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"THOSE IMMORTAL DEAD WHO LIVE AGAIN
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"This is the Happy Warrior; this is he
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ALDEN DAVISON was one of those rare and magnetic souls who secure without effort the affection of all who meet them. Few young men of his day were more versatile or adaptable. At Phillips Academy, where he passed four years, he was interested in football, track athletics, soccer, and hockey; he was a member of the Student Council, the Dramatic Club, the Debating Union; he was President of Forum and of Inquiry, and President of his class; and he received from his fellows the second largest number of votes for the man "who has done the most for the school." The ability which won him these distinctions was, of course, admired; but it was more especially his fine and upright character which made him a leader. He could be trusted always to cast his influence where it would count for good, and there was no worthy cause which did not have his support.
Davison was born July 6, 1895, in New York City. After graduating from Andover in 1915, be went to Yale, but withdrew in April, 1916, in order to enter the American Ambulance Service. He was assigned to duty with the 8th section near Verdun, where he had one ambulance blown to pieces under him and was cited three times for bravery under fire. At the expiration of his six months' period of enlistment he planned to join the LaFayette Escadrille; but he was taken seriously ill with typhoid and obliged to return home. In the autumn of 1917 he had recovered sufficiently to be able to enter the aviation service, and was sent to Camp Hicks, Texas, as a cadet in the 27th Aero Squadron. There, on Wednesday, December 26, he was instantly killed.
"He was flying in formation at approximately fifteen hundred feet, when he banked his machine to the left and fell into a lefthand spin, making one turn, and came out of it, but he evidently shoved his control stick too far forward, which resulted in a steep nose dive. He was then too close to the ground to right his plane before crashing."
His instructor in the squadron wrote:
"I would cheerfully give half my life if he were here safely to-night. He is the nearest to one of God's children I ever knew, and is mourned most deeply here, for everyone was so fond of him. He was a man's man, and nothing can be said higher in praise than that."
Brief though his career was, Alden Davison richly fulfilled the promise of his schooldays. He was one
"who when brought
Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought
Upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought."
Resolute, clear-eyed, high-minded, he made his ideals the guiding principles of his life. For him duty was something more than a word, and loyalty was naught unless it was revealed in sacrifice.
"He went through life sowing love and kindness, and what he sowed he has abundantly reaped."
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"The slain Who died for radiant causes, endured pain,
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DUMARESQ SPENCER was a member of the LaFayette Escadrille in France. On Sunday, January 20, 1918, he had his first fight with a German plane, and, in a dramatic combat above the Hun lines, drove off an enemy aviator, returning only when attacked simultaneously by four hostile machines. Two days later, in the afternoon, he left the ground in order to practice aerobatics and test out his mitrailleuse; after doing various "stunts," he made a renversement, ending in a vrille, but did not come out as soon as he had expected. His machine crashed to earth, the hood striking him just below the eyebrows and killing him instantly. On January 25 he was buried in a beautiful cemetery near Belfort, at the top of a hill, with huge trees and vines surrounding the grave.
Spencer was born December 4, 1895, in Chicago, Illinois. At Phillips Academy, from which he graduated in 1913, he was a member of the Phi Lambda Delta society. At Yale he became a leader. He was on the Dramatic Club and the Junior Promenade Committee; he was manager of the basketball team and President of the Minor Sports; and he belonged to Alpha Delta Phi and Wolf's Head. In fact "Stuffy," as he was affectionately called, was recognized as one of the ablest men in his class.
While in college, Spencer gained some experience in aviation with the 1st Battery of the New York State Militia. He sailed for France, June 20, 1917, joined the LaFayette Escadrille, received his pilot's brevet at Tours, October 20, 1917, and was later commissioned as a Second Lieutenant.
Among the many fitting tributes paid to Lieutenant Spencer, none is more appropriate than that of his comrade in the flying corps:
"Would that I could tell you what 'Stuff' has meant to me. For ten months we have lived together, closer than brothers. We have done the same things, thought the same thoughts---two, yet one---and now, although there is a cross which bears his name and 'mort pour la France/ still I know he is with me I know he lives, his spirit and determination could never be downed and never will be---he is with us all the time---he lives."
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"I cannot say your brave eyes do not see Harrison Dowd, '17 |
JACK MORRIS WRIGHT has been happily called "A Poet of the Air," and the volume of his letters published under that title reveals his character perfectly. We find there the full expression of his exuberant, impetuous, and truly noble soul. He was only eighteen when he was killed. In the spring of his Senior year at Phillips Academy, he joined the Andover Ambulance Unit and went to France. There, as soon as he could secure a release, he enrolled in aviation, and shortly won his commission as First Lieutenant. On January 24, 1918, he met with an accident which has been described briefly but vividly by "Alec" Bruce, his companion at the training camp:
"Coming down from a spiral, he took a very flat glide and then backed to turn. Because of his lack of speed, the machine sideslipped and then went into a 'vrille.' Instantly he acted correctly, and according to the monitor who saw it would have come out all right in another ten yards. Instead he struck the ground while still in a nose dive and was terribly crushed. He was taken to the hospital unconscious and died within an hour."
