Service

Patriotic drawing from the 1918 VPI yearbook showing soldiers saluting the American flag. (Image: 1918 VPI Bugle, Virginia Tech Special Collections)

During the First World War over 4 million American men served. Among these 4 million men were over 1,000 Virginia Polytechnic Institute students and alumni.

These 1,000 alumni were not the only men to serve who had a connection to VPI. In summer 1918 the War Department sent 445 additional soldiers to VPI to receive training in basic technical skills prior to being sent to France. Additionally, no less than 650 young draftees became student-soldiers in fall 1918 at VPI during their brief time in the Students’ Army Training Corps. Altogether, over 2,000 men with a connection to VPI as students, alumni, student-soldiers, and trainees served during the First World War.

VPI men served in every branch during the war and fought in every major offensive on the Western Front in 1918. VPI men were among the first American units to arrive in France and among the very last to leave. 26 VPI men died during the war – 12 died in battle, 1 died of disease while overseas, and 13 died in training. An additional 26 were wounded in battle and 18 were cited or decorated for their actions during their service.

Photograph of Lt. John Castleman (VPI, 1921) taken during his service with the 99th Aero Squadron. (Image: Personal collection of Daniel Newcomb)

1st Lieutenant John Rolfe Castleman was among those decorated. Castleman interrupted his studies at VPI in 1917 to join the 99th Aero Squadron. On October 5, 1918 Castleman flew a reconnaissance mission over German trenches when he was intercepted by seven German airplanes. Castleman engaged all seven enemy planes on his own. He managed to shoot down two planes and scatter the rest to return home safely. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his bravery. After the war, Castleman returned to VPI and graduated from Civil Engineering. After graduating Castleman became an Engineering professor at VPI for forty-two years, retiring in 1965.

Photograph of Clifford W. Hubbard (VPI, 1913), who served in the 355th Infantry Regiment, 89th Division. (Image: 1913 VPI Bugle, Virginia Tech Special Collections)

American doughboys walking through cleared German trenches near Bantheville Wood. (Image: National Archives)

Among the VPI men wounded in action was 1st Lieutenant Clifford Hubbard, who graduated from VPI in 1913. On October 14, 1918 he was shot through the chest by a German machine gun near Bantheville Wood during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. While recovering, Hubbard learned his younger brother, Samuel, died in combat just a few miles away on October 15. During his three-month recovery he wrote to a former VPI professor telling him, “I want to go home and get to farming again. The army is all right, but I think that I like farming a good deal better.” After the war Clifford Hubbard returned home to Forest, Virginia and resumed farming. When his second son was born, Hubbard named him Samuel after his brother who died in France.