Rob Landry in WWI Company 2

This is a great old photo from 100 years ago.  I haven’t known about it that long, though.  The first time I saw it and the other one like it was in 2019 when a few cousins got together to share old photos.  Those two were in the Tin Can Collection that Aunt Wana had in her attic for many years.  The photos are not only old, but they are also very long.  Actually, they were rolled up in a tube.  So they weren’t actually in the tin can per se, but I still refer to them as part of the Tin Can Collection.  I had to scan the photos in three separate scans and then stitch them together.  The main difference between this photo and the other one is that the men are not wearing their hats in this photo.

But look at this great old photo.  It’s definitely worth it.  I cleaned it up a little also to make it look a bit more cared for.  The photos have writing on them, and they give the date of August 1918.  The group is identified as Co 2 Advance Detachment E.O.T.C.  I’m not really sure what that means.  It was taken at Camp Humphreys, which was in Virginia.  My grandfather Robert Joseph “Rob” Landry was stationed there in1917 to 1918 for training purposes.  He joined the military when he was 24 years old.  

He seemed to have had good memories of his time in the service.  There are several photos of him by himself, with friends, and in large groups.  There’s even some of him playing his favorite sport – baseball.  He wasn’t having fun the whole time, of course.  Like I said, he was there to train.  One of the things he was training on were large guns, like cannons.  It’s the reason he had hearing loss for the rest of his life.  He also never saw action.  Just a few months after this photo was taken, the Great War came to an end.  He was honorably discharged on Dec. 4, 1918.  Those papers say he was in Company 1.

Here is a crop of the photo so you can see which one is my Pee Paw.  He’s in the middle of this one.