The officers and cadets of the corps attended the funeral service. As the procession marched to the burial ground, airplanes flew over the cortege, and at the grave one of them dropped flowers upon the tomb.
"Jack" Wright loved France. As a boy, he had spent several years in Paris, and he still retained in later life some touches of the foreigner. He was original, picturesque, unique; yet he had a charm which was irresistible. He had a graceful way of saying the unexpected, the unconventional thing, which distinguished him as a student with the gift of self-expression. His tastes, which were instinctively clean and discriminating, led him to a ready appreciation of what is good in art and literature; and, although he had not written much, he had the impulse to try his 'prentice hand at rhymes and short stories. There was, for the teacher, no need of stimulating his imagination; the difficulty was, without discouraging him, to repress and control his fondness for decorative words.
He said his farewell to Andover Hill on one of the sunniest of spring mornings, when the world seemed a dwelling-place of light and life; and it is hard to realize that he will never see ;another May. But, though his body be gone, his ardent unselfish spirit cannot perish, and he has left an impression which we shall long remember.
| "They went with songs to battle, they were
young, Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were stanch to the end against odds uncounted, They fell with---their faces to the foe." |
SCHUYLER LEE, like "Alec" Bruce, "Jack" Wright,, and "Bill" Taylor, his fellow members in the Andover Ambulance Unit, gave his life for the cause he loved. On their voyage over, the Andover youngsters were ridiculed by some supercilious collegians, and we are told that Schuyler "floored a college fellow double his size." Like many of the unit, he first selected camion work with the French Army; but later, when another opening came, he volunteered for aviation and was accepted on August 1, 1917, for the LaFayette Flying Corps. He followed with success the regular steps in training at various schools. On October 22 he wrote that he was "a breveted pilot, with wings on my collar---and everything." By November he had qualified as an avion de chasse, with the rank of Corporal. On January 10 he wrote that he was flying every day over Rheims Cathedral. A few weeks later General Petain reviewed the Escadrille, and gave Lee a notebook for a souvenir.
His most spectacular combat occurred on February 3, when, with four other members of his unit, he encountered eight German planes. In the course of the fight, three Hun machines and one Frenchman were shot down; whereupon the Germans, although they still outnumbered their adversaries five to four, turned tail and fled to a position well within the range of their own anti-aircraft batteries. When he returned to his base, Corporal Lee found that his machine was perforated in twenty places by bullets from German rapid-fire guns. On April 12 he flew out over the hostile lines, and was last seen slowly descending, evidently with motor trouble. He was later reported on the German casualty lists as having been shot down near Montdidier, and there can be no reasonable doubt of his death.
Schuyler Lee was born July 29, 1898, in Bloomfield, New Jersey. Entering Phillips Academy in 1915 from the Haverford School, he remained until April, 1917. He was a member of the K. O. A. society, and a deacon in the Academy Church. At Andover he was exceedingly beloved, and, although but an Upper Middler when he withdrew, was recognized by teachers and schoolmates as one of the most promising boys in the Academy. As Principal Stearns wrote to his father, "Schuyler went to his death and his God, clean, strong, and unsullied." He lived true to his favorite passage in poetry:
"Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King---
Else, wherefore born?"
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"Courage came to you with your boyhood's grace "So when you went to play another game
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WILLIAM BECKER HAGAN was one of the first American boys to join the Ambulance Field Service in France. Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on February 12, 1898, he received his early education in Boston, especially at Stone School, where he was captain of the nine. At Phillips Academy, Hagan played hockey and was a member of Phi Lambda Sigma. Shortly after leaving Andover in 1916 he went abroad and drove an ambulance for six months, being stationed near Rheims and Verdun. He then returned to this country, expecting to enlist in aviation, but his application was refused. Undaunted, he went to Canada and entered the Royal Air Force. As he wrote, "I had to put my hand on the Bible and swear in the king's name, but this did not bother me when I thought that after all it was for the one big cause." As a cadet be was making rapid progress towards a commission; but unfortunately he was attacked by influenza, which developed into pneumonia, and he died May 11, 1918. His character is shown at its best in his letters to his family, in which he displays the loftiest kind of patriotism.
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"He felt his country's need; he knew The work her children
had to do;
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GEORGE WAITE GOODWIN was born July 31, 1895, in Glens Falls, New York. At Phillips Academy he spent one year, graduating in 1912 with honors in all his subjects; and at Yale his record was equally creditable. He completed one year at Harvard Law School, but sailed on June 25, 1917, for France to join the American Ambulance Field Service. While stationed near the Verdun front, he was decorated by the French government for bravery. When his term of enlistment was completed, he, like so many Andover men, enlisted in aviation and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, May 18, 1918.
On the morning of July 15, at Châteauroux, he was starting out for a "solo". flight, when a French machine, proceeding in another direction, suddenly swerved, cutting off the tail of his plane. He fell one hundred meters to the ground, and never regained consciousness. He was buried in the beautiful American cemetery at Châteauroux; and all the members of the command, together with several French officers and representatives from the staff of the Commanding General, attended the funeral.
