Stories of Service

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

James Franklin Hagan Jr.

Submitted by: Linda A Walters {niece}

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James Hagan 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

James, second of five children of Martha Christina and James Franklin Hagan, enlisted along with his older brother Paul. According to family papers Paul did not pass his military physical. James, along with several other young men from Anacostia, was sent to France and served with Battery 'E' of the 18th Field Artillery.

The letter I have was sent to James' mother. It stated he was KIA about 12:15PM September 12, 1918:

"An isolated German battery, which had not been silenced had us in an almost enface fire. A "77"shell hit right on the edge of the trail. Your son was instantly killed, being struct by shell fragments in the body and leg. The effect of this shell was very deadly as it killed four and wounded four of the gun crew, Sergeant Green and corporal Hagan are among the killed."

My mother ( James' little sister) and father as well as my daughter and myself have visited France and the cemetery where he is buried as well as the monument on the National Mall for WWI military KIA from Washington,DC.

William Bateman Cairns

Submitted by: Thomas Stolarczyk {Post Commander}

cairns mug William Bateman Cairns was born around 1894. William Cairns served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1916 and the service was completed in 1918.

Story of Service

William Bateman Cairns
03 June 1894 – 29 July 1918

First Madison Soldier killed in World War I

William Bateman Cairns was born in Madison, Wisconsin, His father was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and his maternal grandfather Samuel G. Bateman was a veteran of the Civil War. His friends knew William as “BILLY”.

After attending the University of Wisconsin for two years, he was called into military service. In 1916, he was a private in Company G., 1st Wisconsin Infantry, and known as the old Madison Company of the National Guard. He then was sent and served on the Mexican Border from June 19, 1916 to January 10, 1917; at this time the unit was deactivated.

Austin Reedy

Submitted by: James Wardensky

austinreedy mug Austin Reedy was born around 1896. Austin Reedy 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

Austin Reedy is the namesake of American Legion Post 97, Department of Montana, Libby, Montana. He was killed in action at Chateau-Thierry.

Arthur O. McNitzky

Submitted by: Dave Jahn {American Legion, Department Texas, "Arthur O. McNitzky" Post 71, Adjutant}

mcnitzky mug Arthur O. McNitzky was born around 1890. Arthur McNitzky 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

Arthur Othello McNitzky
March 28, 1890 – October 9, 1918 (October 8*, 1918)

Arthur Othello McNitzky was born on March 28, 1890 in Denton, Texas to Gottfried August McNitzky and Emma Matilda Mentzel McNitzky of Germany. According to family researchers, August McNitzky left Breslau, Germany on 30 June 1874, traveled to Hamburg, then to Hartlepool, England, where he boarded a ship which arrived in Quebec, Canada on 9 July. His line of business was cobbler, but he could not make a living there because of the shoe factories already in existence. He went to Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Texas and Mexico.

His travels cost more than the trip from Germany to Canada; his clothing and tools were stolen and for a year and seven months, he was sick (possibly malaria). He was working in Dallas and on 30 May, 1878, two banks broke in Dallas in one week and he lost $200 in the First National Bank. He said he felt like killing himself. He walked from Dallas to Denton because there was no train. He was one of the first German to come to Denton.

Henry Schmuck

Submitted by: Darrell Sievert {great nephew}

Henry Schmuck was born around 1892. Henry Schmuck 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

HENRY SCHMUCK. Luverne, Minn.

Private, Co. "B," 307th Inf.. 77th Div.

Entered service May 27. 1918.

Trained at Camp Kearney. Cal. Departed

Overseas, August 8, 1918.

Battle: Argonne. Wounded, lost left arm in Argonne,

When: September 26 – November 11, 1918

Wrote Memoirs: Seven Seconds to Live

Alek Miller

Submitted by: Marion Zaborney

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Alek Miller was born around 1892. Alek Miller 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

His name was Alek Miller. According to the NJ State Archives descriptive card, Alek enlisted October 20, 1917. At that time he was 25 years old. He was from (Poland) Russia. His entry rank was a Private in the U.S. Army, Division: 148th Aero Squadron.

His group arrived in France February 16, 1918. Alek died March 22, 1918, killed in action. Not even a month after arriving in France.

