CROIX DE GUERRE TO WALNUT FIVE
Unique Record Made by Town When Five of Its Thousand Population are Given Distinguished Honor by the Government of France.
No town in Iowa the size of Walnut came out of the war period with a more unique record. Though having but a thousand population the town has five persons who won the Croix de guerre. One is a man and four are women. (Atlantic News Telegraph, Friday, August 1, 1919, p. 1)
Gerald Robinson, and the Misses Elizabeth Swingle, Sarah Swingle, Clara Rossman and Hertha Beyer, all of this city, will receive the Croix De Guerre for gallant service overseas as members of Unit K of the hospital corps.
The honor comes to the unit for its activities behind the Chateau-Thierry, St. Mihiel and Meuse Argonne fronts in France. Awarding the cross to Unit K is considered a signal distinction, owing to the reluctance of the French government to give such recognition to its own hospitals working behind the lines. It is believed that Unit K is the first hospital unit to gain this recognition. In April of the present year it was known that no French hospital had been cited with the Croix De Guerre. (The Walnut Bureau, July 31, 1919, p. 1)
ELIZABETH SWINGLE
Elizabeth Swingle was born in Lincoln Township, Pottawattamie County, Iowa on November 20, 1883. Parents of Elizabeth were Lewis Swingle and Elizabeth (Scott) Swingle. The farm owned by the Swingle family was about 8 miles south of Walnut. Lewis and Elizabeth were the parents of twelve children. Frederick G. Swingle, an infant son, Scott Swingle, Lewis Swingle, Christine (Swingle) Painter, Frank Swingle, Elizabeth (Swingle) Risch, Charles H. Swingle, Louise (Swingle) Stevens, Edna (Swingle) Zimmerman, Sarah Swingle, Lewis Swingle.
Elizabeth attended Women’s Christian Association Nurses’ Training at Edmundson Hospital, graduating in June 1907 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Three of the Swingle girls (Christine, Elizabeth and Sarah) graduated from this school and became Red Cross Nurses to serve the area.
Dr. Macrae selected Elizabeth Swingle to be the Head Nurse of Unit K. She worked with Dr. McCrae to select the nurses that were assigned to Unit K, which served in France during WWI. The Unit K group traveled by train to Iowa. Three nurses stayed behind to remain in service as Red Cross Nurses at Camp Dodge. They were Elizabeth Swingle, Sarah Miles and Jennie Sutherland.
The 1920 Census shows Elizabeth Swingle and her future husband, Carl L. Risch stationed at Camp Dodge, Polk County, Iowa. She also spent a short amount of time in Camp Grant, Illinois.
Carl Ludwick Risch and Elizabeth Swingle were united in marriage on November 1, 1920, in Greenfield, Iowa, at the Presbyterian Parsonage by the minister. They moved to the Fort Snelling, Minnesota area. Elizabeth continued as a Red Cross Nurse at the Fort Snelling Hospital to help with the influenza that was spreading across the country.
A daughter was born to Carl and Elizabeth Risch on 26 July 1924 in Minnesota. Her name was Sarah Elizabeth (Risch) Bryd.
Elizabeth passed away on March 31, 1951, in Owatonna, Minnesota. She was laid to rest at Fort Snelling Nation-al Cemetery in Minneapolis in section C-7 site 8482. Carl was buried in Mexico in 1972.
SARAH SWINGLE
Sarah Swingle was born in Lincoln Township, Pottawattamie County, Iowa on January 19, 1890.
Sarah Swingle graduated from the Jennie Edmundson Training School for Nurses in 1916. Sarah’s sisters, Elizabeth Swingle and Christine Swingle also graduated from this school and became Red Cross Nurses. The City Directory shows Sarah lived in Council Bluffs in 1915, 1916, 1917 and 1918.
Sarah Swingle was picked by Dr. Macrae for one of his nurses in Unit K, Mobile Medical Hospital that went to France in WWI in 1917.
Sarah Swingle took a job as a Public Health Nurse in Audubon County, Iowa in 1920. She also was a County Nurse in Taylor County, Iowa in 1921. She then went to Casper, Wyoming where her brother, Charles, had a ranch. She is in the City Directory of Casper, Wyoming for 1924 and 1925 with the occupation of nurse. There is an article in the Walnut Bureau Newspaper stating she became seriously ill in 1925. She is in Washington D.C. in the Census for 1930, 1940 and 1950. Sarah is listed as a patient at St. Elizabeth’s Psychiatric Hospital. She passed away on December 23, 1952. Sarah Swingle has been laid to rest at the Arlington National Cemetery, section 21, site 332.
