The Punitive Expedition in 1916 was a military operation to secure U.S. borders from revolutionary bandits leaking over the border of Mexico and attacking U.S. towns and citizens. Poncho Villa was the Mexican folk hero of that time and the criminal who was the subject of a hot pursuit by both the American and Mexican presidents. Harry Boyd Kline was 21 years old and a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard when Woodrow Wilson called up the guard from across the nation to assist General Pershing's Army at the border. Reading old newspaper accounts of the progress of that operation causes one to reflect on the similarites of today's border situation. It took awhile for Harry's unit to organize and get equipped for the mission, and so it arrived at El Paso six months after Wilson's initial call in June. The guard units were not required to cross the border as the regular army did but rather, stayed on the alert, from the U.S. side, for attacks from Villa's bandits.
I am in the process now of seeking more information about Harry's specific unit, the 13th Infantry Regiment, Company I, and what their specific roll was in this military operation.
Interestingly, upon the arrival of the 13th back home to Bloomsburg, Pa., Harry's cousins in Kansas City were registering for the draft, as did Harry.
Harry B. Kline-->Mary E. Bright-->Richard B. Bright.
Nancy E. Bright-->Fred B. Bright-->Joseph F. Bright-->Richard B. Bright.
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