Letters from his comrades indicate that Lieutenant Goodwin had shown great promise as an aviator. His generous and sensitive nature made friends everywhere, and even men who had known him but slightly wrote to his family to express their sorrow at his death. Lieutenant Norman C. Fitts, his companion at Andover and Yale, said:
"He was easily that one of us who was best liked by the French officers and instructors at the school."
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"Lord, guard and guide the men who fly
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JOHN SHAW PFAFFMAN was born April 27,1894, in Quincy, Massachusetts. After an early education at the schools in his native town, he came to Phillips Academy in 1911 and remained one year, winning some distinction on his class athletic teams. At Harvard he was prominent because of his dramatic ability. He later entered the American Ambulance Service and completed the six months' term of enlistment. He then applied for aviation, was accepted in October, 1917, and went through a course of instruction. On July 21, 1918, he went up for his last flight at six thousand feet, at the satisfactory completion of which he would have received his brevet as pilot. While he was returning to his hangar, he was caught in an airpocket and, at the same moment, assailed by a powerful gust of wind, which tore off the wing of his plane. In spite of his efforts to right himself, he fell and was dashed to death. His funeral was attended by throngs of comrades and by French officers and civilian sympathizers. Lieutenant Mayeur of the Headquarters Staff pronounced a eulogy, and the dead cadet was laid to rest in the cemetery at Voves.
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A soldier, with a soldier's loyal faith; who sees
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ALEXANDER BERN BRUCE was the only member of the Phillips Academy teaching staff to lose his life in the Great War. His colleagues there knew him as one of the quietest and most modest of men, one who performed his duties willingly and efficiently, without any ostentation or craving for applause.
"Alec" Bruce was by nature a scholar. Born in Seattle, May 3, 1894, he later came east with his family and was sent to Andover, where he was on the honor roll for four consecutive years and graduated in 1911 with distinction. At Harvard he was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa. In the autumn of 1915 he returned to Andover as Assistant in Chemistry, living in Williams Hall. When the Andover Ambulance Unit was organized in the spring of 1917, Bruce went abroad with "Fred" Daly in charge of it, and later volunteered for camion work with the French Army. When his stipulated term of enlistment expired, he joined the LaFayette Escadrille, went through a course of training in aviation, was eventually commissioned a Second Lieutenant, and was assigned to the 94th Aero Pursuit Squadron. On August 17,1918, while he was engaged in combat near Cruaux with several German planes, his machine brushed wings with that of another pilot, and he fell nearly two miles. Although his body was not mangled, his neck was broken and he was evidently killed instantly.
Bruce's manly Christian character needs no eulogy. One of his companions abroad wrote, "Everybody who knew him recognized him as one of the cleanest, most straightforward chaps in the crowd." Another of his friends said of him, "In the years he had lived, few as they were, he made a record of brilliant achievements in the classroom and on the battlefield. Surely he has not lived in vain." In the early days of our war many men talked much about what they planned to do. "Alec" Bruce said very little; but when the hour struck, he did more than talk,---he went. His career is an inspiration to all true Americans.
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"So fine a spirit, daring, yet serene,---
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GORDON BARTLETT was cradled in romance and died in the spirit of one making the "great adventure." He was born in the little city of Tottori, Japan, on March 12, 1898, and, up to the age of fourteen, lived largely with orientals, among "all sorts and conditions of men." His father then sent him to Phillips Academy, where he remained four years. He sang on the Glee Club and the Choir, ran on the track team, and was President of the Society of Inquiry. Graduating in 1916, he went on to Dartmouth, but the American Declaration of War in the following spring swept him out of his college life into the Red Cross Volunteer Ambulance Corps, as a member of which he sailed, May 5, 1917, for France.
After several weeks of delay in Paris, his unit, the 61st Ambulance Corps, went into action before Verdun. Here, in August, be received the army corps citation for the Croix de Guerre, with a star, for two specified acts of extreme bravery: one of rescuing a comrade in sudden and unaccustomed danger the first night of service; the other for protracted attention to duty during six hours of peril, when he was declared to have "rescued all the dangerously wounded in his district all by himself." When the United States took over the ambulance service, he started for home, but, while in Paris, felt the call of duty so strongly that he enlisted in the 17th Field Artillery.
His regiment saw plenty of action. He fought with the Marines at Belleau Wood in June, and in the famous battle of the Marne. As part of the 2d Division he saw the enemy driven back at Château-Thierry in July. In this fierce battle his own Battery D was cited by the French Army for its share in bringing victory to the Allied forces. Finally in September came the drive at the St. Mihiel salient. Corporal Bartlett, on September 15, went forward as a member of a volunteer gun crew from Battery D to fire a captured German six-inch naval rifle in a position near the front line. Later he, with another Corporal, went out reconnoitering for other guns, and did not return. A search party discovered him some hours afterward, and he was carried, severely wounded, to Evacuation Hospital Number 1, at Sebastopol, near Toul. There on September 17, 1918, he died.
His last letter, written September 6, is full of cheerfulness and optimism. Life for him, even at the front, had no dullness or monotony. In every situation he sought the pleasant things, and he had no complaints to offer or criticisms to make. No hero was ever more indifferent to the world's applause.
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"They say thou art at rest.
