Joining Philadelphia's Own

On the 6^th October 1917, 100 years ago my Great Uncle Solomon Charles Wraight enlisted in the United States Army.

Solomon had been born in Lambeth, Surrey on the 22^nd May 1895, the eldest child of Solomon and Alice Wraight (nee Uden). The family, originally from Kent moved to Wandsworth, Surrey in 1894/95 and by 1911 the Wraight family were living in Battersea, Middlesex with both Solomon and his father working as carpenters / joiners.

In August 1915, Solomon emigrated to the USA, and found employment as a carpenter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, eventually becoming a naturalised American citizen in May 1917. His younger brother William, also a carpenter by trade, had joined the Royal Navy Air Service in March 1917.

America had declared war on Germany on the 6^th April 1917 and had immediately set about the task of training it’s men to face the harsh realities of the battle fields on the Western Front.

Solomon Charles Wraight USA Army - Camp Meade 1917

Solomon enlisted in the 315^th Infantry regiment was based at Camp Meade, Maryland. He had been living at 150 North – 12^th Street, Philadelphia. The first recruits for the regiment had starting arriving on the 21^st September and by the 15^th October the regiment had a full strength of 2,731 men, all from the Philadelphia area. The Regiment adopting the name by which it has always been known “Philadelphia’s Own”. All new recruits were lined up and were integrated as to their history, each experienced a shot in the arm and the rigours of an army medical exam (Source: The Official History of the 315 Regiment USA).

Much of the early weeks involved building Camp Meade, clearing land, erecting barracks etc. as well as rifle practice and drilling.

Solomon was part of the machine gun company, which as the official history of the regiment explains was selected in the following way.

“The machine Gun Company, better known as the Suicide Club, was formed in the dark and stormy days of September 1917, just like any other company in the regiment i.e. by marching a bunch of cheerful young nuts holding the lucky (?) numbers in Uncle Sam’s lottery into a big, bare, pine barracks. After the usual inspections, the boys were given a hat and shirt. Then each one was asked which branch of the service he preferred. If he were a mechanic, that was just exactly what the machine gun company needed. The same thing applied to bartenders, hotel clerks, milk men and chauffeurs (on account of their knowledge of mules) etc.”

One can only assume the same suitability applied in Solomon’s case to carpenters!

The Official History continues – 

“The company trained for quite a while as a rifle company, but after some time they received Colt machine guns and wooden models of the Vickers, and the company had very strenuous drill in the art of quick mounting and dismounting of the gun, replacing casualties in the gun team, camouflaging gun positions and so forth. Finally, these make shift guns were all turned in and we received the Browning machine guns, which eventually the company would use in France.”

Solomon's journey during the Great War years had taken him from Battersea across the Atlantic Ocean to a new life in America and now as a naturalised US citizen he joined the Army which in all probability would likely take him back to Europe.

Sources : The Official History of the 315 Regiment USA.

Promoted to Sergeant

After being promoted to acting corporal in April 1917, My Great Uncle William Alfred Bush was promoted to acting sergeant on the 1^st September 1917. He had received the promotion the week before on the 26^th August 1917 and had been acting unpaid until 1^st September.

William had been at the front since August 1914 and was serving in the 363 Motorised Transport Company of the Army Service Corps.

The family were living at 6, Leyton Road, Wimbledon at the outbreak of war, having previously lived at 5, Goodenough Street, Wimbledon where in 1911 William listed his occupation as a house painter. William was 35 when he set of for World War One, 5 feet 4 1/4 inches tall, fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He had a small tattoo mark on the back of his right forearm and a 1/2 inch long linear scar above his right eyebrow.

William was born in 1879 in Wimbledon, the 2^nd youngest child of the late William James and Jane Bush (nee Napp). In 1917 he was 38 years old. His older sisters Elizabeth Clara Bush (born 1863, Wimbledon) was married to William Giles (also a house painter). Of their nine children one of their five sons Victor Cyril Giles was also serving with the Army Service Corps, both Alfred and James (both born in 1902) were still too young to enlist. It is likely that Albert James and William Giles were serving but research has not yet identified with who.

His sister, Jane Bush had lost her first husband James Spice in 1903 and both her children Dorothy (in 1913) and Edith (in 1905) she had re-married to Edward Charles Gear on Christmas Day in 1911 and had moved from Wimbledon to Railton Road in Lambeth.

His older brother, my Great Grandad, Albert Henry Bush, was a plumber on Southern Railways and had married Emily Elizabeth Lemon in 1898 and had four children Albert (my Grandad), Emily (Elsie), Sidney and Olive. Emily’s younger brother Frederick Lemon was serving with the East Surrey Regiment in the Labour Corps.

William's younger brother James Charles Bush (born Wimbledon 1881) was working as a harness cleaner in 1911 and living at 48 St. James St. Leeds with Emma Wilson and their daughter May Wilson Bush (born in 1910). They also had two other children William H Bush (born 1911, Leeds) and James C Bush, who was born on Boxing Day 1915. James and Emma had married in 1912 in Leeds.

Research suggests that James was serving in the Corps of Hussars as a Private in the 10^th and later 20^th Battalion.

Keeping the pilots in the air

On the 1^st August 1917, Maurice Edwin Bush (my 1^st Cousin 3 times removed) aged 25, was promoted from 2^nd Air Mechanic to 1^st Air Mechanic in the Royal Navy Air Service. He was still serving with 85 Squadron, who he had been with since enlisting in 1915. The squadron was based in England and in 1917 was mainly concerned with training pilots. The training itself was perilous and life expectancy once reaching the front was very short. Maurice's job was to keep the aircraft flying.

Maurice was born on the 21^st March 1892 in Paddington, Middlesex. He was the son of Alfred and Caroline Bush (nee Searle) and had 3 older sisters Ethel (born in 1880), Mabel (born in 1883) and Daisy (born in 1885). 

