Contents

Collection Overview

Historical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Organization of the Collection

Search Terms

U.S. Army Ambulance Service, Section 539 Records, 1917-1941

Finding aid prepared by Graham Leach-Krouse, Peter Nelson.

Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

© 2003

Historical Note

This World War I ambulance unit, recruited in Amherst, Massachusetts in June 1917 from Amherst College students and local residents, comprised twenty-five Amherst College alumni and undergraduates, as well as thirty other soldiers, five officers, and eventually a number of French personnel. After training in Allentown PA, and departure on August 7, 1917, they arrived in France. Their original designation, unit 39, was amended to S.S.U. (Section Sanitare Unis) 539 on January 1, 1918. The unit adopted the image of the black cat for its insignia. Over nineteen months of service attached to both the French and U.S. Armies, it received two army citations and 22 individual citations, including the Croix de Guerre with Palm. It was involved in three major military operations: the Aisne-Marne, the Oise-Aisne, and the Ypres-Lys offensives. They also collaborated with the French army in four minor operations in the Tahure, Souvain, St.Hilaire, and Jumel sectors. The unit returned to America on April 2, 1919, and the majority of the Amherst soldiers were discharged on April 14, 1919 at Camp Devens, Massachusetts.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

Clippings, photographs, a photograph album, maps, books, correspondence, pay and enlistment records, and other materials documenting the activities of the U.S. Army Ambulance Service Section 539, also called S.S.U. 539, in France during World War I. Although the history of the unit is fully detailed in the albums, books and newspaper clippings, a significant amount of personal information is to be found as well, in correspondence, photographs and anecdotes; in particular, personal letters and other documents of Howell Shepard are included. Most of the Howell Shepard correspondence is to his father, Amherst postmaster Frederick Shepard. The rest of the correspondence consists of round-robin letters exchanged among the 51 former members and affiliates of the unit from 1920 to 1926.

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Search Terms

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into seven series:

• 1. PHOTOGRAPHS, ca. 1917-1919
• 2. HOWELL SHEPARD, 1917-1920
• 3. MAPS, ca. 1917-1918
• 4. NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS, 1917-1941 (bulk 1917-1919)
• 5. EPHEMERA AND OTHER MATERIALS, 1933, 1928, and n.d.
• 6. CORRESPONDENCE, 1920-1926
• 7. ALBUMS, ca. 1920

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Series 1: PHOTOGRAPHS, ca. 1917-1919

Series 1, PHOTOGRAPHS, ca. 1917-1919, contains a number of photographs, negatives, and a photograph album detailing the tour and membership of S.S.U. 539. There are a number of group photographs, and images of individuals, as well as images of Ypres, and various battlefields.

Series 2: HOWELL SHEPARD, 1917-1920

Series 2, HOWELL SHEPARD, 1917-1920, is divided into three sub-series:

Correspondence (sub-series A): The correspondence is mainly between Shepard and his father, but contains miscellaneous letters to Shepard, and between his father and others as well.

Personal Affairs (sub-series B) contains a souvenir of 5 French francs, Howell Shepard's pay record book and his enlistment record.

Photographs (sub-series C) contains portraits of Howell Shepard. There are two undersized photographs, and a cross reference to a large portrait in the oversize box of the collection.

Sub-Series A: Correspondence

Sub-Series B: Personal Affairs

Sub-Series C: Photographs

Series 3: MAPS, ca. 1917-1918

Series 3, MAPS, ca. 1917-1918, contains two cloth-backed paper maps featuring the northeast Luxembourg frontier and the northeast area of Paris.

Series 4: NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS, 1917-1941 (bulk 1917-1919)

Series 4, NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS, 1917-1941 (bulk 1917-1919), contains clippings mainly concerning the decoration of S.S.U. 539, especially Howell Shepard's Croix de Guerre, and the unit's subsequent decision to donate their colors to Amherst College. A 1941 article deals with Shepard's resignation from the Andover board of selectmen.

Series 5: EPHEMERA, 1933, 1928, and n.d.

Series 5, EPHEMERA AND OTHER MATERIALS, 1933, 1928, and n.d., contains French wedding invitations, an S.S.U. 539 New Year's card, "Black Cat" stationery, a rail ticket, and the cast of characters for a play, "The Nut's Revenge," and a poster featuring a specimen of a "fancy cancel" designed by postmaster Frederick Shepard and modeled after S.S.U. 539's insignia, father of Howell Shepard; it was used briefly in 1928 as a postage stamp cancel.

Series 6: CORRESPONDENCE, 1920-1926

Series 6, CORRESPONDENCE, 1920-1926, contains a volume of round-robin letters exchanged among members of S.S.U. 539 after the war.

Series 7: ALBUMS, ca. 1920

Series 7, ALBUMS, ca. 1920, contains three copies of a commemorative photographs album featuring information about the unit. It includes a roster of membership, a long narrative of the unit's history by John H. Bocock, information on citations and orders, maps, a number of poems and articles about the war, and miscellaneous humorous lists and cartoons.