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WILLIAM HENRY TAYLOR, JR., although he was only nineteen years and nine months old when he left this world, had already distinguished himself by his courage and audacity in the air. Like Harold Eadie and "Alec" Bruce, he fell fighting. On September 18, 1918, while stationed near the St. Mihiel salient, he was flying on patrol duty, with no enemy apparently in sight. Suddenly through a hole in a cloud he saw an air battle going on below, and dived. Just as he emerged, he was attacked by three Fokkers. There was a short combat, but he was hopelessly outnumbered, and fell with his plane to the ground just north of Étang de Lachaussée, a small lake near St. Mihiel.
He was born December 6, 1898, in New York City. After some years at Phillips Academy, he joined the Andover Ambulance Unit, and sailed on April 27, 1917, for France. He was appointed an Adjutant in the French Camion Service, but secured his discharge in order to enter the Aviation Corps as a cadet. After barely three months of training, he was commissioned on November 29 as First Lieutenant, having advanced with a rapidity almost unprecedented. In February, 1918, he left for the front with the first chasse sent by the American Army.
Taylor was especially cited for his acrobatic work; and, although the youngest member of the 95th Aero Squadron, he was made one of the three Flight Commanders, responsible for five pilots, five machines, and twenty mechanics. On May 21 he attacked and destroyed a German photograph plane, operating over our lines, and on May 28, with another pilot, he brought down an enemy biplane out of a formation of five. In June he was injured in an accident, but rejoined his squadron in September and took an active part in the St. Mihiel drive, doing exceptional work in bombing retreating German truck trains. At the time of his last fight he had to his credit sixty-five hours of flying over the Hun lines. He had been recommended for the American Distinguished Service Cross, and was granted the Croix de Guerre by the 6th French Army.
War often brings out in mere boys the finest qualities of riper manhood. So it was with "Bill" Taylor. Still a youth in years, he became a trusted leader and a foreman worthy of any warrior's steel. The story of his deeds has an Homeric quality; and his spirit was no less dauntless than that of the heroes who fought in single combat "far on the ringing plains of windy Troy."
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"Our game was his but yesteryear;
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GEORGE EATON DRESSER was a young man of all-round ability. Powerful and active physically, be played a brilliant game on the football eleven and the lacrosse team, besides taking part in practically every form of outdoor sport; but he also stood at the top of his class in his studies, and he found time to sing on the Glee Club and to act on the governing board of the Society of Inquiry. He was a member of the Phi Beta Chi fraternity. These honors, all easily won, did not spoil Dresser in the least; he was always frank and modest, and acted as if he were surprised that his mates should think so well of him.
Dresser was born July 24, 1898, in Chicopee, Massachusetts. He entered Phillips Academy in 1915, graduating two years later. Soon after leaving Andover, he joined the American Ambulance Service, but, with Paul Doolin, changed to the camion service when given an opportunity. Even this, however, he did not like. In a letter of September 25, 1917, he wrote:-
"The entire absence of all danger makes us restless, and we know that the camion service is the place for men with wives and families, men to whom life is more precious than to us. . . . Although under the draft age, I have never for a second regretted that I am on the spot two years earlier than Uncle Sam would call me; others feel the same."
Dresser wanted aviation, but, when an opportunity came to enter the Tank Corps, he willingly accepted it. On July 27, 1918, he said in a letter:
"We are using the little whippet tanks with a crew of a driver and a gunner, the sort that have been fighting so well in the present Allied offensive. It is really good fun to drive down trenches and up the rear side, over stone walls, through woods and shell holes, for a poor driver will give his man in the turret some mighty hard bumps if he doesn't know how to ease up the machine when it reaches the balancing point on the lip of a trench or some other approach to an obstacle."
Two months later, on September 27, he was killed in action. Sergeant Nichols of the unit describes Dresser's death:
"The night of the 25th of September we moved up to the jump-off---Vauquois Woods. We were so tired that we lay down and dozed and dreamed half awake, as the barrage cracked overhead and threw light into our faces. That morning progress was hard, but it was made. George Dresser, driving for Sergeant Jackson, was killed, while Jackson was seriously wounded and is now blind."
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" Thou hast been
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STEWART FLAGG was the oldest Andover man to give his life in the service of his country. When the Great War broke out, he was living in France, and at once volunteered for hospital work, in which he was engaged for nearly nine months. He then joined the Harjes Ambulance Formation, as a member of which he served through the entire Verdun campaign of 1916. In March of that year he volunteered for the duration of the war and was attached to the 66th Chasseurs Division of the French Army. During the next few months he worked under the most arduous conditions in the Vosges Mountains and in the Champagne sector. Four times his ambulance was destroyed by shell fire, and he was three times cited, receiving both the Croix de Guerre and the even more coveted Fourragère. He was the first man in the American Army to wear this Fourragère emblem on the American uniform. Mr. Flagg's first citation reads as follows:
"Ambulance driver, Stewart Flagg---an American volunteer for the duration of the war; a man of duty, showing the greatest calmness and devotion under all circumstances, without fear, absolutely disdaining all dangers,---has particularly distinguished himself during the attacks of March and December, 1916, in a very exposed section, by taking away the wounded under an intense bombardment."
