp Grant, IL arriving back in Bronson a few days later. He served as Commander of the Halma-Lake Bronson American Legion Post for many years and also belonged to the Kittson County 40 & 8.

PFC Archie Lambert, Truck Co.

PFC Archie Lambert of (now Lake Bronson) Bronson, MN, served with Truck Co., Army Artillery Park, 1st Army during World War I. He enlisted December 17, 1917 and went overseas June 29, 1918. He was wounded in a truck wreck and spent several months in different hospitals and was discharged June 8, 1919.

Pvt. Richard A. Toreson, MN, Battery C,

Pvt. Richard A. Toreson, of Hallock, MN, Battery C, Artillery, 1st Army, C.A.C., entered the service December 17, 1917. He went overseas September 1918. Saw action at Argonne and Verdun. Discharged May 16, 1919.

Pvt. Iver F. Casperson

Pvt. Iver F. Casperson, of Hallock, MN, Army Artillery Park, C.A.C., enlisted December 16, 1917. Went overseas September 1. 1918 and saw action from October 3-November 11, at Argonne, Meuse and Verdun. Discharged May 19,1919. 

Cpl. Clifford A. P. Younggren, Truck Co. C,

Corporal Clifford A. P. Younggren, of Northcote, MN, Truck Co. C, 1st Army Artillery, C.A.C., Enlisted December 17, 1917. Went overseas June 29, 1918 and saw 3 months active service.

Pvt. George R. Fossell, Battery A,

Pvt. George R. Fossell, of Kennedy, MN, Battery A, Army Artillery Park, 1st Army C.A.C., enlisted December 17, 1917. Went overseas June 15, 1918 and saw action at St Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Verdun.

Cpl. Richard C. Shaffer, Motor Section, Truck Co. D, First Army Artillery Park

Mr. Shaffer died on 3 October 1945 and is buried in the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, San Mateo County, California, Plot: H BLK745.

Pvt. Jasper Wooten, Park Battery B, First Army Artillery Park

Jasper Anderson Wooten was born on March 15th, 1892 in West Virginia to Wesley and Anna Wooten. On the fifth day of June 1900 Jasper lived with his mother and father in a rented home on Hanford Street in Montgomery, Ohio. At the time the family consisted of Charles the oldest son born in June of 1888, Irena born in April 1890, then Jasper and then the youngest son Wesley, jr. born in November of 1895. The Wooten family must have moved around quite a bit in the years previous to living in Montgomery as Charles was born in Kansas, Irena and Jasper were both born in West Virginia and Wesley jr. was born in Ohio. It is known that the Wooten family lived in Cement, Oklahoma in 1904. Wesley, the father worked as a laborer to support the family when they lived in Montgomery. The Wooten family would eventually grow to 3 sons and 3 daughters.

As America entered the fight in Europe in April of 1917, Jasper or “Jap” as he was called, saw the need to enlist into the military. This would be an event in his live that would take “Jap” Wooten on an adventure that would last for more than 21 years. And so on December 14, 1917, “Jap” Wooten enlisted in the Army Coast Artillery Corps at Fort Logan, Colorado after acceptance at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was transferred from Ft. Logan to the Presidio of San Francisco, where he joined Battery "B" Army Artillery Park. At that time this unit was known as Army Artillery Park and did not take its name of First Army Artillery Park until August of 1918 while the unit was in France. It was then assigned to the First Army and as such took the name of First Army Artillery Park. While with the First Army it participated in the following battles: St. Mihiel Offensive, France: 12 September-16 September 1918. Meuse-Argonne Offensive, France: 26 September-11 November 1918. On 15 June 1918 the Artillery Park went to the Port of Embarkation, Hoboken, New Jersey with 23 officers and 690 enlisted men and boarded the transport USS Kroonland. After the war ended the First Army Artillery Park was ordered to return to the States and during May of 1919 sailed home and went to Camp Mills, New York. On 26th May 1919 the First Army Artillery Park was demobilized at the Presidio of San Francisco, California.

