Title: Edward S. DeNomie Papers and Photographs
Inclusive Dates: 1910-2008

Creator:

• DeNomie, Edward S.

Call Number: WVM Mss 1227

Quantity: 0.2 linear ft. (1 archives box) of papers, 0.6 linear ft. (1 archives box, one flat box, and 61 negative flaps) of photographs.

Repository:

Wisconsin Veterans Museum
Have questions? Contact the Reference Archivist

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Veterans Museum (Map)

See the catalog entry for current shelf locations and additions.

Abstract:

Manuscripts and photographs relating to the service of Edward DeNomie, a Bad River Ojibwa who served with Company K, 3rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment during the Mexican Border War and with the 128th Infantry Regiment of the 32nd Division during World War I. Originally from Keweenaw Bay, Michigan, DeNomie attended the Tomah Indian Boarding School in Tomah and was later recruited by the Wisconsin National Guard. The collection includes manuscripts and photographs pertaining to his high school years as well as his service with the National Guard. The manuscripts include service records, letters, photocopies of Indian registers and family history documents, a copy of the Tomah High School yearbook, souvenir brochures, photocopies of a scrapbook, and a personal diary from World War I. The diary contains brief daily entries describing troop movements, supply distributions, disease on the front line, undergoing artillery bombardments, collecting war souvenirs from dead German soldiers, and witnessing his friend “Chub” being killed by shrapnel. It also includes a prayer entitled “A Soldier's Prayer,” which is a humorous take on the Lord's Prayer, and a poem entitled “The Slacker” which demeans those who did not serve during the war. DeNomie wrote a timeline of events pertaining to the 32nd division in his diary, along with a description and sketch of the insignia of all the divisions that comprised the American Expeditionary Force. The letters include one sent by his father and two from Naida while he was training with the National Guard in 1917. They discuss happenings within the family and friends, with Naida kidding him about being a “sissy.” There is also one letter (1920) from his sister, Odelia, who joined a convent, wishing his family a Happy Easter. There is also a souvenir program from a reception held for the return of Company B, 121st Machine Gun Battalion. It lists the members of the battalion, including DeNomie, who is listed as a private. Also of interest is a comical “will” of Kaiser Wilhelm that names who he is leaving his things to after the war. The photographs include oversized images of his high school sports teams, family images, training at Fort Douglas, and postcards and photographs from his combat service. The images taken during training show DeNomie and Native American soldiers relaxing and humorously posing. One photograph shows two Native American soldiers pretending to bayonet a fellow soldier, while another shows a soldier aiming a handgun at another soldier who is smiling as he holds his hands up in surrender. There are also images of DeNomie posing with members of his kitchen patrol, and interacting with fellow soldiers. Particularly interesting are several images of soldiers taken during training and during the Mexican Border War that he identifies as being his “buddies.” World War I postcards and photographs include images of the destruction, German soldiers and submarines, and various famous European sites. DeNomie included captions on some images describing battle locations, witnessing destruction, and identifying the ship that took him to Europe.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.wvm-mss01227

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Edward Simon DeNomie (Simon Edward DeNomie given) was born on February 16, 1895 in Keweenaw Bay, Michigan. As a child, he was sent to the Tomah Indian Boarding School in Tomah, Wisconsin. As a student, DeNomie excelled at athletics and played various sports such as basketball and football. His athleticism was noticed by Tomah High School and was asked to attend in order to play on their varsity teams. DeNomie, along with several of his classmates at the Tomah Indian Boarding School, signed up with the Wisconsin National Guard. Information provided by his granddaughter, Patty Loew, indicates that Native Americans joined the military, despite their lack of citizen status, in order to leave the strict environment of boarding schools. DeNomie received training at Camp Douglas and was attached to Company K of the 3rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, just prior to being assigned to partake in the Punitive Expedition into Mexico.

After his regiment returned to Wisconsin, DeNomie continued attending Tomah High School until his unit was activated for duty following the United States entry into World War I. The 3rd Wisconsin was reassigned to the 32nd Division, where it was organized into the 128th Regiment and sent to France in 1918. DeNomie was attached to a supply unit as a wagoneer and saw action at the Battle of the Marne and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. There is the possibility he was also attached to Company B of the 121st Machine Gun Battalion at some point during the war. DeNomie's name appears on a souvenir program for a ceremony that honored the company when they returned to Wisconsin, but no official record exists of him serving with them during the war. He also served as part of the occupation force until April 18, 1919, when he was discharged from the service and returned to Wisconsin.

After the war, DeNomie married Sally Neville and settled in Milwaukee. His granddaughter, Patty Loew, was the producer of the documentary “The Way of the Warrior” which chronicles the service of Native Americans in the 20th Century, and included information about her grandfather's service.

