U.S. Army Ambulance Service, Section 539 Records, 1917-1941
General International Standard for Archival Description
Amherst College Archives and Special Collections
Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by David Schaich. 2003-12-03
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
U.S. Army Ambulance Service, Section 539 Records
Creation of U.S. Army Ambulance Service, Section 539 Records
Time of Creation of U.S. Army Ambulance Service, Section 539 Records
1 records storage box, 1 oversize flat box
U.S. Army Ambulance Service, Section 539
Biographical History for: U.S. Army Ambulance Service, Section 539 Records
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.
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.
Ambulance drivers--United States.
lcsh
World War, 1914-1918--Education and the war.
World War, 1914-1918--Medical care--France.
World War, 1914-1918--Medical care--United States.
Shepard, Howell.
lcnaf
United States. Army Ambulance Service. Section 539.
Amherst College--Students.
series
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.
Photograph album ca. 1917-1919
Group photographs ca. 1917-1919
Photographs-Ypres 1918
Photographs-battlefield 1917-1918
Photographs - assorted (with negatives) ca. 1917-1919
Photographs-assorted ca. 1917-1919
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.
subseries
Sub-Series A: Correspondence
Outgoing correspondence 1917
Outgoing correspondence 1918
Outgoing correspondence 1919
Outgoing correspondence n.d.
Incoming correspondence ca. 1917-1919
Envelopes n.d.
Miscellaneous ca. 1919
Sub-Series B: Personal Affairs
Pay record book, 5 French francs 1919-1920
Enlistment records 1917
Sub-Series C: Photographs
Howell Shepard, portraits ca. 1917-1919
Mounted photograph, Howell Shepard, portrait n.d.
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.
Maps of northeast Luxembourg frontier and northeast Paris ca. 1917-1918
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.
Newspaper Clippings 1917-1941 (bulk 1917-1919)
Original Newspaper (photocopy in Box 1, Folder 18) 1941
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.
Wedding invitations, stationery, "The Nut's Revenge", New Year's card, rail ticket 1933, n.d.
Cross-reference to poster with information on "fancy cancel" featuring black cat insignia and used briefly in Amherst post office 1928
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.
Volume of round-robin letters sent between members of S.S.U. 539 1920-1926
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.
Photograph album (3 copies) ca. 1920