Dates: 1918-1919; n.d.

Biography:

Edward Allen Harwell

Edward Allen Harwell, who was known by his middle name, was born on March 3, 1894, in Selma, Alabama. He was the son of Thomas E. Harwell, a railroad foreman and machinist, and Mattie E. Allen Harwell. He had one younger sister, Hazel, and one younger brother, Thomas, Jr. The family moved to Mississippi when Allen Harwell was young; in 1900, they were living in Okolona, Chickasaw County, and by 1910 had moved to Jackson, Hinds County.

Allen Harwell never finished high school, dropping out to pursue full-time work; his letters indicate he later regretted this decision and had to be untruthful about it to pursue advancement in the Army. When he registered for the draft in June 1917, Harwell was living in Memphis, Tennessee, where he worked as a chemist for Union Seed and Fertilizer Company.

Harwell enlisted in the Regular Army of the United States on August 23, 1917, at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. He initially served with the Army’s medical department at Fort Riley, Kansas. He joined the Twenty-sixth Engineers regiment on September 10, 1917, where he was part of the Sanitary Corps, a division of the regiment’s medical detachment. The Twenty-sixth Engineers were a water-supply regiment, and the Sanitary Corps in particular worked with testing and ensuring the quality of water supplied to soldiers, work for which Harwell was well-suited with his background as a chemist.

Harwell was promoted to private first class on October 11, 1917, and was sent overseas with the American Expeditionary Forces on October 28. According to his letters, he actually arrived in Europe on November 11. Harwell was promoted to sergeant on February 5, 1918, and to sergeant first class on July 24, 1918. On November 6, 1918, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Sanitary Corps.

Harwell spent his first months of service overseas moving around France; among other locations, he was stationed in two different coastal regions and later near the Swiss border. In early January 1918, he began living in a hotel in Paris while working in a water analysis laboratory. By late April, Harwell was still working in the laboratory and had never been on the front lines. His whereabouts are unknown from then until the end of the war in November; it is unclear if he saw service on the front during this time, though others in his unit did. By November, he was again working in the laboratory. On March 4, 1919, Harwell began a four-month course of study in French and chemistry at the University of Rennes in Rennes, France. He joined about 150 other soldiers in studying there. Harwell returned from overseas on July 29, 1919, and was briefly stationed at Camp Dix, New Jersey, and Camp Shelby, Forrest County, Mississippi, before he was honorably discharged on August 16.

Harwell married Mary Bell Shurlds on January 21, 1925, in Hinds County; the couple had no children and lived on South Congress Street in Jackson. In 1925, Allen Harwell was working for Ray Wright Sheet Metal and Tile Works; he was a salesman there by 1927 and secretary of the company by 1929. By 1932, Harwell had gone into business with Oscar J. Woodrow to form the Harwell-Woodrow Company, a plumbing contractor. Within three years, Harwell left this venture and started a different business, Harwell Appliance Company, Inc., which sold gas and electric appliances and was also a plumbing and heating contractor. Allen Harwell served as president of the company and Mary Harwell as secretary and treasurer. The business had closed by 1941, but Allen Harwell continued to work as a plumbing engineer until he retired to Mississippi City, Harrison County, Mississippi, sometime between 1945 and 1947. Edward Allen Harwell died on December 25, 1962, at Southern Baptist Hospital in New Orleans. He was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson. Mary Shurlds Harwell survived her husband and died in 1979.

 
Scope and Content Note: 

This collection consists of correspondence, postcards, a photograph, a ration book, and other memorabilia related to Edward Allen Harwell’s service with the United States Army in France during World War I. Of note is the correspondence, which consists of letters to his family that discuss his work as an Army chemist testing water quality, and his other experiences in France during and immediately after the war.

 
Series Identification:

Series 1: Correspondence and Postcards, 1918-1919; n.d.

This series contains letters, arranged chronologically, sent by Harwell to his parents and siblings, as well as fourteen postcards. One letter is dated in error January 10, 1917, but is actually from that date in 1918.

In his letters, Harwell talks about his work in the water analysis laboratory, the frequent air raids on Paris, the tourist sights there, and interactions with the local French populace. The letters also discuss other soldiers the family knew stationed in France and letters Harwell received from other family and friends. During the war, Harwell frequently expressed frustration with his lack of incoming letters, which he generally attributed to faulty mail systems, and thanked his family for gifts they and others had sent.

After the war, Harwell lived with a local family for a while and his letters discuss his relationship with them and his attempts to learn French. His last letters tell about his coursework and activities while studying at the University of Rennes. Another recurring topic throughout the letters is Harwell’s encouragement to his brother, Thomas, Jr., to stay in school, in letters to both him and their parents. Thomas Harwell, Jr., did eventually drop out of school, and in one letter to his father Allen Harwell expresses great displeasure with his parents for allowing this.

The postcards mostly show scenes around France, including some of military activities and damage caused by the war. Only one was mailed, from Harwell to his mother, but Harwell wrote notes about the pictures on a few and they may have been sent with letters. Most have no writing at all.

Box 1, folders 1-2

 

Series 2: Memorabilia from France, 1918-1919; n.d.

This series contains a photograph; Harwell’s French ration book for January to June 1919; a handwritten menu from Paris dated November 28, 1918; an envelope with an advertisement; and a blank registered mail delivery notice. The photograph is labeled with the name and address of a photographer in Rennes, and is of a soldier in uniform, probably Harwell.

Box 1, folder 3

 

Box List:

Box 1, folder 1: Correspondence, 1918-1919.

Box 1, folder 2: Postcards, 1918; n.d.

Box 1, folder 3: Memorabilia from France, 1918-1919; n.d.