Clement W. Gravelle was born [Clement Gravel] 27 May 1887 in Nashua, New Hampshire, the son of Joseph and Azilda (Benoit) Gravelle. He grew up and attended local schools, and led the normal life of others his age.
On 5 June 1917 he filled out a World War Registration form where he describes himself as tall, medium build with brown eyes and black hair. At that time he was living at 137 W. Hollis St., in Nashua, working as a teamster for Gaudette & Son. He also mentioned that he served for 6 months as a Corporal in the New Hampshire National Guard.
He, like many in the local National Guard, were mustered into the United States Army when WWI broke out. He was a member of Co. D, 103rd Infantry. He was not in France very long before he was on the battlefield, where he fell to gas poisoning, 10 May 1918. He was buried near the battlefield.
Photograph showing a cloud of poisonous gas produced by mobile cylinders during WWI, National Library of Medicine.
When the war was over, his body was returned home to his native soil. He was buried in St. Aloysius Cemetery, in Nashua, New Hampshire. A hero at rest. His name can be found on the Honor Roll in Doric Hall of the New Hampshire State House.
(Obituary) GRAVELLE Sgt. Clement W. Sergeant Gravelle was the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Gravelle and was a native of Nashua. He was 32 years of age and had been in military work for a number of years as a member of old Company D. He served through the Mexican trouble with this company of the New Hampshire regiment and won his way from a private to sergeant during that trip of duty. He came from a family of soldiers, as he had three more brothers that have seen service, two of them are now in the government service: Lieut. Fred Gravelle of the 103rd of which the deceased was a member; Henry Gravelle, who has been in a Washington D.C. hospital since the Spanish-American war, in which he took part and Jeremiah Gravelle of Perryville MD who is working for the government. Two other brothers, Horace and John B. Gravelle of this city, also two sisters also of Nashua, Mrs. Gaudette and Mrs. Adelphe Dupont. From the information at hand it would seem that Sergeant Gravelle was killed in the May 10 action. from Nashua Telegraph May 16, 1918.
See New Hampshire WWI Military: The Heroes of Nashua for a listing of all military who died from the city of Nashua.
[Editor’s Note: this story is part of an on-going series about heroic New Hampshire men and women of World War I. Look here for the entire listing].
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I’ve said before how important I think these posts are. I’m curious whether you hear from descendants or relations of these men who are researching their service and what kind of response you get.
I have heard from a couple, through email or by a comment on Facebook in one of the groups where I post, rather than a post on this blog. Most of these men were not married, and so they were uncles or cousins of the people who have contacted me. As Veterans Day gets closer, people are more apt to be “googling” their names and hopefully their photo and stories will be reunited with family. Thanks Michael for reading and commenting!