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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1914-1918
  • Branch of Service: Army
  • Unit of Service: Company A, 26th Infantry Regiment
  • Location of Service: Jefferson Barracks, Missouri; France; Fort Sheridan, Illinois
  • Highest Rank: Private

View full service history

"Many of us called it the ride of death...to what was to be the biggest battle of the war."

Not yet fifteen years old when he enlisted in the Army to fight in World War I (he told recruiters that he was 22), Theodore Kohls got a liberal education on the battle fields of France, witnessing some of the fiercest fighting that Americans were involved in. He wrote of his exploits in a diary, which his widow kept after he died in 1948. After she died in 2001, her daughter found the diary, which Kohls had never completed, and donated it to the Veterans History Project.

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[ Certificate of birth, Theodore Ferdinand Kohls. ]

More Resources

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[ Honorable Discharge from the United States Army ]
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[ Enlistment Record. ]
View 30 images in sequence.
[ Diary of World War I Soldier, Theodore Kohls. ]
View 4 images in sequence.
[ Transcript of diary of Theodore Kohls. ]

About this Item

Title

  • Theodore Kohls Collection

Names

  • Kohls, Theodore
  • Torii, Marlene

State of Birth

  • WI

Headings

  • -  Kohls, Theodore
  • -  World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1914-1918

    • Branch of Service: Army
    • Unit of Service: Company A, 26th Infantry Regiment
    • Location of Service: Jefferson Barracks, Missouri; France; Fort Sheridan, Illinois
    • Highest Rank: Private
    • Dates of Service: 1917-1919
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: Veteran
    • Service History Note: The veteran was discharged on 06/14/1919. According to the donor notes on the diary transcript (MS03), Kohls lied that he was 22 instead of 14 when he enlisted.

Materials

  • Manuscript: Diaries and journals [1 item] -- (collected unknown)
  • Manuscript: Diaries and journals [1 item] -- (collected unknown)
  • Manuscript: Other Manuscript Material [1 item] -- (collected unknown)
  • Manuscript: Military papers (orders, personnel/201 files, etc) [2 items] -- (collected unknown)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/723

Cite as

  • Theodore Kohls Collection (AFC/2001/001/723), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Kohls, Theodore, and Marlene Torii. Theodore Kohls Collection. 1917. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.00723/.

APA citation style:

Kohls, T. & Torii, M. (1917) Theodore Kohls Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.00723/.

MLA citation style:

Kohls, Theodore, and Marlene Torii. Theodore Kohls Collection. 1917. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.00723/>.