Dr. E. E. Persons attended Ohio Wesleyan and Northwestern Universities and joined the Medical Corps of the US Army.
In the 1900 census he shows up in the Pasay Cavalry Barracks in Manila, Philippines.
Oct 22, 1903 he marries Helen Lapsley.
In traveling at various times he shows up in Cristobal, Canal Zone (Panama); New Orleans, Louisiana; Cuba; and Antwerp, Belgium.
In the 1910 census he is living in Ward 1 Manhattan, New York.
In 1917 he left for France to command a hospital unit in WWI. The newspaper clipping is below.
 |
| The Boston Globe, May 15, 1917, Boston, Massachusetts, p. 5 |
Here is a transcript.
PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL
UNIT SAILS FOR FRANCE
NEW YORK. May 15-The members of
the Presbyterian base hospital unit No.
2 of the American Red Cross sailed yesterday
for France from an American
port. The unit is commanded by Maj
Elbert E. Persons of the Medical Corps
of the United States Army, who has
Capt Edward W. Wales Jr as his adjutant.
Dr George E. Brewer, one of the most
prominent surgeons of this city, is director
of the unit, which Includes 23 doctors
and 10 nurses. The hospital will be
equipped to cure for 100 cases at a time.
Among the nurses from out of New
York are Marion M. Shanks, Filchburg,
Mass; Dora M. Anderson. North
Conway, N H; Ethel R. Arthur Lakeville,
Conn: Ruby Hobey, Hartford
Conn, and Ethel L. Moon, Waterbury,
-----------------------------------
and New York have now sailed for
France. Before the end of the week
other units from Philadelphia, Chicago
and Detroit are expected to follow
(The Boston Globe, May 15, 1917, Boston, Massachusetts, p. 5)
In 1918 he was with the Italian Army in Italy.
In 1920 he is living in Columbus, Ohio.
He died July 8, 1924 at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery (Plot: Sec: S E, Site: 3093).
A copy of his obit from page 2 of the Washington Post is below.
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| Washington Post, July 11, 1924, Page 2 |
LIEUT. COL. PERSONS BURIED IN ARLINGTON
Army Medical Corps Officer's Death Attributed to War Services.
Military honors were accorded the body of Lieut. Col. Elbert E. Persons army medical corps at funeral services yesterday afternoon in Arlington national cemetery. Col Persons died in Walter Reed hospital Tuesday after a long illness due to arduous services in Europe in the world war. He is survived by his wife and a son Elbert E. Persons Jr., a student in Harvard university.
Col Persons was 56 years old, a native of Ohio, and a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan and Northwestern universities. He was appointed a first lieutenant in the medical corps from Illinois, October 8, 1900, and reached the grade of lieutenant colonel May 15, 1919. He served In the Philippines, in Cuba and in the Army War college here. During the world war he held the emergency rank of colonel and assisted in the reorganization of the United States ambulance service at Camp Crane, Allentown, Pa.
In the spring of 1918, Col. Persons went to Europe and served in Italy with the Italian army commanding 20 units of the ambulance service. Following his return he was at Columbus, Ohio as a medical instructor of the national guard of the Fifth corps area.
(Washington Post, July 11, 1924, Page 2)
He was also awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal for his work in France and Italy in World War I.
"The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Colonel (Medical Corps) Elbert E. Persons, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. Colonel Persons organized the United States Army Ambulance Service Training School at Camp Crane, Allentown, Pennsylvania, and as its Commanding Officer from June 1917 to May 1918, by his great energy, marked executive ability, and wide professional knowledge, succeeded in rapidly training, equipping, and dispatching overseas ambulance units where they rendered excellent service with the French armies and later with our own forces. From June to December 1918, he commanded the American Ambulance Service, serving on the Italian front, where he again rendered conspicuous service in a position of great responsibility." (link)
In the Washington Post article above it gives his son as Elbert E. Persons, Jr; However, his son's name was actually Elbert Lapsley Persons. I will pick up where I left off with him in a later post.
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