I was looking through an early scrapbook this afternoon and was struck by this photograph.
It’s dated 1916 and the young football player is identified as Travis Lee Haltom. I went to see if I could find anything about about him and indeed I did. This is from the 1919 publication called Rice Records in War Service:
*TRAVIS LEE HALTOM. San Antonio. ’15-17. Entered Air Service (Aeronautics) at Fort Sam Houston, April 22, 1917. Attended School of Military Aeronautics, Austin, and Air Service Flying School, Kelly Field, San Antonio; commissioned Second Lieutenant, Air Service, Signal Reserve Corps, Reserve Military Aviator, March 20, 1918. Killed in airplane collision at Gerstner Field, Lake Charles, La., June 7, 1918.
Sadly, quite a few of the young men in that publication died in aircraft training accidents.
The two of the three South boys that went to Rice are both in that book. Dudley came back. Flu/pneumonia got Ira while in Marine Corps quartermaster training somewhere on the East Coast in 1918. Ruby (’19) named her third son after him.
I actually have a good bit of material about Ira. I will dig it out and post it.