In
Memoriam  |
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The U.S. Cemetery at Meuse-Argonne, France where five of York's Patrol are buried.
Picture courtesy of Simon Godley |
Portland Stone
Bleak morning dawns bringing a cold wind from hell,
It sweeps spectral landscapes that are riven by shell,
Men dragged from their sleep hear the cry of 'Stand To!'
And shuffle to their posts in God's waiting room.
The Angel of Death reigns supreme around these woods,
His wings beat unhindered amidst his recruits,
He's the envoy of death, he just waves his wand
selecting his platoons by the touch of a hand.
The rifles spit, the attack gains pace
grey and brown serge lock in fatal embrace,
soldiers lunge forward and are cut down by fire
cold steel engages, men wrestle in mire.
The scythe smites cruelly through flesh and bone,
leaving two hundred more names etched in Portland Stone.
Michael Kelly. 2009
In the midst of Alvin York’s exploits, it should be remembered that six of the Squad were killed. This page is dedicated to their memory.
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| The soldier standing next to York in the picture is my Great-uncle, Mack Allen Green. Mack Green and Alvin York were inducted into the Army at the same time and took their basic training at Camp Gordon, Ga. Uncle Mack was Alvin's neighbor from the Red Hill community in Fentress County, Tn. Uncle Mack contracted measles while at basic training and later died of pneumonia. He never left the States. I hope this information is helpful. Stephen Buck |
Private 1 st Class Carl F. SWANSON.
Company G, 328 th Infantry.
He was the only member of the Squad to be repatriated and buried in the U.S. He now lies at rest in Lakeview Cemetery, Jamestown, N.Y.
Carl Frederick Swanson was born April 3, 1896 in Spring Creek Township, Elk County, Pennsylvania.
He was the third of seven children born to Amandus and Carrie Erickson Swanson. In 1905 the family lived in Portland Mills, Elk County, Pennsylvania where Amandus worked in the tannery.
In April 1905 he fell from the roof of the tannery, suffered a broken back and died shortly thereafter. As a measure of the hardships placed upon the family, the local grocer kindly provided groceries to the family free of charge for one year.
The family moved to Jamestown, New York in 1913. Carl was 17 years old and with the prospect of better employment, he went to work at one of the local furniture factories in Jamestown (possibly Tillotson’s as his brother Victor worked there). It is not known if Carl volunteered for service in the Army or was conscripted. What is known that he had walked with a stoop as a young man but when he came home on leave he walked as ‘straight as a ramrod’ according to his sister Ellen C. She was so proud to receive five Indian Head pennies he gave her that were dated 1905.
A last letter was received from Carl just prior to his death. In closing he told his mother that he would have to sign off because “My candle is going out”.
When word of his death was received, his mother played the hymn ‘God Will Take Care of You’ on the piano, a hymn she had never played before.
When Carl’s body was returned home for burial, two of his brothers went to identify his remains. The only means of recognition was by a crooked left index finger.
Sometime after the war Sergeant Alvin York went to Jamestown and met with Carl Swanson’s mother at the Hotel Jamestown.
(Picture and detail supplied by his niece Karen Johnson, who has kindly sent the flag that draped his casket at his burial)
PTE. RALPH WEILER, COMPANY G, 328TH INFANTRY UNIT, 82ND DIVISION. Killed in action 8 October, 1918
Ralph Weiler was the son of Mr & Mrs George Weiler, 136 North Street, Hanover. Penn. (information kindly supplied by Prof. Mark Snell)
Any additional information on Ralph is welcomed.
PTE. FRED WAREING, COMPANY G, 328TH INFANTRY UNIT, 82ND DIVISION. Killed in action 8 October, 1918
(Top) Photograph of Fred's sister Elizabeth Wareing at her brother's graveside in the Meuse-Argonne U.S. Cemetery in France, 1930. Elizabeth attended with her mother Flora and the Gold Star Mothers. (Picture courtesy of Gregg Stevens) Fred was born in Lonsdale, Rhode Island in October 1894 of English immigrant parents. (Above right) Fred Wareing. Picture courtesy of the Wareing family. (See Burial Site Discovery for details of Fred's and the other members of the patrol's temporary graves)
CORPORAL MURRAY SAVAGE, COMPANY G, 328th NFANTRY UNIT, 82nd DIVISION K.I.A. 8 October 1918
Born Murray L. Savage 27 October 1891 at Richmond, Ontario, New York. Parents John Savage & Eliza Murray. (Information from Timothy Taylor, US Army Chaplain Museum, Fort Jackson, South Carolina)
Picture courtesy of Murray E. Pelton, Honeoye, New York.
Private Maryan Dymowski: Pictures and information to follow: Courtesy of Carol Schulties
Private William Wine: (INFORMATION & PICTURE STILL SOUGHT)
Sergeant York Project
© 2007 Worldwide Copyright Reserved Tom Nolan, M. Kelly
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