Luther Nelson Collection, 1916-1919 | Archives of the American Field Service and AFS Intercultural Programs

1 box

The Luther Nelson Collection is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Luther Nelson was an ambulance driver with the Paris Section of the American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly-sur-Seine, and Section Sanitaire Americaine No. 5 of the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps in France during World War I.  The Luther Nelson Collection consists of correspondence, a diary, ephemera, newspapers, photographs and other material that documents his service with both the American Ambulance Hospital and the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps during World War I.

Nelson, Luther

Luther Nelson was a native of Lanesboro, Minnesota, and the son of Minnesota State Senator S. A. Nelson.  After graduating from St. Olaf College in June 1916 at the age of 22, Nelson applied for a volunteer position with the American Red Cross (ARC) in Europe to help the Allied cause during the First World War.  However, because the American Red Cross had withdrawn all of its personnel from Europe by May 1916, Nelson joined the American Ambulance Hospital in June 1916 as an ambulance driver with what was known as the “Paris Section.”  Nelson initially signed up for a short three-month stint with the American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly-sur-Seine, where he evacuated wounded soldiers from the Station La Chappelle to the various military hospitals in and around Paris. Nelson, however, wanted to work more actively in the field—and particularly in Verdun—and decided to enlist for a six-month term as an ambulance driver with the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps, Section Sanitaire Americaine No. 5 (SSU 5) on September 1, 1916.

The Harjes Formation, established in October 1914 by H. Herman Harjes, the senior partner of the Morgan-Harjes Bank (the Paris branch of  J. P. Morgan), was the first volunteer ambulance corps to serve on the Western front in France.  In June of 1915, Harjes succeeded in gaining the sponsorship of the financially-strapped American Red Cross, which supported this formation only nominally.  In 1916, Harjes combined his efforts with Richard Norton’s Anglo-American Volunteer Motor-Ambulance Corps (based in London) under the auspices of the American Red Cross, and the units subsequently became known as the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps, or Red Cross Sections.  The American volunteers in these sections were governed by French military directives and command chains, and each American section was commanded by a French officer, who functioned primarily as a liaison between the French Army and the Americans.

Luther Nelson joined Norton-Harjes Section No. 5 to also take advantage of the better living conditions as compared to the American Ambulance Hospital, and because he hoped that his service would lead to a position with the Morgan-Harjes Bank of Paris after the war.  During his time with Norton-Harjes, his ambulance section saw some of the war’s most severe fighting in Verdun.

Luther Nelson returned his home in Minneapolis, Minnesota in September 1917, after the United States entered the war and the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps was absorbed by the U.S. military.  Due to his nine months with Norton-Harjes, Nelson was not subject to the Selective Service Act of 1917, and consequently was not required to serve in the U.S. Army in France.

Ambulance drivers
American Ambulance Hospital
American Red Cross
World War, 1914-1918

Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.)
Correspondence
Diaries
Ephemera
Printed ephemera

English
French