When the United States entered the war, the Harjes Formation was disbanded and Flagg enlisted as a private in the American Army; but, because of his previous service with the French troops, he was assigned to continue his duties with the famous Alpine regiment. In the great offensive of July, 1917, he was badly injured, and had to undergo an operation, from which he had apparently recovered. On Friday, December 10, 1918, however, he died very suddenly.
Mr. Flagg was also a veteran of the Spanish-American War, having served as a gun pointer on the after-port gun of the U. S. S. "Yankee" in the battle of Santiago and other engagements. He had an adventurous spirit which led him always into the thick of action in any struggle for the right.
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"He speaks not well who doth his time deplore,
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THE following list is intended to include those Andover men who, for exceptional courage or intrepidity in action, were awarded special honors by our own country or any of the various Allied nations. Doubtless some names of importance are unavoidably omitted; but every effort has been made to print a complete and accurate record. As it stands, the number of those thus distinguished is sufficiently impressive. The names are arranged by classes, ranging from 1892 to 1920, and every one is mentioned who has been reported at any time to the office of Phillips Academy.
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THOMAS ALEXANDER BUTKIEWICZ of Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, volunteered with the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Formation in 1916, serving with Ambulance Unit XI. On September 24, 1917, by order of the General commanding the French 74th Infantry, he was given the Croix de Guerre, with the following citation:
After America entered the war, he was commissioned a First Lieutenant in the United States Army, and made commanding officer of S. S. U. 523, of which he took charge on October 20, 1917. He received two individual citations, one on November 12, 1918, and another on January 8, 1919, entitling him to add one gold star, one silver star, and two palms to his original Croix de Guerre. On January 13, 1919, the following citation was given to him and his unit by Marshal Petain:
On March 1, 1919, Lieutenant Butkiewicz was honorably discharged from the American Army, and went at once to Poland in charge of the transportation service of the American Red Cross in that country. |
| ROBERT WENTWORTH BATES was associated with the American Red Cross Ambulance work in Italy, and was awarded the Italian War Cross for bravery at Monte Grippa. |
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WILLIAM HENDERSON WOOLVERTON of New York City went to France in 1915 as an ambulance driver, and was decorated with the Croix de Guerre for bravery. Returning to America, he saw service on the Mexican border with the famous Squadron A of the New York National Guard. In July, 1917, he enlisted as a private in an ammunition train, but was commissioned at Camp Wadsworth as a First Lieutenant in the Ambulance Service, in October. In July, 1918, he went to Italy with the Italian contingent, but was later ordered to France, where he was in active operations until the armistice. He was later Adjutant of the Sanitary Train of the 3d Army of Occupation, and was promoted on March 8 to be a Captain. |
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JOHN RADFORD ABBOT of Andover was one of the first Phillips boys to go overseas in the Allied cause. From July, 1916, until January, 1917, he was with the American Ambulance Field Service in the Verdun sector. Returning to America, he enlisted on June 1, 1917, with the Ambulance Division and went into camp at Allentown, Pennsylvania. He sailed, August 7, 1917, as First Sergeant, but was commissioned on August 15 as First Lieutenant and given command of Section 85, attached to a French Division. He reached the front near Verdun in October, 1917, and continued in action on various parts of the line, being at Oudenarde, in Belgium, when the armistice was signed. On June 27, 1918, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre, with silver star. His section as a whole received a citation for exceptional work during the first week in June, 1918, which gave them the right to paint the Croix de Guerre on each one of their cars. Lieutenant Abbot himself received a Corps d'Armée citation for courageous service on the Aisne in August, 1918, and his section was entitled to add a gold star to the previous decoration. |
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WILLIAM GORHAM RICE, JR., of Albany, New York, went to France in July, 1916, as a volunteer ambulance driver, and remained six months. After returning to America for a short period, he went again to France in May, 1917, to resume his ambulance work. Later he was commissioned a First Lieutenant in the United States Army, but was assigned for duty with the French forces. During the second battle of Chemin des Dames, July 29, 1917, he was given the Croix de Guerre for exceptional courage. As the chef of his section, he carried out most efficiently the relief of the wounded. A portion of his citation reads:
In the last week of October, Lieutenant Rice received from Marshal Petain a second citation, which, in translation, reads as follows:
This citation entitled him to add a silver star to his Croix de Guerre. |
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HARWOOD BROWN DAY served with the American Ambulance Field Service in the fall and winter of 1915, with Section 1, then stationed in Flanders. He returned to America in January, 1916, but went back to his old section in May, 1917. During the memorable six weeks in August and September, 1917, he was at the Verdun front, and was there awarded the Croix de Guerre, his citation reading as follows.. "Volontaire américaine depuis septembre, 1915, a toujours montré le plus grand courage et sang-froid dans les circonstances les plus pénibles. S'est particulièrement distingué en août et en septembre, 1917, devant Verdun, en réparant plusieurs fois des ambulances automobiles sous le feu intense de l'ennemi." At this time he was a volunteer mechanic, but he was later made a First Sergeant and took a course at an officers' training school at Meaux, receiving his commission as Second Lieutenant after the armistice was signed. Day, however, declined this commission, preferring to remain with his unit, which, in January, 1918, had been changed from S. S. U. 1 to S. S. U. 625. He accompanied his section to Germany with its French regiment. |
