William J. Nutt

World War I

William Nutt was born in Templeton on May 26, 1891 to Joseph and Elisabeth (Holthaus) Nutt. Both parents had been born in Wisconsin. His mother died in 1898 three days after giving birth to his sister. William worked as a carpenter with his father until he entered the service.

William was inducted into the US Army on April 29, 1918 and was assigned serial number 2856800. He was initially sent to Camp Dodge near Des Moines for training. After a short time, he was assigned to Company C of Base Hospital #35. He was subsequently sent to Fort Riley, Kansas for additional training. On May 31, 1918, he arrived at Camp Kearny, California with 55 other soldiers to attain the strength needed for overseas duty.

On July 4, 1918, the staff of Base Hospital #35 left California for Camp Merritt, NJ arriving there on July 9. On July 15, 1918, the unit boarded the “Port Melbourne” in Brooklyn, NY and sailed for Europe. They arrived in England on July 31 and then sailed across the English Channel to LeHavre, France on August 7. That day, William and his unit travelled by train to Mars-sur-Allier in central France south of Paris. Base Hospital #35 joined three other medical units and, by September 2, was prepared to accept patients and treated over 500 the first day of operation.

The Hospital had a bed capacity of 2,000 but at certain times was taking care of 2,800 sick and wounded soldiers. Activity continued even after hostilities ended on November 11, 1918. On January 15, 1919, Base Hospital #35 was relieved by Evacuation Hospital #30. William and his unit left for St. Nazaire, France on February 14 to await transportation to the United States.

On April 13, 1919, the unit boarded the troop ship “Rijndam” and sailed for the United States. The ship arrived at Newport News, VA on April 25 and was sent on by train to Camp Kearny, CA. Base Hospital #35 was demobilized in California on May 6, 1919 and William was discharged on May 7.

Willilam returned to Templeton and resumed his activities as a carpenter. There are no records indicating he ever married. He worked with his father until he moved to Carroll in 1945. He retired in 1959 and died on August 23, 1961 at age 70 after spending the last three months of his life in the VA Hospital in Omaha, NE.