An Otsego native who served in World War I is being brought to life—in a way—by his grandson who has written a book, chronicling his life and military service and that of some of his closest friends from Plainwell and Otsego.
Norman Hinga grew up hearing stories from his maternal grandfather Lee H. Horton.
Hinga said, “Actually, it all started when I was very young. I’m a senior senior and right after World War II, my father was serving in the Navy and we lived with my grandparents.”
Always fascinated by military and family history, Hinga would ask his grandfather about World War I.
“He didn’t talk about the actual combat experiences until he was much older, but we would go through his regimental history books—which I now have—and he’d tell me about them and the men he served with,” Hinga said.
He soon found out his grandfather had led quite a life before going to fight in World War I—serving in two other undeclared American military conflicts. The result was the book “One Fought On: A Soldier’s Story.”
Horton left Otsego in his youth, but Hinga wasn’t able to find the details.
“I sorta fictionalized that in the book. In that time, Otsego didn’t have a full high school. His mom was a school teacher, so he was educated, but something in him made him decide to leave home,” Hinga said.
What is known is that his grandfather worked on railroads out west and then decided to join the Regular Army in 1908 at age 23.
He was trained in Ohio and then sent to Fort Sill, Okla., for training as an artilleryman.
At that time, the old Apache war chief Geronimo was imprisoned at Fort Sill, far from his native Arizona.
After an escape attempt, the elderly warrior was put into the army’s jail at Fort Sill.
“My grandfather really befriended him. A lot of the older calvarymen there hated Geronimo and would refuse to feed him or bring him food that a dog wouldn’t eat, but my grandfather would bring him food from the regular mess hall,” Hinga said.
Geronimo told Horton stories about the old days.
After training was over in 1909, Horton’s unit was sent overseas to the Philippines. In that time, it wasn’t any sort of normal colonial garrison duty, as Filipinos had waged war against U.S. rule which was imposed after American forces drove out the Spanish who the Filipinos had previously been fighting in 1898.
Fighting had died down somewhat by 1909, but Horton’s unit was sent to deal with the Moro people who’d been especially militant in fighting the U.S. forces.
Hinga said many historians referred to the conflict as “America’s first Vietnam” though it is less-known today in the United States.
“He survives a lot and comes back to Michigan and then joins the local national guard unit in Michigan,” Hinga said.
Horton didn’t have much quiet time, as in 1916 national guardsmen from across the country were sent to the Mexican border to help the Regular Army deal with Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa who’d raided a town in New Mexico. Tensions were also rising at the time as many expected the U.S. to enter World War I and President Woodrow Wilson had been informed by the British of a telegram from the German government to the Mexican government. The Zimmerman Telegram offered Mexico an alliance with Germany and help in recovering territories taken by the U.S. in the 1800s.
The Michigan guardsmen were sent to Camp Cotton, near El Paso, Texas.
“He formed some tight bonds with the boys from the Otsego area, especially,” Hinga said. “Close friends with Walter Miller, especially.”
The men came back to Michigan and almost immediately were activated again and were made part of the 32nd Red Arrow Division, made up of Michigan and Wisconsin national guard units.
After more training in Texas and the declaration of war with Germany, the Red Arrow men were shipped to France.
After more training, the division was put into the front lines in July 1918.
“One of the first who was killed in accident was Lee’s friend Walter Miller from Plainwell,” Hinga said. “He was the first from Plainwell killed and they named the original American Legion post in town after him.
“He loses friends and they get their first taste of combat.”
The division then took part in a larger offensive against the Germans and the Company C unit, mainly made up of locals, suffered its heaviest casualties of the war.
In addition to his grandfather and friends, several other locals are mentioned including Oscar T. Briggs from Allegan; Sidney Litton, Donald Guest and Volney Snyder from Otsego: and Hugh Brodie and Bill Owens from Plainwell.
“What I do is give them as examples of the many men I mention in the storyline,” Hinga said. “The story is centered around my grandfather and his closest friends. It has many more details on them, but I didn’t intend it to be totally detailed about every one of them.”
These stories and more are contained in the book, including Horton’s meeting with Theodore Roosevelt.
With World War I hundredth anniversaries passing by, Hinga said he hopes others will get interested in their ancestors’ and their communities’ histories in the conflict.
“I’ll try to stimulate people to remember their ancestors, especially people in the book,” he said. “It’s a labor of love for me and I’m happy to share it with anyone at any time.”
Editor's note: This article was published in the Union Enterprise's May 25, 2017, issue.
Contact Dan Pepper at dpepper@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534 or (269) 685-9571.
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