Another WW1 poet found for us through the wonderful research of poet and writer AC Benus*
Willard studied at the University of Kansas, graduating in 1909. He began teaching at a high school in Leavenworth, Texas, before returning to Kansas University for a further two years, completing a fellowship and Master’s degree in 1911. He then taught English Literature at Leavenworth High School, the University of Massachusetts, and the University of Kansas.
After completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Kansas in 1909, Willard began his teaching career as an English teacher at a high school in Leavenworth, Texas. He returned to Kansas University for another two years, completing a fellowship and Master’s degree by 1911. Willard spent the next nine years in academia, instructing students in English at Leavenworth High School, the University of Massachusetts, and the University of Kansas.
After graduating from Princeton in 1921, Willard moved to Connecticut and then Oregon, where he continued to teach and pursue his love for poetry. Willard became widely recognized, not only for his teaching background, but also for several books and for his poems, some of which were published in “The Independent”.
On 25th June 1925, Willard married Mary Brownlee (1889 – 1989).
Hamilton Holt, editor of “The Independent” and president of Rollins College, was so impressed by Willard's work that he requested Willard Wattles’ presence at Rollins. In 1927, Willard joined the faculty, bringing the “qualities of heart and mind that made him greatly beloved by the students.”
Willard Wattles died on 25th September 1950. The Omnipotent Order of Osceola presented his widow, Mary Wattles, with a plaque, inscribed, “to our teacher and friend, Willard Austin Wattles…we walk together when we are apart, our eyes have met and what we saw, no man shall know, nor forget.”
During the First World War, it is likely that Willard served in some capacity – possibly teaching - in the US Army, because the Introduction he wrote to his volume “Lanterns in Gethsemane; a series of Biblical and mystical poems in regard to the Christ in the present crisis” (E.P. Dutton & Company, 1918) was dated “18th September 1918 at Camp Funston.”
Willard Wattles died on 25th September 1950. The Omnipotent Order of Osceola presented his widow, Mary Wattles with a plaque, inscribed, “to our teacher and friend, Willard Austin Wattles…we walk together when we are apart, our eyes have met and what we saw, no man shall know, nor forget.”
“To Robert Westman dead in battle”
I was his teacher on a time
Some happy seasons back,
Guiding his hand and mind to trace
That knowledge which youths lack.
Now dead in France, his tenderness
Enfolds me as the sea,
Now I am like a little child
In wonder at his knee.
“Bobbie I love you” is all my heart can say
No matter where I wake at night or wander in bright day.
No word of mine could every say
One half of what is true
No reticence is graver than
The poem that is you.
Willard Wattles.
From the anthology "Men and Boys", Edited by Edward Mark Slocum (New York, 1924), p. 79.
Collections published by Willard Wattles:
The Funstan double track : and other verses (N. A. Crawford, 1919)
The Funston double track (N. A. Crawford, 1919)
Lanterns in Gethsemane; a series of Biblical and mystical poems in regard to the Christ in the present crisis (E.P. Dutton & Company, 1918)
Sunflowers, a book of Kansas poems (A. C. McClurg & co., 1916)
NOTES: Camp Funston is a U.S. Army training camp located on Fort Riley, southwest of Manhattan, Kansas. The camp was named in memory of Brigadier General Frederick Funston (1865–1917). It is one of sixteen such camps established in the USA at the outbreak of The First World War.
Construction beganat Camp Funston during the summer of 1917 and eventually encompassed approximately 1,400 buildings on 2,000 acres (8.1 km2). The Camp Funston Garrison was administered by the 164th Depot Brigade, commanders of which included George King Hunter. Depot brigades were responsible for receiving, housing, equipping, and training enlistees and draftees, and for demobilizing them after the war.
Two divisions commanded by Major General Leonard Wood, totaling nearly 50,000 recruits, trained at Camp Funston. Notable units who received training at Camp Funston include the 89th Division, which was deployed to France in the spring of 1918, the 10th Division and black soldiers assigned to the 92nd Division.
During the First World War, Camp Funston also served as a detention camp for conscientious objectors (COs) many of whom were there due to religious convictions.
In March 1918, some of the first recorded American cases of what came to be the worldwide influenza pandemic, also known as "Spanish flu", were reported at Camp Funston.
Photograph - Camp Funston WW1 - Soldiers Sending Civilian Clothes Back Home -- This picture postcard is one of the few items of evidence showing the presence of the American Express Company at military camps during the First World War. In this case, the soldiers are posing in front of the American Express building near the railway at Camp Funston, Kansas. They are sending their civilian clothes back home, after being issued with their uniforms. Both American Express and the Railway Express companies provided services to the soldiers during WW1, along with the U.S. Post Office.
The Anthology "Men and Boys", Edited by Edward Mark Slocum (New York, 1924) 150 copies of the original book were printed privately. The reprint is: “Men and Boys: An Anthology [Timothy d'Arch Smith / Donald H. Mader, Commentators) (The Coltsfoot Press, New York 1978).
Sources:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1657220583
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1657220583
http://swansongrp.com/wwi.html
https://omeka.wppl.librarymarket.com/exhibits/show/histbioref/mary-wattles
https://lib.rollins.edu/olin/oldsite/archives/golden/Wattles.htm
https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Wattles%2C%20Willard%20Austin%2C%201888%2D1950
* AC BENUS
AC Benus is the author of a book about German WW1 poet Hans Ehrenbaum-Degele : “The Thousandth Regiment: A Translation of and Commentary on Hans Ehrenbaum-Degele’s War Poems” by AC Benus (AC Benus, San Francisco, 2020). Along with Hans's story, the book includes original poems as well as translations. ISBN: 978-1657220584
To purchase a copy please see: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1657220583
