Denver War Risk Insurance Applicants
1916 - 1919

by

Gerald E. Sherard
Colorado State Archives Volunteer

Active duty servicemen entering World War I (the European War) were entitled to war service insurance which would entitle them to compensation claims for disabilities or death.  About 32 percent of the men who carried war risk insurance named their wives as beneficiaries, 22 percent named their mothers, while "wife and child" were the beneficiaries in 14 percent of the policies.  Premiums were deducted from their pay during the achieve period of the war.  After the war servicemen were allowed to convert the policies to permanent life insurance policies.   Also after the war the federal government paid out claims five times greater than premiums received.

Of the 42,898 soldiers, sailors, and marines from Colorado who participated in World War I, 1091 were killed or died of wounds during the period of the conflict.  The Colorado Casualties included 101 from Denver, 54 officers, 53 sailors, and 40 marines.  The Colorado casualties are recorded alphabetically by name in the paper The Sons of Colorado Who Made the Sacrifice in World War 1917 - 1918.

Several university campuses were used as training sites for the soldiers.   Among these were the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado State University at Ft. Collins, Colorado College in Colorado Springs, and the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The information below was taken from Colorado State Archives book 23780N which covers World War I soldiers from Denver, Colorado, who carried risk insurance.   Information includes rank and unit, insurance rate and amount, and benefactor to whom the insurance benefit was to be paid.  Often the name of the serviceman's spouse or mother was listed as the benefactor.  Many of the servicemen were recruits in basic training.

Many acronyms and abbreviations were used in the organization designations in the record book.  To interpret the meanings of some of these acronyms and abbreviations, see Appendix I.  Clarification of military rank can be made by referring to an encyclopedia under the subject "Insignia."

Given below is the soldier's name, military rank and unit, the record number and page number in the record book.

-A- -B- -C- -D- -E- -F- -G- -H- -I- -J- -K- -L- -M-
-N- -O- -P- -Q- -R- -S- -T- -U- -V- -W- -Y- -Z-