It Was Diemer! Thanks MG

My last post was about a cornerstone-laying ceremony that took place back in 1947.

http://accidentalhistory.blogspot.com/2016/02/masonic-cornerstone-ceremony-1947.html.

In that post, I asked if anyone knew where this took place.  One reader posted:

MGFebruary 19, 2016 at 1:20 PM

I believe this may the laying of the cornerstone for Diemer Hall on the UCM campus. I have seen some of these photos in the UCM Archives, and I believe they are the same.

So I went to Diemer and took a look.  Here's the very same stone that was featured in the last blog.

The Simmons Studio collection of negatives also shows Diemer Hall as it looked when it was completed in 1947.

Students parked their cars out on Maquire Street.

They don't do that anymore.

Masonic Cornerstone Ceremony 1947

I really miss Lisa.  She could have found an article or booklet about this ceremony in the bat of an eye.  Me? I spent an hour looking through the Masonic Organizations files with no luck at all.  I have no idea where this took place.  Maybe it wasn't even in this county.

I need a lot of help from you guys.  Does anyone know where this ceremony happened?

Before anyone else arrives on the scene, an old woman pauses to look up at the camera while a technician gets the sound system ready.

The stone is ready to be lifted into place.

Waiting for the crowd to gather.

The celebration starts with a parade.

Dignitaries introduce other dignitaries as the stone begins to rise

Dignitaries make speeches.

A detail from the above picture.

Dignitaries make presentations.

A detail from the above picture.

A few words over the stone.

Masons admit they know nothing about masonry.  Hire real masons to place the cornerstone. (Note worker under the stone.)

I added closeup pictures of the kids who attended the ceremony because they are the most likely to be alive after nearly 70 years.  Maybe you were one of those kids and know something more about this day.  Here is another details from a picture that I didn't use.

Combat Patches

I've called this piece, "Combat Patches," because once you've been to a war zone, you're entitled to wear the patch of the unit you served with on your right shoulder.  The patch of your current unit goes on your left shoulder.  In all of these pictures, the soldiers have turned there right sleeves to the camera to show that they are combat veterans.

The fact that the uniforms don't have name tapes on them tells me that this is pre- 1955.  These pictures could have been taken during the Korean War, but I suspect that most of these men saw action during WWII.

These pictures were filed in a box under, "military recruiters."  Just the fact that they were part of the Simmons Studio collection of negatives makes me think that they are photographs of local men, but I don't recognize any of the people or the building and only one of the patches.

This old soldier is a bird colonel in an infantry unit.  I can't see the combat patch on his right shoulder very well. I stopped in at the local National Guard armory and they couldn't help me.

If he were in an infantry unit in the MO Army National Guard, then he would, more than likely, have been member of the 35th Infantry Division which saw action in Europe during WWII.  Here's the combat patch he would have been wearing. 

This next fellow is easier to figure out:

His easy-to-identify 7th Army patch tells me that he served with General George Patton across North Africa and then pushed into Sicily and finally forced marched across France to meet the enemy and push him back into Germany. 

Here's the same two men with some other combat veterans.

They might all be part of the recruiting staff. They seem to be standing in a military facility.  The only facility of that type in Warrensburg would be the local National Guard building, but it doesn't have a balcony.  Maybe this is an inside view of Warrensburg's National Guard building that burned down in the early 50s.

Here's our 7th Army vet welcoming new members into the unit:

Finally, here's a line of recruits who haven't received their uniforms yet.  Although they are in civilian clothing, some of them may have already served in the active military and are coming back in as National Guard members.

If anyone recognizes the people or the building in any of these photos, please let me know.  Also, if you have any more information about the history of the patches or of the units depicted here, please leave a comment.