Name

Russell D. Williams

State Registered

Ohio

Death Date

2 Oct 1918

Cemetery Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery

Cemetery Burial Plot Plot E Row 19 Grave 40

Cemetery City Romagne

Cemetery Country France

War World War I Title CORPORAL, U.S. Army

Rank CORPORAL

Service U.S. Army

Division 145th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Division

Data Source World War I Honor Roll

Co K 7 Infantry ONG to --; 15 Training Co 62 Depot Brigade to 25 Oct 1917; Co D 145 Infantry to 11 Apr 1918; Co E 145 Infantry to death. Private; Private, first class 24 Oct 1917; Corporal 8 June 1918. Meuse-Argonne; Defensive Sector. American Expeditionary Forces 15 June 1918 to death. Killed in Action 2 Oct 1918. Notified Mrs. Florence H. Williams, mother, 1472 Coit Reserve Division, Portsmouth, O.

American Expeditionary Forces

https://www.loc.gov/collections/stars-and-stripes/articles-and-essays/a-world-at-war/american-expeditionary-forces/

Throughout 1917 and into 1918, American divisions were usually employed to augment French and British units in defending their lines and in staging attacks on German positions. Beginning in May 1918, with the first United States victory at Cantigny, AEF commanders increasingly assumed sole control of American forces in combat. By July 1918, French forces often were assigned to support AEF operations. During the Battle of St. Mihiel, beginning September 12, 1918, Pershing commanded the American First Army, comprising seven divisions and more than 500,000 men, in the largest offensive operation ever undertaken by United States armed forces. This successful offensive was followed by the Battle of Argonne, lasting from September 27 to October 6, 1918, during which Pershing commanded more than one million American and French soldiers. In these two military operations, Allied forces recovered more than two hundred square miles of French territory from the German army.

By the time Germany signed the Armistice on November 11, 1918, the American Expeditionary Forces had evolved into a modern, combat-tested army recognized as one of the best in the world. The United States had sustained more than 320,000 casualties in the First World War, including over 53,000 killed in action, over 63,000 non-combat related deaths, mainly due to the influenza pandemic of 1918, and 204,000 wounded.[1] In less than two years the United States had established new motorized and combat forces, equipped them with all types of ordnance including machine guns and tanks, and created an entirely new support organization capable of moving supplies thousands of miles in a timely manner. World War I provided the United States with valuable strategic lessons and an officer corps that would become the nucleus for mobilizing and commanding sixteen million American military personnel in World War II.

Post-1928_Regimental_Colors_of_the_145th_Infantry_Regiment.

Mrs. W. H. Williams

To Sail Monday as a Guest of Government for Visit to Grave of her WAR HERO SON !!!

My Great grandma

My great Grandma

Mr. and Mrs. Williams are the parents of ten living children: Minnie I., Susan A., Hazel K.. Huston S., Ethel I., Frank S., William J. S., Cary McKinley, Russell D. and Carol. Mr. and Mrs. Williams are members of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church of Portsmouth. Captain Williams is a member of the G. A. R. He was at one time commander of his post and at the same time was also commander of the Sons of Veterans.

My Grandfather is Frank S.

Russell's father

Williams, Captain William Huston

While his country needed his services on the battlefields of the South, Captain William H. Williams was a gallant soldier with an Ohio regiment, having enlisted from Portsmouth, the home of his childhood and early youth. Since the war Captain Williams has been a successful and thrifty business man, and has enjoyed many tokens of esteem and evidence of the confidence of his fellow citizens in various public offices.

Captain William Huston Williams was born in the City of Portsmouth August 27, 1840, and was the oldest son of Samuel A. and Sidney (Huston) Williams, worthy pioneers whose careers are sketched on other pages of this work. William H. Williams was educated in the Portsmouth schools, and on July 16, 1861, before he had reached his twenty-first birthday, enlisted in Company A of the 39th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. This regiment, according to Evans' History; had more re-enlisted veterans than any other regiment from Ohio, and saw as much hard service if not more and was in more battles than any regiment ever formed in Scioto County. In December, 1863, Captain Williams re-enlisted, and was with his command in all its various marches, campaigns and battles, and a full account of the regiment's services would include a general account of the war, especially in the Mississippi Valley and in the critical campaigns through Georgia and North and South Carolina and Tennessee. Captain Williams participated in the battles of New Madrid, Missouri, Island No. 10, luka and Corinth in Mississippi, Parker's Cross Roads in Tennessee, and was with Sherman's Command in all the engagements from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and also in the siege and capture of that city. Following the fall of Atlanta he accompanied Sherman's victorious army on the march to the sea, entered the City of Savannah on Christmas Day of 1864, thence proceeded through the Carolinas and was present at Johnston's surrender near Raleigh, arriving an hour before he surrendered. Captain Williams was then placed in charge of the regimental baggage and went by rail to Moorehead, North Carolina, thence by boat to Washington, and arrived in the capital in time to witness the grand review of the victorious hosts of the Union army. He went with his regiment to Louisville, Kentucky, and was honorably discharged in July. 1865, after having seen fully four years of active service. After the war Captain Williams enlisted in Company C of the Sixth Regiment of the Ohio National Guards, and served for a number of years with the rank of captain.

The war over, Captain Williams went to Nile Township in Scioto County and spent about five years in managing a general store for Thomas Adamson. In 1877 he was elected county recorder and gave six years of capable and efficient management to that office. For several years he was a contractor on public works and held the office of deputy United States marshal under President Harrison for four years. He was also assistant sergeant of the Ohio State Senate for two terms. Captain Williams now lives retired.

From "A Standing History of the Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio" by Eugene B. Willard, Daniel W. Williams, George O. Newman and Charles B. Taylor. Published by Lewis Publishing Company, 1916

Russell D Williams