By Kathaleen Roberts / Journal Staff Writer – ABQJournal.com – Photo Not Credited.
Photo: Servando Gonzales, left, with violin, and fellow musicians, ca. 1919. Private Servando Gonzales, of Tijeras, played the violin with his division, the 19th Infantry, Company E.
Albuquerque, New Mexico — A gas mask shrouds the face of Pvt. Tomás Rivera in a formal pose from 1919. The 35-year-old schoolteacher from El Rito enlisted in the Army in May 1918. He fought in the trenches of France, returning home in 1919. The image is one of many encapsulating New Mexico’s experience during World War I. The permanent exhibit “The First World War” opens on Veterans Day, the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice, at the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe.
