Author: Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist
Thomas Lafayette Warren was born on March 18, 1894, in the town of Lenoir in Caldwell County, N.C., to Joseph L. and Mary Emma Prestwood Warren. By the time of his draft registration for World War I, Thomas Warren was working for his father as a laborer at the family farm and store. He was inducted into military service for World War I in the U.S. Army on March 4, 1918, at Lenoir, N.C., and was initially sent to Camp Jackson, S.C.
Warren served in the 156th Depot Brigade through March 21, 1918. He was then transferred to the Truck Company, 21st Corps Artillery Park, in which he served through May 17, 1918. Thomas Warren would ultimately be transferred to his final military assignment with Bakery Company, 325th Quartermaster Corps, in May 1918.
Thomas Warren served with the rank of private throughout his military service in the war. He served overseas in Europe from July 18, 1918, to July 18, 1919, and was honorably discharged on July 24, 1919. After the war, Thomas Warren returned home to live with his parents and the rest of his family in Caldwell County. He would marry Catherine Yount in the 1920s. By 1930, Warren was working in Lenoir, N.C., as a lawyer, while still living with his parents in the family home.
Thomas Warren would serve in World War II in the U.S. Army, reaching the rank of captain during the war. By the 1960s, he had come to live in Catawba County, N.C.. Thomas L. Warren died on November 5, 1971, in Catawba County, N.C., and was buried in Saint Johns Lutheran Church Cemetery in the town of Conover, N.C..
To learn more about Thomas Warren’s WWI service, check out his materials in his brother’s collection the Charles H. Warren Papers (WWI 53), held in the WWI Papers of the Military Collection at the State Archives of N.C. in Raleigh, N.C.
This blog post is part of the State Archives of N.C.’s World War I Social Media Project, an effort to bring original WWI archival materials to the public through the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ (NCDNCR) various social media platforms, in order to increase access to the items during the WWI centennial celebration by the state of N.C.
Between February 2017 and June 2019, the State Archives of N.C. will be posting blog articles, Facebook posts, and Twitter posts, featuring WWI archival materials which are posted on the exact 100th anniversary of their creation during the war. Blog posts will feature interpretations of the content of WWI documents, photographs, diary entries, posters, and other records, including scans of the original archival materials, held by the State Archives of N.C., and will be featured in NCDNCR’s WWI centennial blog.