The United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917. Fourteen thousand troops of the American Expeditionary Force landed at Saint-Nazaire, France, on June 26. More than 35,000 North Dakotans served in World War I, with approximately 28,000 deployed overseas.
That number does not account for all the North Dakotans who served during the war. Estimates suggest that around 53,000 men with connections to the United States joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force before the U.S. entered the war. They enlisted for a variety of personal, political, and economic reasons. Some may have wanted to leave ordinary lives behind and seek adventure. An unknown number of those men were North Dakotans.
Because swearing allegiance to a foreign government and especially bearing arms on its behalf could result in the loss of U.S. citizenship, many concealed their American citizenship from Canadian recruiters. For their part, recruiters did not ask many questions in their hurry to sign up badly needed men.
Howard Shipley was born and raised in Jamestown. He had shown no strong feelings about the war and surprised family and friends when he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, serving in an artillery unit. In October 1916, a friend received a postcard from Shipley listing his location as “somewhere in France.”
On this date in 1917, his family received a letter describing how Shipley had been wounded at Vimy Ridge. He had been hit three times by shrapnel and was recovering in an English hospital. He seemed undaunted by the experience, writing, “I’ve had some close calls, but am still able to find the cook house. If Fritz don’t get me, I’ll be home to tell you about it.”
Shipley did, indeed, make it home. In 1919, after 60 months with the Canadian artillery, he returned for a visit. He had seen action in several major battles. He remembered, “We had to carry water in our steel helmets to pour on our machine guns, which were red hot.”
Years later, in 1930, the Bismarck Tribune published an extensive article about him. By then, Shipley was living in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, and working as a conductor for the Canadian National Railway. The newspaper noted that Shipley had remarkable stories to tell, but they were “too vivid and dramatic” for publication. It doubted he would ever write down his experiences because the lingering effects of shell shock made reliving them too painful.
Dakota Datebook written by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- Fargo Forum and Daily Republican. “Former Jamestown Boy at the Front.” Fargo ND. 10/5/1916. Page 2.
- Grand Forks Herald. “Former Jamestown Boy Is Injured in Vimy Ridge Battle.” Grand Forks ND. 8/10/1917. Page 3.
- Grand Forks Herald. “Howard Shipley, Local Boy, Returns From War Service with Canada.” Grand Forks ND. 7/4/1919. Page 2.
