I am sure most of you know that WWI ended 11 November 1918. This year, 2018, marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the “Great War”. The “Great War” was the world’s first global conflict, which pitted “the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire against the Allied forces of Great Britain, the United States, France, Russia, Italy and Japan.”
www.history.com/topics/world-war-i
I knew that we had relatives from the Lines portion of our family in WWII (Uncle Walter Lines and Uncle Johnny Zeimer, the brother and brother-in-law of our Mother, Anna May Lines Lilley. I knew that Uncle Ted Lilley (our Dad’s brother) was a conscientious objector and served in the Civilian Public Service for most of WWII. What I didn’t know was that we had at least one Lilley family member who served in WWI.
In commemoration and celebration of the end of WWI, the DAR is holding memorial tributes to those who served in this conflict. There will be programs during the DAR Continental Congress, a yearly gathering of DAR members from throughout the United States. There will also be tributes at the New Jersey DAR spring conference. The theme of the conference is ‘Patriotism-Remembering World War I’. In fact, one of the nicest ideas, in my mind, during the spring conference is a ‘WWI Memory Wall’ and we are encouraged to bring a photo of a relative or hero that served in the war.
I was sad that I did not have a photo but I had found, on Ancestry.com, a record pertaining to Alburtis Lilley, (sometimes spelled Alburtis) brother to our grandfather, William Lilley, father of William Arthur Lilley, Sr., our father, and child of William H. Lilley and Eliza Bobbs Lilley, showing his Veteran’s Compensation Application. It stated that Albertis Lilley of Palo Alto, Schuylkill County, PA, who resided at 609 Alton Ave., Reading, Pa in 1934, was born in 1887 and served in the Army from 5-3-1918 to 5-3-1919, and was honorably discharged on 5-19-1919 at Camp Dix. This record stated that he was a private in Co. L, 109th Inf., inducted at Palo Alto on 4-22-1918. This form noted his grade as Private and his Engagements as ”5th German Off. Vesle-Thiacourt.”
I began my search by looking and finding on the internet anything about Co L 109th Infantry and found:
“The 109th Infantry Regiment ("Thirteenth Pennsylvania") is an infantry regiment of the United States Army. Assigned to the 28th Infantry Division (Pennsylvania Army National Guard). It is, and was, a component unit of the 55th Heavy Brigade Combat Team of the 28th Infantry Division.
In the First World War, the regiment arrived in France in May, 1918, and was engaged in combat during the
Second Battle of the Marne (July 14-18, 1918) in the vicinity of Bois le Rois commune, in the Seine et Marne department, as well as during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, the principal engagement of the American Expeditionary Forces during the First World War, from September until the end of the war on November 11, 1918”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/109th_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)
I also found this:
“The 109th Infantry Regiment was a unit of the Pennsylvania National Guard and an element of the American Expeditionary Force, 28th Infantry Division during World War I. The regiment, including Company L, earned the nickname "Men of Iron" for its role during the German Army's Champagne-Marne Offensive in July 1918.”
https://discover.hsp.org/Record/ead-3525/Description
and this:
28th Division, 109th Infantry, Co. L
“From its harrowing test of fire on the Marne River in July 1918 to the bitter fighting in the Argonne in October, the men of Pennsylvania’s Keystone division took the best shots the German Army had, and returned it in spades.
Black Jack Pershing dubbed the 109th "Men Of Iron" for their stand on the Marne, and the 28th his "Iron Division".
The living historians of Co. L 109th Infantry have undertaken to remember these brave men, and all the men of the AEF who went "Over There", 110,000 of which never came home.”
http://www.greatwarassociation.com/28thAmerican.html
I also found a website
http://www.314.org/Nafziger-Collection-of-Oorders-ofBattle/918UHAC.pdf
which listed the troops involved in the American III Corps involved in action on 27 August 1918 and found the American 28th Division which was compiled of, among other Brigades, the 55th Infantry Brigade, which included the 109th Infantry Regiment.
This information didn’t really tell me about the 5th German offensive or anything about Vesle-Thiacourt so I searched further and found,
http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/history/military/28thDivision109thRegt/109thhistory.htm
which has a history of this portion of WWI. I tried to determine what exactly was considered the fifth German offensive. I will abstract those parts of this article which highlight the possible engagements which might have involved Uncle Burt (as my Dad called him, although that is not nearly as cool sounding, to me, as Uncle Alburtis).
