Kansas of Great War Era: Carl Barnhart 

Carl, along with Mr. Charles Papenhausen, decided to enlist together April 21, 1917 in Kansas City, MO. Carl at that time was teaching at Hazel Ridge School which is about 2 miles south of where he lived.  Carl asked the school to be relieved of his contract.

The recruiter suggested that because they both were high school graduates they should enlist in the signal corp instead of the engineers as planned. They were immediately sent to Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis where they received their uniform, inoculations and they were sworn in. On April 29th they went back to Ft. Leavenworth. There it was crowded and the food was very poor. While at Ft. Leavenworth, Carl went to visit his parents several times. Once he walked back to Ft. Leavenworth.

From Leavenworth he was sent to Monterey, CA. It was the 19th of December when Carl learned he was heading to the front. That Christmas Day enroute was spent in Tucumcari, New Mexico. Here the group organized a football team and played the local high school football team.

Carl sent a telegram from Lawrence, KS to his parents requesting that they meet him in Kansas City, which they did. It was cold and snowy.

May 14th, 1918,  Carl left Camp Greene for Camp Merritt, New Jersey. He then went to Washington DC. Their leave was cut short, they wrote letters, and had no passes. It was here that they entered the troop ship, “the von Steuben”. On May 26th it took them out of Hoboken, New Jersey to Brest France on June 12, 1918.   While on ship Carl was placed on watch with Naval personnel. (Carl and Charley Papenhusen had parted company at Ft. Leavenworth.)

They detrained at “Liz sur Oreg” on the 12th of June. Now they were at the front. Carl saw action at Chateau Thierry.  In fact all of his action was in France.

His army medals read “Aisne-Marne” on one bar, St. Miliel on another bar. ( the battle of “St. Miliel” was known to the allies as “D” Day.) another bar read “Meuse Argonne” and the 4th bar reads “Defensive Sector”. Carl also served in the Army of Occupation from November to July 1919.

He served with the 8th Field Signal Battalion of the 4th Division of the regular US Army. He was discharged at Louisville, KY as a Corporal.

After the war Carl was a science teacher at East High School in Wichita, KS. He taught there for 32 years.

I knew Carl Barnhart. He always returned to his home place for the summer. He and his sister owned the farm near the little town of Neeley. He was known as an amateur astronomer, a gentleman farmer, and a bee keeper. He was known to hire high school kids to help him in his work.

He also had several unique cars. The one I remember was a 1938 Layfayette. He would loan this car to Bob McKone and we would go to Lawrence to the movies.

Carl never married and his estate was auctioned.

https://www.kansasww1.org/carl-barnhart-and-ww1/

From FIND A GRAVE: Carl Barnhart, passed away August 26, 1987, age 90. Buried in Eagle Cementary Jarbalo, Leavenworth Co., KS. He served in WWI, born October 14, 1896.