Tribute to Lawrence Riddle (A World War I Hero)
As many of you know, this year's Veterans Day will mark one hundred years since the end of World War I. However, I have an ancestor who served in the war but died on November 10, 1918, just before Armistice Day. This is our original picture of my grandfather's uncle (my mother's great-uncle) Lawrence Scott Riddle. His military uniform and medals are curated by the American Legion Post 88 in Mattoon, Illinois. In fact, several schools located there honored this brave war hero in many ways. For example, yesterday was a Veterans Day ceremony at Mattoon High School, which is where Lawrence graduated in 1906. Another school is an elementary school named after him and his family who owned some farmland in Mattoon. In preparation for those commemorative events, my mom and I had to send a digital copy of this old picture to a Mattoon historian, Carolyn Cloyd. So we took it to a local photo services business for professional scanning early this month. This allows the Mattoon schools to have copies of his picture as well as his medals (also shown in this post) and uniform. While the death of Lawrence Riddle was indeed a sad memory one hundred years ago, it has been a grand idea for the Mattoon schools to pay a tribute to my ancestor, who played a significant role in the history of World War I. I feel like a family historian for that reason. Trainspotters, please stay tuned for my drawing inspired by a real-life locomotive painted in a patriotic scheme to honor military veterans. More information can be found from a couple of articles published by the Journal Gazette & Times-Courier: "WWI veteran to be recognized at MHS Veterans Day assembly"
Photo credit: Carolyn Cloyd