HERTHA BEYER
Hertha Alvine Beyer was born on May 22, 1893, in Shelby County, Iowa. Hertha was the sixth child of seven born to Julius Theodor and Alvina (Paasch) Beyer. They were German immigrants coming to America around 1875. Julius and Alvina were married in 1880 and then moved to Walnut, Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Four years later, they moved to their farm north of Walnut where they labored and lived until 1910. Then the Beyer family moved to the town of Walnut.
After graduating from Jennie Edmundson Nursing School in 1916, she moved to Chicago to receive specialized training at the Michael Reese Hospital. Hertha served in Unit K, mobile hospital No. 1 in France, departing from Council Bluffs on December 24, 1917, in a special car dedicated for the local nurses on the train to New York. In January 1918, Hertha departed Ellis Island in New York to
Glascow on the S.S. Carpathia. She returned from France in April 1919.
After returning to Iowa, she married John Wesley Nichols in 1921, settling in Walnut, Iowa. They had two children. Jack Nichols born Aug 27, 1922, and died Sept 6, 1922, in Layton Township, Pottawattamie County, Iowa. John “Jay” L. Nichols was born Jan 12, 1924, in Walnut, Iowa.
In 1925 symptoms of her long ensuing illness became apparent. Trying to restore her health, she resided for various periods in Canada; Rochester, Minnesota; North Carolina, and Washington. For several years, she spent the summers in Walnut. Hertha died of spinal meningitis while living in Tucson, Arizona on December 23, 1930, at the age of 36 years 7 months and 1 day. Her son, John, was only 6 years old. Eleven former Unit K associates attended her funeral service in Walnut, Iowa. She was laid to rest at the Layton Township Cemetery at Walnut, Iowa.
CLARA ROSSMAN
Clara Rossman was born on January 26, 1890, in Layton Township, Pottawattamie County, Iowa to Christian Rossmann and Carolina (Nissen) Rossmann. They were the parents of fourteen children. Meta Reimer, Henry Rossmann, Anna Reimer, Edward Rossmann, Clara Smith, Leona Nieman, George Rossmann, Walter Rossman, Arthur Rossman, Evelyn Petersen, and Leonard Rossman; three died in infancy: Amanda, Caroline and Julius.
Rossman’s buried at the Layton Township Cemetery are the parents, Christian and Caroline, and their children: Meta, Henry, Amanda, Anna, Caroline, Leona, Julius, and Evelyn. Note that most of the family used 2n’s at the end of the name, but several dropped one n.
Clara Rossman attended Edmundson Hospital’s Nurse Training program. She was working at the hospital when she was picked by Dr. Macrae for the Mobile Medical Hospital, Unit K team that was being organized in Council Bluffs.
Clara Rossman married Stanton Smith in Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, Iowa on April 3, 1923. They made their home in Zanesville, Ohio, where he was employed at the American Express Company. Stanton Smith was a 2nd Lieutenant of the U. S. Army, Indiana in WWI.
Clara and Stanton Smith had a son in 1931. They named him Edwin Anson Smith.
They lived in Springfield, Ohio in 1930. The Census of 1940 and the Census of 1950 show them living in Lebanon, Ohio. They moved to Haines City, Florida in 1953.
Stanton Smith passed away in 1967. Clara (Rossman) Smith passed away March 15, 1973 in Vienna, West Virginia. They are buried in Forrest Hill Cemetery, Haines City, Florida.
GERALD ROBINSON
Gerald Frederick Robinson (Jerry) was born on November 9, 1893, in Walnut, Pottawattamie County, Iowa. His parents were James Frederick and Jane (Dolan) Robinson. They were the parents of five children, Earl Arthur, Mary Naomi, Gerald, Donald Joseph and Adrian M. Robinson.
Gerald enlisted with Dr. Macrae on August 11, 1917. He was listed as a wagoner, one of the orderlies with Unit K, Mobile Hospital No. 1 in France during WWI.
After returning, he lived for a while in Grand Island, Nebraska. Gerald married Mary Margaret Dee on August 18, 1931, in Avoca, Iowa. They moved to Des Moines, where he became a supervisor of the Solar Aircraft Company. Gerald and Margaret were parents to a son, James Frederick Robinson, born in 1932. A daughter, Mary Lou Robinson was born in 1935.
Gerald Robinson died of a heart condition on September 29, 1956, at the age of 62. He was laid to rest at the St. Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery in Walnut, Iowa.
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