History of the 353rd Infantry Regiment 89th DIVISION NATIONAL ARMY September 5, 1917, has been set as the birthday of the 353rd Infantry, 89th Division. Colonel Reeves and many of the officers were on the ground several days earlier, but not until September 5 did the "first five per cent" of the Regiment's enlisted personnel arrive in the unit area at Camp Funston. Five months lacking one day since the declaration of war between the United States and Germany on April 6, 1917, had been spent in preparation for this mere beginning of the mobilization and organization of man power for the nation's part in the World War. The cantonment had been built, equipment supplied, officers trained. Now the Selective Service Law was in operation. And the "Rookies," veterans of the future, were actually born into the service. Only those who have left civil occupations and homes for the camp and field can ever appreciate the change which this transition brings into the lives of men. It is little wonder that the 5th of each succeeding month grew in significance for every man in the 353rd Infantry http://www.kancoll.org/books/dienst/353-toc.html
