The war was winding down in Europe by June 1918 when O. Howell Elder left the farm near Lexington, IL to go to Great Lakes, Chicago, to join the Navy. After Basic Training, he stayed there to finish training in the Signal Corps. He was equipped with a duffel bag, signal flags, and a hammock, awaiting to be sent to Norfolk, VA. The war ended on November, 1918. He was discharged in December, 1918 to return to take over the farming, as his father had died of pneumonia that October.