Tillman, Frank S..

The National Guard of Texas was mustered into federal service on August 5, 1917, for service in Europe during World War I. Texas national guardsmen composed the 117th Supply Train of the Forty-Second "Rainbow" Division, the first National Guard division to go overseas, but the majority of Texas guardsmen became members of the Thirty-Sixth Division.

The Thirty-Sixth Division was organized in August and September 1917 from National Guard organizations in Texas and Oklahoma. It trained at Camp Bowie in Fort Worth, Texas, from October 1917 to July 1918 under the command of Major General E. St. John Greble. The division traveled to France in July and August 1918, where its command was transferred to Major General William R. Smith. The Thirty-Sixth Division successfully participated in the Meuse-Argonne offensive in October 4-28, 1918. It fought around the area north of Blanc Mont, advancing a total of 21 kilometers to the hills south of the Aisne River before being relieved by a French division. The Thirty-Sixth Division returned to the United States between February and June 1919 and its sub-units were demobilized at Camp Bowie at various times between March and June 1919. The division's veterans held reunions at Fort Worth, Texas, in 1933 and 1934.

The Ninetieth Division was organized between August and October 1917, primarily of men from Texas and Oklahoma. It trained at Camp Travis in San Antonio, Texas, until its transportation to France in June and July 1918. Major General Henry T. Allen commanded the division both while training in the United States and while serving in Europe during the war. The Ninetieth Division successfully participated in the St. Mihiel operation, a major American offensive, beginning on September 12, 1918. It extended its line of defense forward until September 16, when required to stop. The division was relieved by the American Seventh Division on October 10 and immediately moved to the Meuse-Argonne sector. It entered the line on October 21 and won a series of victories, including participation in a general attack that began on November 1 and reached the Meuse River on November 3. After a six-day delay in crossing the river, the division continued its advance until halted by the Armistice on November 11. Major General Charles H. Martin assumed command of the division on December 30, 1918, and the Ninetieth Division conducted occupation duties in Germany between December 1918 and May 1919. It ceased to function as a division upon its embarkation from France and its men were discharged at various camps around the country.

Captain Frank S. Tillman commanded Battery D (Fort Worth) of the First Field Artillery Regiment of the Texas National Guard when it was recruited in June 1917 and drafted into federal service the following month as part of the Thirty-Sixth Division. He was director of The Reconnaissance, a newspaper published at Camp Bowie at which the Thirty-Sixth Division trained. Tillman served for the duration of the war and eventually attained the rank of major.

While news editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Tillman collected documents pertaining to the Thirty-Sixth Division and the participation of other Texas soldiers in World War I for deposit in the Texas State Library. He made his first donation on November 12, 1933, in response to a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article on the paucity of material in the capitol archives and state library on Texas participation in World War I. He donated items until at least 1939 when in a veterans' hospital in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

The following veterans also donated material to the collection via Frank Tillman: Major Ike Ashburn, Colonel Claude V. Birkhead, W. T. Carley, Captain Claude L. Drennon, Lieutenant Colonel Lloyd E. Hill, Lieutenant Colonel Dallas J. Matthews, Lieutenant Colonel J. Watt Page, Major Orsen E. Paxton, Sergeant Eugene Roundstream, and Colonel Herbert E. Stevenson.

From the guide to the Frank S. Tillman Collection, 1915-1920, [ca. 1917-1919], 1922, [ca. 1925], 1928, 1930, 1933-1936, 1939, undated, (Repository Unknown)