I don't have a lot about Carl's service in WW I. He served with the 124th, the old Ocala Rifles. Much of this is from the Ocala history pages.
1917
June 5: Registration for the draft was held throughout the nation for men between the ages of 21 and 31. In Marion County, 835 whites and 1,090 blacks registered. The first draft pulls in July sent 142 men from the county into the armed forces. Have not found registration info for Carl.
Carl is said to have served with the 124th Infantry. I have not yet sighted any source documents.
31st (old 10) Division - Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. Trained at Camp Wheeler in Macon, Ga.
Nickname: Dixie Division
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121st, 122nd, 123rd, 124th Infantry (Inf.) 116th, 117th, 118th Artillery (Art.) 116th, 117th, 118th Machine Gun (M. G.) 106th Engineers (Eng.) |
Major General Commanding: Leroy S. Lyon.
At Brest when armistice signed.
Shoulder/Sleeve Insignia:
and 
Aug. 9: The Ocala Rifles were called into service for World War I. The were sent to train at Fort Wheeler near Macon, Ga., and left the city on Sept. 14. J.H. Benjamin wrote in the Ocala Weekly Star that it seemed all of Ocala and half the county were at the railroad station to see the men off. The Ocala Rifles, also known as Company A, were joined by other National Guard units of the Second Florida Infantry as the 124th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Division.
2 Oct - married Anna McAnsh (1893-1962) Ocala, Marion, Fl
Anna lived in Newport, Va. Not certain why they were there if Carl was in the army. The 124th seem to have been based in GA.
Nov. 24: Sgt. James E. died at Camp Wheeler in Georgia. He was the first Marion County man to lose his life during World War I.
December: Two more soldiers from Company A, the Ocala Rifles, died a day apart in the base hospital at Camp Wheeler. Private Frank Smedley of Santos and Private John W. Bell of Oxford, died on meningitis.
1918
Jan. 29: Private John William Clayton of the Ocala Rifles died of pneumonia at the Camp Wheeler base hospital. He had become ill with mumps and contracted pneumonia in the hospital.
Feb. 14: Lt. Wiley Burford became the first Ocala soldier in the U.S. Army to die in battle during World War I. He was the second son of prominent Ocala attorney, R.A. Burford. Burford fell on the French front, the victim of a German bullet.
March: The Ocala Rifles was split up and its members were sent to various other units as replacements. Sgt. George Wenzel left Camp Wheeler in March and wrote from England to friends in Ocala. In April, he wrote about his initiation to battle on the French front. His machine gun unit faced a sea of Germans attempting to break through the lines. "The Germans rushed in great, black waves. The machine guns and rifles just mowed them down. ... The Germans had no chance. A blind gunner could have killed a thousand or two. We had to retire a short distance because they came more than the guns could kill. The allies had very small losses. The field was covered with German dead. The Germans never broke through our lines. It was horrible."
March 31: Frank Harris Sr. sold The Ocala Morning Banner to S.M. Lummis. Harris was the owner of the paper for more than 50 years. He sold it after his son and business manager at the paper, Frank Harris Jr., joined the U.S. Army.
June: A fragment of the old Company A National Guard unit was in Ocala on leave. Most of the others had found places in other units and already were in France, but a few were still training in the U.S. The men on leave included Everette Clayton, S.E. Long, A.G. Long, J.M. Cureton, Frank Carlisle, Cecil McLeod, Maxie Mason, R.M. Long, Laurie Coulson, Oliver Medlin, O.V. Smith, E.C. Small, A.W. Parramore and Eric Mills.
September: The first cases of Spanish Influenza appear in Marion County. Eventually, schools, theaters, churches and other public places were closed at the height of the worldwide epidemic. The Ocala Weekly Star reported despite prohibition whiskey and individuals to ward off and combat the mysterious disease were consuming grapefruit juice. An unknown number of people died of the flu in Marion County, but the worldwide estimate topped 20 million victims dead.
Nov. 11: News of the end of the war reached Ocala at 2 a.m. The fire bell was rung to wake up the city's populace and a celebration started in the streets within 30 minutes that would go on for most of the day and night. At 7:30 a.m., the mayor issued a proclamation closing the stores for the day. At 10 a.m., a service of thanksgiving was held at the First Presbyterian Church. A total of 12 Marion County soldiers were killed in the fighting. The "doughboys" would soon return to the United States, including the members of the Ocala Rifles. The years following World War I marked the end of the old militia system and the beginning of the modern Florida National Guard. But the tradition of the Ocala Rifles continues today with the Troop E, 153rd Cavalry based in Ocala.
Nov 25: Hazel born in Newport, VA.
1919
Carl said to have been discharged from service: