WWI Yard Long Photo

[Ryan B]

Hey guys, I just recently picked this up from my neighbors while helping her out with stuff, I paid 10$ for the photo. It is the 44th co 11th training battalion 159th depot brigade. I did a quick lookup and many men who left this brigade were KIA's in france. Any more info would be much appreciated. Also i had one more question, she has a peg leg and crutch that she claimed were also used in WWI. Do any of you know if that was possible, or if any were issued?
Ryan

[edelweiss123]

Re the "Peg Leg", here is a link of the history to such items History of Amputation & Prosthetics.

A great exhibition I saw at the IWN North today was about how medicine and nursing has been shaped through warfare. In it, it showed several crutches, prosthetic limbs and limb supports that were used through both the wars. Like everything, some had markings, some didn't. Do you have any photo's? Would be able to see if they are period items if you had any. Thanks

[Ryan B]

Thanks for your response! When i return the tables that we borrowed this weekend I will ask if i could snap a few photos. Shes having a garage sale in a few weeks and she is getting rid of the stuff from her recently deceased husband. Tons of WWI stuff surprisingly, some of the gems that went to her kids were a mint m1918 trench knife and a 1916 dated m98 steyr rifle . But a lot of it shes letting me go through and buy, she likes us a lot so I'll ask if i can get first pickings and find some more things.
Ryan

[Wagriff]

I've always had an attraction for these panoramic Company photos. They were quite popular not only in Both war eras but before and between as well. The local VA Hospital nearby here has an enormous collection of them and I always make a point to stop and look them over when I'm there. It's a somber thing to stand and imagine just how many of the strong sturdy young men in the photos looking so confident and sharp in their uniforms ended up either terribly wounded, killed, or just plain missing forever. And, even if they never bled a drop, so many of them came home Mentally scarred from what they'd seen and done for the rest of their lives.

As for a peg leg and crutch, I can see no reason at all to doubt the lady's story. The physical casualties of the Great War were horrendous, to understate. Lost eyes were replaced with glass ones-hopefully in the same color as the remaining eye-but not Always.. Blown off faces were covered with paper mache or ceramic masks-sometimes painted with outlandish cartoony but well meaning faces, but sometimes painted by actual artists also. Lost limbs were replaced with as good a replacement as the soldier could afford-which was usually not much, so they would end up with a cheap wooden peg for a leg rather than a nice jointed false limb that looked realistic.

[Ryan B]

Thank you for the info William, you are very right this photo is very saddening. When i looked up the Unit online i got many articles showing up with these young men who were transferred to a different unit and killed and critically injured in france. I will try to get photos asap, ill actually walk over and ask if i could see it very quickly.
Ryan

Edit
Never mind she is not home, i will see her tomorrow.