More about my father, Robert Wayne Cooper...his youth, and his service during World War I.

Robert Wayne Cooper, World War I. He came down with the 'Spanish Flu' the day he enlisted. That disease ravished especially the country of Spain, thus its name. Many people died of this disease, but my father survived.

Another view of my father in his army uniform. He was not classified to serve overseas, but he spent his time in the service learning aviation mechanics in St. Paul, Minnesota. Below are some postcards he sent from that facility.

Several postcards were sent in June of 1918. When people are far from home (and in the early 1900s, with travel done by train or Model T-type cars, it was a long ride home, even from St. Paul, Minnesota to Bowman, North Dakota, where the Cooper family was living at that time. The card above was to his sister Marion. My dad was a bit homesick, I am thinking...

The Library Corner at Aviation School Y.M.C.A. This card was to my grandmother, Wayne's mother, Ada Cooper.

The card above was to my Aunt Rachel, my dad's youngest sister. 

Below is a photo of the baseball team my father played on in Bowman. This photo was taken in May of 1914, according to the date on the list of the players and their positions which appears following the photo. My father is in the back row, third from the left. I don't know who wrote the score on the scoreboard...but it looks like the Bowman team is not winning!