Hugh Thomas Nelson, Jr.

Submitted by: Thomas P. Nelson, Jr. Grandson

 

Hugh Thomas Nelson Jr. born around 1876. Hugh Nelson 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

 

During World War I, Hugh Thomas Nelson, Jr. was commissioned a Captain in the Medical Corps and ordered to Camp Lee, Virginia, where he was placed in charge of sanitation. He became the commanding officer of the 318th Field Hospital.

He was later commissioned a major and sailed overseas with the division on May 25, 1918 aboard the ship Mercury, returned to the States in the early 1919.

Among major engagements in which his service was rendered were the Argonne and Meuse Offensive.

Major Nelson would begin the effort to leave France on Christmas Day 1919 when he received word that Edith, his wife, was very ill. Edith, on October 15, 1918, gave birth to Hugh Thomas Nelson III in Charlottesville, who died two days later and is buried in the family cemetery plot at Riverview Cemetery in Charlottesville.

Hugh left the field hospital after giving a fair well speech to the unit members and began to make his way back to Virginia, not an easy task, as Edith was doing quite poorly. On February 3, 1919 in Bordeaux, France he boarded the ship Henderson for America and arrived in Hoboken, New Jersey on February 22, 1919 to proceed to Camp Dix, New Jersey, for discharge.