Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. All rights reserved.
© 2003 Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. All rights reserved.
This World War I ambulance unit, recruited in Amherst, Massachusetts in June 1917 from Amherst College students and local residents, comprised twenty-five Amherst College alumni and undergraduates, as well as thirty other soldiers, five officers, and eventually a number of French personnel. After training in Allentown PA, and departure on August 7, 1917, they arrived in France. Their original designation, unit 39, was amended to S.S.U. (Section Sanitare Unis) 539 on January 1, 1918. The unit adopted the image of the black cat for its insignia. Over nineteen months of service attached to both the French and U.S. Armies, it received two army citations and 22 individual citations, including the Croix de Guerre with Palm. It was involved in three major military operations: the Aisne-Marne, the Oise-Aisne, and the Ypres-Lys offensives. They also collaborated with the French army in four minor operations in the Tahure, Souvain, St.Hilaire, and Jumel sectors. The unit returned to America on April 2, 1919, and the majority of the Amherst soldiers were discharged on April 14, 1919 at Camp Devens, Massachusetts.
Clippings, photographs, a photograph album, maps, books, correspondence, pay and enlistment records, and other materials documenting the activities of the U.S. Army Ambulance Service Section 539, also called S.S.U. 539, in France during World War I. Although the history of the unit is fully detailed in the albums, books and newspaper clippings, a significant amount of personal information is to be found as well, in correspondence, photographs and anecdotes; in particular, personal letters and other documents of Howell Shepard are included. Most of the Howell Shepard correspondence is to his father, Amherst postmaster Frederick Shepard. The rest of the correspondence consists of round-robin letters exchanged among the 51 former members and affiliates of the unit from 1920 to 1926.
This collection is organized into seven series:
There is no restriction on access to the US Army Ambulance Service Section 539 Records for research use. Particularly fragile items may be restricted for preservation purposes.
Requests for permission to publish material from the US Army Ambulance Service Section 539 Records should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
[Identification of item], in US Army Ambulance Service, Section 539 Records [Box #, Folder #], Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library
Part of the collection was received in 1943 from Mr. Arthur Davenport. Another part was donated in 1981 by Hugh L. Hamilton (AC 1920) of New Providence, New Jersey. Accession numbers: 81-015 and 81-016
Battalion flag with Black Cat insignia [poor condition]. Objects Collection, OB94-013
War Materials Collection
Fuess, Claude.
Series 1, PHOTOGRAPHS, ca. 1917-1919, contains a number of photographs, negatives, and a photograph album detailing the tour and membership of S.S.U. 539. There are a number of group photographs, and images of individuals, as well as images of Ypres, and various battlefields.
Series 2, HOWELL SHEPARD, 1917-1920, is divided into three sub-series:
Correspondence (sub-series A): The correspondence is mainly between Shepard and his father, but contains miscellaneous letters to Shepard, and between his father and others as well.
Personal Affairs (sub-series B) contains a souvenir of 5 French francs, Howell Shepard's pay record book and his enlistment record.
Photographs (sub-series C) contains portraits of Howell Shepard. There are two undersized photographs, and a cross reference to a large portrait in the oversize box of the collection.
Series 3, MAPS, ca. 1917-1918, contains two cloth-backed paper maps featuring the northeast Luxembourg frontier and the northeast area of Paris.
Series 4, NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS, 1917-1941 (bulk 1917-1919), contains clippings mainly concerning the decoration of S.S.U. 539, especially Howell Shepard's Croix de Guerre, and the unit's subsequent decision to donate their colors to Amherst College. A 1941 article deals with Shepard's resignation from the Andover board of selectmen.
Series 5, EPHEMERA AND OTHER MATERIALS, 1933, 1928, and n.d., contains French wedding invitations, an S.S.U. 539 New Year's card, "Black Cat" stationery, a rail ticket, and the cast of characters for a play, "The Nut's Revenge," and a poster featuring a specimen of a "fancy cancel" designed by postmaster Frederick Shepard and modeled after S.S.U. 539's insignia, father of Howell Shepard; it was used briefly in 1928 as a postage stamp cancel.
Series 6, CORRESPONDENCE, 1920-1926, contains a volume of round-robin letters exchanged among members of S.S.U. 539 after the war.
Series 7, ALBUMS, ca. 1920, contains three copies of a commemorative photographs album featuring information about the unit. It includes a roster of membership, a long narrative of the unit's history by John H. Bocock, information on citations and orders, maps, a number of poems and articles about the war, and miscellaneous humorous lists and cartoons.