Edward Ball Cole
Submitted by: Carolyn Cole Kingston {granddaughter}
Edward Ball Cole born in 1879. He served in the United States Marine Corps during World War I and was mortally wounded in 1918.
Story of Service
Major Edward Ball Cole, Commander of the 6th Battalion of the 4th Marine Brigade, died from wounds received in the Battle of Belleau Wood on June 10, 1918. He is buried at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, France.
My grandfather, Edward B. Cole, entered the Marine Corps in 1904 as a 2nd Lieutenant. Over the course of the next 13 years he served in Porto Rico, Mexico, and the Philippines. Beginning in July of 1917, Major Cole spent several months in command of the 1st, (later renamed the 6 th), Machine Gun Battalion of Marines training at Quantico, Virginia. Highly respected for his knowledge of the machine gun, he had by then invented a tripod to hold one and a portable cart to carry one. He had also published a book, A Field Guide for Machine Gunners, and served at Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
By the time of his departure for France on December 14, 1917, he was married to Mary Welsh, and had two sons: Charles H. Cole 2nd (my father) age 10, and Edward B. Cole Jr. age 8. Arriving in the port of St. Nazaire, France, he traveled by train to the Bourmont training area, where he and Captain Curtis (co-author of The History of the 6th Machine Gun Battalion) were housed in the village of Germainvilliers. In mid-March they moved to the Verdun sector where they were encamped at P.C. Moscou.
Charles Albert Rinehart
Submitted by: Zachary Bostion {great-grandson}
Charles Albert Rinehart born around 1892, Charles Rinehart served in World War 1 with the United States Navy. The enlistment was in 1918 and the service was completed in 1919.
Story of Service
Served as an aviation mechanic at Naval Air Station Pensacola, FL.
George Ormond, Sr.
Submitted by: Valerie Ormond {Granddaughter}
George Ormond Sr. born around 1899, George Ormond 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
Lessons from a Humble Warrior
by Valerie Ormond
George Ormond’s pale blue eyes watered until the day he died. But he never complained about the Great War. Word was that mustard gas got him, but in those days, people didn’t talk much about injuries, follow-on treatment, or post-traumatic stress. My grandfather died when I was 21, about the same age he was when returning from the war. I wish I’d had adult conversations with him about his experiences, but it’s obviously too late. He likely didn’t realize how interested people might be in a blue-collar kid from Brooklyn’s renditions of his encounters on the front lines.
Thomas Goligowski
Submitted by: Lieutenant Colonel Steven Goligowski (USA, Ret.) {Grandson}
Thomas Goligowski was born around 1888, Thomas Goligowski 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, Thomas Goligowski, was a 29 year-old farmer with a sixth-grade education living near Browerville, MN when he was drafted. He was inducted into the U.S. Army on 25 February 1918 and assigned to the 88th Division at Camp Dodge (Des Moines), Iowa for training. New soldiers were supposed to receive at least 3 months of training before deployment, but by April 20th he found himself at Camp Logan (Houston), Texas, assigned as an automatic rifleman in Company I, 130th Infantry Regiment, 66th Infantry Brigade, 33d Division. He was one of 6,080 soldiers transferred from Camp Dodge to the 33d Division to fill vacancies in the the 33d Division in preparation for deployment to France.
He was soon on the move again, traveling with his unit to Hoboken, NJ and departing on May 16th aboard the troop ship USS Agamemnon for France. They arrived at the port of Brest, France on May 24th.
After a short period of orientation and training the 33d Division conducted its first offensive action against German forces on July 4th, 1918 at Hamel, France. The division provided four companies of infantry fighting under Australian command. The division fought at the Somme (August-September 1918), Saint Mihiel (September 1918), and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive (September-November 1918).
John O. Thompson
Submitted by: Lieutenant Colonel Steven Goligowski (USA, Ret.) {Grandson}
John O. Thompson born around 1894, John Thompson served in World War 1 with the the United States Army . The enlistment was in 1918 and the service was completed in 1919.
Story of Service
My grandfather, John Thompson, was a 23 year-old bus driver for the then-new Greyhound Bus Company, which was founded in 1914 in Hibbing, MN, until he was drafted into the U.S. Army in April 1918. He was initially sent to Camp Dodge (Des Moines), IA and assigned to the 88th Division for training. Someone apparently noticed his pre-war bus driving experience because in August 1918 he was transferred to the 20th Division, a new Regular Army division then being organized at Camp Sevier (Greenville), SC.
My grandfather was assigned as a truck driver in the 20th Ammunition Trains, providing transportation support for the 20th Field Artillery Brigade, the artillery support unit of the 20th Division. This meant that my grandfather’s unit actually lived and worked at Camp Jackson (Columbia), SC, about 120 miles from Camp Sevier.