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CHARLES BLAKE HALL of Orange, New Jersey, entered the American Ambulance Field Service in the spring of 1917, but was discharged November 26, 1917, when it was taken over by the United States Army, on the ground of physical disability. On October 17 he, as a member of S. S. U. 29, conducted himself with such heroism that he was awarded the Croix de Guerre, his citation reading in part as follows:
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HOWARD SWAZEY BUCK, rejected for active service on account of physical disability, joined the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Formation in May, 1917. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre for having gone out, with one other, with stretchers to rescue some wounded under a curtain of fire. He was later knocked out by the concussion of a bomb dropped on a sorting hospital where he was stationed. Returning in October, 1917, he was once more refused for the army and navy, and again joined the Red Cross, sailing in October, 1918, in command of the first Automotive and Mechanical Branch. The armistice was signed the day before he landed; but Buck led the first Red Cross convoy sent from Paris to Trèves, Germany, with the advancing American Army. He returned to America in January, 1919. |
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CARROLL GOWEN RIGGS, after graduating from Yale in 1915, went abroad with an American Ambulance Unit, remaining in that service for eighteen months. He received the French Croix de Guerre for driving seventy-two consecutive hours under fire, carrying wounded from Dead Man's Hill. When the United States entered the war, he returned to America and attended the Officers' Training School at Presidio, California, receiving a commission as Second Lieutenant with the Coast Artillery Corps. He was later twice promoted, finally winning his Captaincy in June, 1918. He went overseas in July, 1918, with the 62d Coast Artillery Regiment, and, after the armistice, was assigned to the 2d Aeronautical Corps. |
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DONALD COCHRANE ARMOUR of Chicago entered the American Ambulance Service in March, 1916. After serving six months in France, most of the time at and near Verdun, he responded to a call for volunteers to go to the Balkans. While in Serbia, he was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for bravery in rescuing wounded; and be was also cited on different occasions for notable work in Champagne, Verdun, Lorraine, and in the Army of the Orient. He returned to. America in July, 1917, and at once joined the Officers' Training School at Fort Sheridan, where he received a commission as Second Lieutenant in the Field Artillery. In December, 1917, he went overseas, and, after intensive training at Saumur, was sent to the front in August, 1918, with Battery D, 308th Regiment, 78th Division. He took part in the vigorous fighting at Grand Pré and in the Argonne Forest. Just before the armistice he was recommended for promotion. |
| HOWARD MCARDLE BALDWIN enlisted on October 10, 1916, in the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Formation. After some notable service as an ambulance driver, he was commissioned, October 17, 1917, as First Lieutenant in the Air Service, and was attached to the Royal Air Force. For services at Péronne he was awarded the Croix de Guerre, with palm. |
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ARCHIE BENJAMIN GILE of Hanover, New Hampshire, went on May 1, 1917, with the American Ambulance Field Service to France, as a member of S. S. U. 640, one of the Dartmouth College ambulance sections. After attending a French Officers' Training School at Meaux and securing a commission as Sous-Lieutenant, he enlisted in the American Army in October and was given the rank of First Lieutenant and commander of an ambulance section, assigned to the 134th Division of the French Army. On June 9, 1918, his section and himself received citations as follows: "Formed for the most part of former volunteers, energetically commanded by Lieutenant Archie B. Gile of the American Army and Sub-Lieutenant Jeancourt Galignani of the French Army, the S. S. U. 640 has put forth its efforts without counting the costs, for more than a year, to relieve the wounded of the division in the midst of the most violent bombardments, through fires, and in the most difficult circumstances that the division has passed through, always giving proof of the noblest spirit of duty and contempt of danger." The same section was mentioned in orders by the American commander for bravery in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Going, after the armistice, with the French Army of Occupation, Lieutenant Gile received his Captaincy in February, 1919, while stationed at the German city of Speyer. |
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LANSING MORSE PAINE of Durham, New Hampshire, went abroad in 1916 as a driver in the American Ambulance Field Service, as a member of which he received the French Croix de Guerre. |
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ROBERT CAMPBELL PARADISE, while serving with the American Ambulance Field Service early in 1917, was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery. In October of the same year he enlisted in the Air Service, and was commissioned, May 15, 1918, as First Lieutenant, Aviation Section, Signal Corps. On October 1, 1918, he was promoted to be a Captain in the United States Air Service. He was assigned to the 1st Observation Group, 12th Aero Squadron, on duty with the Army of Occupation. |
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RICHARD HENRY PLOW of Racine, Wisconsin, enlisted in the American Ambulance Field Service in November, 1916, and remained with it until it was taken over by the United States Army one year later. On September 19, 1917, by special order of General Monroe, Commander of the 69th Infantry Division of the French Army, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre His citation reads as follows:
After leaving the ambulance service, Plow tried to enlist in the American Army, but failed because of defective eyesight. In January, 1918, he entered the Canadian Field Artillery and was sent in May to England, where be was located in camp when the armistice was signed. He returned to Montreal in January, 1919, where he was honorably discharged. |