Champagne_Marne, 15-18 July 1918
“Also involved in this action were the 26th, 28th and 42nd Divisions, the 369th Infantry regiments and various
support troops.”
Aisne-Marne, 18 July-6 August 1918
“III Corps entered the zone on the 4th of August taking command of the 28th and 32nd Divisions.”
“The American Divisions which had taken part in the fighting (1st, 2nd, 3rd,4th, 26th, 28th, 32nd, 42nd) had shown what they were capable of and instilled new confidence in the Allies. 270,000 Americans had taken part in the fighting.”
“Foch had agreed to the formation of the 1st U S Army, which with PERSHING as its commander (recall what Black Jack Pershing dubbed the 109th)…..The army was assigned two sectors, the first a temporary one in the Chateau-Thierry area where I and III corps were assigned, then a quiet sector in the east, a sector which would become the U S 1st Army’s first combat zone.."
“With the situation on the Vesle (note the Vesle in the Vesle-Thiacourt notation on Uncle Alburtis’ application) stabilized, Foch agreed on the 9th of August to allow Pershing to form his Army in the St. Mihiel sector. While three US Divisions would remain on the Vesle…..”
“The 28th and 77th Divisions belonged to the American III corps. It was part of the French Sixth Army to the east of Soissons. In late August it held the western part of the Vesle River sector extending from Braine to Courlandon………The Germans pulled back from Vesle northward to the Aisne valley in Early September. The III Corps followed, carrying out a series of local attacks…..”
In Palo Alto, Pennsylvania, where Albertis was born, there is a plaque listing the names of those who served in the armed forces. Albertis' name is listed with those who served in WWI.
www.history.com/topics/world-war-i
I knew that we had relatives from the Lines portion of our family in WWII (Uncle Walter Lines and Uncle Johnny Zeimer, the brother and brother-in-law of our Mother, Anna May Lines Lilley. I knew that Uncle Ted Lilley (our Dad’s brother) was a conscientious objector and served in the Civilian Public Service for most of WWII. What I didn’t know was that we had at least one Lilley family member who served in WWI.
In commemoration and celebration of the end of WWI, the DAR is holding memorial tributes to those who served in this conflict. There will be programs during the DAR Continental Congress, a yearly gathering of DAR members from throughout the United States. There will also be tributes at the New Jersey DAR spring conference. The theme of the conference is ‘Patriotism-Remembering World War I’. In fact, one of the nicest ideas, in my mind, during the spring conference is a ‘WWI Memory Wall’ and we are encouraged to bring a photo of a relative or hero that served in the war.
I was sad that I did not have a photo but I had found, on Ancestry.com, a record pertaining to Alburtis Lilley, (sometimes spelled Alburtis) brother to our grandfather, William Lilley, father of William Arthur Lilley, Sr., our father, and child of William H. Lilley and Eliza Bobbs Lilley, showing his Veteran’s Compensation Application. It stated that Albertis Lilley of Palo Alto, Schuylkill County, PA, who resided at 609 Alton Ave., Reading, Pa in 1934, was born in 1887 and served in the Army from 5-3-1918 to 5-3-1919, and was honorably discharged on 5-19-1919 at Camp Dix. This record stated that he was a private in Co. L, 109th Inf., inducted at Palo Alto on 4-22-1918. This form noted his grade as Private and his Engagements as ”5th German Off. Vesle-Thiacourt.”
I began my search by looking and finding on the internet anything about Co L 109th Infantry and found:
“The 109th Infantry Regiment ("Thirteenth Pennsylvania") is an infantry regiment of the United States Army. Assigned to the 28th Infantry Division (Pennsylvania Army National Guard). It is, and was, a component unit of the 55th Heavy Brigade Combat Team of the 28th Infantry Division.
