Historical Photo of the Month - Alfred Jacobson in WWI

​In honor of the 100th anniversary of the United States entering World War 1, our photo of the month for April is of Alfred Jacobson during his time stationed in Hawaii. This photo of Alfred was recently donated by his daughter Katherine Munsen. It shows Alfred, who is second from the left, in Libby's pineapple fields. 

Several Story City men were stationed at three different forts in Hawaii. This group of seven men volunteered for service shortly after the U.S. declared war on April 6th. A total of 16 men from Story City had volunteered for service during April of 1917. Fred Jensen wrote a letter to the editor of the Herald on June 23, 1917 which was printed in the July 12, 1917 edition of the Herald. In his letter, Fred writes of their travel aboard the U.S. Transport Sherman to Honolulu and their time in quarantine as several cases of measles broke out on the trip.  Here is an excerpt:

"So far we have been lucky in staying together. Alfred Jacobson, Elmer Wendel, Andrew Matson, Milton Olson, Will Peterson and myself are here in the same camp. Oscar Dale is in a camp at Fort De Russey, which is six miles from here. We will be released from quarantine next Saturday, and will be assigned to our respective companies. Elmer Wendel, Milton Olson and Will Peterson will go to Ft. DeRussey; Andrew Matson will stay at Ft. Kamehameha. and Alfred Jacobson and myself to Ft. Armstrong."

The Historical Society will have the Story City in WWI exhibit installed for our Spring Dinner and Presentation on April 27th. The community is welcome to attend. If you are not able to visit on the 27th, the exhibit will be up through 2018. We also look forward to sharing Story City's WWI history over the next two years via our website and Facebook page.

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