A Look Back: Kappa History Personal Historical Reflection
by Second Grand Polemarch Irven Armstrong on Kappa Alpha Psi ® and WWI Experiences (Part 2 of 2)
By Kevin Scott, Grand Historian
I n 1987, at the age of 95, Second Grand Polemarch Irven Armstrong provided a handwritten account of his recollections to Kappa Alpha Psi ® Journal Editor Jonathan Hicks. The following is a transcription of Armstrong’s memories throughout the early years of Kappa Alpha Psi and his military service in WWI. He entitled the reminiscences of his experiences as “Kappa Alpha Psi in World War I by Irven Armstrong, Grand Polemarch During World War I ”. At the age of 95, I am not inclined to do much research. I shall try not to repeat what you can find in The Story of Kappa Alpha Psi ® . I will try to tell you a few facts about your Grand Polemarch dur- ing World War I. The war was started in 1914 in Europe and ended November 11, 1917. As a country, we had no intention of getting into the war. Our President Woodrow Wilson ran his campaign for re-election in 1916 on the slogan, “He kept us out the war.” Although we had been sending food and war supplies to the allies [of] France, England and Italy. Our coun- try was informed in 1917 that France would be overran by Germany unless they had help. On April 17, the U.S. Congress declared war against Ger- many and required all men between 20 and 30 should register and be drafted. Draft bonds were set up throughout the United States. Kappa Alpha Psi ® in World War I
officers with the exception of a Negro dentist and a Negro chaplain. The 351 st Artillery was recruited at Camp Meade in Baltimore, Maryland. I joined the headquarters company. When I left Indianapolis in April 1918, I knew that each local chapter would be responsible for its own program. There could be no expansion while I was absent. At that time, I did not know that I would be gone for ten months and eight of these months [I] would be in France. When I reached Camp Meade, they were already preparing to leave. They had boxes marked “351 st Field Artillery A.E.F.” somewhere in France. At Camp Meade, I found two of our Fraternity Founders. Byron K. Armstrong had become a YMCA man from the New York office. He had charge of the YMCA branch at Camp Meade. Marcus P. Blakemore had enlisted in the regiment, but he did not go to France with us since he had a bad leg, hurt in high school football and he could not take the train- ing routine. I had three brothers in the Artillery Unit. One of them became a gunner. My youngest brother was sick when we left for France, so he was left behind. There were several Kappas from India- napolis who joined the regiment and I had 25 or 30 hometown friends who had joined the parade, so there was no need for me to be lonesome. The time at camp was spent mostly in basic training. During the first part of June, we were entrained to Hoboken, New Jersey and there we were loaded on two large troop ships. It took us just six days to get to
about six years and only had seven or eight chapters; all located in Northern states. There was no National Head- quarters at that time and no money. Grand Chapter was financed by local chapters and at the end [of] the ses- sion, all delegates would sit down and if were in debt, the delegates would go into their pockets to make up the deficit. These chapters had a member- ship of 10 to 20 members. During my high school days, I had studied German for three years at In- diana University, I had studied French for two years. My major in college was History. In 1915 I had taken a course in World History I and had many facts at my command. When it was decided that Negros would be allowed to fight in the war, the 92 nd had been formed as an all-Negro division; most Negros fought in that division. Elder W. Diggs, our 1 st Grand Polemarch and myself were both teaching in the Indianapolis Public School system when the war broke out. The call came for an all-Negro officers training camp to be formed at Des Moines, Iowa. Brother Diggs was accepted; I was rejected on account of age. All of our chapters sent a few men to the camp and most of them became officers in the 92 nd Division. In the early part of 1918, the government had decided to train a regiment in heavy artillery to support the 92 nd Division. A call was sent out for Negro college men to makeup this regiment. So my time had come and I joined the 351 st Field Artillery. This regiment had all white
I would like to paint a picture of Kappa in 1917. We had been in existence for
52 | SPRING ISSUE THE JOURNAL
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