Joseph C. Langer

Submitted by: Sean Fisher {great grandson}

Joseph C Langer Joseph C. Langer served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The dates of service are: Known July 5, 1918 to April 19, 1919.

My great grandfather was a Musician 2nd Class (clarinet) in the HQ Co. 52nd Pioneers Infantry, Fifth Corps, First Army. Joseph C. Langer (1893-1984) was from Philadelphia. He was working as an accountant for John B. Stetson Company, Philadelphia (Stetson cowboy hats) in 1917, when, sometime in summer or fall 1917, he applied for a clarinet position in the Naval Reserve Band. He received a reply in November 1917 from both John Philip Sousa (1854-1932; Lieutenant, Naval Reserve Band, Illinois) and Bandmaster Victor J. Grabel (1886-1965). It is not known why Langer did not follow through from their encouraging replies.

In July 1917, Langer and his friends vacationed in the Millington, Maryland area along the Chester River, which he documented in photographs. You have to wonder if they took this excursion not knowing what the future held for them.

On the day he was drafted, June 29, 1918, Langer wrote down whom he was leaving his monies to: his father in Aalborg, Denmark, and to his girl, Emma Schwer. He was enlisted on July 5, 1918, and trained at Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina. He wrote to Emma on a YMCA postcard on July 6, on the train to Camp Wadsworth.

Using a 1917 “Army and Navy Diary” printed by Stanton & Van Vliet Co., Chicago in 1917, Langer kept a diary of his war time experience. While briefly at Camp Upton, Long Island, NY, on July 30, he “was outfitted with wool uniforms for oversea duty” and wrote “I look funny with my little “dinky” hat that they issue.”

He was in France from August 11, 1918 to March 31, 1919.

John F. Smith

Submitted by: Mark Hilton

58da7965211d4 JFSmith 1

John F. Smith served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The dates of service are: Unknown .

The Smith-Wynn Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 96, in Montgomery, Alabama, is named after two World War I soldiers who were killed in action in the Chateau-Thierry region of France on July 26th, 1918. They were PFC John F. Smith & Corp. Rush P. Wynn. (Some records show PFC John F. Smith as MIA as of July 28th,1918. Other records show he was wounded on the 26th and died on July 28th.)

PFC Smith was assigned to a Machine Gun Company of the Alabama's 167th Infantry Regiment, which became part of the 42nd “Rainbow” Division and then the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in France.

Supreme Allied Commander General Ferdinand Foch immediately put the Allied Army on the offensive. Four days after winning in the Champagne, he ordered a Franco-American drive northeast from the town of Château-Thierry. The 167th (Alabama), with its sister regiment in the 84th Brigade, the 168th (Iowa) on its right flank, led the “Rainbow” Division push into a great battle at Croix Rouge Farm on July 26th, 1918. There the Alabama regiment lost 162 killed, including 3 Lieutenants and 2 Captains, company commanders. More than 1,000 from the 167th (Alabama) were wounded. But their victory forced the Germans to retreat to positions on the east of the Ourcq River, about six miles from the Croix Rouge Farm.

PFC John F. Smith, who enlisted from Montgomery, Alabama, was cited by the Commander-General of the “Rainbow” Division. He is buried in the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in Belleau, France.