Evening Star Newspaper, February 22, 1931, Page 72

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. T, FEBRUARY 22, 1931.° - T - FIRST AMERICAN SOLDIER KILLED While the World War was little more than a legend in America, “Eddie” Stone of Chicago was pouring out his blood for France. He is belicved to be the first American citizen to die in action. BY PAUL AYRES ROCKWELL. (Author of “American Fighters in the Foreign ‘Legion.”) UST before dawn in the morning of November 3, 1917, the Germans opened a violent cannonade on the advanced American post of Artois. New troops were in the lines before them, they knew, and information must be had. The bombarded sector was crushed. When the German raiders withdrew three men lay in the American trenches dead of rifle and revolver bullets and bayonet wounds. They were Corp. James B. Gresham of Evans- ville, Ind., and Privates Merle D. Hay of Glid- den, Towa, and Thomas F. Enright of Pitts- burgh, Pa. They were the first soldiers of the United States to die in action in the World War. Their names and their story are well known. But long before their deaths American blood had been poured into the soil of France. The war had scarcely opened in 1914 when Ameri- can boys resident in Europe and o en some living in America rallied to the tricolor of France. Many entered the Britisa and Ca- nadian services, and it is likely that some entered the German army also. These American citizens were prophetic fore- runners ©of the million and more of their countrymen who were later to go to France. They fought, and some of them died, long before their country had entered the war. It is natural, therefore, that although Gresham, Hay and Enright were the first American soldiers- killed in combat, other Americans died before them. After long study of records and testimony, I believe that the first American citizen to have been killed in action in the World War was Edward Mandell Stone of Chicago, whose body st lies in an honored grave in France. N such a maelstrom as the World War, of course, no conclusion of this kind may be regarded as final. But much study and re- search had led me to this conclusion. Perhaps publication of Stone’s claim to the honor may bring to light the name of an American who even earlier than Stone died in battle in the World War. My studies have led to the records of other Americans who died very early in the conflict. They indicate that: The first American aviator killed in action was Victor Chapman, shot during an air fight June 23, 1916. The first American citizen wounded was Edgar John Bouligny of New Orleans. He went with the Foreign Legion early in 1914. The first American soldiers killed by the enemy in Prance (not in actual combat) were victims of an airplane bomb at a hospital base at Dannes-Camiers September 4, 1917. They were Pirst Lieut. William T. Fitzsimmons, Medical Reserve Corps, and Privates Rudolph Rubino, jr.; Oscar C. Tugo and Leslie GG. Woods. The first United States officer wounded was Pirst Lieut. Louis J. Genella, who was serving with the British, July 14, 1917, when struck by a shell. The first officer wounded while serving with an American unit was First Lieut. DeVere H. Harden, struck by a shell fragment October 28, 1917. Should further research show prior casualties to any of these it will be no less honor to them. And until such further facts are established . their memories deserve to be preserved. The life of “Eddie” Stone, as that of the first American to be killed in action, deserves further notice. Edward Mandell Stone was born in Chicago, 1., January 8, 1888. Both his father, Henry Baldwin Stone, and his mother, who before her marriage was Miss Elizabeth Mandell, belonged W) resvacwt Wb QW Stone was stationed with his machine gun at an advanced point in the line near Craonnelle, February 17, 1915, when a shrapnel ball penetrated his left side and lung. Stretcher-bearers carried him back, but he died in the hospital. Research Develops the Fact That While the Honor Is Usually Accorded Gresham, Enright and Hay, Historians Are Con- vinced That Edward Mandell Stone, Machine Gunner of the French Foreign Legion, Was the First to Die—Killed Just Sixteen Years Ago This Weck. operating vice president of the Chicago, Bure lington & Quincy Railroad. Edward’s childhood was like that of other American boys of wealthy, cultivated families. His Winters were spent in Chicago, in Summer he went to the family place by the sea in Edward Bouligny of New Orleans, be- lieved to have been the first American citizen wounded in action. He was one of the first to go with the Foreign Legion in 1914, and after transfer to aviation, brought down 15 German Massachusetts. He was a proficient swimmer, and later he learned to handle a sailboat. His great sport was making short cruises along the rocky New England Coast, often in the cam- pany of Kenneth Weeks of Boston, also destimed to die fighting for France in the uniform of the Foreign Legion. Stone went to Milton Academy, Milton, Mass., and Harvard College. He was a brilliant stu- dent and easily took his A. B. degree in three- years, with the class of 1907. About this time his life was saddened by the tragic death of his father, who was killed while