William Earl Edgar

Submitted by: James L. Hartman {great nephew}

William Earl Edgar served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The dates of service are: Known January 1918 to October 9, 1918.

 

My great-uncle, PFC William Earl Edgar was inducted into the U.S. Army about January 1918. He had moved from Canada to Braddock, Pennsylvania a few years earlier. He served in Company D, 112th Infantry, of the 28th Division.

After training at Camp Hancock in Augusta, Georgia; his unit was sent to France arriving there on May 16 and beginning combat operations in July. On September 26, his regiment began an attack in support of the Argonne Forest offensive. He was killed by enemy artillery fire on October 9, 1918 near Chatel-Chehery and buried near where he died. Later he was reburied at the Argonne American Cemetery.

After Congress passed a bill around 1920 authorizing government paid shipment and reburial of remains at the home of record of the decedent, his mother requested that his remains be shipped to his original home in Bobcaygeon, Canada. A military funeral and burial was held there in the fall of 1921. His coffin was draped with the flags of both nations.

I will never forget the sacrifice that my great-uncle made to preserve American freedom.

 

Cadet James J. Joffe

Submitted by: Hollace Ava Weiner

Cadet James J. Joffe served in World War 1 with the United States Army Air Corps. The dates of service are: Known 15 Aug 1917 to 15 Jan. 1918.

 

Cadet James J. Joffe, 23, an American aviator at Hicks Field No. 1, Camp Taliaferro, north of Fort Worth, TX, was instantly killed at 4 p.m., Jan. 15, 1917, when the De-Havilland bomber he was piloting crashed to the ground.

Joffe was born in Baku, Asia Minor (now Azerbaijan), and immigrated to America in 1903 with his parents and five brothers and sisters. The family lived in Manhattan, NY. The 1910 U.S. Census lists the flyer's name as "Jacob Joffe," although his military records identify him as James J. Joffe, likely an attempt to Anglicize his name.

Joffe joined the Aviation Section, Signal Reserve Corps, and was nearing completion of his course when the fatal accident occurred. His branch of service was referred to as the "American Flying Corps."

According to the Houston Post, Joffe was several hundred feet in the air when he lost control of his "machine." His head and body were badly bruised, and several cerebral vertebrae broken.

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John Wespe

Submitted by: MCPO Michael J. Norrod, USN (Ret.) {grandson}

John Wespe served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The dates of service are: Known WWI 1917 to 1919.

 

My grandfather, John Wespe, served in the U.S. Army in WWI.

He was born 1887 in Louisville, Kentucky, orphaned and raised in a Catholic Orphanage.

He worked as a candy maker at the National Candy Company in Louisville from 1900 to 1917.

He went from Private to 1stLt by the end of the war.

He enlisted May 8th, 1917 at Fort Thomas, Kentucky. Subsequently serving in Company M of the 30th Infantry Regiment. Initially at Camp Syracuse, New York and then at Camp Greene, North Carolina. He departed for Europe February 27, 1918 and was attached to the 359th Infantry Regiment. Serving in Europe from then until June 7, 1919. His company commander was Capt. Mark Clark, later to gain fame as a four star general in WWII and the Korean War. They remained life long friends and my mother remembered meeting him several times as a young girl.

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BG Robert C McDonald MD

Submitted by: James McDonald {grandson}

BG Robert C McDonald MD served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The dates of service are: Known Jun 1917 to Jun 1919.

 

My Grandfather was CO of Ambulance Co. #6 and assigned to the 1st Div, Jun 1917. In Dec 1917, he was assigned as instructor at the Sanitary School, Louhres, Fr. In Dec 1918, he was assigned to Gen HQ IG Chaumont , Fr. He returned to Ft. Sheridan, IL, in Jun 1919.

BG Robert C McDonald, served 36 yrs in the Army Med Corps. His last service, 1944-46 as Chief Surgeon 4th Service Cmd, Atlanta, GA . He passed away in Mar 1958, Walter Reed Hospital, at age 77.

 

 

William John Clegg

Submitted by: Robert Clegg 

William John Clegg served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The dates of service are: Known 1917-1919.

 

CORPORAL WILLIAM JOHN CLEGG
BATTERY D, 53RD ARTILLERY (RAILROAD)
COAST ATILLERY CORPS, US ARMY
BALEYCOURT WOODS, NIXEVILLE,
MEUSE, FRANCE 1918-1919

William John Clegg was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1888. In 1893, his father inherited Tanmacnally Farm, in County Monaghan, Ireland; so the family moved back to Ireland. At age 23 (1911), William return to the United States. 

In 1917 he was inducted into the US Army, and assigned to Battery D, 53rd Artillery (Railroad). He was promoted to corporal in May, 1918, and deployed to France in August, 1918.

He served in the Meuse Argonne Offensive in the area of Baleycourt Woods, Nixeville, Meuse (5 kilometers southwest of Verdun).

 

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Albert Huntington Easingwood

Submitted by: Richard C. Easingwood, St. 

Albert Huntington Easingwood served in World War 1 with the the United States Army. The dates of service are: Known Aug 1917-1919.

 

He was in Boston when the US entered WW-I. He joined the Army in the summer of 1917 with the 10th Engineer Regiment and was sent to France. After "Stars and Stripes" (The official AEF paper) was set up in Paris, he was transfered to that organization where he served until the Armistice. He was an assistant treasurer and a reporter for "The Stars and Stripes Association, U.S.A." After the war, he was among a group of soldiers who were chosen to attend foreign universities for graduate work. He spent several months at University College of the University of London.