Page 70 - Archaeology - October 2017

ARTIFACT BY JARRETT A. LOBELL

WHAT IS IT
ometime between 1926 and 1929, a soldier at Camp Lincoln lost the bronze disc
Type II collar disc
CULTURE
from the collar of his service coat that identified him as part of the Eighth Illinois
United States
DATE
National Guard. At the time the disc fell to the ground, it’s likely that the soldier
1926-1937
MATERIAL
Swas practicing his marksmanship, says Illinois State Military Museum curator Bill Gilded copper
FOUND
Lear. The area of the camp where the disc was unearthed during construction of a new bridge is Camp Lincoln, Illinois
DIMENSIONS
known to have been the location of the rifle range and training ground, and expended rifle shells 1 inch in diameter

were found nearby. Yet, while the story of this individual soldier’s life is lost—as are the stories of

hundreds of millions of soldiers throughout history—the story of his regiment is not. The Eighth

Illinois was also, for a time, the 370th Infantry, a unit of African-American officers and enlisted

men who fought on the battlefields of the Western Front in World War I.

About 10,000 African-American National Guardsmen served in World War I. The 370th

arrived in France in April 1918, and was reassigned to the French army and equipped with

French weapons, uniforms, and rations. The soldiers of the 370th fought for 10

months, earning 71 individual Croix de Guerre medals, 21 Distin-

guished Service Crosses, one Distinguished Service Medal,

and numerous other military honors. As members of a

segregated unit not allowed to fight alongside their

white compatriots, “these men endured hardships

that other soldiers wouldn’t have,” says Lear.

“They stuck it out and served their country for

many reasons. I would like to think that a sense

of duty, honor, loyalty, and love of country had

something to do with it.”

68 ARCHAEOLOGY • September/October 2017