Longshaw Kraus Porritt |

Longshaw Porritt in the field, Italy [1918] | World War, 1914-1918; World War, 1914-1918
Army; Navy
American Ambulance Field Service; USS Corsair (SP 159); Naval Aviation Service
France; Italy; also: Connecticut; Atlantic Ocean; Bay of Biscay, France; Lacunae, France; Brest, France
First Lieutenant; Quartermaster Third Class
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During World War I, a conflict of extreme carnage, volunteer ambulance drivers played a key role in transporting the wounded from the battlefield and preventing additional deaths. One such driver was First Lieutenant Longshaw Porritt, a Connecticut native who enlisted in the American Ambulance Field Service in March 1917 before the United States had entered the war. Following a stint on the Western Front, he transferred to the Navy, and then went on to serve with the American Red Cross as an ambulance driver on the Italian Front. The 272 photographs in his collection offer a rare glimpse of the Italian side of World War I, while the assorted manuscripts tell another side of his own personal story--that of being unable to qualify for war benefits because his “official” military service lasted for less than 90 days.
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