I was recently contacted by a military historian named Lise Pommois concerning Greenfield's Memorial to the 42nd. Rainbow Division of World War I. I took several pictures of the memorial and emailed them to Mr. Pommois. He has agreed to forward any information he has about members of the Division who were from the Greenfield area. I remember as a child that Division members held an annual reunion in Greenfield with many of them staying at the Elliott Hotel. I remember one of them being named Forrest Washburn and talked to him many times. I believe Mr. Washburn passed away in the 1960s. In the interest of reconstructing and maintaining a history of Greenfield, if anyone has any information about the Rainbow Division that could be posted on this site and forwarded to Mr. Pommois it would be greatly appreciated. 

On 1 Aug 17, the War Department directed the formation of a composite National Guard Division. When formed, the 42d Division contains National Guard units from Alabama, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota. Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.  On 20 Aug 17, the division began concentrating at Camp Mills, NY. Overseas movement commenced on 18 Oct 1917 and was completed by 8 Dec 1917.

According to former Greenfielder, Andy Hafler, the Greenfield Republican newspaper in May, 1918 and Thursday, June 18, 1918 contained a list of those returning home from the war. The list contained the following names:

Lt. Bob Duncan, Top Sgt. McElroy, Herb Brunch, Bill Sheiffer, Dutch Deafner, Dave Towel, Russ Tudor, Joe Anderson, Copey, Harry Hafler, Mayor Byram, Fisher (?), Jim Zimmerman, Glen Shrock and Capt. Don Caldwall. Apparently all these men are depicted in drawings by Glen Shrock.