World War I Officers Reserve Training Camp at Camp Fort Des Moines, 1917

Title: World War I Officers Reserve Training Camp at Camp Fort Des Moines, 1917
Alternative title: U.S. Army Officers, including Leon Marsh
Photographer: Santee
Date Created: 1917
Date: 1917
Collection: Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections

Description: The 317th Engineers was first constituted on 24 October 1917 and organized at Camp Sherman, Ohio as the 317th Engineer Regiment, 92nd Division. Like the rest of the 92nd Division, the 317th Engineers was an all black, or “Negro troops” unit, with many of the NCOs coming from the 9th and 10th Cavalry. The 317th Engineers sailed for France in June 1918, and it was the first unit of the 92nd Division to enter the line, completing the relief of the 7th Engineers on 23 August 1918. The unit earned campaign streamers for the Meuse-Argonne and Lorraine campaigns supporting the 92nd Division and the 1st Army Corps. After the war, the 317th was demobilized 31 March 1919. [http://www.317thengineers.com/history]
Group portrait of the 5th Provisional Company officers at the Reserve Training Camp, seated and standing in front of a brick building at the Fort Des Moines Provisional Army Officer Training School in Des Moines, Iowa.
Caption: Caption above: 5th Provisional Company officers reserve training Camp Ft. Des Moines Ia