WWI centennial: Portland still mindful of ‘The War to End All Wars’

By David Harry on April 3, 2017

PORTLAND — Nearly 100 years after he died, Harold T. Andrews’ name lives on throughout the city.

The landmarks, plaques and portraits that bear his name are in focus again with the centennial of America’s official entry into World War I on April 6.

Andrews, born on the West End, attended Portland High School and Bowdoin College. He was the first Mainer to die in combat in “The War to End All Wars.”

“How would a kid from Bowdoin College end up in a field with a shovel in his hand?” Joe Rich, a member of American Legion Harold T. Andrews Post No. 17, said March 30.

Assigned to help build a railroad with the 11th New York Engineers near Cambrai, France, on Nov. 30, 1917, Andrews grabbed a gun when the unit was attacked. He ran out of ammunition and killed German soldiers with a shovel before he died.

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