First Lieutenant Mackey

Already a captain in the Indiana State Militia's Medical Corps, in the summer of 1918 Dr. Dwight Mackey decided to offer his medical service to the federal army. In June he went to Fort Benjamin Harrison, near Indianapolis, to take the Medical Reserve Corps examination; in July he learned that he had passed the exam. On August 2 he received a telegram from the army, offering him a commission as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Medical Reserve Corps. Dr. Dwight wired back his acceptance.

This made him, according to the Gazette, "the first enlisted citizen from Hobart township to receive a commission from the U.S. army" — his cousin-in-law, Asa Bullock, holding that distinction with respect to the Navy.

Dr. Dwight was ordered to report to Camp Greene, at Charlotte, North Carolina. It isn't clear whether his wife, Ruth, intended to go with him or move in with her (or his) parents; in any event, they now scrambled to dispose of their house and possessions. By mid-August the Mackey bungalow had been sold to Charles McGinnis.* Dwight was offering "For Sale — 1917 Ford Roadster, good mechanical condition, summer and winter tops. Demountable rims, spare rim and tire," while Ruth advertised their furniture, including a piano, mahogany davenport, oak rocker, bedstead and dresser, and a Moore kitchen range, "[a]ll in the best condition."

Dwight expected to leave Hobart on August 22.

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*Whose wife was the former Helen Rose, the Marshal's daughter.


Sources:
♦ "Dr. Dwight Mackey First Hobart Boy to Receive Army Commission." Hobart News 15 Aug. 1918.
♦ "Dr. Mackey Receives Commission." Hobart Gazette 9 Aug. 1918.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 15 Aug. 1918; 22 Aug. 1918.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 5 July 1918; 16 Aug. 1918.
♦ "Private Sale." Hobart Gazette 16 Aug. 1918.