----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Smith, Tim"  <SmithT@INTERNAL.GCB.com>

Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2005 
Subject: WWI and the 165th Infantry

I was raised by my grandfather, a WWI vet.  Most of what I know about the
war and his involvement came from my grand mother, but II think his story 
is funny if nothing else and may add something to your history.  It goes like
this:  Grandpa was a patriotic Missouri farmer who tried to enlist at the
outbreak of the war.  The Army refused him because as a result of 
rheumatic fever, he was blind in one eye and could hardly see from the other.  He 
also had a heart murmer and was nearly 30 years old.  The Army did the 
reasonable thing-waited until 1918 and drafted him!  Since grandpa had owned a small
cafe in Cameron, Misouri, his home town, the Army made him a cook and
shipped him to France where he served in a HQ Company of the 165th.  ( I 
do not remember which battalion)  Grandpa served until he was sent home in
early 1919. 

The old man died of his heart disease in 1960 while tending his chickens 
in Canoga Park, California.  Although he was "just a cook" I never knew a man
more proud of his military service.  Private Elmer Stucker was buried on
April 13, 1960, with full military honors by the men in his American 
Legion Post.

I am his devoted grandson,

Timothy Smith, SP5
US ARMY 1968-1972