wrong. That is, past the usual story of the errant name of the soldier who didn't actually die.

So, i have a small committee of folks helping me with the Finish the [Bell] Tower project. It looks like we are finishing more than the tower (Phase Two is complete!), but also the university's less than satisfactory military record. following is a link that gives all the possible men during that period.

http://bit.ly/BellTowerVets

I NEED HELP PROVING THESE MEN DIED AS A RESULT OF WWI and THAT THEY ALL WENT TO NCSU.

For example, S.C. Cornwell, died as a result of the Spanish Flu after attending Camp Humpreys, Va, just like two other NCSU men, but he didn't make it onto the plaque.

Robert Clay Waitt - I cannot find any connections to him attending state. He only shows up in the 1919 Agromeck as the class of 1906. He isn't in any Argomeck from 1903-1918. WTF ( i hope I'm wrong)

We almost have pics for all of them but still need a few. The three in the committee are all alums doing this in their spare time and we aren't getting paid for it. We just want shit right.

Here are the resources we are using.

Agromecks 1903- http://archive.org/stream/agromeck1903nort#page/n5/mode/2up
just change the "agromeck1903nort" to 19XX of the year you want.

State College Catalogue - http://archive.org/search.php?query=Annual%20catalogue%20of%20the%20North%20Carolina%20College%20of%20Agriculture%20and%20Mechanic%20Arts%20AND%20collection%3Aamericana
This is the closest thing to a yearbook we had before the annual. It starts in 1890. The groupings here are in clumps. i.e the 1890 contains like 7 or 8 volumes. You just have to keep flipping. They are all OCR'd to an extent but usually that search is busted or outright inaccurate.

We are also using ancestry and roots web, along with the US Archives and military documents (we have to pay 20-60 a pop for records for someone to copy them and send in the post weeks later). Often, we don't even have enough information to place an order for military papers. So, we would rather prove all we can here and use the paid resources once we have exhausted everything.

We are also using the "State College News" which was the WWI newsletter documenting the aftermath of the war and the building of the Memorial Tower. It's not online. There are copies in the New Alumni Building since the Alumni News became the Alumni Magazine.

The original unaltered tablet:

9/4/2012 2:09:30 AM

Have you tried calling Ft. Bragg and asking to speak to the historian there? Or call a Congressman (election year, high visibility project) they usually have sources with the National Archives.

9/4/2012 3:20:18 AM

Congressman - that's a good place to look. I was waiting till after labor day to try a lot of this. I'm in to work tomorrow at 1 so I'll try some of these and report back.

word.

9/4/2012 4:03:48 AM

leave the original plaque alone. it's part of the belltower's history, mistakes and all.

9/4/2012 9:31:09 AM

did I say anything about changing the plaque? No.

Just help me get the information correct instead of bitching. Once we have it all, I'll let the university decide what to do.

9/4/2012 10:21:18 AM

well if you don't want to change it why are you doing all of this "research?"


I was stating my opinion that it shouldn't be changed.


Get off your high horse.

9/4/2012 11:01:38 AM

Thanks for your help to nc state!

9/4/2012 11:23:26 AM

bbehe I contacted the historians at Ft Bragg and Ft Belvoir VA (where three of our guys died). They both didnt have that type of specific information and referred me to National Archives. I'll check there at the end since we have to pay for it. Thanks for the idea.

9/4/2012 11:37:21 AM

Yeah, pre WW2 records are going to be tough, good luck though.

9/4/2012 11:40:37 AM

Robert Clay Waitt

This guy?

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=WA&GSfn=r&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=29&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GSsr=241&GRid=39123292&df=all&

1902-1903 class catalog has him listed as a Freshman EE major on page 103 (p. 382 at this link: http://archive.org/stream/annualcatalogueo1899nort )

9/4/2012 3:48:04 PM

Don't use TWW for like six years and come back with a double post. Winning today.

[Edited on September 4, 2012 at 3:49 PM. Reason : dp]

9/4/2012 3:48:04 PM

Awesome. Thanks for that! I'd looked there already. Plus the agromeck of 1903 didn't have names but only pics. The 1905 yearbook doesn't show him as a junior and he didn't graduate in 1906.

9/4/2012 4:44:58 PM

so! i just poked through 1911. what struck me is how exactly the same all the school albums are for all the schools. then i think how the same all schools are all over the world. then i think about all human endeavor/rite of passage. then all creatures. the planets, stars, galaxys, etc.. NOTHING is special. every discovery only brings us closer to being relevant to the final machine.

9/4/2012 5:26:01 PM

wait, whats the point of all of this?

are you trying to say that more names are up there incorrectly?

9/4/2012 5:34:54 PM

When the tower is finished in 2014 we want to have a proper fitting ceremony for these men. No one knows who they are or what they did other than they died. No one knows when they went to school. We want to put faces and stories to the men named in our campus landmark.

9/4/2012 6:23:59 PM

If you want a good example of what we've found out so far go read this story about Baugham:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10D10F73C5A11738DDDAD0994DF405B888DF1D3

As a freshman(?) at NCSU he decided to quit school, go get a pilots license, then go to France and join their army as a pilot since we hadn't formally declared war yet.

9/5/2012 12:37:16 AM

Military records from that far back will be hard to come by. The amount of time past is a hurdle in of itself, but the military records depot had a big fire back in...the 60's? I dunno off the top of my head, but that took out a lot of records as well. You best bet as far as military records go...mmm. If you're lucky enough to know what unit/ship they served on/with, or where they trained, your best bet is to contact the historian at that post/installation. Fort Riley was a large WWI training post, for instance. If you don't know what unit they served in, but know their occupation, most training bases in WWI were specilized. Example - Fort Bragg was established to train field artillerymen.

9/6/2012 6:32:03 AM

^^That dude has some cajones.

9/7/2012 9:42:11 PM