A soldier draws from WWI, and leaves powerful legacy
In September 2017, Salvator Cillis, a young Italian immigrant who had grown up in Manhattan, boarded a train for Yaphank where he and hundreds of other draftees would be trained for battle because the United States had entered World War I about six months before. Cillis carried with him a talent for sketching and an ability to write. He kept his friends updated with illustrated letters that depicted drilling, camp life and ultimately battle. After the war, he returned to his trade, sign-painting, and eventually moved to Central Islip. He died at age 72 in 1966 and is buried in Long Island National Cemetery at Pinelawn. In 1946, well before his death, a friend donated a collection of 19 letters and eight postcards from him to the New-York Historical Society where they are on display as part of an exhibit through Sept. 3, 2017, “World War I Beyond the Trenches.”
Credit: Library of Congress
Camp Upton in Yaphank was an Army installation set up to drill draftees for battle in World War I. These cars were parked near entering the camp in 1917.
Credit: New-York Historical Society
In a letter to a friend, dated Sept. 24, 1917, and written at Camp Upton in Yaphank, draftee Salvator Cillis describes the cheering crowds as he and other draftees departed for a trip to Camp Upton from Washington Heights in Manhattan.
Credit: Library of Congress
In 1917, as the U.S. prepared troops for war in Europe, American draftees board a train for Camp Upton in Yaphank, an Army installation that was a boot camp. There is no information available on where this train is in the New York metropolitan area.
Credit: Library of Congress
World War I draftees wave as they hang on the back of a train headed for Camp Upton in Yaphank. Draftees were prepared for war in Europe at the camp.
Credit: New-York Historical Society
In a letter to a friend dated Sept. 24, 1917, and written from Camp Upton in Yaphank, Salvator Cillis describes his passage from New York City to Yaphank and signs off with a drawing of the pastoral Long Island countryside with his new address. In Cillis' telling, the trip was high-spirited with Long Island residents greeting the draftees as the train passed. “They were all there giving us the hip-hip-hooray,” he wrote. “Even the cows stopped from eating and smiled at us.”
Credit: NFIG/UNKNOWN
Soldiers train with guns at Camp Upton in Yaphank. The Army installation was used to prepare draftees for service in Europe during World War I.
Credit: New-York Historical Society
In a letter to Morris Van Deen dated Feb. 7, 1918, Salvator Cillis thanked Van Deen for a picture book he sent and then goes on to describe how listening to a soldier returned from the war fills him with apprehension for the battle ahead. His illustration was of troops standing at attention with guns equipped with bayonets.
Credit: Brookhaven National Lab
Bayonet practice was part of training at Camp Upton as troops prepared for battle during World War I.
Credit: New-York Historical Society
On the second page of a letter to a Mr. Chasin, dated Oct. 1, 1917, Salvator Cillis describes his new Army mates at Camp Upton in Yaphank. Cillis, an Italian immigrant, humorously comments on the diversity of the “Bonehead Squad,” as he dubbed the melting pot. “A few are short, a great many tall,” he writes in one bit of doggerel. “And some haven’t a head at all.”
Credit: Library of Congress
Knitted goods are delivered in August 1918 to a detail of soldiers-in-training at Camp Upton in Yaphank. By the time this picture was taken, the 77th Division composed largely of draftees from New York City had arrived in France. Among them was Salvator Cillis, assigned to the 306th Field Artillery.
Credit: New-York Historical Society
In another letter to Morris Van Deen, dated Feb. 16, 1918, Salvator Cillis describes the endless drilling that troops were going through, and he included a watercolor painting of a drill with the Yaphank barracks in the background.
Draftees get comfortable in the barracks at Camp Upton in Yaphank as they were trained for battle on the fields of France. The photo is undated.
Credit: Collection of the New-York Histo
In a letter to a Mr. Chasin, dated Oct. 1, 1917, Salvator Cillis describes Army life, daily drills and sleeping in the barracks. He included illustrations.
Credit: Library of Congress
Soldiers inspect packages as draftees arrive at Camp Upton in Yaphank. Records with the photo indicate it was September 1917, about the time Salvator Cillis arrived for basic training.
Credit: New-York Historical Society
In a letter from Europe to Morris Van Deen, dated Dec. 14, 1918, Salvator Cillis wishes his friend a happy New Year, and signs off with a drawing about dreaming of the Statue of Liberty. Cillis would have been on his way back to the states; on Nov. 11, 1918, the Germans had surrendered and signed the Treaty of Versailles with the Allies, including the United States.
Credit: Library of Congress
A jazz band practices in what was probably the Buffalo Auditorium at Camp Upton in Yaphank. Records with the photo indicate this could be May 1918.
Credit: Library of Congress
Draftees sort and organize personnel records at Camp Upton in Yaphank. Records with the photo indicate it is from 1917 or 1918.
Credit: New-York Historical Society
In a letter to a Miss D.M. Harris, dated Dec. 28, 1917, Salvator Cillis thanks her for her card, wishes her a happy New Year and then describes his first snowball fight, complete with an illustration.
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