Stories of Service

You can search for the name or unit and you will get a list of the stories that contain them.

Louis McCahill

Submitted by: Colonel B. Wayne Quist {American Legion Post 110 Historian}

Louis McCahill

Louis McCahill was born around 1896. Louis McCahill served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1918.

Story of Service

Corporal Louis McCahill, American Legion Post 110, Lake City, Minnesota

American Legion Post 110 in Lake City, Minnesota was named in honor of World War I veteran Corporal Louis McCahill. He died in France on November 5, 1918 less than a week before the Armistice that ended “The Great War.” Corporal McCahill served in many engagements with the 412th Motor Truck Company 426 during the conflict. He is buried in Suresnes American Cemetery in Paris, France: Plot A, Row 4, Grave 5.

Lake City American Post 110 was named in honor of Corporal Louis McCahill on February 7, 1921. In addition, Lake City, MN named McCahill Memorial Park on Lakeshore Drive and McCahill Ballpark on Jewell Ave for Corporal Louis McCahill.

John N. Berg

Submitted by: Kelly Herzog {Community Member/Historian}

John N Berg

John N Berg born around 1889. John Berg served in World War 1 with the United States Army . The enlistment was in 1918 and the service was completed in 1919.

Story of Service

Please see the attached Narrative and photo. We are so very proud to share information on Mr. Berg and about his Distinguished Service Cross. I have a lot of other information I would like to share with you, also.

Fred Dahl

Submitted by: Bill Wetter {Grandson}

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Fred Dahl was born around 1894. Fred Dahl served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1919.

Story of Service

Sgt Fred Dahl was drafted into the Army in 1917 and was trained at Camp Taylor in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.

The presence of the Spanish Flu pandemic kept my grandfather from leaving for France, as many young men were dying during that period. Sgt Dahl was assigned to the 41st Division and served as a mechanic in the motor pool. Later became General John J Pershing’s personal chauffeur!

Upon returning home in July, 1919, he opened Dahl’s auto repair shop, using the training he received while in the Army.

My PawPaw was very proud of his military service!

Raymond J Bobbin

Submitted by: John Bobbin {Grandson}

Raymond J Bobbin

Raymond J Bobbin born around 1897. Raymond Bobbin served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1919.

Story of Service

A significant centennial in our human history is upon us. In the second decade of the twentieth century, war on the Western Front in Europe had been sputtering and dragging along through an agonizing and bloody stalemate for several years. In 1918 when the fighting elements of the American Expeditionary Forces began to meaningfully supplement the efforts of the European Allied nations, momentum began to shift in opposition against Germany and its partner nations of the Central Powers.

In a description of one memorable moment while serving in Europe with Battery A of the 107th Field Artillery, 28th Division, Pennsylvania National Guard, one veteran soldier wrote late in his life, before his death in 1981, in scribbly and barely legible handwriting, that he "saw and felt more war on that one day, 10-30-18, than the other 3 months that we on the front [sic] (Aug. 13 - Nov. 11) R."

At that time, one hundred years ago, young Americans, likely many of whom had previously experienced geography extending no further, perhaps, than the environs of their American hometowns, farmlands, schools, shops and factories, shipped out across an unthinkable expanse of ocean. Many were going to the old countries of their immigrant forebears, to undertake an unimaginable challenge. It was a voyage from which many would not return. One among the fortunate who did return was Raymond Bobbin from Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. He reached his twenty-first year of age during his time serving in Europe.

Cyril Ray Melton

Submitted by: Raymond E Melton {grandson}

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Cyril Ray Melton was born around 1898, Cyril Melton served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1919.

Story of Service

PFC Cyril Ray Melton served in France with the 79th Infantry with a sanitary unit. Because the battles in France became very deadly for allied forces, PFC Melton took on a new role and began training in field to treat wounded soldiers and often having to go to the front to recover the wounded and take them to the rear for treatment. This is the birth of the field medics.

PFC Melton often transported wounded soldiers to a French hospital and this is where he met a French Red Cross Nurse. Both were standing near a building when a German shell exploded and PFC Melton lost part of his hearing but never complained to the Army about it, instead he kept doing his job.

PFC Melton fell in love with the French Nurse who was Julia Anna Sophier and later they both married in France and again in the United States. Later in life PFC Melton had anger issues and it is now known to be PTSD which they knew nothing about in the days of the war.

PFC Melton's records were destroyed in the fire in St. Louis and we have been unable to replace his medals because of that.

Jurian (Jerry) J. Dykstra

Submitted by: Janna Dykstra Smith {granddaughter}

Jurian Jerry J Dykstra Jurian (Jerry) J. Dykstra was born around 1896, Jurian (Jerry) Dykstra served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1918 and the service was completed in 1918.

Story of Service

Jurian (Jerry Joe) Dykstra, a son of Dutch immigrants, was inducted into the U.S. Army at the age of 21 on July 26, 1918, in Orange City, Iowa. He left the farm, near Middleburg (Sioux County), using an old cardboard suitcase and travelled to the newly built Camp Pike, north of Little Rock, Arkansas. His military training consisted mostly of close order drill.

