On June 5, 1917, the Seventh Company, Texas National Guard, was formed in Nacogdoches and was composed of 130 men. Its officers were Captain R. I. Schindler, Lieutenant Orland Patton, and Lieutenant L. O. Peck. J. Elbert Reese was the company's first sergeant. The company left Nacogdoches for Galveston on August 23, 1917, where they were placed in Battery F, 64th Artillery, Coast Artillery Corps, under the command of General Nelson Dingley III, then a captain. After a training period in Galveston, the battery went to New York by train, sailing from there to Liverpool, England, and arriving on July 13, 1918. The soldiers landed at LeHarve, France, on August 6, 1918. The soldiers returned home in November, after the end of the war.

The Seventh Company held annual reunions from 1959 to 1977, usually on the third Sunday in April. The reunions were an effort to reunite as many of the members of the Seventh Company as possible; wives were also invited. According to the minutes from these meetings, the group opened and adjourned each of their meetings with a prayer, and minutes from the preceding reunion were read. The exact date and location for the following year's reunion were decided upon, and officers for the following year were elected. As recreation the group would have dinner and talk over old memories