Clifford T. Ryan’s mother died when he was 4. His wife died giving birth to their first child. His baby girl died, too. The 24-year-old infantryman from Emerson, Nebraska, was himself killed in action on the final day of World War I, after the war had ended.

The unlucky life of Nebraska's own Private Ryan, killed in action after WWI had already ended 

By Matthew Hansen
via the Omaha World-Herald newspaper web site

Our Private Ryan lived a cursed life, right up till the moment his commanding officer sent the Nebraska boy charging over a bloodied river in France.

Clifford T. Ryan is the full name of the 24-year-old infantryman sprinting through your mind. He’s carrying some serious baggage as he runs on Nov. 11, 1918. Cliff’s mother died when he was 4. He grew into a man and married his first love, Loretta. His wife died giving birth to their first child.

His baby girl died, too.

He enlisted in the Army then, and — just his luck — soon found himself stuck for three months on the brutal front line of The War to End All Wars.

The cursed man from tiny Emerson, Nebraska, is charging across the Meuse River now in our memories. Running hard until he falls and becomes one of the nearly 20 million people killed during World War I.

But even death itself isn’t the cursed part. Not for poor Cliff.

Clifford T. Ryan died 100 years ago Sunday. He died on the war’s final day. He quite likely died as the last Nebraskan to die in World War I.

And that, somehow, is still not the worst part.

Read the entire article on the Omaha World-Herald web site here:

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