The Edward DeNomie Collection is divided into three series: Papers, Photographs, and Negatives

Papers (1916-2008) document DeNomie's high school days, his family history, letters sent to DeNomie from his family, and records of his military service. Materials relating to the family include photocopies of a family tree produced by the Department of Indian Affairs and a handwritten list of family birth and marriage dates. His high school sporting days are recorded in the Tomah High School yearbook from 1916, where he poses for photographs with the football and basketball team. He is also mentioned in the basketball team roster as “Dynamite DeNomie,” which provides a small caption about his basketball skills. The letters to DeNomie were written in 1916 and 1920 and pertain to him maintaining family relationships and news from home. The two letters from Naida provide some detail into the preparation of troops in World War I, but her relationship to DeNomie is unclear. Materials pertaining to his service with the Wisconsin National Guard include discharge and service papers, postcards he sent during the Mexican Boarder War, photocopies of a scrapbook, various souvenir material collected, and a diary he kept in 1918. One service record indicates he continued his love of sports by naming him as a member of the 32nd Division basketball team in 1919. The postcards were written to friends and provide very little in conversation. DeNomie had created a scrapbook documenting his high school and military service, but due to extreme deterioration, it was dismantled for preservation. The pages were photocopied to maintain its original order and organized with other material in the collection. His diary contains entries about his combat service during World War I in 1918. However, not every day is recorded and they tend to be small one to two sentence descriptions. It also includes various notes taken about the A. E. F. and the 32nd Division, humorous poems and songs about military service, and addressed for fellow servicemen and French civilians. The World War I memorabilia he collected consists of a gallery guide to a wax museum in France and a humorous “will” for Kaiser Wilhelm. Both his manuscripts and photographs attest to DeNomie's sense of humor. This can be seen in several humorous anecdotes in his diary, the kidding received in the letters from Naida, and from the satirical will. The collection also contains newspaper articles about the documentary “The Way of the Warrior” that was produced by his granddaughter, Patty Loew. They contain information about DeNomie and his service in the National Guard, along with additional information about Native American military service in the 20th Century.

Photographs (circa 1910-circa 1930) consist of photographs, postcards, and negatives of his high school sports teams, his family, and his training and service with the Wisconsin National Guard. Family member photographs include those of relatives at various gatherings, reunions, and children playing. The images from Tomah High School are of DeNomie posing for football and basketball team photographs, images of the high school, and miscellaneous images of other organizations and students. Some photographs include descriptions that identify context and individuals. They include images of the destruction along the front line during World War I and identify the names of family members and friends from the service. His humorous side is indicated in the photographs through the comical images of soldiers accosting one another. Some group photographs identify DeNomie in the image with an arrow. The oversized photographs relate to his high school athletics teams, and include what appears to be a family reunion group shot and two images of what appears to be a logging camp.

Negatives (circa 1916-circa 1930) consist of images taken during his Wisconsin National Guard training and family gatherings. They have been identified and connected to photographs in the collection, however, some photographs do not contain the entire image captured by the negative.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Patty Loew, Middleton, WI, 2007. Accession Number: Mss 2008.013.

Processing Information

Processed by Andrew J. Baraniak in 2009.

	Series: Papers
Box   1 Folder   1	Diary, World War I, 1918
Box   1 Folder   2	Discharge Papers and Service Records, 1919
Box   1 Folder   3	Family History, undated
Box   1 Folder   4	Letter from father, 1917
Box   1 Folder   5	Letters from Naida, 1917
Box   1 Folder   6	Letters from Sister Odelia, 1920
Box   1 Folder   7	Memorabilia, World War I, circa 1918
Box   1 Folder   8	Newspaper Clipping, World War I Map, 1918
Box   1 Folder   9	Postcards from DeNomie, 1916
Box   1 Folder   10	Reception Program for Company B 121st Machine Gun Battalion, 1919
Box   1 Folder   11	Scrapbook Photocopies, 1919
Box   1 Folder   12	Tomah High School Yearbook, 1916
Box   1 Folder   13	“Way of the Warrior” articles, Patty Loew, 2007-2008
	Series: Photographs	⇧
	Subseries: Family
Box   2 Folder   1	Children [13] , circa 1930
Box   2 Folder   2	Group Photographs [15] , circa 1930
Box   2 Folder   3	Identified Members [5] , circa 1916
Box   3 Folder   1	Reunion [1] , undated
Box   3 Folder   2	Lumber Yard [1] , circa 1910
Box   3 Folder   3	Workers [1] , circa 1910
Box   2 Folder   4	Mexican Border War [23] , 1916
	Subseries: National Guard	⇧
Box   2 Folder   5	Baseball Game [2] , circa 1916
Box   2 Folder   6	DeNomie [8] , circa 1916
Box   2 Folder   7	My Buddies [5] , circa 1916
Box   3 Folder   4	Photo Album, circa 1916
Box   2 Folder   8	Soldiers posing [30] , circa 1916
	Subseries: Tomah High School	⇧
Box   2 Folder   9	Band and other high school images [5] , circa 1915
Box   2 Folder   10	Baseball Team [2] , 1915
Box   3 Folder   5	Basketball Team [1] , 1914
Box   3 Folder   6	Basketball Team [1] , 1916
Box   3 Folder   7	Football Team [1] , circa 1916
	Subseries: World War I	⇧
Box   2 Folder   11	128th Infantry Band Instruments [1] , circa 1918
Box   2 Folder   12	“Der Rhien” Postcards [20] , 1918
Box   2 Folder   13	Destruction [4] , 1918
Box   2 Folder   14	European Tourist Sites Postcards [20] , circa 1918
Box   2 Folder   15	Peace [1] , 1918
Box   2 Folder   16	Postcards of Civilians [3] , circa 1918
Box   2 Folder   17	Transports and Submarines [4] , 1917-1919
Box   2 Folder   18	Troop Inspections [2] , circa 1918
	Series: Negatives	⇧
Box   4 Folder   1-61	[Negatives of identified photographic prints]