1
00:00:00,421 --> 00:00:01,930
- When I was a young kid,

2
00:00:01,930 --> 00:00:04,271
probably around ten or twelve years old,

3
00:00:04,271 --> 00:00:05,469
I found some of his stuff

4
00:00:05,469 --> 00:00:07,283
down in the basement in a box.

5
00:00:07,283 --> 00:00:08,580
It was his Eagle, Globe, and Anchor

6
00:00:08,580 --> 00:00:10,195
from his World War I uniform,

7
00:00:10,195 --> 00:00:11,028
it was his hat,

8
00:00:11,028 --> 00:00:12,615
his French fourragère that the regiment

9
00:00:12,615 --> 00:00:15,056
^had been awarded during Belleau Wood,

10
00:00:15,056 --> 00:00:16,930
^And a German iron cross.

11
00:00:16,930 --> 00:00:18,680
^So that really kinda peaked my interest.

12
00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:21,200
I really started researching him in a lot more detail

13
00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:23,864
probably in the mid 1990's.

14
00:00:23,864 --> 00:00:24,697
I of course,

15
00:00:24,697 --> 00:00:27,163
had all of his service artifacts,

16
00:00:27,163 --> 00:00:30,169
the citations and things that you see behind me.

17
00:00:30,169 --> 00:00:31,357
There were a lot of surprises in there

18
00:00:31,357 --> 00:00:32,587
to be honest with you.

19
00:00:32,587 --> 00:00:35,674
He earned both the United States Silver Star

20
00:00:35,674 --> 00:00:37,801
and the French Croix De Guerre with Silver Star.

21
00:00:37,801 --> 00:00:39,732
And that was for being a runner at Belleau Wood

22
00:00:39,732 --> 00:00:41,931
and carrying the messages through the front lines.

23
00:00:41,931 --> 00:00:43,794
I think what surprised me the most when I researched

24
00:00:43,794 --> 00:00:45,949
him was how young he was at the time.

25
00:00:45,949 --> 00:00:49,239
Two weeks after the United States declared war on Germany,

26
00:00:49,239 --> 00:00:51,248
he went into a recruiting station in New York

27
00:00:51,248 --> 00:00:53,149
and signed up for the Marine Corps.

28
00:00:53,149 --> 00:00:57,092
When they moved up to the front in the spring of 1918,

29
00:00:57,092 --> 00:00:58,411
and right before Belleau Wood;

30
00:00:58,411 --> 00:00:59,358
he became a runner for

31
00:00:59,358 --> 00:01:02,011
the Battalion Commander of Second Battalion Fifth Marines.

32
00:01:02,011 --> 00:01:02,936
In that role,

33
00:01:02,936 --> 00:01:03,927
he was bringing messages

34
00:01:03,927 --> 00:01:06,405
through the front lines between Battalion Commander

35
00:01:06,405 --> 00:01:08,423
and the Company Commanders under fire.

36
00:01:08,423 --> 00:01:11,071
And by this time he was only 20 years old.

37
00:01:11,071 --> 00:01:14,151
After Belleau Wood the Battalion commander appointed him

38
00:01:14,151 --> 00:01:15,855
as Sergeant Major of the Battalion.

39
00:01:15,855 --> 00:01:17,621
So here he is,

40
00:01:17,621 --> 00:01:18,717
a 20 year old kid,

41
00:01:18,717 --> 00:01:21,493
and he's the Sergeant Major of an Infantry Battalion

42
00:01:21,493 --> 00:01:22,326
in combat.

43
00:01:22,715 --> 00:01:26,751
Shortly after the armistice in November 1918,

44
00:01:26,751 --> 00:01:28,968
his battlefield commission came through.

45
00:01:28,968 --> 00:01:30,790
He was appointed Second Lieutenant

46
00:01:30,790 --> 00:01:33,446
and assigned to 67th Company First Battalion Fifth Marines.

47
00:01:33,446 --> 00:01:34,279
He served as a platoon commander until he went

48
00:01:34,279 --> 00:01:38,862
back to the states in August 1919.

49
00:01:39,024 --> 00:01:42,476
I think what's important when you research a relative

50
00:01:42,476 --> 00:01:45,726
who served so honorably and heroically,

51
00:01:45,994 --> 00:01:48,559
that it's your obligation to document it.

52
00:01:48,559 --> 00:01:52,337
^His service really impacted me in a very important way,

53
00:01:52,337 --> 00:01:55,390
^because it inspired me to pursue a military career.

54
00:01:55,390 --> 00:01:58,571
^I went into the Army and I spent 20 years on active duty,

55
00:01:58,571 --> 00:01:59,404
^and I think it was,

56
00:01:59,404 --> 00:02:02,399
^really from the time that I was a young kid,

57
00:02:02,399 --> 00:02:05,112
^my interest in military history and in his service,

58
00:02:05,112 --> 00:02:06,179
^and in my dad's service;

59
00:02:06,179 --> 00:02:08,255
^I think that's what really drove me to pursue that

60
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^as a career.

61
00:02:09,541 --> 00:02:13,374
When I served in the Second Infantry Division,

62
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I wore the fourragère that he and his fellow Marines earned.

63
00:02:18,869 --> 00:02:22,452
(inspiring military music)