World War I Liberty Bonds

The following is a personal recollection by Dephane Hammond about a WWI fund-raising event that she attended in 1918 while she was teaching high school students in Salem, South Dakota.

“We had been in session only a little while and one day they unloaded a small tank with a couple of soldiers to get people to buy liberty bonds. One of the soldiers asked Sheryl, the other high school teacher, and I if we would like a ride in the tank. We went and what a ride we had, he took us down the bank, across a small creek, then up the other side and knocked down a good-sized tree. Boy did we have a bumpy ride and we were glad to get out but at least I can say I had a ride in a tank”.

The quote and image are from the Dephane Hammond papers in the Archives and Special Collection.

There are many personal recollections, interviews, and diaries in the Archives and Special Collections. For even more interviews and oral histories, contact our neighbor in the library, the South Dakota Oral History Center.