In the First World War, the regiment arrived in France in May, 1918, and was engaged in combat during the
Second Battle of the Marne (July 14-18, 1918) in the vicinity of Bois le Rois commune, in the Seine et Marne department, as well as during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, the principal engagement of the American Expeditionary Forces during the First World War, from September until the end of the war on November 11, 1918”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/109th_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)
I also found this:
“The 109th Infantry Regiment was a unit of the Pennsylvania National Guard and an element of the American Expeditionary Force, 28th Infantry Division during World War I. The regiment, including Company L, earned the nickname "Men of Iron" for its role during the German Army's Champagne-Marne Offensive in July 1918.”
https://discover.hsp.org/Record/ead-3525/Description
and this:
28th Division, 109th Infantry, Co. L
“From its harrowing test of fire on the Marne River in July 1918 to the bitter fighting in the Argonne in October, the men of Pennsylvania’s Keystone division took the best shots the German Army had, and returned it in spades.
Black Jack Pershing dubbed the 109th "Men Of Iron" for their stand on the Marne, and the 28th his "Iron Division".
The living historians of Co. L 109th Infantry have undertaken to remember these brave men, and all the men of the AEF who went "Over There", 110,000 of which never came home.”
http://www.greatwarassociation.com/28thAmerican.html
I also found a website
http://www.314.org/Nafziger-Collection-of-Oorders-ofBattle/918UHAC.pdf
which listed the troops involved in the American III Corps involved in action on 27 August 1918 and found the American 28th Division which was compiled of, among other Brigades, the 55th Infantry Brigade, which included the 109th Infantry Regiment.
This information didn’t really tell me about the 5th German offensive or anything about Vesle-Thiacourt so I searched further and found,
http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/history/military/28thDivision109thRegt/109thhistory.htm
which has a history of this portion of WWI. I tried to determine what exactly was considered the fifth German offensive. I will abstract those parts of this article which highlight the possible engagements which might have involved Uncle Burt (as my Dad called him, although that is not nearly as cool sounding, to me, as Uncle Alburtis).
Champagne_Marne, 15-18 July 1918
“Also involved in this action were the 26th, 28th and 42nd Divisions, the 369th Infantry regiments and various
support troops.”
Aisne-Marne, 18 July-6 August 1918
“III Corps entered the zone on the 4th of August taking command of the 28th and 32nd Divisions.”
“The American Divisions which had taken part in the fighting (1st, 2nd, 3rd,4th, 26th, 28th, 32nd, 42nd) had shown what they were capable of and instilled new confidence in the Allies. 270,000 Americans had taken part in the fighting.”
“Foch had agreed to the formation of the 1st U S Army, which with PERSHING as its commander (recall what Black Jack Pershing dubbed the 109th)…..The army was assigned two sectors, the first a temporary one in the Chateau-Thierry area where I and III corps were assigned, then a quiet sector in the east, a sector which would become the U S 1st Army’s first combat zone.."
“With the situation on the Vesle (note the Vesle in the Vesle-Thiacourt notation on Uncle Alburtis’ application) stabilized, Foch agreed on the 9th of August to allow Pershing to form his Army in the St. Mihiel sector. While three US Divisions would remain on the Vesle…..”
“The 28th and 77th Divisions belonged to the American III corps. It was part of the French Sixth Army to the east of Soissons. In late August it held the western part of the Vesle River sector extending from Braine to Courlandon………The Germans pulled back from Vesle northward to the Aisne valley in Early September. The III Corps followed, carrying out a series of local attacks…..”
In Palo Alto, Pennsylvania, where Albertis was born, there is a plaque listing the names of those who served in the armed forces. Albertis' name is listed with those who served in WWI.
I still have no idea in the specific action in which Pvt. Lilley was involved. What I do know, according to his Veteran’s application, is that he ‘took a gunshot wound in his right leg.’
But wonder of wonders, in some photos that I received from our cousin Linda McKenna that belonged to her mother, our Aunt Gin-Gin, there was one of Alburtis Lilley in his WWI uniform. So I will have the privilege of posting a photo of our ancestor on the Memory Wall at the spring DAR meeting.
Here is a thought; when Veteran’s Day rolls around in November of 2018, take a minute to remember the 100th Anniversary of the end of “the war to end all wars” www.history.com/this-day-in-history/world-war-i-ends and to give a thought to Great Uncle Alburtis (or however many greats precede your relationship to him), our own Lilley WWI veteran.