| JULIUS HERVEY PRESTON has had a varied and exciting experience in the Great War. On February 24, 1916, he joined Section Sanitaire Américaine No. 7, attached to the 21st Division, French Army, and stayed with them until November 24, serving at Verdun in the fearful days of June, and the great attack of October. On December 13, 1916, he enlisted in London as a private in the British Army, with the Seaforth Highlanders, in which regiment he was commissioned, August 1, 1917, as a Second Lieutenant. On January 26, 1918, he was attached to the Royal Flying Corps (later the Royal Air Force), with the 205th Squadron, being made a Lieutenant on August 1, 1918. The chief function of his squadron was long-distance bombing and photography, but this did not prevent Lieutenant Preston from being credited with the bringing down of two Phalz scout planes, and for getting half the credit for a Halberstadt two-seater. His health gave out, and he was sent to the hospital on October 28, 1918, but he has since recovered. | |
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KIMBERLY STUART of Neenah, Wisconsin, enlisted in the American Ambulance Service in 1916 and was promoted to be the head of S. S. U. 10. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre for distinguished bravery. After serving six months at Verdun he drove an ambulance for seven months in the Balkans, where he was cited for rescuing wounded under fire. He then enlisted in the American Naval Aviation and was transferred to a training school in Italy. Later he was commissioned as Ensign in the United States Naval Reserve Force, working in Naval Aviation. His services with the Italian government were so notable that he was given the Italian War Cross. His citation reads as follows:-
The United States Navy Department has authorized Ensign Stuart to wear this decoration. |
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PAUL TISON of New York City enlisted in February, 1916, in the American Ambulance Service with the French Army. In March of that year he joined Section 3, and was with this section as a driver until September, serving at the front near Nancy and taking part in the great battles of Verdun, Pont-à-Mousson, and Bois-le-Prêtre. From September until December he was with Section 1, attached to the 32d French Division in the Argonne Forest. After returning to America for a short visit, he returned in June, 1917, to France and enlisted in the Mallet Reserve, assigned to Section T. M. U. 526. He was mustered out in November, 1917, but left at once for Milan, Italy, where he joined the American Red Cross Ambulance Service with the Italian Army, reaching the Piave front on Christmas Eve. With Section 3, he did front line work as part of the 79th Sezione di Sanita, acting as chef de popote, or steward, for his section. In May, 1918, he received the Italian Medaglia Distintivo. The account of the exploit which won him this decoration reads as follows:
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LESTER HART LARRABEE of Willimantic, Connecticut, enlisted in June, 1917, as a member of the Yale Section 85, United States Army, Ambulance Service. He went overseas on August 8, 1917, and was soon after transferred to the French Army Ambulance Service, Section 585. By special citation, issued June 18, 1918, by General Segonne of the 128th Division, Larrabee was awarded the French Croix de Guerre. His citation reads as follows:
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NORMAN WAKEFIELD MACDONALD went overseas with the Yale Ambulance Unit in May, 1917, and was attached to the French Army; but, as soon as the American forces arrived, he enlisted as a private, being assigned for duty with the French Ambulance Service. With three others in his section he received the Croix de Guerre for bravery in action at Verdun in September, 1917. Later, on- October 23, 1918, General Petain awarded a sectional citation to MacDonald's unit (Section Sanitaire Américaine, 627), for the exceptional courage of its members during the offensive of July, 1918. His unit was the first Ambulance Section to enter the city of Mainz after the armistice was signed. |
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JEROME PRESTON enlisted in the American Ambulance Service in France on February 15, 1917, and later, when America entered the war, enlisted as private in the Ambulance Service of the United States Army. By General Order 139 of his Infantry Division he was awarded the Croix de Guerre, his citation, dated April 19, 1918, reading as follows -
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| PAUL ABBOTT of New York City, while working as a member of the American Ambulance Field Service in Italy in the spring of 1918, was decorated With the Italian Medaglia Distintivo for bravery under fire and devotion to duty. | |
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HOMER CONROY of Brooklyn, New York, served for five months in the American Ambulance Field Service in 1917, but in November of that year enlisted in the French Army. After graduating from Fontainebleau as Sous-Officier, he was assigned to the 215th Regiment, as a member of which he took part in many engagements. From General Degoutte of the 6th French Army he received the Croix de Guerre, with palm and the following citation:
In addition Conroy has also received the Médaille Militaire, the highest French award for bravery. He was honorably discharged from service on March 6, 1919, and returned at once to America. |
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WILLIAM ARTHUR FLINT of New Haven, Connecticut, enlisted on June 8, 1917, as a private in the Yale Ambulance Unit, and sailed for France on August 7. As a member of Sanitary Service Unit No. 585, he received the Croix de Guerre on September 8, 1918, his citation reading as follows:-
Flint had a most exciting experience in France, taking part in nearly all the major operations of the American Army during 1918, and later going with the Army of Occupation into Germany. |
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STEWART AUGUSTUS SEARLE of Minneapolis, Minnesota, volunteered in the American Ambulance Field Service on May 3, 1917, sailing overseas on May 26. On September 25 he enlisted in the United States Army in the Ambulance Service, being promoted, as a member of Sanitary Service Unit 645, from private to Corporal and Sergeant. On February 12, 1919, by order of General Vincendon commanding the French 59th Infantry Division, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre. His citation reads as follows:
