When handed a package of photographs and military documents pertaining to the service of a soldier from nearly a century ago, first appearances might suggest that uncovering the history of this long-deceased person to be a tedious process lacking in stimulation.
However, when utilizing resources such as archived regimental histories, interviews and photographs, his story comes to life, resulting in personal insight into the life of a local farmer turned soldier during the period of the First World War.
Born June 16, 1890, George Scheperle was raised in the once thriving Millbrook community near Russellville, becoming one of many local men yanked from their rural surroundings when their draft registration number was selected.
The soldier's narrative begins to take form with his induction into the Army on September 20, 1917 in Jefferson City, where the 27-year-old soon received assignment to Company M, 356th Infantry Regiment under the 89th Division.
"The (division) was organized under provisions of the draft law of May 18, 1917," stated the official history of Company M. Composed primarily of men from the Missouri counties of Cole, Boone, Henry, Andrews, St. Louis and Jackson, the company began their service in training at Camp Funston, Kan. (now Ft. Riley).
Prior to encountering the threats posed in the trenches of the Western Front, the men of the 89th Division first had to conquer "epidemics of Meningitis and other less serious diseases" that assaulted the soldiers during the winter of 1918, according to company records.
The division completed their training at Camp Funston in May 1918, at which time they boarded trains for Camp Mills, New York. Once there, they soon assembled on troopships destined for combat raging in France.
"He'd talk a little bit about his time in (World War I) when you got him wound up a bit, but that's been a lot of years ago and I really don't remember much about it," said Elwyn Scheperle, a WWII veteran and the second of George Scheperle's three sons.
Further clarification of the soldier's experiences exists in service records available from the Missouri State Archives, denoting his arrival overseas beginning June 4, 1918. Additional details are scribbled on the backside of his "Enlistment Record," confirming his combat service two months later during the "Occupation of the Lucey Sector" when the 89th Division relieved the 82nd Division in the area northwest of Toul, France.
"The only thing I remember him talking about was his buddy," explained Ralph Scheperle, the oldest son of the WWI veteran. "There were ten men in his group and one of them was named Ralph-but I don't know his last name. My father said that he told the men that he was going to go home (after the war), get married and have a son and name him Ralph because of his friend," he said.
"And here I am," he added with a grin.
Yet events cited in Company M's history not only paint Scheperle as undaunted in the face of adversity, but also revealed information about the man who would serve as the namesake for the soldier's eldest son.
On October 4, 1918, less than a month after their participation in the deadly St. Mihiel Offensive-and only days before their engagement in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive-the last platoon of Company M was being relieved by the 354th Infantry in the vicinity of Beney Woods (western France) when a mustard gas attack was launched by German forces, followed by machine gun fire.
As described in the company's history, Lt. Ralph May "called for a volunteer to go with him back into the woods and bring out the rest of the company," at which point "Corporal Scheperle stepped out," thus identifying the friendship with the soldier for whom Scheperle's son would be named years later.
But this would not serve as an isolated example of Scheperle's bravery since company records go on to cite an event on November 5, 1918, when Scheperle volunteered to accompany Lt. Ralph May and a small group of fellow Company M soldiers on a mission to locate a feasible river crossing after bridges in the area had been destroyed.
While "crawling across the debris and scaling the abutments of the first two bridges," the men "finally succeeded in reaching the third bridge," records state. The group was then able to infiltrate "through shell and shrapnel and in the face of galling sniping and machine gun fire," thus obtaining "valuable information as to the condition of the river and bridges."
When the war finally ended on November 11, 1918, Company M remained in France with the occupational forces until returning to the United States several months later. Scheperle received his discharge on June 11, 1919 when the company was demobilized at Camp Funston, Kansas, as listed on his discharge.
The year following his return from war, Scheperle married Lydia Gemeinhardt and the couple settled in his native community of Millbrook. They went on to raise three sons as Scheperle worked as a bricklayer and farmer, while also practicing a trade he had learned while in the Army.
"When he was still in France after the war was over," said Ralph Scheperle, "he and another soldier attended a school to become veterinarians. Years later, he performed some veterinarian work in the community and I remember going with him a couple of times when I was a young boy."
With a grin, he added, "There was a lot of stuff he saw and did during the war but somehow he managed to make it back without a scratch and that's why I'm here."
Corporal George Scheperle passed away Dec. 20, 1977, and is buried in the cemetery of St. John's Lutheran Church in Stringtown (Lohman).