So close ......

Discussion in 'World War 1' started by liverpool annie, Apr 7, 2009.

  1. liverpool annie

    liverpool annie New Member

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  2. liverpool annie

    liverpool annie New Member

    Frank F. Battles

    Captain, U.S. Army

    314th Infantry Regiment, 79th Division

    Entered the Service from: Pennsylvania
    Died: November 10, 1918
    Buried at: Plot D Row 40 Grave 8
    Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery
    Romagne, France
     
  3. liverpool annie

    liverpool annie New Member

    Organized as part of the 79th Division A.E.F. (American Expeditionary Force) World War I - the men of the 314th were trained at Camp Meade (later renamed Fort Meade Fort George G. Meade), Maryland. Arriving at the camp in September, 1917, the unit completed training and sailed to France aboard the USS Leviathan in July, 1918. Upon arrival at Brest, France, they continued training until September 1918, then took part in the Meuse Argonne Offensive.
    Capturing the town of Malancourt on September 26, 1918, they assisted the 313th Infantry on the following day in the capture of the town of Montfaucon-d'Argonne. It should be noted that Montfaucon was a heavily defended area and observation post of the German army. Of the four Infantry regiments of the 79th Division involved in the offensive, the 314th was hardest-hit. It took several days to account for all the missing personnel and bring the regiment up 50 percent manning.
    The 79th Division was relieved on September 30 and transferred to the Troyon sector. While there, they assumed a variety of duties, including holding the front. They shared the trenches with the 313th, 315th, and 316th Infantry Regiments. During this time, they were harassed with mustard gas, shelling, and enemy trench and air raids but held the line.

    At the end of October, the 79th Division was again ordered to move to participate in the third phase of the Meuse Argonne Offensive. On November 1, 1918, the 314th advanced. By November 9, they captured the towns of Crepion, Waville, and Moirey. The following day the unit captured Buisson Chaumont, Hill 328. On November 11, the 314th advanced against Cote de Romagne and stopped firing at 11 a.m., at the time of the Armistice. By the end day, the 314th had made the greatest advance into German lines east of the Meuse River.

    The regiment continued training, passed a review by General Pershing, and shipped home on May 15, 1919, aboard the Princess Matokia. Arriving at Hoboken, New Jersey on May 26,1919, they were discharged from service at Camp Dix, New Jersey.
     
  4. Adrian Roberts

    Adrian Roberts Active Member

    He wasn't the last!
     
  5. liverpool annie

    liverpool annie New Member

    I know Adrian ! ...... but he was so close to being able to go home !! :(
     
  6. The last days of war was almost 11 000 killed, wounded or missing, more than during a major operation such as D-Day in 1944. Some soldiers have lost their lives in military actions taken by generals who knew that the Armistice had been signed [3]. For example General Wright of the 89th Division took over the American decision to attack the village of Stenay so that troops could take a bath, and this resulted in the loss of 300 men.

    At 10 h 45 am or 15 minutes before the ceasefire, Augustin Trébuchon was the last soldier killed french, rider of the 9th Company of the 415th regiment of the 163rd Infantry Division, he was killed for shot in the head while he carries a message to his master [4]. The last British George Edwin Ellison was killed at 9 h 30 when he made a reconnaissance near Mons in Belgium. The last Canadian soldier was George Lawrence Price, two minutes before the armistice. He was first buried in Havré before being transferred to Saint-Symphorien (Belgium), at the military cemetery. His gravestone of Havré is exposed at the Museum of Military History of Mons. Finally, the American Henry Gunther is generally regarded as the last soldier killed during the First World War, 60 seconds before the time of armistice, when he instructed the German troops surprised because they knew the ceasefire imminent.

    The date of death of the dead french 11 November was backdated to 10 November by the military authorities for whom it was not possible or too ashamed to die on the day of victory.

    (from Wikipedia)
     
  7. liverpool annie

    liverpool annie New Member

    Henry Nicholas Gunther

    Birth - Jun. 5, 1895
    Baltimore Baltimore County Maryland, USA
    Death - Nov. 11, 1918 Meuse, France

    United States Army World War I Soldier. He was the last American combat fatality of World War I. He was serving in France as a Private with Company A, 313th Infantry Regiment, 79th Division, as it was advancing toward Metz when it was announced that the Armistice would take effect at 11:00 a.m. on November 11. Despite this an attack was ordered, and as his unit was advancing they ran into a German ambush near the village of Chaumont-devant-Damvillers. Enraged at what appeared to be a German double-cross, he charged the German position with his bayonet and was shot within a few yards of the German position. Some reports give his time of death as 10:59, others say 11:01. American Expeditionary Force commander General John J. Pershing officially recognized him as the last American death in his Order of the Day for November 11 announcing the Armistice. Gunther was posthumously promoted to Sergeant and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. His story is told in Joseph E. Persico's "Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour." Gunther's remains were repatriated in 1923, and he is now buried in Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland.
     

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  8. liverpool annie

    liverpool annie New Member

    Augustin-Joseph Trebuchon

    Birth - 1878
    Death - Nov. 11, 1918

    World War I French Army Soldier - he was the last French casualty of World War I

    A native of the Department of Lozere in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France, he was serving as an "agent de liaison" (runner) near the village of Dom-le-Mesnil in the vicinity of Charleville-Mezieres in the Ardennes when he was given an assignment to run up to the front lines and announce to a regimental headquarters that the Armistice had been signed at 5:00 a.m., would go into effect at 11:00 a.m., and that the troops would be celebrating with a meal of fresh, hot soup, scheduled to be brought up to the lines at 11:30. Trébuchon was shot by a German sniper just as he was delivering his message, at ten minutes to 11:00.
     

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