A death certificate was sent to my husband's grandmother and the French Government sent her money every month (I don't know how long that went on). Now he wasn't a member of the family, but may have been boarding with my husband's grandparents.

Marshall Dunnaville Sr.

Submitted by: Wilhelmina Leigh {granddaughter}

dunnavillemug Marshall Dunnaville Sr. was born around 1888. Marshall Dunnaville 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

I never met my grandfather, Marshall Edward Dunnaville; he died before I was born. I have a few photographs of him, but none of him in his military uniform. The paper trail left from his World War I service indicates that he enlisted in the U.S. Army on August 1, 1918, in Roanoke, VA. He was a Private in Company D of the 807th Pioneer Infantry, a unit comprised of African-American servicemen, and he participated in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France.

While on his way to France and back, Marshall sent souvenir postcard folders to my grandmother-to-be, “the girl he left behind” but married upon his return. These folders featured scenes of Camp Upton, in Yaphank, Long Island, NY, and of Camp Lee, VA. The folder with photos of Camp Upton (postmarked August 25, 1918) was sent using a one-cent stamp, and the folder with photos of Camp Lee (postmarked July 8, 1919) was sent using a two-cent stamp! I would guess that he crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the U.S.S. Orizaba, because an unsent souvenir postcard folder with photos of this ship was also among his World War I memorabilia.

Frank J. Dunleavy

Submitted by: Ellen Kazimer {Granddaughter}

Frank J Dunleavy Frank J. Dunleavy was born around 1889. Frank Dunleavy 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

My grandfather, Frank J. Dunleavy, was drafted in April of 1918. He was 29, and by the time he arrived at the front, the war was over. French soldiers informed him, but he didn’t believe it until he reported to the front.

Frank Dunleavy worked in the Central Records Office in Bourges, France compiling the service records of every soldier in the American Expeditionary Forces. For six months there were 6000 soldiers and five to six hundred women from Great Britain’s auxiliary army corps working in the records office.

My grandfather sent an amusing letter to his family detailing a week of leave touring the Rivera on seven dollars. He slept on the baggage rack of the train, went to a dance where he said the French danced fairly good, toured museums, and watched Charlie Chaplin at the movies.

Thomas J Kehoe

Submitted by: Carl Oprey {Great Nephew}

Thomas J. Kehoe was born around 1900. Thomas Kehoe served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1915 and the service was completed in 1918.

Story of Service

It begins with the story of a book my mother Patty often talked about, which her uncle supposedly wrote in 1918 and published in New York. However, since he and his brothers were poor street boys from Liverpool, England, it all seemed highly improbable. Together with the fact he would be just seventeen at the time of the publication I dismissed the entire issue as my mother’s aging ramblings. Then I discovered his book, The Fighting Mascot in a Chicago bookstore.

This personal account of World War 1, published in New York in 1918 - ten years before All Quiet on the Western Front - remains the only real-life version published before the end of the war. It later transpired that my great uncle, Tommy Kehoe, aged fifteen when he enrolled, became one of the youngest boy soldiers to fight in The Great War.

Following injury, convalescence and an emotional meeting with King George V upon his return to England, he joined the crew of a cargo liner sailing from Liverpool to New York. It was here that he was discovered giving first-hand talks on street corners about the war still raging in Europe.

Sanco Thompson, Sr.

Submitted by: Sonya R. Grantham {Granddaughter}

Sanco Thompson, Sr. 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

My grandfather Sanco Thompson, Sr. from Columbia, South Carolina. He was a member of the 371st Infantry Regiment 93rd Division Colored, WWI and I have found service records for the 369th Harlem Hell Fighters.

My grandfather is buried in the Childs Cemetery in Richland County, South Carolina. The cemetery is located on the grounds of a former manufacturing plant. The site was also the former Wade Hampton Plantation. The Llysander D. Child's purchased the plantation during the Reconstruction Era.

I have restored and documented people that are buried in the cemetery-for nine and have for years - solo. I'm proud to be the granddaughter of a WWI Soldier.

The Cemetery is home to the first and only memorial markers in the United States to memorialize the 371st Infantry Regiment, 93rd Division; Colored of WWI. I plan to make the site into a memorial Park.

Spiro Thomas

Submitted by: Spiro Thomas Grandson

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Spiro Thomas born around 1899. Spiro Thomas served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1917.