The United States entered the First World War on April 6, 1917, when war was declared on the German Empire. Two months later, the City of Houston was awarded one of sixteen temporary encampments – to be named Camp Logan – for the training of National Guard units before they were shipped overseas to join in the fighting.
After receiving in late 1917 a letter from the Sovereign Grand Inspector General with instructions regarding the initiation of soldiers and sailors into the Scottish Rite, the Houston Bodies started planning for a series of “Soldiers’ Reunions” for all interested Masons who were training at Camp Logan. Hundreds of soldiers and officers received the Degrees of the Lodge of Perfection and Chapter of Knights Rose Croix from the Valley of Houston, as illustrated by the large number of uniformed servicemen in the reunion photographs. Of those hundreds, only two have been confirmed to have been killed in action.
Corporal EDWARD N. DAVIS of the 130th Infantry Regiment of the 33rd Division of the Illinois National Guard was born on January 1, 1890, in Toledo, Ohio. At the time of his enlistment, he was the manager of a coal company. He was raised a Master Mason in April 1912, and affiliated with Park Lodge No. 843 on January 14, 1915. He received the degrees from the Houston Scottish Rite Bodies on March 2, 1918. Brother Davis was killed in action during the Argonne offensive on October 3, 1918, and is buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in Lorraine, France. American Legion Post 546 in Toledo, Ohio, was named in his honor.
Corporal ERNEST DUFFIELD SHOCK of the 360th Infantry Regiment of the 90th Division of the United States Army was born on April 11, 1890 in Rockford, Ohio, but relocated to Humble, Texas, with his family in 1917. At the time of his induction, he was a worker in the oil fields in and around the Houston area. He was raised a Master Mason in Humble Lodge No. 979 on June 21, 1916. He received the degrees of the Lodge of Perfection on November 14, 1917, and the degrees from of the Chapter of Rose Croix the next day. A member of a machine gun company, Brother Davis was killed in action on November 1, 1918, during the assault on the Freya Stellung as part of the Argonne offensive. He is also buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery. American Legion Post 132 in Humble, Texas, is named in his honor.
On this day, when the guns fell silent one hundred years ago, the Houston Scottish Rite Bodies wishes to remember our fallen brothers and honor their sacrifice.
Postscript: Both the minutes of the San Jacinto Lodge of Perfection and the Houston Chapter of Knights Rose Croix state that Lieutenant Charles Twiss of 130th Infantry Regiment of the 33rd Division of the Illinois National Guard, who received the degrees of the Scottish Rite in April 1918, was killed in action on June 24, 1918. In fact, the minutes of the Lodge set aside a special page marking his passing, complete with a picture of the lieutenant lifted from the panoramic photograph taken during the Reunion. A history of the Division reports that Brother Twiss was severely wounded by a German hand grenade while accompanying a patrol in no man’s land in front of the Australian trenches. However, despite suffering fourteen wounds from the grenade, and spending seven to eight weeks recovering in a hospital, the lieutenant survived his injuries. When his father died in 1932, the obituary notice listed Brother Twiss as a resident of Fort Worth.
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