Eighty-Five Lawrence County Ohio Men Sleep In WWI Heroes Graves
Ironton Tribune, 4 July 1976, Sunday, Page A – 12.
Figures and facts relative to the individual efforts in the great war just closed prove Lawrence county’s claim. Out of a population of 48,000, this county sent 2200 men to the war. Of 2200 who went, one thousand volunteered. Company A of the 148th Infantry of the 37th Division was recruited here.
This county lost 90 men in the war, and a total of 197 names in addition to these appeared in the official casualty lists as wounded to a greater or less degree.
Lawrence county gave three Brigadier Generals to our army, Brig. Gen. James D. Dean, Brig. Gen. James T. Shipton, and Gen. George Richards of the Paymasters Department, are all Lawrence county men.
On General Pershing’s staff, Col. Will Winters of Ironton had an honored place. Of the 2200 men who went from Lawrence county, only about one-half have returned to their homes. Because of the irregularity of their homecoming, the county will not honor them with public reception until the Apple Show, when a celebration on a broad scale will be arranged. Proper tribute was paid to the men who wore the uniform.
6 April 2016 – On this date, 100 years ago, the U.S. joined the WWI conflict. Our grandfather Charles Elmer Mayne was one of the first to enlist. As a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Army, he led a unit in the Battle of the Argonne Forest. “Pop” was a patriot his entire life. Beginning in 1901 as a child, he participated in more than 80 Ironton Memorial Day parades. He served as its grand marshal in 1942. During WWI, he did miss one of the Ironton parades. He was in France in 1919, so he marched in the Paris Victory Parade.
Sixteen members of Company A were cited for bravery in the field of action.
- Sergeant J. Benson Davis
- Corporal Silver L. Gillifillan
- Sergeant Earl Keuhne
- Corporal Paris C. Smith
- Sergeant Frank Griffis
- Sergeant Henry Newman
- Private Henry H. Heck
- Corporal C. E. Nestleroad
- Corporal John W. Clingen
- Corporal Charles B. Dickes
- Corporal Melville Truchsis
- Private Lewis F. Gregory
- William C. Darby
- S. Keyser
- J. M. Heinhart
- John A. Copely
Killed Rescuing Comrade
Two distinguished service crosses were awarded to Lawrence County, one to Frank Goldcamp, who was shot and killed while dragging Sergeant Gray Swingle, of Newark, Oh., a member of his company from No Man’s Land, after the other to Captain Dean Gillifilan, commander of a squadron of tanks, who continued with his command after a Hun shell had demolished his tank. Homer Dawson was the first Lawrence county boy killed in action. He was a member of the Rainbow division and was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French government.
Lawrence county has eleven mothers who gave up four sons. They were:
- Mrs. Chas. Shattuck
- Mrs. G. B. Willis
- Mrs. Patrick Gildea
- Mrs. Wm. Klein
- Mrs. Jennie Stephenson
- Mrs. Joseph McGowan
- Mrs. Perry Lewis
- Mrs. Maggie Christian
- Mrs. Anna E. Clarke
- Mrs. Alice Bruce
- Mrs. Darius Gilmore.
- One mother gave five sons, Mrs. Henry Johnson, of Ironton
- Forty-three mothers gave three sons.
- The Ironton High School sent nine students to war in active service, and one of their numbers died while in the service.
Those at Home Paid
Financially Lawrence County’s record was even better than its record in the matter of men. The county’s quota for the four loans, which have already been made, was $1,629,800.
Responding to the appeals, the county’s people subscribed to these four loans of $2,638,650. In the Red Cross, Y. M. C. A., and other endeavors, our county quotas totaled $688,300, but we saw the quota and raised $772,000.
Today Lawrence county enjoys the unique position of being the only county in Ohio and one of the four counties in the Cleveland Federal Reserve District in which all banks subscribed to their quota of the emergency certificates issued by the government in anticipation of the Fifth Liberty Loan.
In the third Liberty Loan, Ironton and Lawrence county had the unique distinction of being the first county in the Cleveland Federal Reserve district to double its quota, thereby winning an honor flag and star.
| Lawrence County Ohio Heroes Who Gave Their Lives |
| Joseph Barnett Foster Young William Whitrock |
| Ivan Beckett Hanceford Ball Willard Bartram |
| Edward Black Robert Burdette Cecil Bowman |
| Bailey Booth Leonard Bradshaw Bailey Booth |
| John Callicoat Arthur Beals Curtis Bryant |
| John Cripple Edgar Callicoat Horace C. Clay |
| Edward Carroll James Carey Clifford Carrick |
| Walter L. Davis Albert Chinn Alvin Collier |
| Festus Dillon James Duncan Jess Davis |
| John Downey Chas. Dement Arthur Dilley |
| Pearl Elliott Homer Dawson Andrew Doty |
| Leon Feuchter Harry Farmer Gardner Fox |
| Hobart Groce Harry Fuller Bernard C. Freeman |
| Oscar Gannon James D. Grayman Frank Goldcamp |
| Arthur Gillen Dennis Giffin Lester F. Gillette |
| Edgar Hasenauer John Howard Forest Hogsten |
| Stanley Massie Russell H. Jones Chas. Kessinger |
| Howard C. Lynd Chas. Long Walter Leach |
| John McGowan Ben Lemasters Chas. Mullins |
| Chas. L. Lintner William McCall Samuel Massie |
| Randolph Peyton Burke Miller Wm. F. Osborne |
| Carl Russell Will Poage Oscar Payne |
| Langdon Ricketts Tony Robinson John Rigney |
| Alpha Short Richard Rappold Lt. C. D. Shattuck |
| Ralph Stewart Walter Salmon Roy S. Stewart |
| Everett Tomlinson Eugene Smith Orville Sheets |
| Herschel Weaver Ernest L. Thomas John Wisenberger |
| Harry Warman George Whitrock Albert Ward |
| Adam Wilson |
William & Sarah Parker Freeman’s daughter Sarah married Abraham Ferguson in 1839 in Law. Co. Their daughter Izelia Ferguson married Joseph Schoonover on Feb. 19, 1878, in Law. Co. This is a little on their son Clay Schoonover.
