Albert J. Schoeppner

World War I

Albert Schoeppner was born near Templeton on May 10, 1895, to William and Magdelena (known as Lena) (Roth) Schoeppner. His father was a German immigrant while his mother had been born in Iowa. Albert attended the Sweeney Trade School in Kansas City which offered courses primarily in mechanics when Albert was there but later offered a variety of courses including radio and aviation. He then returned to farming.

On April 22, 1918, Albert was married to Elizabeth “Lizzie” Roth. Soon thereafter, Albert was notified that he should report for military service on July 4. He was deferred to report July 26 and then was deferred again. His marital status may have been a factor in this. He finally was inducted into the US Army on September 15, 1918 and was assigned serial number 4815689. He was sent to Camp Dodge near Des Moines and joined the 163rd Depot Brigade for training.

By this time, the 163rd Depot Brigade was providing initial training to recruits and was also providing the infrastructure to operate the entire post. Newspaper accounts indicate Lizzie and friends were allowed to visit Albert at Camp Dodge on October 3, a somewhat unusual occurrence during basic training. The war ended on November 11, 1918 while Albert was still in training. By December 8, he was able to visit Templeton and he was ultimately discharged on December 23, 1918.

He returned to Templeton and was engaged in farming as well as developing and selling his own brand of seed corn. He moved to California in 1982 to be close to his daughter. He died at the Redlands Community Hospital in Redlands, CA on March 6, 1984 at age 88.