These children are at an altar of Corpus Christi in Rommersheim, a municipality near the district of Prum in Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany. Captain Hughes photographed the children at the shrine on June 19, 1919. He was participating in the Army of Occupation at the time. James C. Hughes, as part of the 35th Division, left Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and traveled to Hoboken, New Jersey, where he boarded the troop ship "Ceramic" on May 18, 1918. Hughes arrived in Liverpool, England, on June 1, 1918 and then landed at Le Havre, France, on June 9, 1918. Hughes fought in the battles of St. Michael and the Meuse-Argonne. He was at Verdun on Armistice Day, November 11, 1918. He took no photos of the actually fighting. He did take many photographs after the war as part of the Army of Occupation until he left France on July 18, 1919. James Clark Hughes was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1888, and served in the Mexican Border Conflict, World War I, and World War II. He used an autographic camera to take pictures of friends, family, and places in the United States and Europe during World War I. During the latter conflict, he commanded a Philippine regiment (Filipino soldiers led by American officers), which surrendered in 1942 on the Bataan peninsula. Hughes spent the next 41 months in various Japanese P.O.W. camps. He was liberated by Russian forces at Camp Hoten, Manchuria, in 1945. Hughes died in 1964 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Creator: Hughes, James Clark, 1888-1964
Date: June 19, 1919