The two "Little Soldiers" are John F. Smoller and Russell W. Volckmann. They served as the mascots of Company C of the Iowa National Guard who were guarding the railroad bridge over the Mississippi River in Clinton during World War I. Russell Volckmann was later to be the youngest boy to participate in Clinton Boy Scout's 1921 trip to Yellowstone Park. Both of these young soldiers were later accepted into the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, New York and entered together on July 1, 1930.

This brief history of Russell Volckmann was from an album that was distributed to various members of the Volckmann family. I thank Ruth (Volckmann) Stansbury for sharing the memories of her brother and for providing most of the material on these five pages. Russell W. Volckmann was a National Hero and deserves much greater recognition in this area then he has received. Take the time to read the data that is provided on the following pages and see if you do not agree.