Sergeant Searle remained after the armistice as a member of the Army of Occupation. |
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JAMES MOSS WEBER Of Chicago, Illinois, enlisted as a member of Yale Mobile Hospital Unit, which became Sanitary Section Unit No. 585. By an order, dated July 26, 1918, from the Headquarters of the 128th French Division, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre, his citation reading as follows:
He later went to Germany with the Army of Occupation and was stationed at Aix-la-Chapelle. |
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DUDLEY FRANCIS CECIL WOLFE has had his full share of army service of various kinds and has probably a larger collection of medals than any other Andover man. Enlisting on July 10, 1917, in the 1st Artillery, Maine National Guard, he was rejected when the regiment was federalized on account of defective eyesight and flat feet. He then, after being turned down by every other branch of service, volunteered in the American Ambulance Service in France, and worked as a camion driver for one month on the Soissons front. For the next ten months he was an ambulance driver with the Italian Ambulance Service, in Section 2 on the Piave River. While engaged in this work, he was presented by the Duke of Aosta with the Italian medal of valor for exceptional bravery during the Austrian attack of June 14-24, 1918. He received also the Italian Croce di Guerra, the Italian Red Cross medal, and the Campaign medal for the Italian-Austrian War. On October 1, 1918, he enlisted in the famous French Legion Étrangère, receiving the French Volunteer Medal and the French Campaign Medal. The signing of the armistice found him still a member of the Foreign Legion. |
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HAROLD ROBERT BUCKLEY of Agawam, Massachusetts, one of Andover's two aces, has a record of achievement which few aviators can surpass. He went overseas in April, 1917, with the Andover Ambulance Unit, but soon found the camion service too sheltered and tame. He wrote home:
Enlisting on October 25 as a private in the Aviation Section, Signal Corps, he soon showed himself a cool and skilful airman. On December 12 he received his First Lieutenant's bar, and was assigned to the 1st Pursuit Group, 95th Aero Squadron, as a member of which he was associated with James Knowles, the other Andover ace. Buckley's first victory was won on May 30, 1918, and for it he was awarded the Croix de Guerre on November 29, by special order of General Petain. The citation reads as follows:
On August 10 he performed a feat of extraordinary heroism in action which won him the American Distinguished Service Cross, presented on November 21. The exploit is described as follows:
Another exhibition of daring on September 26 and 27, near Reiville, France, gave him a Bronze Oak Leaf in addition to his Distinguished Service Cross. His citation reads:
His promotion to be Captain, Air Service, arrived on November 1, 1918, at which time he wrote:
Captain Buckley has also been given the American Aero Club Medal for brilliant service. He returned to America in March, 1919, and received his honorable discharge. |
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JAMES HENRY EATON of Lawrence, Massachusetts, joined the American Red Cross Ambulance Service in May, 1918, and was sent to Italy for duty. He served along the Piave front from June to September, 1918, and was awarded the Italian War Cross for "bravery under fire." Section Number 3, to which he belonged, won unusual distinction because of the part it played in supplying those in the front line with munitions and other necessary supplies at a time during the great Austrian drive when all other means of securing them had been cut off. Eaton left the ambulance work in order to enlist in the British Royal Air Force, and was accepted at once for training. At the time of the armistice he was in England undergoing instruction. He was honorably discharged on February 27, 1919, receiving at that time an honorary Second Lieutenancy in the Royal Air Force. He returned to America in March, 1919. |
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EARLE LANCASTER was a member of Battery A in Boston and, after the American Declaration of War, trained three months at Boxford, Massachusetts. When the National Guard was federalized, however, he was honorably discharged because of a bad ankle resulting from a football injury. For the same cause he was rejected by the navy and the aviation service. Volunteering in the American Ambulance Field Service, he sailed overseas on October 1, 1917. Once in France, he enlisted in the United States Army, was accepted, and assigned to Section 638, Convois Autos. His entire section was cited three times. He himself was cited for bravery under fire and was decorated with the French Croix de Guerre for distinguished courage. |
| MUIR WHILLAS LIND of Detroit, Michigan, enlisted in May, 1917, as an ambulance driver with the American Ambulance Field Service , becoming a member of Sanitary Service Unit 638. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery, and received both army and divisional citations. When the United States entered the war, he enlisted in our own army, but was assigned to his former work and section. |
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DAVIS NICHOLES RIPLEY Of Newton Center, Massachusetts, enlisted in May, 1917, in the Harjes-Norton Ambulance Formation, Section 62. On September 28, 1917, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre, by Order No. 88, of the 13th Army Corps. His citation reads as follows:
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KENNETH AUSTIN HARVEY, under age for the infantry, enlisted in the American Ambulance Service. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the Commanding Officer of the 87th Division, his citation reading as follows: "Kenneth Austin Harvey, S. S. U. 636, a driver with presence of mind and devotion worthy of the greatest eulogy, assured on the 12th and 13th of June, 1918, the evacuation of the advanced Poste de Secours of the 136th Regiment of Infantry, less than 200 yards from the enemy, causing the admiration of all by his calmness and his disregard of danger." |