World War I Portrait Photograph of Dwight F. Chellis, with pencil description of war service, medals and bars.
1919. Ephemera. Silvertone photograph of Dwight Chellis, Navy Chief in the Locomotive-Mounted U.S. Naval Railroad Batteries who fought with the American Expeditionary force in France during W.W.I.
Photo most likely taken in France showing Chellis, a former student of the University of Michigan before the war, in what might be a U.S. Marine uniform. Photo has writing in the margins: "Dwight F. Chellis/served in all the big battles/ decorated for superior marksmanship in the U.S. Marines/only naval battery on armament or swivel cars."
It is accompanied by a three page handwritten note in pencil, possibly written later by another family member who identified Chellis as a sailor, Dwight F. Chellis/February 1919/Chief Engineers mate/U.S. Naval Battery"
The note is mistaken with regard to his rating and Marine Corps service. According to The Michigan Alumnus (April 1919), Chellis had been a member of the Michigan Naval Militia which was organized at UMichigan in January 1917. He, with 37 other students enlisted or were commissioned in the U.S. Naval Batteries (USNB) and served in France by July 9, 1918. The magazine notes that he was a "CCM" (Chief Carpenter's Mate) rather than a "Chief Engineers mate" per the note.
The note is also incorrect regarding Chellis's having served with the Marine Corps. As documented in Navy Department Publication Number 6: The United States Navy Railroad Batteries in France (1922) and the Naval History and Heritage Command's Historical Summary of the U.S. Naval Railway Batteries (2018), the USNB was strictly a U.S. Navy unit and never affiliated with the U.S. Marines. Rather, it was assigned to the U.S. Army, specifically the First Army's Railway Artillery Reserve (RAR). The photograph appears to show Chellis wearing an indistinct shoulder sleeve patch. Army soldiers assigned to the RAR, wore shoulder patches featuring the Coastal Artilleries fictional mascot, the Oozlefinch (Woozlefinch), and some sources suggest that the USNB wore a variation of this patch.
Following the war, Chellis returned to New England and became a successful real estate agent in Rutland, VT.
Photo 3.25" x 4", attached to partial album page, with (3) 8.5 x 5.5" pages written in pencil. Photo in vgc, notes toned, slt ruffled. An interesting vernacular image of a W.W.I soldier. Very good condition. Item #27702
Price: $125.00