Mar 21, 2024 - Sale 2663

Sale 2663 - Lot 306

Unsold
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
(MILITARY--WORLD WAR ONE.) Postcards, photographs, and dog tag of Private Andrew Purnell, serving in France in the Stevedore Corps. 75 items, most about postcard-sized, varied condition; all laid into a quite worn postcard album, cloth boards, 7½ x 5 inches, 3 detached empty leaves, with Purnell's name and unit inscribed on both inner boards, Bordeaux, France, 12 January 1919. Various places, circa 1917-1945
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Additional Details

Andrew Purnell (1898-1975) of Selma, AL and Memphis, TN joined the all-Black 303rd Stevedore Regiment as a private and went overseas in December 1917. His unit was later designated as the 837th Transportation Corps or 810th Stevedore Battalion. After the war, he settled in Mobile, AL, married, and worked as a railroad freight handler. This lot includes:

His dog tag, 1½ inches round, with his name and rank on front and his serial number on verso, tied to a 13-inch-long loop of string.

Mounted photograph of two soldiers (worn), captioned on verso "Pvt. Andrew Purnell, Oct. 1918, Bordeaux, France."

12 postcards addressed to or from Private Purnell while in the service, most notably a view of a Black regiment titled "Infantry Drill--Bayonet Practice," addressed by a friend who arrived home first in Baltimore, May 1919. We trace no other examples.

8 French Real Photo postcards featuring portraits of Black soldiers, plus a mounted tintype photograph of Black soldiers, none of them identified.

20 blank photo postcards with American Expeditionary Force scenes and French tourist views.

7 miscellaneous small family photographs, circa early 20th century. One of a young woman is captioned "this was made when I got state license last year for hair work."

12 postcards addressed to Purnell and wife from friends and family, 1924-1945; plus 12 other pieces of ephemera.

Two pieces of World War Two V-Mail addressed to Purnell and his wife by friends in the service, September 1944 and undated. One friend joked "I should like to tell you how they got me over here, but it happened so quickly until I lost track of everything (smiles)."