The 20th Artillery Brigade and 20th Ammunition Trains were stationed at Camp Jackson rather than Camp Sevier to take advantage of the extensive artillery live-fire ranges available at Camp Jackson. My grandfather’s primary duty was hauling ammunition for live-fire training by the 20th Field Artillery Brigade. When not driving truck his duties included maintaining the trucks and performing other required military training and duties. He continued to serve as a truck driver in the 20th Division until his discharge in February 1919, as the 20th Division was being deactivated.
Kehar Singh
Submitted by: Tanveer Kalo
Kehar Singh born around 18973, Kehar Singh served in World War 1 with the the United States Army . The enlistment was in 1918 and the service was completed in 1919.
Story of Service
Private Kehar Singh was born in 1873 in Tusa , British India. He immigrated to the United States prior to 1918 and settled in Imperial, California. He worked as a laborer.
On July 12, 1918 Singh signed up for the draft. His draft card recorded his race as white and oriental.
Private Singh was assigned to Fort Eustis in Newport News, Virginia. At Fort Eustis, Singh applied for U.S. naturalization on October 9, 1918. He was assigned to Battery B of 46th Artillery Costal Artillery Corp.
Cornelius T. McCarthy
Submitted by: Frederica Templeton {granddaughter}
Cornelius T. McCarthy served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The dates of service are: Known 1917-1919.
A Yankee Doctor on the Somme
By F. M. Templeton
Just days after the United States formally declared war on Germany in April 1917, Arthur Balfour, former prime minister of Great Britain, on meeting Dr. Franklin Martin, chair of the U.S. General Medical Board, in Washington, D.C., said with urgency “Send us doctors!”
In response to his urgent request, 1,300 American doctors out of thousands of volunteers were selected to serve with the British Expeditionary Forces as medical officers. My maternal grandfather was one of them.
Cornelius Theodore McCarthy enlisted in the U.S. Army Medical Reserve in August 1917 as a regimental medical officer and was commissioned as a first lieutenant. Over the next two years he would serve as a medical officer in France with the 36th Field Ambulance and the 9th Essex Battalion of the British Expeditionary Forces, and finally with the 27th Division of the American Expeditionary Forces.
Ten years after my grandfather's death in 1966, my aunt showed me a diary that had been found among his possessions. My astonishment was exceeded only by my joy. I begged to see it, promised to protect it with my life, and brought it away with me. Here, I thought, was my chance to know him in a completely unexpected way.
Franklin P. Guzman
Submitted by: Alan Leventhal, Tribal Ethnohistorian, Muwekma Ohlone Tribe
Franklin P. Guzman born around 1898, Franklin Guzman served in World War 1 with the the United States Marine Corps . The enlistment was in 1916 and the service was completed in 1919.
Story of Service
Sergeant Franklin P. Guzman
U.S. Marine Corps, 81st Company, 6th Machine Gun Battalion, 4th Marine Brigade, 2nd Division, American Expeditionary Force
Franklin was born on the Alisal Rancheria on January 15, 1898 and was the son of Pleasanton Indians Teresa Davis and Ben Guzman (who later died in 1907). He was also the nephew of Toney and Fred Guzman. Franklin was listed on the 1910 Federal Indian Population Census for "Indian Town", Pleasanton Township.
He enlisted on October 20, 1916 while working near Sacramento, reported for duty on October 25, 1916 and was assigned to Company "B" Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Mare Island. On May 28, 1917 Franklin was promoted to the rank of Corporal. By March 31, 1918, he earned an Expert Rifleman Badge and a Marksman Badge and by April he was assigned to the 111th Company, 8th Regiment.
In May, Franklin was transferred to the 15th Company 1st Machine Gun Battalion at Quantico, Virginia and he was promoted to Sergeant on May 22, 1918. The 1st Machine Gun Battalion sailed on May 26, 1918 on the USS Henderson and disembarked in France on June 8, 1918.
Henry Abraham Lincoln Nichols
Submitted by: Alan Leventhal, Tribal Ethnohistorian, Muwekma Ohlone Tribe
Henry Abraham Lincoln Nichols was born around 1895. Henry Nichols served in World War 1 with the United States Navy. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1919.
Story of Service
Fireman 1st Class Henry Abraham Lincoln Nichols
U.S. Navy, Battleships USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma.
Henry Nichols was born in Niles on February 12, 1895 to Charles Nichols and Muwekma Ohlone Susanna Flores Nichols.
Henry enlisted on May 23, 1917 and first served on the USS Albatross. By December 31, 1917 he was transferred to the Battleship USS Arizona, and later on March 26, 1918 he was transferred again to the Battleship USS Oklahoma.
During World War I Henry Nichols served in the North Atlantic and was on escort duty in December 1918 when the Oklahoma was serving as escort during President Woodrow Wilson's arrival in France at the end of the war (November 11, 1918). The Oklahoma returned to Brest, France on June 15, 1919 to escort home President Wilson who was transported on the USS George Washington from his second visit to France.