Wilson’s patriotism leads to American Legion affiliation

Clipping from the Kansas City Times, July 30, 1962. Newspapers.com

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

Seven “colored men” left Palmyra at noon on Friday, Sept. 27, 1918, en route to Camp Funston, an army training camp at Fort Riley, Kan. The canteen committee furnished well-filled lunch boxes for each of the men as they left via rail for their journey across Missouri.

The seven, all from Hannibal, were:

Maceo Wilson (1896-1974),

French Henderson (1897-1965),

Charles Doolin (1897-1957),

Ezra Ford (1897-1959),

Raleigh Myers (1897-1982),

Clifford Edward Burton (1897-1989), and

William McKinley Ambers (1897-1963).

(Information culled from ancestry.com and other sources.)

Maceo Wilson was selected to serve as captain of the squad.

It wouldn’t be long, however, before the seven would be back home. Victory in World War I was effectively declared with the signing of the Armistice on Nov. 11, 1918.

They were discharged on Dec. 7, 1918.

In September 1919, Maceo Wilson was instrumental in establishing the Woodson Post, American Legion. He was selected as post commander at an organizational meeting held at Douglass school. Ollie Slayton was named vice commander and Willard B. Hughes, adjutant.

Each of the seven men who went off to serve their country together followed different paths. Maceo Wilson chose a musical path.

To be sure, 1918 was an important year for Maceo Wilson.

His father, Harvey H. Wilson, died April 24, 1918. The elder Mr. Wilson had long been employed by the CB&Q as a sand drier.

Maceo’s mother, Lottie, who was divorced from Harvey Wilson when Maceo was yet a toddler, died in August 1918, in Chicago. She was 56.

Maceo, who before entering the service was working for J.T. Brown’s Transportation Company,  left, along with a squad of men from Hannibal destination Camp Funston, for training. on Sept. 27.

The bright spot on Maceo’s horizon that year was most certainly his marriage to Sylvia Cotton in September 1918. Maceo was a 1916 graduate of Douglass High School. His classmates were: Eliza Abbey, Rhoda Roberts and Latrelle Powers. Maceo’s bride, Sylvia, graduated from the same school a year later. Her classmates were: Daisy Simms, Anna Sanders and Ernest Simms.

In March 1922, Maceo found himself the leader of musical group, The Kasaza Band of Hannibal. Little is known about this early band, except for the fact that the band was mentioned in a Kansas City newspaper in late March that year.

The 10th annual Homecoming for the Prince Hall masonic family of Missouri held at the Masonic Home in Hannibal on Sunday, June 13, 1955.

The home was located on the northwest corner of the intersection of Paris Gravel Road and U.S. 61.

Masons from all over the state were in attendance.

Maceo Wilson served as local chairman for the homecoming. At the time he was employed as a janitor for the Masonic Home. later, he was employed as janitor for Hannibal’s City Hall.

Note: The phrase “colored men” was used in the referenced newspaper article, published in the Oct. 2, 1918, edition of the Palmyra Spectator newspaper. It is used here in context to describe the vocabulary used during this era.

Of the 209 Marion County men who registered on June 5, 1918, 135 were put in Class 1, by the Marion County local board, and thus became eligible to be called for service.