setting off Fourth of July fireworks at the Summer home at Mar- blehead. A little later, his only brother, a sis- ter, and his mother, all died. After two years at the Harvard Law School, Edward Stone went to Buenos Aires as private secretary to Charles H. Sherrill, United States Minister to the Argentine Republic. He decided to devote himself to a diplomatic career and went to Paris to perfect his knowledge of Prench. UGUST, 1914, found Stone enjoying the easy-going pleasurable life of pre-war Paris. When the first call to arms sounded he resolved to fight for the country which had shown him hospitality. Stone and his comrades, with thousands of other foreign volunteers, marched across Paris to the Hotel des Invalides, on the morning of August 21, 1914, and in the vast and imposing courtyard of the historic building were received by the French authorities, Then, as rapidly as the men could be passed upon by the army doc- tors, they were received into special “march- ing regiments” of the Foreign Legion, and sent away to training stations. By the end of Sep- tember two battalions were ready for the front. ‘The Legionnaires left for the war zone on September 30, 1914, as part of the 2d March- ing Regiment of the 2d Foreign Regiment. Edward Stone had trained as a machine gun- ner, and was attached to the 4th Company of C Battalion. He was the only American in his company. The first stop in the war zone was at the Camp de Mailly, a dismal place, half destroyed by the Germans who had passed there recently. Cold, damp and sunless. For two weeks the Legionnaires marched back and forth across the monotonous Champagne landscape, through scrubby pine woods and sullen fields, thrown with the wreckage and debris of battle. Stone wrote on October 9, 1914, to his uncle, Frederic M. Stone of Milton, Mass.: “I was very pleased, indeed, to receive your letter, which reached me about a week ago. I Victor Chapman, first American aviato® killed in action. He was shot in his plane, June 23, 1916, after bringing down two German planes in the fight, should have answered sooner, except for the fact that I have very little time to myself a8 present, We are now at an enormous military camp, at a place called Mailly, about 20 miles from Chalons. We are working very hard, going through exercises of all sorts, as I am glad te say that the French government has no intene tion of sending us to the firing line withou thorough preliminary training. As a matter of fact, we are not far from the front and are well within hearing of the artillery. The Germans have been here, and a part of the battle of the Marne was fought in this neighborhood. There are relics of the battle of all sorts; soldiers' graves, French and German rifles and unie forms, pieces of shells, etc. Some of the vile lages arpund here have been almost totally destro; yed. “You will be glad to hear that I am per- fectly well, and that the life up to the present time has been doing me good rather than harm.” Orders to go up to the Rheims Mountain babte tle line were received with enthusiasm. Eigh¥ battalions of Legionnaires were now concene trated at Camp de Mailly, four of the 1st Regle ment and four of the 2d. Singing as they went, the Legionnaires marched toward the sound of the cannon. They first went into line below Verzy and Verzenay, a few miles southe west of Rheims, in the fertile, smiling vine= yard country. Then the 2d Regiment was ore dered north to the Aisne region, and went into the troublesome sector facing the soon-to-bee famous Chemin des Damss—the Ladies’ Road, of bloody memory. From them on, Stone scldom saw any of his American comrades, 5 ON February 17, 1915, Edward Mandell Stong was stationed with his machine gun at ag advanced point in the line, near Craonnelle, Thé enemy started a heavy bombardment and he was hit by shell splinters afid shrapnel ballf, Rupert Van Vorst, assistant battalion surgeom, who was called to give first aid treatmeng, wrote: “I saw Eddie Stone frequently during the sig months we were together in Battalion ©O. He was always on the job and in good spirits. Heé had a lot of grit, poor chap. One day I go# a call from his company to treat a wounded man, I found Stone with a hole made by & shrapnel ball in his side, probably left lung penetrated. There was no wound of exit, s the ball, or piece of shell, stayed in. He wad carried back by my squad of stretcher-bearerg from ‘the front-line trench, where I applied the first dressing, to ‘Blanc Sablon,’ our headw quarters, and from there was removed to & hos= pital.. I did not see him any more, but heard that. he died of his wound in this hospital . « « He had some friends in the Legion who spoke highly of him to me. There was very little help we regimental doctors could do for the wounded, I am sorry to say. All we could do for them was to see they were carefully moved back out of the firing zone after a first dress= ing, You can tell his people he always did hig duty as a soldier, and died like one; of this J am sure.” o Stone died at a hospital in Romilly-sur-Seine; on February 27, 1915, and was buried in a little cemetery nearby. T !::’mwn:m cited in an order olflet‘l‘x; day of 'fl: on as “a brave nnaire, died for France.” r S R LRt R TR