Douglas Edward Wishart was born on 22 August 1895 in Camden, New Jersey. He was the youngest of five children of Joseph Wishart, a stonemason from Old Monkland in Lanarkshire, and his wife Louisa Fuchs, who was German. By 1900 the family were living at 30 South 35th Street with Joseph bringing home an income as a clerk. Douglas’s first job after leaving school was as a salesman for William Waterall & Company of Camden. He enlisted in the city on 1 April 1918 and joined Battery ‘D’ of the 307th Field Artillery at Camp Dix. The 307th, which formed part of the 153rd Artillery Brigade in the 78th Division, sailed for Europe from New York on board the Cedric on 27 May.

Douglas arrived in Le Havre in early June and would have made his way to Camp de Meucon, near the City of Vannes, where he received further artillery training. The 153rd Brigade was based in Brittany until 26 August when it went into position in support of the 90th Division, with the 307th eventually placed along the line from Pont-a-Mousson through Madures and Montauville towards Fey-en-Haye. In September Douglas was present at Battle of Saint-Mihiel and then later in the month at the Meuse-Argonne Offensive which continued until the armistice on 11 November.

In April 1919 the 30th entrained for Marseilles and left for New York on board the SS Guiseppe Verdi on the 30th. They arrived on 14 May and returned to Camp Dix where Douglas was demobilised from during June. He found work as a shipyard clerk in a Savannah, Georgia and perhaps, with his war experiences still fresh in his memory, in the 1920 census he records that his mother was French, and not German.

About 1926 Douglas married Getrude M Kayser, who was of course, also of German heritage and in 1930 they lived with their two sons at 53 Addison Avenue in Haddonfield, NJ. Douglas was working as an office foreman for the recently formed RCA-Victor of the RCA Manufacturing Company and so unsurprisingly the family owned their own radio set.

Douglas lived until the age of 78 and died in Camden on 5 November 1973 and is buried with his wife (who died in 1970) in Saint Josephs Cemetery in Chews, NJ.

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