Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center
Colonel Stanley Wolfe
LH-181
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Introduction
Biographical Sketch
Scope and Content
Inventory
Introduction
The collection was donated to the Rutherford B. Hayes
Presidential Center by Colonel Stanley Wolfe in 1968
Biographical Sketch
Colonel Stanley Wolfe was born in Sandusky County, Ohio
in 1893. He was the son of Charles M. and Clarissa Potter Wolfe. In 1914, Wolfe
enlisted in Company K, 6th Ohio National Guard. In 1916, he served
on the Mexican border against Pancho Villa. Prior to
WWI, he trained at Camp Sheridan, Alabama, where the 6th Ohio
was consolidated with 2nd Ohio
to form the 147th Infantry of the 37th Division. The 37th sailed for France in June
1918. Wolfe served in the Metz area, Belgium, and in the Argonne Forest
where he was wounded.
Following the armistice, the 37th was reorganized
and Wolfe was made supply officer. In 1936, following the reorganization of the
112th, Wolfe was promoted to the rank of major. At the outbreak of
WWII, he helped prepare Camp Shelby,
Mississippi, for training. The 37th Infantry Division arrived in the Fiji Islands
in June 1942 to fortify the islands against possible invasion. The division
continued its training on the islands. With the end of ground fighting on Guadalcanal, the division moved to that island in April
1943, continued training, and staged for the Munda
campaign. Promoted to colonel in February 1944, Wolfe served at Fiji as task
force quartermaster procurement officer and reserve land lease officer until
August 1944. Wolfe received The Purple Heart and earned the Croix De Guere and a Bronze Star.
Wolfe married Margaret Bowlus in 1915. She died in 1928. Two
years later, Wolfe married Ruth Atyeo of Belleville, Michigan.
Wolfe was in the construction business with his father until his father’s death
in 1921, and then with Carl F. Steinle. They formed
the Steinle-Wolfe Construction Company, later known
as Steinle-Wolfe, Inc. Following his retirement in
1958, Colonel Wolfe moved to St.
Petersburg, Florida,
where he died in 1973. He was survived by his wife and four children by his
first marriage. Wolfe was buried in Fremont, Ohio’s Oakwood
Cemetery.
Scope and Content
The bulk of the collection is comprised of black and white
photographic prints preserved by Wolfe from his military service along the
border near Fort Bliss, during the First World War, and
World War II. Approximately 75 identified and dated black and white prints,
taken by U. S. Signal Corps photographers in the Fiji Islands during July and
August 1943, show quartermaster installations. There are pictures of
warehouses, supply and gasoline depots, military clothing, rations, ice and
refrigeration plants, ordnance, generators, and boilers. Perhaps most interesting
is a picture of the military cemetery on the island and several images of men
brought to Fiji following
their rescue from the Cape San Juan. The unescorted troop transport was
sailing to Australia when
torpedoed by the Japanese on 12 November 1943 near the Fiji Islands.
Also included in the collection are miscellaneous
invitations; military manuals, WWII era newspaper clippings from the Fremont, Ohio News-Messenger and the Toledo,
Ohio Toledo Blade; Wolfe’s appointment to the rank
of colonel; 37th Division announcement of death of Major General
Gilson D. Light dated 27 February
1941. The collection dates from 1916 to 1944.
Inventory
Ac. 1868
1. Black and white photographic prints of 6th
Ohio National Guard on the Mexican Border, dtd. 1916
(41)
2. Unidentified black and white prints of American troops
and ships, dtd.1917
3. Identified loose black and white prints from Fiji Islands
(4)
4. Miscellaneous Invitations
5. WWII documents
6. WWII newspaper clippings
7. Series of approximately 75, identified, black and white 4
inch by 5 inch photographs of
WWII U.S. quartermaster
installations on the Fiji
Islands, dtd. July 1943, August 1943
8. Regulations for the Army of the United States, 1917
9. A Manual for Courts-Martial, Courts of Inquiry, and of
Other Procedures Under Military Law, 1917