I thought you might like to see Clay J. Schoonover was born in Oxford, Nebraska Oct. 21, 1889, and passed away on April 18, 1945, in a Veterans Hospital in Colorado.
Clay was a professional baseball player, having played with the Arapahoe, Red Cloud, and Hastings as a young boy. He played with Omaha in the Western League, Grand Island in State League, and Sterling, Colorado. He served overseas in the Army during WWI in France and Germany, having served with the 358 Infantry of the 89th. Div.
COLORED BOYS LEAVE AUG 2nd FOR OHIO CAMP
23 COLORED BOYS WENT TO CAMP SHERMAN FOR TRAINING GIVEN TO THE SOLDIERS BEFORE THEY WENT OVERSEAS TO THE REAL WORK OF WAR.
The Semi-Weekly Register
July 23, 1918
The following is a list of the colored registrants who will leave on or about August 2nd for Camp Sherman, Ohio. The number to be entrained is 23, and the last four named will serve as alternates and will entrain if any of the others fail to appear:
- James Cornutte 722 So. 10th St
- Ernest Gordon Hanging Rock
- William Gose Culbertson
- Robert L. Justice North Kenova
- Otto Epps Proctorville
- William Crosby 405 So. 9th. St.
- Robin Moore Culbertson
- Arthur Kelly Hanging Rock
- James Hobson 7th & Spruce
- Charles Shelton 1010 So. 9th.
- Edgar A. Page Ironton
- Edward C. Keels Blackfork
- Donald O. Boggs North Kenova
- Thomas B. Smith North Kenova
- Bradley Harris Culbertson
- Clifford Washington Ironton
- Chester Moore Ironton
- Frank Gordon Hanging Rock
- Bob Clark Ironton
- Willard Nelson Culbertson
- Herman H. Ward Proctorville
- William Fuller Kimball, WV
- Curtis Hall Hanging Rock
- Oscar A. Botts North Kenova
- Ben Mills Hanging Rock
- Alfred I. Edmunds Proctorville
- Orange Tomes Proctorville
99 of 2,200 in WWI Made Supreme Sacrifice
Saturday, October 8, 1949, Ironton Evening
Old Company I
Ironton’s ‘own’ in WWI was Company I, under the command of Capt. M.W. Russell. It was mustered into federal service on July 15, 1917, and an intensive training program was inaugurated after quarters had been established in Lawrence Street school. The accompanying photograph [will be added later] of the company, loaned by Walter Geswein, was taken there.
Daily meals were served at the First Methodist church. On Oct. 14, 1917, the company entrained for Montgomery, Ala., and was transferred there to Company A 148th Inf. of the 37th Division. In May 1918, the division entrained for Camp Lee, VA and on June 21, embarked from Newport News, landing at Brest on July 5.
From then on, the division saw action in the Baccarat sector, Argonne, Saint Mihiel, Belgium. But the victory was not won without sacrifice. Some members of old Company I, other Ironton and Lawrence County residents who served with other units and in other service branches made the supreme sacrifice for our country.
In 1919, the veterans came home from a war that was fought ‘to end wars.” Some 21 or 22 years later, a few of them were back in service, and their sons and children of their World War I buddies were beginning to enter a Second War.
Not much concern was felt in Ironton as world affairs neared a crisis in 1914-15. There was not much fear that our boys would soon be in WW1, the most savage conflict in history up to that time. But before Armistice Day of November 1918, approximately 2,200 Ironton and Lawrence County young men were in uniform, serving on the sea, on land, and in the air. And of this total, 99 made the supreme sacrifice and failed to return home.
Homer Dawson of Coal Grove was the first Lawrence County (Ohio) boy killed in France. Ironton’s first hero was Frank J. Goldcamp, who was awarded the U.S. Distinguished Service Cross after he gave his life in an attempt t save a wounded comrade. The American Legion Post in Ironton is named in his honor. The only Ironton woman to make the supreme sacrifice in World War I was Mary Almeda McMahon, a nurse who died of pneumonia at Camp Jackson.
Draft board members during WWI included W.E. Massie, John A. Mohr, H.M. Edwards, and Dr. O.U. O’Neill, Dr. W.S. Eakman, Dr. G.W. King, W.G. Ward.
Pvt. Thomas Baldwin was in Company K, 9th Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near Soissons, France, on July 18, 1918. After all of the other platoon, runners had been killed or wounded by machine guns and shell fire, and he had been seriously wounded, Pvt. Baldwin refused evacuation, continuing with his mission.
After making three trips through the heavy barrage, he guided platoons to their designated objectives, after which he was ordered to a dressing station.
Home address, Herman Baldwin, father, 1413 South Eleventh Street, Ironton, Ohio.
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