He corresponded with Cynthia Meerdink, a young girl from Hull, Iowa, whose own brother, Henry, was already in France. Jerry’s October 6th letter from Camp Pike was written 36 days before the Armistice. It was a “lonesome Sunday” and he was sitting outside with a number of other letter writers. “Someone is shaking the table.” He finished the letter inside “with my tablet on my knee for table.” Jerry compliments Cynthia on a photograph that she has sent him, “That is surely a handy picture you sent me as it is very handy to carry around this way.”

His military grade was Private and he mentions getting paid on a Sunday. “We got our pay this morning. I got $26.75 with insurance taken off already…quite some wages for a month’s hard labor. If I would be home, I could earn that in a few days and then in a more happier way.” “Heard that Austria Hungary made peace with the Allies. That will be worth more to me than my whole month’s pay.”

Robert A Loder

Submitted by: Bob Loder grandson

Robert A Loder born around 1893, Robert Loder served in World War 1 with the the United States Army . The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1919.

Story of Service

Robert A Loder of Hackettstown, NJ, served with the 78th Infantry Division in WW1. He trained at Fort Dix, NJ, and left for Europe on 20 May 1918 from Brooklyn, NY. He was wounded on 3 October 1918 in France and received the Purple Heart.

A diary of his tour of duty can be read at twitter.com/doughboydiary.

Oscar Lysne

Submitted by: Jay Lysne {Grandson}

Oscar Lysne image

Oscar Lysne was born around 1890, Oscar Lysne served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1919.

Story of Service

Oscar Lysne was born in Moscow, Minnesota on June 24th, 1890 to Norwegian immigrants Ole and Kate Lysne. He was mustered into the service on Sept 22, 1917 at Albert Lea, MN. He trained at Camp Dodge, IA and Camp Cody, NM until June 28th, 1918 when he shipped off to France as a replacement.

He landed in Le Havre, France on July 15th, 1918 and was assigned to I Company, 3rd Bn, 166th Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division. I Company had just suffered very heavy casualties in the Champagne Marne Defensive, including the loss of an entire section in a “sacrifice post”. He first went into action with the Rainbow Division on July 25th, 1918.

Oscar participated in the Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne Operations, where he was wounded below the knee by machine gun fire and a second time by artillery.

George Franklin Rutledge

Submitted by: Glenn Perry {great nephew}

5c98f2e60871f Pvt George Franklin Rutledge mug George Franklin Rutledge was born around 1891. George Rutledge served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1918.

Story of Service

George Franklin Rutledge was drafted on 30 Nov, 1917 and sent to Camp Pike in Arkansas for training. Among the first recruits to be trained there, he slept in tents until barracks were built. On 8 May, 1918, his unit departed for France from Hoboken, New Jersey on troop ship "America." He was a member of Co M, 23rd Infantry of the U S Army 2nd Div.

By June 5, 1918, the 2nd Division’s lines had been rushed to the front and finally stabilized after several hectic days of relief and defense during the waning hours of the Aisne Defensive. In that time, the infantry and machine gun units of the division had been thrown into the line where needed as the Germans advanced and as the French slowly withdrew, fighting for every town and wood. Two battalions of the 23rd Infantry took over the line from an area named Triangle to Le Thiolet. The front was a mess of wheat fields, small towns, and woodlots, with parallel ridges facing each other. It was virgin territory, the ground as-yet unscarred by trenchlines and shell holes.

George William Schreader

Submitted by: George F. Schreader {Grand Nephew}

schreader mug George William Schreader was born around 1894. George Schreader served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1916 and the service was completed in 1919.

Story of Service

Official U.S. Army portrait of First Sergeant George William Schreader, 28th Infantry Division, 103rd Engineer Regiment. Photograph was probably taken in France in early 1919 during the period of occupation following the Armistice.

George William Schreader served with the U.S. Army in WWI beginning with his enlistment in the Pennsylvania National Guard in 1916, continuing through the war in France with Pennsylvania’s 28th Infantry Division in 1918, and into the post-war occupation in 1919 before returning to America for discharge.

The story of my great uncle, George William Schreader, has been recounted in a book entitled, “Sergeant Doughboy – Journal of a WWI American Soldier” by G. F. Schreader. I published this book in 2015, which was my second book in a three-part series that chronicles the military connection of four successive generations of men in the Schreader family, all named George. I am the fourth George in the family. I came to write this series of books as a result of merely attempting to record some family military history beginning with the post-Civil War era (my great-grandfather), through both World Wars (my great-uncle and my father), and through the Vietnam War, in which I served.

Jake Perdue

Submitted by: Hugh Sullivan {Grandson-in-law}

no photo 300 Jake Perdue was born around 1900. Jake Perdue served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1919.

Story of Service

Jake was my wife's grandfather. His full name was Jake Perdue. His service number was 980508 (or possibly 960508) He served during WWI in Company B, 167 U.S. Infantry. I think he was born in Pineapple, Alabama but I am not sure. The story he related to me with regards to his service in France during WWI is as follows.

He was inducted in Mobile, Alabama and deployed to France from N.Y. He told me a story about his trip over on a ship. He remembered that they slept in hammocks. He remembered that a fellow solider asked him to loan him $5.00 so that he could play in a poker game. Jake loaned him the money and was repaid $6.00 about five hours later.