WW1 AEF 31st Railway Engineers Uniform With Dog Tags, Patch Insignia, Caps & PhotoThis WW1 uniform belonged to my Grandfather, Ernest Loucks, a member of the A.E.F. 31st Railway Engineers (a short biography can be found below). The 31st Railway Engineers was one of the best known railroad units that served in France under Commanding General John J. Pershing, comprised of experienced railroad men who voluntarily enlisted, many of them over the age for active military service. Check our current listings for my Grandfather\'s personal field kits and other related items. Other related paper items & photos will be posted shortly. We gladly combine shipping whenever possible. Please email if you have any questions and thanks for looking!This listing includes the following items: an original United States Army Corps of Engineers wool uniform tunic/service coat; trousers with original belt and buckle; 2 overseas caps (one with Army Engineer Castle Disc); Dog Tags; 5 ribbon bar pins; 2 double bullion chevron patches; 2 red chevron enlisted men\'s stripes; a Service of Supply patch; a circular Mechanic\'s patch; an unusual railway unit patch; 2 Army Corps of Engineers Castle Honeycomb collar discs (one with the letter “A” at the top); 1 “US” Honeycomb Collar disc...and a photo postcard of my Grandfather, taken in France. The tunic has 2 collar discs...an Army Corps of Engineers Castle with the letter “A” at the top...and a “US” disc, both with the honeycomb background. As seen in the photos, none of the patches are currently attached. The rectangular Service of Supply patch is in excellent condition...the circular Mechanic\'s patch is in good condition (with some edge moth nibbles)...and the diamond shaped railway unit patch is missing some embroidery, and was likely repaired in the field. The 5 ribbon bar pins are currently not attached to the uniform...the longest is very worn and 3 of the smaller ones are soiled. The 4th ribbon bar pin (the top ribbon for the Victory medal), has been protected with a plastic sleeve and is in excellent condition. The bullion chevron patch has tarnished and there are some areas around the bullion stripes where the thread is missing (where it attaches to the patch backing). The red enlisted man stripes are in good condition.As a point of reference, at the time of his enlistment, my 28 year old Grandfather was officially listed as being 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing 165 pounds. The Tunic/coat measurements are as follows: 17 inches across the shoulders; 20 inches across the chest; and a 25 ½ inch sleeve length. The coat length from the top of the nape/neck, to the bottom of the coat, measures 30 inches. There is one interior collar hook missing, as well as the button on the lower left pocket. The interior lining has one tear approximately 4 inches long (at the back of the jacket near left side armpit area)...otherwise, the lining is in excellent and solid condition. There are 2 moth holes on the front of the jacket...one near the left pocket and one nibble on the right pocket (not a true hole, as it does not go clear through). There are 3 tiny moth holes on one sleeve and 8 moth holes on the other sleeve, with one small area that has been mended...located between the elbow and cuff (approximately 1 inch long). The back of the coat has 12 moth holes located mostly across the shoulder blade area. My Grandfather\'s initials, \"E.L.L.\" (Ernest Leroy Loucks), in a vertical orientation, are still visible (though subtle) inside the tunic.The trousers have their original belt with buckle, laces...and all the buttons are intact. The belt buckle is marked on the back, “Waterbury Buckle Co.“. The waist size of the breeches is 36 inches and the inseam is 29 inches. They are in good condition...the only defects being an extremely subtle stain on the left front pant leg...one tiny moth hole on the left pant leg (near the crotch area)...one nibble on the upper right front of the pants...and a small area on the left rear side of the pants, where it looks like they caught on something, creating a narrow opening approximately 1/2 inch long.There are two overseas caps...the first has an Army Corps of Engineers Castle Disc with honeycomb background...with 5 moth holes (on one side only). The second cap has 3 teeny moth holes (on one side only).The two Dog Tags each have “Ernest L Loucks, USA” on one side and “522 149” on the reverse...and are attached to a long olive drab colored string. They both show their age, with discoloration and one has an area of corrosion.Ernest Loucks Biography:Ernest Leroy Loucks was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania on August 2, 1878 to Charles Henry Loucks and Ida Belle Chase. His father was a Union soldier in the Civil War and later on, was a part of the cleanup\\burial effort after the Battle of the Little Bighorn (Custer\'s Last Stand). When his mother and brother journeyed west to join his father, young Ernest was sent to live with his grandparents. His grandfather immediately indentured the ten year-old boy to a local farmer, who was so abusive, that young Ernie ran away, ending up in North Dakota. He was befriended by F.W. Scott, a railroad engineer, who took him under his wing and kindled his lifelong love of steam powered locomotives.His colorful railroad career began in August, 1895, when he took a job with the Northern Pacific Railroad in North Dakota as a water boy with the extra gang. Shortly after that he became a section hand with the same company. He was transferred to Livingston, Montana where he worked in the roundhouse as a hostler\'s helper and eventually was promoted to fireman.In 1903 he was a fireman aboard Teddy Roosevelt\'s special train when Roosevelt visited Yellowstone Park (we still have the original presidential menus saved from the trip). Soon after this he was promoted to engineer and worked for a brief time with Great Northern, Chicago Rock Island & Pacific, and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.He came to California in November 1906, and was employed as engineer by the Southern Pacific. One year after the United States officially entered the conflict of the First World War, he enlisted in the Army, serving as a member of the 31st Railway Engineers...and during the final Allied assault against the Hindenburg Line, he was at the throttle of an American locomotive rushing soldiers to the Argonne. According to a later newspaper article, he was said to have pulled more men across France than any other engineer in the American Expeditionary Force. On every Armistice Day after the Great War, he would stand at attention, hand on the whistle cord, sounding an 11th hour salute with a stiff blast on the whistle of his locomotive.Upon his return to the States, he was re-employed by Southern Pacific and in 1924 was transferred to passenger trains, continuing this work until his retirement in 1946. His last run was the Coast Daylight, pulled by one of the most famous steam engines of all time, the 4449. He was with the Southern Pacific for a total of 39 years and 2 months. He lived out his days in Los Angeles, California with his wife, Evelyn (married 1920) until his death on March 25, 1968. He is buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California (see photo of headstone).Other highlights of his career included being engineer of the Frontier, the train that spanned the rails to Mojave when Southern Pacific built their first railway to the desert city; being engineer of the first train to go through the Searles Tunnel; finding the mess cup he used in France in the hands of a fellow engineer, who had purchased it for 15 cents at a Fresno area Army goods store. Ernest Loucks recognized it by a mark he had scratched on its surface and promptly bought it back.Ernest Loucks was a lifelong Mason (including the Scottish Rite), attaining the highest degree of membership. After his service in France, he was also an active, lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars...California Auxiliaries 736, 768, 1006 (in no specific order).His younger brother, Fred Guyan Loucks, worked his way through the ranks to become an engineer on the Western Pacific\'s Feather River route, as well as being an accomplished railroad photographer.Sources: Los Angeles Illustrated Daily News, November 11, 1930 (page 2 featured article with photos); The Southern Pacific Bulletin, March 1936 (cover photo with page 3 description); El Sereno News, March 21, 1946 (front page article with photo); El Sereno Star, December 8, 1949 (front page); The Park County News of Livingston, Montana, March 1, 1951 (article with photo in special Pioneer\\Railroad History edition); Personal documents of Ernest Loucks; Rosalie Cummings (daughter, now deceased); Lynn Cummings Mauck (grand-daughter)

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