Rajah William Bandy
Submitted by: Tanveer Kalo
Rajah William Bandy born around 1893. Rajah Bandy 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
Sergeant Rajah William Bandy was born about 1893 in Madras, British India. According to Mary Bandy Rajah's adopted mother in a 1908 letter, his biological parents were "[..] an Irish tea planter who died and left three children and their Indian mother". His Irish aunts sent him and siblings to a native school miles away until he was adopted by Mary and her husband Charles Henry Bandy. Rajah's adopted parents were Presbyterian missionaries, who had lived in British India for some time.
Rajah immigrated to the United States in 1912 and settled with his adopted family in Ohio.
According to The Bandy Family in America by Dale Bandy, Rajah enlisted in the Ohio National Guard in 1916. When the United States entered World War I , Rajah was assigned to the Company D 146 Infantry until May 1, 1918. His last assignment was Headquarters Company 146 Infantry. Bandy served in the AEF from June 15, 1918 to March 31, 1919.
Tara Singh (Joseph Tarao)
Submitted by: Tanveer Kalo
Tara Singh born around 1885. Tara Singh 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
Tara Singh was born on June 6, 1886 or March 25 or 3, 1885 in Kharody, British India. He came to the United States on February 8, 1910. He settled in California and worked as gardener throughout his life.
On April 29, 1916, Singh applied for U.S. naturalization.
On June 5, 1917, Singh registered for the draft. His World War I draft card recorded his race as Mongolian, lived at 106 4 St Danville ,and declared his intention for U.S. citizenship.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army on August 27, 1918. He was assigned to Company F, 1st Infantry. Singh was honorably discharged on July 8, 1919.
Joe Henry (Lahorey Singh)
Submitted by: Tanveer Kalo
Joe Henry (Lahorey Singh) was born around 1893. He 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
Lahorey Singh was born in either 1891 or 1893 in the Village Hiran Dist Julland, British India. He came to the United States in 1910. Singh lived under an alias, Joe Henry, from about 1910 to 1930. He worked as a cook throughout his life.
On November 9, 1917, Henry enlisted into the U.S. military in Ketchikan, Alaska. He was assigned to Company Q I Provisional Training Battalion at Camp Hill in Virginia.
On January 19, 1918, he declared his intention for U.S. Naturalization in Virginia. His declaration of intention recorded his race as white. The document stated that Henry arrived on January 10, 1910 from Sydney, Australia on the ship on India.
He was honorably discharged on March 29, 1918.
Frederick Alfred Duncan
Submitted by: Benjamin Woodard
Frederick Alfred Duncan born around 1889, Frederick Duncan served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1918 and the service was completed in 1918.
Story of Service
Frederick Alfred Duncan was born on Nov 20, 1889, in Green Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, to Michael and Sydney Duncan. His family moved to Huntington, West Virginia, when he was about 5 and his father opened the Duncan Box and Lumber Company, then known as the Beader Box Manufacturing Company. Fred worked in Huntington as an automobile mechanic for the Hanley Cadillac Company. He was a member of Lodge No. 313 of the B.P.O. Elks.
He enlisted on Jun 14, 1918, and shipped out the next day for medical training school at Morgantown, West Virginia. He was sent to Camp Hancock, Georgia, where he placed in the same unit as his brother Homer, the 2nd Company, 6th Provisional Ordnance Depot Battalion, 1st Provisional Regiment in the American Expeditionary Force, US Army.
He sailed from New York City on Aug 31, 1918, on the DUNVEGAN CASTLE. He came down with a bad cold on Oct 2 and was sent to the hospital in France, with his brother following the next day for the same ailment. However, Homer got better within a few days but Fred contracted pneumonia. Homer stayed with him until the end, which came about 11:30 AM on Oct 8, 1918, while he was unconscious.
He was buried in a French cemetery the next day with a military funeral conducted by the chaplain. He was survived by his parents, four brothers, and five sisters. He was reburied in Huntington's Woodmere Cemetery in 1920.
Leslie Joseph Burke
Submitted by: E. Whitney Drake {nephew}
Leslie Joseph Burke born around 1897, Leslie Burke served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1914 and the service was completed in 1917.
