As war raged in Europe, President Woodrow Wilson insisted the United States would not enter it.  However, a chain of events, including the German U-boat sinking of the Lusitania that claimed 128 American lives, changed his mind and on April 6, 1917, the United States declared war on Germany.
    The country was totally unprepared for war and it was well over a year before the first soldiers landed in France.  All over the United States training camps sprung up, barracks built, officers trained, and the great drafting of every able-bodied man between 21 and 30 years old began.
    Such a place was a cornfield in Virginia that became Camp Lee, named for Confederate General Robert E. Lee, which would eventually accommodate thirty thousand men.  The Norfolk and Western Railroad was extended into the heart of this great cantonment and a double tracked electric railway connected Petersburg, Camp Lee, and Hopewell.
    The first three companies arrived in August and by October 7, 1917 the camp was at full strength.  These men from all over Virginia-cities, farms, and mountains had never worked as hard as they did now, leaving the barracks before dawn and returning after dark.  One of these men was Lloyd Holland of Axton, Virginia.
    Christmas came and was gone and deep snows made training almost impossible.  Hard work and sicknesses such as mumps and measles gave little time to be homesick.
    About May 1st in 1918 bulletins from the Department of War told of their eminent departure.  The rest of the month was spent rehearsing what they had learned since their arrival at camp.  May 25th found a human tide of the finest trained men in the world filling the roads, long lines of soldiers dressed in khaki, were bobbing up and down as they marched toward the James River.
    When they reached the Hopewell-Petersburg Road, they were allowed to rest for fifteen minutes.  The day was hot and the soldiers were exhausted by the time they reached Hopewell.  Young ladies of the town met them with ice water, lemonade, colas, and other refreshing drinks.