About seven o'clock on the night of April 6, 1917, word came from Cincinnati over the wires of the Ohio River Telephone Company that war against Germany had been declared. In ten minutes' time church bells, Court House bell and school bell were pealing forth the electrifying tidings and groups of men, congregated on the corners, were discussing the news.
    The crisis in America and German relations had been reached several days previous. War was inevitable. Throughout the United States men and boys had been swarming to the recruiting offices to offer their services to our county. Patriotism was at a high pitch. Governors of states had called upon citizens to display the American flag from their homes and places of business, and to let the flags wave until Germany's murderous warfare had been abolished and the insult to Old Glory avenged.
    On Friday, April 7th, the day after war was declared, the stars and stripes were flying from hundreds of homes throughout Switzerland county.
    The first patriotic meeting in the county was held at Markland on Friday night, April 13th. Judge F. M. Griffith and Prosecutor W. J. Cotton delivered addresses in the Red Men's hall and much enthusiasm was aroused.
    Within a week after the declaration of war several Switzerland county boys had volunteered.
    Postmaster Ernest Griffith, of Vevay, was named by the government as the recruiting officer for Switzerland county.
    It has been impossible for the author to ascertain who was Switzerland county's first volunteer after war was declared. By April 27th, however, the following men from the county were in the service:
    George N. Reeves, Jr., Clarence F. Cole, Lee L. Vannatter, Edward Cole, Harry Dunn, Ernest Wagner, Wilfred Dufour, Fletcher Waltz, Arthur Lockwood, Irvin Furnish, Hobart Smith, John F. Butters, Denver Chase, Clarence Chase, Fred Madison and Fade Kelly.
    Of the above named a few were in the service prior to the declaration of war.
    The first Switzerland county boys to arrive in France were John F. Butters and Irvin Furnish. They were members of the 18th Infantry stationed along the Mexican border prior to hostilities with Germany, and they were in the first Expeditionary Force to land in France in June, 1917. Company M of the 18th Infantry was literally wiped out during the war, there being only twenty of the original members left alive at the time of the signing of the armistice on November 11, 1918. Strange as it may seem Butters, who was a member of Company M went through the war seeing his comrades shot down in battle after battle, and he never received the slightest scratch. Furnish, stationed in another company, was equally fortunate, never receiving an injury.
    Under the conscription law the first selected men to be sent to training camp from Switzerland county were Elbridge Given, Sam Pavy and Elmer Browning. They left Vevay September 5, 1917, for Camp Taylor, Ky.
    On Saturday, September 22, 1917, twenty-six more selected men were sent to Camp Taylor. Hundreds of relatives and friends were in Vevay early in the morning to bid the boys goodbye. The entire county tried to send them to war with a smile--and failed. the forced smiles on the faces of scores of people who congregated in front of the Court House in Vevay gave way to looks of pain as the twenty-six young men took their places in automobiles which were to bear them to the train at Sanders, Ky. The forced gaiety of the half hour before their departure disappeared, and in spite of all efforts tears glistened in the eyes of men and women, and sobs from broken-hearted mothers brought home for the first time the reality of war.
    One mother, giving up her only son, could not stand the strain. She collapsed and was carried to the office of a nearby physician. the son saw several months service in France, and arrived home in May, 1919, a top sergeant.
    A bride of but a few weeks clasped her arms about her husband's neck and would not be consoled. The husband, Bertram Buchanan, gave up his life in France.
    Fathers and brothers, in an effort to be brave, clasped their loved ones by the hand, but the words of farewell would not come. They choked and turned their heads away to hide the tears.
    The boys themselves, however, bore up well, and proudly they left to take their places alongside the hundreds of thousands who had preceded them into the service. One of those twenty-six boys, Charlie Griswold, was killed in action. Another, Herbert Neal, died of injuries received in action. Two others, Bertram Buchanan and Edwin Danner, died of pneumonia. Five others were wounded in action but recovered.
    When the armistice was signed on November 11th, 1918, 445 Switzerland county boys had been in the service, and six young women of the county had seen service as Red Cross nurses.
    Final peace terms were signed June 28, 1919.