Uncle Jack in World War I: The Italian Connection

This is the fifth in a series of research articles about my granduncle Orville P. “Jack” Bonn (1896-1985).

A Montevideo News article announcing Orville P. Bonn‘s return home in 1920 from three years of military service during World War I included this statement:

“… Bonn saw service in five different countries, on the Mexican border in 1917, then to Italy with a special detachment of cadet aviators.  After a short stay there, he went to England for a month’s training … near Oxford.  Three weeks were later spent in Belgium, and the balance of his two year stay overseas was in France.”^[1]“Ten Years Ago,” Montevideo News, undated but referencing original 8 April 1920 story, newspaper clipping in Orville P. Bonn Scrapbook; privately held by Steven Jonnes, Ashburn, Virginia, 2019.

We’ve determined that the Mexico border assignment is true.

The reference to Belgium is genuine as well.  There are photographs in Jack’s album captioned Belgium May 1919.  Here’s a tiny photo which I’ve blown up labelled Brussels Arch:

It looks like Uncle Jack engaged in quite a bit of sightseeing just prior to sailing home for America on 13 May 1919.  In addition to Belgium, he visited the cities of Rheims and Lille in France.  Rheims was heavily damaged during the war.

A photograph in Lille, France, is captioned Easter morning – therefore, 20 April 1919.

in addition, Jack’s scrapbook includes this furlough pass, issued on 15 April 1919 by the 2nd Aviation Instructional Center (AIC), Tours, France.^[2]“Identity Card,” Sgt. 1cl Orville P. Bonn, 34th Aero Squadron furlough pass, issued by 2nd Lt. W. J. Lund, 2nd AIC, Tours, France, 15 April 1919 ; privately held by Steven Jonnes, … Continue reading

I haven’t found anything that corroborates the training at Oxford, England, but there’s also no reason to doubt it.

So, what about Italy?

Although we have no direct documentation, I believe Uncle Jack was present in Italy for a short time period of time.

To explain this, let’s revisit the 34th Aero Squadron.  The 34th is the unit Orville P. Bonn is associated with in all his post-war military documents, newspaper notices, as well as in a memorial album of servicemen from Chippewa County, Minnesota, called With the Colors from Chippewa County Minnesota: 1917 1918 1919.^[3]Ludwig J. Roe and Harry M. Case, editors, With the Colors from Chippewa County Minnesota: 1917 1918 1919, Montevideo, Minnesota: The Montevideo News, Inc., 1919, Orville P. Bonn, p. 43.

 

I discovered that Orville P. Bonn never voyaged with the 34th Aero Squadron to Europe as I assumed.^[4]The timelines I posted here and here are incorrect on this point and will be revised in the next post.  He sailed on a different troop ship altogether.  The 34th Aero Squadron departed Hoboken, New Jersey on the RMS Baltic on 27 August 1917 and arrived in Liverpool on 15 September 1917.^[5]“US, Gorrell’s History of the American Expeditionary Air Service, 1917-1919, Series E, Volume 7, Page 291, S.S. Baltic cited in “Squadron Histories: 34th Aero Squadron,” p. 2;” digital … Continue reading  Jack Bonn, on the other hand, left Hoboken on 18 September aboard the RMS Carmania and arrived in Liverpool on 2 October 1917.^[6]Orville P. Bonn, Manifest, RMS Carmania, 18 September 1917, image 559, p. 49; “U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939,” digital images, Ancestry.com : accessed 5 November 2023).

It turns out that Jack Bonn was assigned to the 34th Aero Squadron at some point after he arrived in Europe.

The RMS Carmania was a converted Cunard luxury liner (a precursor to the Titanic).  It carried over 2,000 U.S. soldiers, primarily the 9th Army Division and the 5th Machine Gun Battalion, as well as some doctors and nurses, and a small band of Air Service personnel.

The ship manifest indicates the Aviation Section, Signal Corps personnel aboard were physically segregated by rank.^[7]Manifest, RMS Carmania, 18 September 1917, images 552 – 559, p. 42 – 49; “U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939,” digital images, Ancestry.com : accessed 5 November 2023).  The largest group of 156 aviation cadets and their officers was billeted in first class cabins.  Two sergeants 1/class lodged in 2nd class.  Lastly, 23 enlisted men, including Corporal Orville P. Bonn, stayed in 3rd class – also called steerage.  (This latter group were support personnel: mechanics, drivers, cooks, etc.)  Altogether these 181 men formed the Air Service Foreign Detachment, bound for Italy.  There was no aero squadron number assigned.  It is odd that the cadets were billeted in 1st class while the enlisted men stayed down in 2nd and 3rd class.  Normally, cadets who had not yet become officers should have traveled in 2nd or 3rd class, too.

It took some digging to figure out why.  In several newspaper clippings, Jack bragged that he served with Fiorello La Guardia in World War I.  La Guardia, of course, later was the Mayor of New York City 1934-1946.  At the time of the RMS Carmania crossing, La Guardia was a freshman U.S. Congressman.  So, Uncle Jack was correct about serving with him.  La Guardia was a captain and second in command of the cadet squadron.  He in fact was the one who booked passage in first class.