Story of Service
My uncle, Leslie Joseph Burke, was born in Halifax, N.S., and came to the U.S.A. as a small boy. He enlisted on the Army in DEC 1914,
In OCT 1917, he landed in France with the U.S. Army 26th Div. My uncle was in every major battle of the U.S. Army in World War I. Chevrons attached to his Victory Medal are: Meuse-Argonne; St. Mihiel; Champagne-Marne; Chateau Thierry; Oise-Aisne.
He was wounded in battle on/about 10 OCT 1918 by mustard gas. He survived, but was disabled later in life due to this.
My uncle's medals from World War I include the Purple Heart, Silver Star, and Victory Medal.
Ishar Dass Duke
Submitted by: Tanveer Kalo
Ishar Dass Duke born around 1887, Ishar Duke 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
Ishar Dass Duke was born in August 1887 in Daulatpur, British East India. He immigrated to the United States on May 1 1907.
After his arrival, Duke moved to the West Coast.
On June 5, 1917, Ishar registered for the draft. His draft card recored his race as Caucasian and he did not know his age. On October 2, 1917, Duke entered the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 166 Depot Brigade at Camp Lewis, Washington State. He was a cook in the unit.
On December 17, 1917, Duke filed a declaration for U.S. naturalization in Pierce, Washington. His declaration also recorded his race as white.
He was shown in the August 1918 issue of the journal and newspaper Young India along with M.K. Pandit, Devi Singh, Dr. K.C. Kerwell, and others.
Kenneth M. Meadows
Submitted by: Benjamin Woodard
Kenneth M. Meadows born around 1891, Kenneth Meadows served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1918 and the service was completed in 1918.
Story of Service
Kenneth M. Meadows was born Jan 21, 1891, at Upper Green Bottom, West Virginia, to F.M. and Cora Meadows.
He lived in Huntington, West Virginia, and worked with his brother, Azel, in the real estate business. His wife was Blanche C. Meadows.
He enlisted on Jun 15, 1918, and was sent to the automobile mechanic school at Morgantown, West Virginia. He trained their two months and graduated with a card proving that he was the fastest driver of the 75 mechanics in training.
He went to Camp Hancock, then Camp Mills, then New York, from where he sailed on Oct 5, 1918. He was attached as a Corporal to the Ordnance Service.
Alva Claude Reynolds
Submitted by: Benjamin Woodard
Alva Claude Reynolds born around 1886, Alva Reynolds served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1918 and the service was completed in 1918.
Story of Service
Alva Claude Reynolds was born Sep 21, 1886, in Addison, Ohio, to William and Ida Reynolds. He attended Rio Grande College and graduated from law school in Valparaiso, Indiana, in 1910.
He lived in Addison and worked as Assistant General Time Keeper for C&O Railroad.
He entered into limited military service on Aug 5, 1918, at Gallipolis, Ohio. He was attached as a Private as part of 1st Co., Casual Battalion (clerical personnel) at Camp Syracuse, New York, regretting that he couldn’t go overseas.
David Sharpley Noble
Submitted by: Benjamin Woodard
David Sharpley Noble born around 1896, David Noble served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1918 and the service was completed in 1918.
Story of Service
David Sharpley Noble was born on Apr 23, 1896, in Martinsburg, West Virginia. His parents died when he was young and he was raised by his uncle, Wilson M. Foulk (who was the State Historian), in Huntington, West Virginia. He graduated with high honors from Huntington High School in 1914 and Washington & Lee University in Jun 1917, at which he afterwards served as an instructor in the History Department.
Prior to his shipping out, he had taken 6 weeks of training at Camp Ashville, North Carolina, and was a Private in the Army. He married Miss Naomi Carpenter in Charleston, West Virginia, on Apr 25, 1918, the day before he left Huntington for Camp Meade, Maryland.
He sailed for France on Jul 2, 1918, on the LEVIATHAN and ended up as a Private First Class in Headquarters Company, 314th Infantry Regiment, 79th Division, American Expeditionary Force, US Army. He died of pneumonia while in this unit in eastern France on Oct 7, 1918.
Even after his death, however, he helped contribute to the cause of liberty, as $2,006.75 in war fund subscriptions were taken at his memorial service at First Presbyterian Church. In 1920, his remains were re-interred in Charleston’s Spring Hill Cemetery.