Warren R Jackson

Corporal Warren R Jackson, 95th Company, US Marines

Warren R Jackson joined the US Marines on 10 June 1917 to avoid registering for the World War 1 draft. He served with the 95th Company of the Marines, part of the 2nd US Army Division in France with the AEF. Warren was one of four members of that company who served from June 1918 until the Armistice. He was promoted to corporal when he became a runner or messenger, a job he described as the forlorn hope. After his return to Texas in August 1919, Warren entered the University of Texas at Austin, Texas.

Warren’s life after the Marines

For the first five years after his discharge, he seems to have had trouble holding jobs. Starting in the min 1920s he held several positions as head of unincorporated school systems. In 1930 he got a Master’s Degree from the University of Texas. At his professors’s urging he wrote up his experiences during the war. He placed a copy of this manuscript in the University of Texas Archives with instructions not to open for 50 years. After 1930, Warren worked for the Donna and McAllen Public School Systems. He married another teacher from Donna and was devoted to her in his later years. Warren continued to edit his manuscript throughout his life. In 1977 he flew back to France to visit his old battlefields. The following year his wife’s niece typed an updated copy of his manuscript that is unpublished. Warren died in 1989 and his wife, Willie, followed him a few months later.

Warren’s Manuscript is found.

In the mid 1990s,  his manuscript was found and shown to Marine scholar Col George B Clark. Col Clark edited Warren’s manuscript and had it published as “His Time in Hell: A Texas Marine in France”.   Col Clark was not able to find any biographical information on Warren publishing his book. I have tried to fill this gap.

Valued Research Assistance

I am indebted in my research to Warren’s niece, Francis Kerber of Osceola, Wisconsin who shared family letters and Warren’s early photograph. Warren’s grand-niece, Paula Gilbert of Austin, also shared Warren’s 1977 unpublished rewrite of his manuscript with me. I am especially indebted to Ann Staples of Huntsville. Ms Staples is the niece of Albert Ball who joined the Marines with Warren in 1917. Ann has helped considerably with my research by sharing her uncle’s unpublished letters.

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