World War I

When this appointment was communicated to Washington, General E. H. Crowder, provost marshal general, ordered Wallace on duty as a major, Judge Advocate General Department, and named him as United States Agent and Disbursing Officer for West Virginia. Major Wallace remained at Charleston until September 17th when he was ordered to the office of the Judge Advocate General in Washington. After a few months service in that office he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and was ordered to the headquarters of the A.E.F. in France, at which place he served as the senior assistant to the acting judge advocate general for France until the spring of 1919.

The first step in putting the selective service act into effect was the naming of registrars for the registration of all male persons between twenty-one and thirty years of age, both inclusive. Registration was accomplished by two registrars sitting in each of the several voting precincts on the 5th day of June, 1917, when the registrants presented themselves for registration.

Cabell County had 4,325 registrants.

The next step was the appointment of the draft boards for the several counties and two district appeal boards. In the least populous counties one republican and one democrat were named as members, and these two plus the county physician constituted the county draft board. Cabell County by reason of its larger population had three boards organized on a bi-partisan basis. These boards were charged with the duty of classifying registrants, passing on exemptions and the calling and inducting into the service the draftees from their respective counties.

The draft boards in Cabell County were composed of the following persons:

Territory outside of Guyandotte District:

U. V. W. Darlington, Bishop of the M.E. Church, South, chairman
Barboursville; J. H. Harshbarger, Milton
Dr. L. C. Morrison, Milton.

Huntington Division No. 1:

John E. Norvell, chairman
E. E. Williams
Dr. W. C. McGuire

Huntington Division No. 2:

Richard T. Everett, chairman
F. C. Leftwich
Dr. C. T. Taylor.

In May, 1917, the first officers training camps were opened and approximately thirty young men from Cabell County volunteered and attended the training camp at Camp Benjamin Harrison. T. McK. Hays won the highest rank awarded to any West Virginian in this camp, namely, the rank of major of Infantry.

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