The War Department order specified use of “any passenger liner sailing from the port of New York.” La Guardia booked 156 first class passages on the Cunard liner SS Carmania.

“Our boys soon took over the ship and were running all over the decks,” La Guardia said. The colonel in command of all Army personnel aboard was furious and ordered the cadets sent down to steerage because they were not yet officers. Fiorello took exception, arguing that they had first class tickets and the status of commissioned officers.

“It came out that I was a member of Congress,” he said. The colonel continued to fume, but “we managed to win the argument,” La Guardia said.^[8]John T. Correll, “Fiorello’s Foggiani,” Air & Space Forces Magazine, v. 93, no. 6 (1 June 2010), e-journal (https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/0610fiorello/ : accessed 8 … Continue reading

 

Orders for the Air Service Foreign Detachment changed upon arrival in England.  The cadets were separated from the officers and dispatched to a training location in England while the officers, including Capt. La Guardia, continued on to Italy to train a different group of cadets.  Their destination was Foggia, Italy, home of the 8th AIC.  Approximately 500 U.S. Army pilots ended up being trained there during WWI.

The enlisted men from the RMS Carmania, including Jack, accompanied Capt. La Guardia.  I found a small loose-leaf insert in Uncle Jack’s scrapbook from what originally must have been his war diary.  What a shame there’s only one surviving page!

The diary page encompasses the dates 3rd to 8th, which must correspond to 3 October 1917, 4 October, and so on.  The dating makes sense because the RMS Carmania arrived in Liverpool on 2 October 1917.  To paraphrase the diary:

• 3 October – On English coast
• 4 October – Crossed the English Channel
• 5 October – Landed in Le Havre, France
• 6 October – Le Havre
• 7 October – Arrived Paris by train
• 8 October – Paris

The references in the diary to Major MacDill, Capt. La Guardia, and Albert Spalding are significant.  Major Leslie MacDill was the commanding officer of the Air Service Foreign Detachment bound for Italy.^[9]MacDill Air Force Base in Florida is named for him.  See bio here.  La Guardia was one of its two captains; he had outsize influence because of his concurrent status as a U.S. Congressman.  Albert Spalding was arguably the most famous violinist in America at the time.  Both La Guardia and Spalding served at the 8th AIC in Foggia, Italy; MacDill received a different assignment in France and was replaced by Maj. William Ord Ryan.

The diary indicates that Albert Spalding was Uncle Jack’s bunkmate.  In a later newspaper clipping, probably from the 1930s, Jack relates this story:

Bonn likes to tell about the first time he met Violinist Spalding.

“When he joined our outfit,” says Bonn, “he was carrying a violin in his hand.  I told him he’d better leave it behind as I had had a violin at Kelly field and it got smashed up.  He said he thought he’d take it along for amusement.  How was I to know he was the most famous violinist in America!”^[10]“Found Out…,” unnamed newspaper, incomplete title, undated but after 1931; newspaper clipping in Orville P. Bonn Scrapbook; privately held by Steven Jonnes, Ashburn, Virginia, 2019.

Note that Jack speaks of a “long talk with La Guardia” in the diary entry for 4 October 1917.  Was he requesting a chance to fly?

In the 7 October 1917 diary entry, Jack mentions that 32 men remained in the group commanded by MacDill.  That number should include the five officers and 25 enlisted men from the RMS Carmania, plus a couple more. They rendezvoused with a new group of 125 cadets in Paris and proceeded to Foggia, Italy.^[11]Capt. Fiorella LaGuardia and Italian aircraft designer Gianni Caproni, 1918 (Howard Muson, “Fiorella LaGuardia: From Congressman to World War I Hero in the Air,” 18 September 2020, … Continue reading  They arrived in Foggia on 17 October 1917.^[12]Correll, “Fiorello’s Foggiani,” Air & Space Forces Magazine (1 June 2010), e-journal.

Based on this information, I think it a safe bet that Orville P. Bonn accompanied the detachment to the 8th AIC, Foggia, Italy.  At the very least, Uncle Jack was still attached to the special detachment in Paris on 8 October 1917.

Here’s an excellent summary of Congressman La Guardia’s stint at Foggia: Fiorella La Guardia: From Congressman to WWI Hero in the Air.  Reading about the training crashes and near misses is a disturbing reminder of how dangerous flying was during World War I.

Unfortunately, I cannot find any further references to Jack in Italy.  Nor are there any photographs in his albums that are definitively from Italy, although I wonder about the one above.  There are a number of others that could be from Italy.  In the absence of captions, though, it is difficult to say.

Jack was probably stationed in Foggia, Italy for just one week, possibly a bit longer.^[13]I’ll explain why in the next post. If so, I wonder why the U.S. Army would ship him all the way to Italy and then bring him back to France so quickly.  The thought has crossed my mind that maybe Jack’s conversation with La Guardia succeeded, he was allowed to fly in Italy but crashed, and was sent back to a hospital in France to recover.

Next: Muster Rolls Discovered!