This is the continuation of a series of stories about men who died in World War 1, and whose photographs appeared in a publication called “Our Nation’s Roll of Honor.” The original post and explanation can be found at this link. There will also be a complete listing of all the names researched at that same blog post.
LOST FACES OF WORLD WAR ONE: Our Nation’s Roll of Honor — Part Sixteen
CORPORAL SAMUEL W. MYERS
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Died of Wounds
Samuel William Myers was born 22 Nov 1895 in Lancaster PA, the son and only child of Samuel & Mary (Schmitt) Myers, and grandson of Philip & Barbara (Kohler) Schmitt. Samuel’s mother married 2d) to Albert Mallgraf. In 1915 Samuel W. Myers married Agnes McFalls, and in the same year had a daughter, Gladys Myers who died at the age of 1.
![. Hip, Hip, Hooray!. [, Monographic. ,,:, 1917] Notated Music. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,](https://i0.wp.com/www.cowhampshireblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/23rd-infantry-song-hip-hip.jpg?ssl=1)
. Hip, Hip, Hooray!. [, Monographic, 1917] Notated Music. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
Corporal Samuel William Myers died 8 June 1918 of wounds received in action. Though probably originally buried in France, his body was returned to the United States and his remains lie in Greenwood Cemetery, Lancaster PA.
PRIVATE FRANK J. MICHAEL
St. Louis, Missouri
Killed in Action
Frank Jerry Michael was born 3 February 1895 in Flora, Clay Co., Illinois, son of William J. & Dora C. (Ruchti) Michael. He grew up in Harter, Clay Co. IL, and also on LaSalle Street in St. Louis, Missouri. His siblings included: Lena, William, Carrie, Mary, Warren and William.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper of 13 June 1918: “He enlisted in the regular army 6 May 1917, and was in one of the first units sent to France. At the time of his enlistment he was a construction foreman for the Terminal Railroad Association. Notice of Michael’s death came last night in a telegram from the Adjutant-General of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William J. Michael of Jennings.
Michael and his father, also a Terminal construction foreman, had gone to and from their work together for seven years and were close companions. Private Michael’s brothers, Warren, 20 years old, and William, 34, today expressed a desire to avenge their brother’s death. “I am going to enlist in the marines right away,” said Warren, “I’ve got to get those Huns for killing Frank.”
![Bain News Service, P. (1910) Kaiser Wilhelm. [between Ca. and Ca. 1915] [Image] Retrieved from the Library of Congress,](https://i0.wp.com/www.cowhampshireblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Wilhelm-Kaisar.jpg?ssl=1)
Bain News Service, P. (1910) Kaiser Wilhelm. [between Ca. and Ca. 1915] [Image] Retrieved from the Library of Congress,
The St. Joseph Observer of 22 June 1918 stated that Frank J. Michael “was distant relative of the kaiser, according to his mother, Mrs. William J. Michael, who said her maternal great-grandmother was a second cousin of the German emperor. “We are all ashamed of our relationship with the kaiser and my boy showed it by giving his life to whip him,” she said.”
As was common during WWI, Frank was originally buried in France, then in September of 1921 his remains were returned at the family’s request. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch of 3 September 1921 reports that a funeral was held for him at the Corpus Christi Church, and that he was buried in Memorial Park Cemetery.
MUSICIAN F.I. MILES
Geneva, Ohio
Killed in Action
Frederick I. “Fred” Miles was born December 1889 in Shenango, Mercer Co. PA, son of John K. & Cora S. (Seiple) Miles. He had two siblings: a sister Sara A. Miles, b. 19 May 1895 in Erie PA, and d. 9 Feb 1999. She married Bennie Starkey; and a half-brother, Carral L. Sanders, born 9 Jan 1900 Chicago, Huron, Ohio, son of Clarence and Cora (Seiple) Sanders.
Frederick’s father, John K. Miles was a railroad brakeman, who died (probably killed and robbed) in July of 1896 when Fred was 6 years old. His then-widowed mother remarried in 1897 to Clarence Sanders. In 1900 a young Frederick was living with his maternal grandparents, Henry and Sarah Seiple in Greenville, Mercer Co., PA.
![Shorey, E. M. & Campbell, F. S. (1920) TheFighting 26th Official Yd Song. [, monographic. publisher not identified,, Place of publication not identified:] [Notated Music] Retrieved from the Library of Congress.](https://i0.wp.com/www.cowhampshireblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/26th-the-fighting-music.jpg?ssl=1)
Shorey, E. M. & Campbell, F. S. (1920) TheFighting 26th Official Yd Song. [monographic. publisher not identified, Place of publication not identified] [Notated Music] Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
“MILES, FREDERICK I., 55648, White, Geneva, O,” noting that he enlisted in the regular army at Columbus Barracks, Ohio, 2 September 1915, that he was born in Shenango PA and was in HQ Co. 26th Infantry until his death. He started as a Private on 2 Sep 1915, promoted to Corporal/Musician 1st Class on 1 May 1917. He was moved into the Defensive Sector, in France, American Expeditionary Force, 14 June 1917. He was killed in action on 27 May 1918 [probably near Cantigny, France]. Cited in General Orders 11 Division, dated 1 January 1920.
Corporal Frederick I. Miles’ body apparently was removed from France, and was placed in a family plot in Shenango Valley Cemetery, Greenville, Mercer Co. PA.
PRIVATE CLYDE MILLARD
Montpelier, Indiana
Died of Wounds
Clyde Millard was born 3 May 1900 in Washington, Virginia, son of David Buck & Grace (Martin)
Millard. His siblings were Lizzie, Robert L., William G., and Carl F.