In 1911 the family were living at 119a Allfarthing Lane, Wandsworth. Maurice was employed as a clerk with the Bombay Gas Company, Mabel and Daisy were both working as shop assistants. Maurice’s father Alfred was a Jewellers assistant.

His oldest sister Ethel had married Alfred Fox in 1907 in Wandsworth, Surrey and in 1911 were living in Kingswood Road, Clapham Park. Ethel had recently given birth to her second daughter – Rosie Ethel Fox. Her eldest daughter Hilda had been born in 1912.

Maurice had four cousins Alfred Charles Morris Bush had been killed in Gallipoli in 1915 whilst serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps, Frederick Charles Bush serving in the Royal Navy had just returned to training at Pembroke II after serving on a harbour defence trawler in the Humber. William Alfred Bush was still in France serving with the Royal Army Corps after recently being promoted to Corporal. Charles Henry Bush also a corporal was based at New End Military Hospital in Hampsted.

Home on leave getting married

Gertrude Mary Cunningham was the daughter of Thomas and Hannah Cunningham (nee Mills) and in 1911 was living with her family at 74 Sheep Fair, Rugeley, working as a domestic servant.

Gertrude was born on the 29^th June 1894 in Rugeley and had an older sister, Edith (born 1886) and two younger brothers Thomas (born 1899, who would become my Auntie’s father in law) and Reginald (born 1909). Her older brother William had been killed in January 1917 whilst serving with the North Staffordshire regiment in France.

Gertrude was aged 22 when she married Thomas McElroy, the son of Bernard and Bridget McElroy between July & September 1917. Thomas was born in 1892 in Bilston, Wolverhampton.

Their first child Lucy was born in 1917 in Rugeley between October and December 1917.

Thomas McElroy was serving as a Private with the 5^th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment. He had been out in France since August 1915. In 1911 he was working as a sheet mills iron worker.

One can only assume that Gertrude and Thomas got married whilst Thomas was home on leave.

Taking the Oath of Allegiance

Solomon Charles Wraight, my Great Uncle, had travelled to America in August 1915, landing at New York on 15th August after a ten day crossing from Liverpool on board the White Star Liner SS New York. After being processed through Immigration at Ellis Island he moved onto Philadelphia where he found work with Wilkins & Co. as a carpenter and joiner. 

Solomon Charles Wraight (Circa 1910)

On the 6^th May 1917, almost two years after emigrating from England, Solomon became a naturalised citizen of America.

He was living at 150 K 12^th Street Philadelphia and his petition for naturalisation to become an American citizen was heard at the US District Court for the district of Maryland, his two witnesses were Anthony B. Dougherty and Gabriel J. Wilson. His petition was successful and he took the oath of allegiance at the same time.

The Oath of allegiance as it currently stands

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

Solomon's younger brother Bill had just joined the Royal Navy Air Service and both like their father (also called Solomon) were carpenters and joiners by trade. At that time Bill was stationed at Eastbourne.

Promoted to Corporal

On the 22^nd April 1917 William Alfred Bush, my Great Grand Uncle was promoted to acting Corporal in the 363 Motorised transport Company of the Army Service Corps.

William had been out with the British Expeditionary Force since war broke out in August 1914 and had previously served in the Army Service Corps from 1905-08. Before joining the army in 1905 he had been employed as a boiler maker and in 1911 was a house painter as were a number of his cousins

William was born in Wimbledon in 1879 and the family, his wife Elizabeth and their four children, Lillie, William, Ivy and Dorothy were living at 6 Leyton Road, Wimbledon., having previously lived in Goodenough Street, Wimbledon.

The ASC MT Companies performed a number of functions and some like the 363 company were attached to the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) as Ammunition Columns / Parks. 363 Company, which was formed May 1915 was the Ammunition Column for 18th Brigade RGA. The 18th Brigade later came under V Corps Heavy Artillery.

The heavy guns and howitzers of the RGA, with attendant equipment and ammunition, needed motorised transport to haul them. The MT Companies called Ammunition Parks operated dumps, or stores, of ammunition, with the larger calibres of artillery shells required special mechanical handling equipment.

.

Keeping the aircraft flying

On the 21^st March 1917 William “Bill” John Wraight, my Grand Uncle, joined the Royal Navy Air Service aged 18.

He was born on the 24^th February 1899 in Willesden, London one of seven children born to Solomon and Alice Wraight (nee Uden). William’s older brother Solomon Charles Wraight had emigrated from England in 1915 and was now living in Philadelphia USA. His older sister Alice (born 1897) had died in 1911 aged just 14. He had two younger sisters Elsie (born 1903) and Ivy - my Grandmother (born 1904) and two younger brothers Arthur (born 1907) and Frederick (born 1911).

Wraight Family circa 1910 - William is likely to be the taller boy in the photo

1911 the family were living at 14 Eland Road, Lavender Hill, London. Bill’s father Solomon was working as a builder’s joiner / shop foreman.

By 1917 as well as their father, both Bill and his brother Solomon (in America) also worked as a carpenter & joiners.

Bill was 5 foot 9 inches tall, with brown hair, brown eyes and a medium complexion and enlisted with the Royal Navy as an ACM2 rating – An Aviation Carpenter’s Mate 2nd Class Petty Officer and was based initially at Crystal Palace and Chingford until the 28th April when he was transferred to Eastbourne.

No doubt Bill's carpentry skills were put to good use, building, repairing and re-fitting aircraft, which was proving vital to the modern war effort in 1917.

Bill’s Uncle Albert Benjamin Uden who was serving with the 4^th Field Mounted Engineers of the Canadian Army was also a carpenter by trade.