Special to the Gazette

CHILLICOTHE - With planning for this summer's Camp Sherman Days into its final phases, the Ross County Historical Society has announced that its 2017 Spring Speakers Series will include three programs, the first of which is this week, that look at the impact of World War I on the home front locally and across the state.

The opening program at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Ross County Heritage Center on West Fifth Street will be on "The Doughboys of Camp Sherman." Featured speaker will be Larry Strayer of Dayton, a military historian, avid collector and authority on World War I material culture.

His talk will focus on Camp Sherman's 83rd Division, a division of draftees scheduled to serve as replacements for regular Army and National Guard units already in France, many of whom ended up actually serving with their regular organizations left intact. He also will look at Chillicothe's Company H of the 4th Ohio National Guard, which was among the earliest groups sent to Europe and which served in five major operations and in the army of occupation before being sent home for demobilization.

The program, like the others in the speaker series, is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served.

The other two programs in the spring series include: