John Hess Shuman was born on May 9, 1896 in Columbia County, Pennsylvania. He received a degree in Manual Arts from the Bloomsburg State Normal School in 1915 and met his future wife Rowena Pearl Patterson at the Palmer School of Penmanship in New York in 1916. During this time he also worked as a teacher in Berwick, New York.

Shuman enlisted in spring of 1917 and was assigned to the United States Army Air Service as a ground crew mechanic. His stateside training included time at Kelly Field, Texas. He was appointed acting sergeant major for the overseas journey and departed on September 1, 1918 from New York. They arrived in England on September 13 and traveled by train to Winchester, where they were stationed briefly at a quarantine camp. They then traveled by ship from Southampton to Cherbourg, France in late September, arriving in St. Maixent on October 2 and finally in Latracey on October 14. In mid November they traveled to Romorantin, where Shuman disassembled captured German planes, among other duties. He was promoted to sergeant on December 1. While Shuman does not name his squadron in his diary, it is likely he was with one of the Services of Supply squadrons that shipped overseas late in the war.

After his return to the United States in 1919, Shuman went back to teaching, first as a high school teacher in Roaring Creek Township and Bloomsburg (Pennsylvania) and later as a principal. In 1928 he transitioned to real estate and insurance. In the 1930s he helped establish a small airport near Bloomsburg, which remains in service. Shuman was involved in numerous civic organizations including the American Legion, Kiwanis Club, and the Bloomsburg Town Council. He died on November 2, 1972.



Sources and further reading:

Biographical note derived from collection materials.

F. L. B. Burns. Ace Hand: An RFC Aircraftman in World War One. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Aviation, 2006.

H. L. Rockwood. The S.O.S. in the World War: A Description of the Gievres-Romorantin (France) Camp and Surrounding Territory.