Tracing the History of a Vintage WW1 Razor - Part 2: Searching for Pvt. Robert Mercer

Read all eight parts of the story here:
Part 1: The Khaki sets.
Part 2: Searching for Pvt. Robert Mercer.
Part 3: Robert Mercer Joins the Army.
Part 4: Over There.
Part 5: Battle.
Part 6: At Wars End.
Part 7: What Became of Robert Mercer?
Part 8: Fathers and their children
Part 9: Robert Mercer and Little Chicago


As mentioned in part 1 of this examination, I initially had the following information about the original owner of the J 2164 Khaki set.:



Besides telling me the name and hometown (or hometown at the time of his death I guess) of the original owner of the set, it also tells me that he served in the Allied Expeditionary Force (AEF) in Headquarters Company (HQ CO) 112th Ammunition Train.

First order of business was to properly verify that this particular WW1 private existed, and that it was plausible that he would have owned one of the first Khaki sets produced by Gillette in 1918.

A quick examination of the 112th ammunition train seems to verify this.

The 112th was under the command of the 147th Infantry, which again was under the 37th Infantry Division. The 37th infantry was originally a part of the Ohio National Guard. They were “deputized” to serve under the US army in the general mobilization of July 1917, and came to be known as “Ohios First” and later “The Buckeye Division”


Insignia of the "Buckeye Division"

So, if Pvt. Robert Mercer was from Ohio, that fits perfectly with him being drafted into the 112th Ammunition Train via the Ohio National Guard. The history of the Buckeye division is well documented, which means that the history of the division can tell us a great deal about where Robert Mercer and his J 2164 Khaki set went in 1918. Before telling that story though, we need some hard evidence to prove that it is not only plausible for Robert Mercer to have been a part of the 112th ammo train. We need his military documents.

But when you search for US military personnel files from WW1 you run in to a big problem.

US service papers from WW1 and onwards are stored in The National Personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records (NPRC-MPR) in St. Louis. The files from WW1 was originally stored in a big building at 9700 Page Boulevard. This is a photo from the 4th floor of that building, presumably from the 50's. If nothing else I guess this photo proves that Spielberg was not that far off, when he showed us that government storage facility at the end of "Raiders of the Lost ark"...


4th floor of The National Personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records (NPRC-MPR) building on Page Boulevard

Shortly after midnight, on July 12, 1973, a fire was reported at 6th floor of the NPRC building on Page Boulevard. Firefighters arrived on the scene only 4 minutes and 20 seconds after the first alarm sounded, but extreme heat and the smoke forced the firefighters to withdraw at 3:15am. The fire raged out of control for 22 hours. It was not until July 16, nearly four and a half days after the first reports, that the fire department called the fire officially out.


The personnel files of Robert Mercer and millions of other documents are destroyed in july 1973.

Today the NPRC estimates that 80% of Personnel discharge documents between November 1, 1912 and January 1, 1960 were lost in the fire. There were no duplicates. This means that any personnel papers on Robert Mercer are in all probability destroyed.

This is a setback (and to a historian like me, an incident like this is just terrible), but there are more options, when searching for a US WW1 soldier.

When signing up for duty the WW1 soldiers filled out draft papers, and these papers are available on the web today. Over 4.7 million US men (and women) served in WW1, and quite a few of them were named Robert Mercer. Of these Robert Mercer’s quite a few again were from Ohio. Strangely none of these Robert Mercers fit the profile of the Private that I am looking for. In spite of this, the draft papers are very cool historical documents, so I could not resist to show you the draft papers of one of the "wrong" Robert Mercers.


Draft papers from WW1 from the "wrong" Robert Mercer

My current theory as to why I cannot find the draft papers of the "right" Robert Mercer, is that he enlisted through The Ohio National Guard, and not through the regular army. I am still investigating this though.

With no luck in finding personnel papers or draft papers my options were thinning. But then I struck gold. Through Ancestry.com I found "The official roster of Ohio soldiers, sailors and marines in the world war, 1917-18" a magnum 23 volume index of the 263.000 men (and women) from Ohio who signed up for the war (of which 6.800 never came back), published 1926-29. In the introduction in volume 1, one can read:

"The records of the Ohio men and women who served in the late war were recorded on cards kept in the custody of the War Department. They appear in this Roster as they were transcribed from these cards."

I must assume that the War Department cards mentioned are the cards that was lost in the fire in 1973, so suddenly it seems, that copies of the papers I am searching for exists after all!

A scan from page 11513 (no less) confirms that this assumption is true:



This Robert Mercer fits the one I initially had some limited information on. It confirms all the info about his unit and division, and all the abbreviations reveals a wealth of extra information:

• Age: 19 11/12 years (at time of recruitment)
• Adress: 511 Jefferson St., Dayton, Ohio (at time of recruitment)
• Race: White
• Birthplace: Bristol, Virginia
• Recruited: 12 july 1917 - Dayton, Ohio (National Guard)
• Honorable discharge: 18 april 1919
• Expeditionary Forces: 27 june 1918 - 2 april 1919 (tour in Europe)

This means that The Robert Mercer who initially owned the J 2164 Khaki set, did indeed participate in the whole of the 37th Infantrys tour in Europe, and that the razor did indeed go along for the ride from the start of the engagement till well after the end of the war.

With this confirmed I am finally ready to tell the story of Robert Mercer (and his J 2164 Khaki set) in the war years. All will be revealed in Part 3 of this (growing) historical DE shaving study, which I will post as soon as I get it finished.

Before I end this part though, I have one more piece of information to share.

During my search, I found an auction for a WW1 group photo. Many such exist from the war. The auction had already ended, and it has as yet been impossible for me to get in touch with the buyer or to get a copy, so all I have is the pictures from the original listing (including the two close ups). The photo is of the 112th Ammunition Train, which means that one of the men in the photo is very probably Robert Mercer. But which one remains a mystery at this time.



When looking at the photo, it is evident that all of the men are clean shaven. It is almost certain that most of these fine shaves have been done with Gillette Khaki sets. One of the shaves (in all probability) have been done with the J 2164 Ball-end shaver that I am tracing - and that I have been using regularly the past month. It is a great historical artifact, but also a great razor, in spite of it being 99 years old.

Go to:
Part 3: Robert Mercer Joins the Army.

 

Awesome research and great details. History is an awesome endeavor. I hope you will continue to find information that will lead you to the "right" Robert Mercer.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

Fascinating! Good works sir!

 

This is fascinating information and you've done some great research. Thank you @Rosengaard ! I'm impatiently waiting for part three.

 

OUTSTANDING job! Glad you're publishing it here on the Den.

 

Looking forward to part 3


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I am absolutely awestruck! I can't wait for part 3.

 

Incredible work. I have full confidence that you will find out which person in the photo is Robert.

Anxiously awaiting the 3rd installment.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

ATTENTION MODS!!
I recommend that this thread be added to the Master Sticky because of it's great scholarship and historical significance.

 

+1


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

Thank you for all your positive remarks. I'm having great fun writing these posts, so it is good to know that you are enjoying them also.

 

I'll second that.

Sent from my STV100-3 using Tapatalk

 

+2

 

Thank you, I am enjoying this trip through history. Excellent job

 

I'd vote for that, but I'd suggest that instead of it being _this_ thread, that it be all three parts consolidated together into one, without comments.

 

+1

 

Ditto!

 

Count me in.

 

I promise to collect the parts when i am done with the general history. That's going to be a very Long post!!

There might be some appendicies in the future though. There are some areas I would like to do some more digging in.

 

Keep digging!