doughboys

The "Colonel Donovan" named in the photo's caption is none other than World War I Medal of Honor recipient United States Army Colonel William Joseph Donovan. From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Joseph_Donovan): "During World War I, Donovan organized and led a battalion of the United States Army, designated the 165th Regiment of the 42nd Division, the federalized designation of the famed 69th New York Volunteers, (the 'Fighting 69th'). In France one of his charges was poet Joyce Kilmer. For his service near Landres-et-St. Georges, France, on 14 and 15 October 1918, he received the Medal of Honor. By the end of the war he received a promotion to colonel, the Distinguished Service Cross and two Purple Hearts " Much better known as "Wild Bill" Donovan, he was a law school classmate of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Donovan, although a Republican, was a friend and confidant of Democrat Roosevelt's prior to the Second World War and on the eve of the war was entrusted by FDR to found the Coordinator of Information (COI), which would become the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the World War II predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Donovan would lead the OSS until it was disbanded by President Truman in September 1947. The Victory Arch depicted in the photo was a temporary structure erected in Madison Square Park (note the Flatiron Building looking north though the arch) at the conclusion of World War I to honor New York's war dead. It would later be dismantled.

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Well they pose like Americans! And they look like their swank! But those are typical Irish names are they not? So there's a case their ancestors emigrated to the states not so long ago that the've still connections back home. So the photo could be from France with them back from the front line waiting to be sent to action. There might also be a possibility band members being allocated to act in the medic/ambulance role. If it is taken in Ireland I guess the're either to or from France. The're might be a case for using Cobh or Derry port rather than sending a troopship closer to the u-boats than necessary. All speculation. Any clues on the back?

Notes in the catalogue say Blank Postcard

Deirge Del Deirge, you say Doheny is typically Irish, yet there are only 10 Dohneys in the 1901 census and 5 in the 1911 census. Perhaps at the time of this postcard there were more Dohneys in the USA than Ireland? Niall McAuley

National Library of Ireland on The Commons I'm only a guessing Doheny looks like it might be an Irish surname, it sort of rolls off the tongue. A possibly more fruitful approach might be searching American serviceman records but that's not my area of expertise, I don't have a clue where to start or find the relevant database, or how to get access. For the UK www.archives.gov/research/genealogy/wwi would be a start point ... I don't know the US equivalent though I see a few wanting my dollars.

314 Dohenys, in 1911, a more common spelling/version of the name in Ireland.

This is a Committee on Public Information photo, No. 7748. From the Committee's catalog: "7748 AMERICAN CAPTORS Two of the Americans who were with a patrol of 5 who killed 2 Germans, captured 2 and brought in 2 wounded of an enemy patrol of 10 men. The pistol was taken from one of the dead Germans." Catalogue of Photographs and Stereopticon Slides United States. Committee on Public Information. Division of pictures March 1 to June 1, 1918 books.google.com/books?id=DYxDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA25&lp...

Thanks Art Siegel for the details about the American soldiers in this World War I image. We will add more information when we update the description.

More details from "Catalogue of official A.E.F. photographs", Published 1919 "7748 One hundred and sixty-seventh Regiment Infantry, (formerly Fourth Regiment Infantry, Alabama National Guard), Second Battalion, Company F, Corpl. Howard Thompson holding pistol of German whom Sergt. James H. White killed in no man's land with butt of his pistol. This occasion being one where a patrol of 5 men met 10 Germans in no man's land on March 7, 1918. Corpl. Thompson went into no man's land in daytime and found pistol of the dead German. Ancerviller, France, March 11, 1918. " archive.org/stream/cu31924027944598#page/n161/mode/2up

Thanks Art Siegel: Great to have this soldier and his regiment identified! We will add more details when we update.