U.S.S. Orizaba

U.S.S. Orizaba

USS Orizaba

World War, 1914-1918

Veterans--Florida

Navy (Ship)

World War, 1914-1918--African Americans

The USS Orizaba leaving port for France in 1918. During World War I, the ship carried over 15,000 soldiers to France. After the war ended, it brought another 30,000 back before being decommissioned on September 4, 1919. Crozier Williams (1895?-1948) and other members of his unit boarded the Orizaba on June 25, 1919, in Brest, France, to sail home.

Crozier Williams was born in Waynesboro, Georgia sometime between 1892 and 1895, according to various records of his life and service. In the years before World War I, Williams was arrested and held at the Jenkins County Convict Camp in Birdsville, Georgia. He registered for the draft on June 5, 1917 and was eventually drafted for service on June 20, 1918 in Florida. He served in Company E of the 807th Pioneer Infantry. The unit was responsible for repairing and constructing roads, bridges, and railways. Williams received an honorable discharge on July 11, 1919 but continued to serve and was promoted on March 25, 1919 to Sergeant. After July 1919, Williams returned to his hometown, where he then lived with his wife, Neomia, and worked as a brakeman, a specialist in train brakes. He died in Dade, Florida in 1948 at the age of 53. He is buried in the St. Augustine National Cemetery at Plot D, Grave 77.

In 2017, the University of Central Florida was one of three universities selected to launch the National Cemetery Administration’s Veterans Legacy Program Project. The program engaged a team of scholars to make the life stories of veterans buried in the Florida National Cemetery available to the public. The project engages UCF students in research and writing and fosters collaboration between students, faculty and local Central Florida schools to produce interactive curriculum for k-12 students. The corresponding website exhibit uses RICHES Mosaic Interface to create a digital archive of related data. The public can use the project-developed augmented-reality app at more than 100 gravesites at the Florida National Cemetery, where they can access the UCF student-authored biographies of veterans.

Digital reproduction of original black and white still photograph: NH44914, U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington, D.C.

ca. 1918-06-10

application/pdf

371 KB

1 black and white photograph

Still Image

New York, New York

Donation

History Teacher

Originally created by the United States Navy and published by the Naval History and Heritage Command.

This resource is not subject to copyright in the United States and there are no copyright restrictions on reproduction, derivative works, distribution, performance, or display of the work. Anyone may, without restriction under U.S. copyright laws:

• reproduce the work in print or digital form
• create derivative works
• perform the work publicly
• display the work
• distribute copies or digitally transfer the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending.

This resource is provided here by RICHES for educational purposes only. For more information on copyright, please refer to Section 5 of Copyright Law of the United States of America and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code.

O'Neil, Rhiannon

Abney, Barb. "VA Selects UCF Historians to Archive Stories of Deceased Veterans." UCF Today, March 13, 2017. Accessed August 9, 2017. https://today.ucf.edu/va-selects-ucf-historians-archive-stories-deceased-veterans/.

Florida Department of Health, Office of Vital Records. "Crozier Williams." Florida Death Index, 1877-1998. Online database with images, Ancestry.com. Accessed August 22, 2018. https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=try&db=floridadeath&h=327658.

Georgia Adjutant General's Office. "Grozier Williams." Georgia World War I Service Cards, 1917-1918. Online database with images, Ancestry.com. Waynesboro, Georgia. WWI Statement of Service Summary Cards, CLM-425, Georgia State Archives. Accessed August 22, 2018. https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=try&db=GeorgiaWWIServiceCards&h=23198.

Husted, F.M. "Abbreviations." In San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 64. San Francisco, California: F.M. Husted, 1896.

Keene, Jennifer. World War I: The American Soldier Experience. Lincoln [u.a.]: University of Nebraska Press, 2011.

Naval History and Heritage Command. "NH44914 USS Orizaba." Accessed August 24, 2018. https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-44000/NH-44914.html.

Naval History and Heritage Command. "Orizaba (SP-1536)." Accessed August 24, 2018. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/o/orizaba-sp-1536.html.

Office of the Quartermaster General. "Crozier Williams." U.S. Army Transport Service Passenger Lists, 1910-1939. Online database with images, Ancestry.com. Brest, France. Record Group Number 92, Roll or Box Number 257, NAI 6234465. Accessed August 24, 2018. https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=try&db=NARAWWITroops&h=6920916.

Office of the Quartermaster General. "Crozier Williams." U.S. National Cemetery Interment Control Forms. Online database with images, Ancestry.com. St. Augustine, Florida. Record Group 92, Interment Control Forms A1 2110-B. Accessed August 22, 2018. https://searches.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.ddl?indiv=try&db=IntermentControlForms&h=1407122.

R.L. Polk & Co. "Crozier Williams." U.S. City Directories, 1882-1995. Online database with images, Ancestry.com. Waycross, Georgia, City Directory 1925. Accessed August 22, 2018. https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=try&db=USDirectories&h=693327715.