After the war, “Jap” Wooten was discharged with others of Battery "B" at Camp Pike, Arkansas, on May 17th, 1919. “Jap” didn't stay out of the Army for long. He reenlisted at Fort Logan Colorado on July 29th, 1919, shortly after his marriage to Lela Marie Robinson. “Jap” Wooten continued in the Army, serving in the 6th Infantry, the 19th Infantry, the 21st Infantry, the 27th Infantry, the 31st Infantry, the 38th Infantry, and the 53rd Infantry in Colorado, Utah, Washington State, Missouri, Hawaii, and the Philippines. On April 4th 1930 Jasper Wooten is listed as being a Private First Class and a cook with Company B, 6th Infantry at the Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri. His final discharge was for disability on Sep. 7, 1940. By that time, “Jap” had completed more than twenty-one years service in the U.S. Army.

After his final discharge, “Jap” Wooten was unable to work due to his disability. He was treated at the United States Soldiers Home Hospital in Washington D.C. several times, as well as various VA hospitals in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Washington State for his arteriosclerosis and other related medical problems. Between hospital stays, he visited friends and relatives in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Washington. “Jap” Wooten entered the U.S. Soldiers Home in Washington D.C. for the final time in 1955 and died there on October 5th, 1958. He is buried in Gravesite R 542, U.S. Soldier's Home National Cemetery, Washington D. C.

“Jap” Wooten’s grandson, Wayne P. Wooten recounts about his grandfather; “I had known grandfather “Jap” in the fifties when he lived with us in Sunnyside, Washington. He talked about the war a little. He said that he had been a "grenadier" during the war.”

Some research material was provided by the Grandson of Jasper Wooten, Wayne P. Wooten.

Pvt. Joe Allen, Jr., Park Battery B, First Army Artillery Park

Joseph Allen Jr., was born in Golden, Colorado September 17, 1893. He was one of eight children born to Joseph and Isabelle Golighty Allen. The Allen's were Cornish, their parents emigrated to the United States in about 1855. Joe Jr. grew up in Denver, Colorado in a railroad family and was the only sibling to go to war. Luanne Buzbee, a relative to Joe Allen, told me that the family story was that he was gassed during the war, but in later years when she took care of him, he did not receive any government checks from a disability. He married a woman named Myrtle and they had no children of their own, and she preceded him in death. He worked as a machinist for the Colorado and Southern Railroad in Denver until he retired. He passed away in 1977 in Lafayette, Colorado at the home of his brother. Luanne Buzbee is a daughter-in-law of the family and niece in-law of Joe Allen, jr. and does not know much more of his life except that he was a nice old man with a good sense of humor.

Upon additional research on Pvt. Joseph Allen I found on his draft registration card dated 5 June 1917, he listed his age at 23 years. He lived at 2225 North 25th Avenue, Denver, Colorado. He was born September 17th 1893 and he was a natural born citizen. He listed his occupation as a lumber handler for the Restrick Lumber Company of Detroit, Michigan. At the time he was single and was listed as being tall and medium build with brown eyes and black hair.

According to the 1930 federal census, Joseph Allen Jr. and his wife Myrtle L., lived in a rented house at 2425 Hooker St. in Denver, Colorado. It was noted that the rent payment was $25. Joseph's age was listed as 36 years and Myrtle's was listed as 42 years. Joseph listed his occupation as a machinist helper for the railroad. It was listed that he was a veteran of the World War. Joseph was listed as being born in Colorado. His father was born in New Jersey (possibly in 1867) and his mother was born in Illinois. Myrtle was born in Missouri and her father was born in Illinois and her mother was born in Indiana.

A letter from Somewhere in France from Pvt. Joe Allen

Photos of First Army Artillery Park From Pvt. Allen's Point of View

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