New, Local WWI Books Published

The Jacksonport Historical Society (JHS) acknowledges the 100th anniversary of the World War I armistice with two books, The Yanks Are Coming by Capt. Charles Butler and Remembering the Great War: Letters from the Front.

Butler was born and raised in Jacksonport. While a junior at Ripon College, he volunteered for officers’ training and was a lieutenant when he went overseas in the American Expeditionary Forces. He received two Silver Star Citations, the Purple Heart, the Distinguished Service Cross, and the French Regimental Fourragère.

Some 45 years after his return from Europe, he wrote his memories in the form of autobiographical fiction. During his time in France and Germany, he and his brother Frank both wrote letters about their experiences. Excerpts from these letters are included in Remembering the Great War, published by JHS in 2015.

Some of the letters were written by Charles and Frank to their younger sister Ellen, but Ellen managed to collect letters they wrote to other members of the family as well as letters her future husband, Frank Zatlin, wrote. Frank and Ellen met after the war and were married in 1921. Frank discovered Door County the following year. Frank and Ellen’s daughter Phyllis discovered this stash of letters in an attic in 2015 and wrote the book about them for JHS.

The two books are now available at:  OtherWorlds Books & More, Third Ave., Sturgeon Bay; Door County Coffee & Tea Co., Highway 42, Carlsville; and Fish Creek Bookshop & Gallery, Top of Hill Shops, Fish Creek. Remembering the Great War, along with 11 other books published by JHS, is also on sale at Bley’s Grocery in Jacksonport. Proceeds go to the JHS Museum Development Fund.