14 June 1918 Friday, The Indianapolis News, page 14. MONTPELIER IND. June 14–Private Clyde Millard, age eighteen, listed in today’s casualty list as having died of wounds, is the son of Mrs. Grace Millard, of this city. He was a member of the Montpelier Boy Scouts at the time of his enlistment in the regular army in January 1917. Last October he was sent to France and has been in active service since that time. On May 8 Mrs. Millard received a message from the war department at Washington saying her son was seriously wounded, and yesterday she received another message which said he died on May 26.
The Indiana WWI Vets Database was an invaluable source that stated Clyde Millard was a member of Co. M, 18th Infantry, 1st Division. The date they state of 27 April 1918 as his death date is probably incorrect, as it is the date he was severely wounded at Cantigny, France. A WWI Army cable confirms the wounding date, and then questions the correct death date. I believe his actual death date to be 26 May 1918 as stated in the newspaper report.
Private Clyde Millard was cited for gallantry & especially meritorious service. He is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, Montpelier, Blackford Co. Indiana. The Clyde Millard Post of the American Legion was named in his honor.
PRIVATE IRA H. MILLER
Silver Spring, Pennsylvania
Killed in Action
Ira Hoffer Miller was born 4 October 1887 at Silver Spring, Lancaster Co PA, the son of Albert & Elizabeth (Hoffer) Miller. He had siblings, He has siblings Edwin H. and Gabriel H. Miller.
In 1900 he was a student, living with his family in West Hempfield, Lancaster Co. PA, with his father working as a cabinet maker.
Ira H. Miller enlisted on 3 October 1917, and was assigned to Co. I 316th Infantry to 2 Feb 1918, and then to Co. I, 11th Infantry to his death.
On 24 April 1918, the regiment sailed for France. By May 1918 it joined the 5th Division. The 11th Regiment then took part in the Vosges Mountains, St. Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne offensives.
On 12 Sep 1918, Private Ira H. Miller was killed in action in the St. Mihiel Sector. He was buried, and now rests at Saint Mihiel American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, Lorraine, France in Plot C, Row 28, Grave 5.
Thank you for dooing this.
Pingback: Not New Hampshire: The Lost Faces of World War One | Cow Hampshire
Just happened to find your website this morning, 4-4-2019, referencing my mother’s uncle, Frank J. Michael of St. Louis, MO, killed in WW1 on June 6, 1918, at Belleau Wood, France. My mother and her sisters told the story that he was the first St. Louisian to die in that war. There seems to be truth to that claim based upon the extent of the news coverage of his death in several St. Louis newpapers, which would not have been the case with subsequent deaths as the number of casualties mounted. According to my mother, Gertrude P. Michael Sick, her uncle’s picture hung in the Jefferson Memorial museum building in Forest Park (in St. Louis) for a number of years after the Great War. A VFW Post in the St. Louis County suburb of Jennings was named in his memory, along with two other Jennings residents KIA in WW1. (Miller-Michael-Dixon Post 2365, now long defunct).
Frank served with Co. D, 2nd Engineer Regiment of the U.S. 2nd Division, the Division being formed in France in Oct., 1918. The First Brigade of the Division was comprised of Army troops, while the Fourth Brigade was the Marine Brigade; the only Army division to have both Army and Marine personnel on it’s rosters. (There were no 2nd or 3rd Brigades in that particular Division.) Frank Michael served with the Marine Brigade. Companies A, B, & C served the 1st Bde., while Companies D, E & F were assigned to the 4th Bde. The major German offensive, OPERATION MICHAEL, which began in March, 1918, with high hopes of capturing Paris and thus ending the war in German victory, reached the rural Belleau Wood sector, approximately seven miles NW of Chateau Thierry, at the end of May. First and Fourth Brigades arrived in that area May 30th and later. The Engineer companies were some of the first to arrive and immediately began preparing defensive positions for the Infantry. Skirmishing, German artillery shelling and aerial bombing of American positions began immediately. On June 6th at zero dark thirty (approximately 3:45am), the Marines of the Fourth Brigade rose from their lines and attacked the Woods, and later, nearby towns. Frank Michael, serving as an infantryman, was killed later that day by artillery shellfire at the nearby Triangle Farm, a small family-owned farm.
Until the Battle of Belleau Wood, it was standard procedure for army engineers, doing their engineer work prior to a battle, to put down their tools and pick up their rifles to serve as infantrymen once the fighting commenced. As a result of that battle and the losses suffered by the engineer companies, Army policy changed and directed that skilled engineers would no longer be commonly and routinely used as infantrymen unless dire circumstances required it. Apparently, the training and work of the engineers was more highly valued than those of ordinary gravel agitators, pebble pushers and foot sloggers (the infantrymen).
Frank Michael was first buried in a cramped, temporary military cemetery near the battle area, with named wooden crosses. At the request of his family, his body was returned home to St. Louis and he was reburied at the newly established Memorial Park Cemetery, a couple of mile from his home, in September, 1921. Because his family was not allowed to view the remains, his angered mother insisted till her death in 1931 that the casket contained only dirt or rocks, and not the body of her son.
Frank Michael was very proud to be directly involved in that epic, historic war. According to his letters to family, though he missed his home and family, he absolutely did not want to come home “till it was over, over there.” He wrote in a letter that he was quite pleased to be awarded his gold-colored 6-month combat chevron, which he wore proudly on the lower sleeve of his uniform. His final rank is recorded in some documents as “private,” and in others as “private first class.”