This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Maryland.
Author’s note: Private Fooksman is commemorated by the CWGC as ‘Private Harry Ross’, the name under which he served.
97th Battalion (American Legion) Cap Badge
Harry Ross is something of an enigma—the name under which he served, and by which he is commemorated by the CWGC, is an alias. He was born Harry Fooksman, the only son of a Russian Jewish family, both sides of which had emigrated to the United States in the late-1880s.
This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Ohio.
The grave of Private Sylvester Williams
Private Sylvester Williams was one of about 165 African-Americans—one of seven from Ohio—who served with No.2 Construction Company (Coloured) in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.[1] More information about this unit may be found in the story of Private James Doval Stewart.
Sylvester Williams was born on 19 April 1873, at Waynesville, Warren County, Ohio, to Augustus and Mary Jane Williams. His father, a farmer, was born in South Carolina and his mother was from Kentucky. Their children were all born in Ohio and only seven of their twelve offspring survived beyond childhood.[2]
At the time of his enlistment, he was working in Detroit as a brick paver, his occupation for the previous 18 years.[3] Being over-age when he enlisted at Windsor, Ontario on 8 February 1917 he falsified his age and gave his year of birth as 1881. He enlisted to join No.2 Construction Battalion—it raised a company in Windsor largely made up of African-Americans—and was allocated the regimental number 931798.
Private Sylvester Williams sailed with men of No.2 Construction Battalion from Halifax on 28 March on HMT Southland arriving at Liverpool on 7 April. Re-designated as No.2 Construction Company (Coloured), the unit arrived in Boulogne on 17 May. The majority of the unit served in the Jura region, in south-east France, in No.5 District, Canadian Forestry Corps. Their tasks involved the full range of forestry work undertaken by the Canadian Forestry Corps and other labouring tasks in support of that work.
Throughout his life and his military service in France, which was spent entirely in the Jura region, Williams had been a fit and active man but in early-December 1918 he developed a bad cold and a low fever. He felt ‘all in’ during a 2½ mile march and reported sick. After two weeks of treatment locally, he was admitted to No.7 Canadian General Hospital at Etaples where he was diagnosed as suffering from tuberculosis. On 2 January 1919 he was evacuated from France to Reading War Hospital in Berkshire before being transferred to the Canadian Special War Hospital at Lenham in Kent, which specialized in tubercular cases. There it was recommended that he be transferred to hospital in Canada. He sailed for Canada on 11 March on the hospital ship SS Araguaya and was admitted to Ste. Anne de Bellevue Military Hospital, Quebec on 23 March 1919. A medical board recommended his discharge from the CEF and he was formally demobilised on 7 May 1919. He then fell under the control of the Invalided Soldiers Commission.[4]
Although Sylvester Williams’ home address after demobilisation was given as Michigan Avenue, Columbus, Ohio, there is no indication that he ever returned to the United States. After his discharge he was admitted to Lake Edward Sanatorium, Quebec, which specialised in the treatment of tuberculosis. His tuberculosis proved incurable and he died there on 4 August 1919, aged 46. His remains were returned to Ohio where he was buried in Miami Cemetery, Corwin on 8 August 1919.
His CWGC headstone records that he served with the Canadian Overseas Railway Construction Corps. This is an error, which is consistent across many of the casualties of No. 2 Construction Battalion.[5] His family paid for the epitaph on his CWGC headstone: ‘Thou art gone dear son but not forgotten.’ The grave is also marked with a smaller, family stone.
The family marker on the grave of Private Sylvester Williams
Private Sylvester Williams is commemorated on Page 545 of the of the Canadian First World War Book of Remembrance; that page is displayed on 18 November.
The Canadian Book of Remembrance showing the entry for Private Sylvester Williams
His medals group comprises the British War Medal 1914-20, and the Victory Medal, which were dispatched to his mother, who also was also sent the Memorial Cross, the Memorial Scroll, and Memorial Plaque.
The grave of Private Sylvester WilliamsThe family marker on the grave of Private Sylvester WilliamsThe Canadian Book of Remembrance showing the entry for Private Sylvester Williams
Acknowledgements: Arne Trelvik and the Warren County Genealogical Society for the information about Sylvester William’s family and for the photographs of his grave.
Sources: Department of Soldiers’ Civil Re-Establishment. (May 1918). Report of the Work of the Invalided Soldiers’ Commission. Ottawa: J De L Taché. Ruck, C W. (1986). Canada’s Black Battalion: No.2 Construction, 1916-1920. Halifax: Society for the Protection and Preservation of Black Culture in Nova Scotia.
1. (Back) The tribute to the unit written by Calvin Ruck records 163 African-Americans, which is a slight understatement. Sylvester Williams is not recorded on the roll compiled by Ruck. Private Samuel Austin Williams is recorded as being from Harveysburg, Ohio, the address given by Sylvester Williams for his mother. In fact, Private Samuel Williams was from Port La Tour, Nova Scotia. It appears that Ruck has combined two soldiers in the roll. At least six other soldiers from Ohio are on that roll, most of whom were working in Detroit and enlisted in Windsor, Ontario:
931825 Private Thomas Cobby, Cincinatti 931404 Sergeant Edward White Hall, Cleveland 931762 Private Fred Davis, Columbus 931630 Private Fred Alvin Davis, Columbus 931577 Private Narvaez Smith, Columbus 931628 Private Edward Madison, Delaware
2. (Back) Augustus Williams (March 1833-24 July 1914) married Mary Jane (née Wornall) (March 1844-28 July 1924) on 5 September 1861. In addition to Sylvester and the children listed here, four children had been born and died by 1880. Harry (21 July 1871- 30 May 1931); Rosa V. (7 May 1875- 22 Jun 1928); Charles A. (8 June 1876-15 April 1919); Sarah Ann (4 December 1877-NK); Mary Elizabeth (later Simpson) (23 July 1879-15 May 1958); John H. (12 July 1883-15 December 1939); and Samuel (18 May 1885-21 January 1953). 3. (Back) Local records indicate that he served in the United States Army during the Spanish American War but this has not been verified. 4. (Back) Upon discharge all officers and soldiers passed to the control of the Commission if they required ‘medical treatment on account of their suffering from tuberculosis, epilepsy, paralysis or other diseases likely to be of long duration or incurable, or on account of their being mentally deficient or insane’. Department of Soldiers’ Civil Re-Establishment. (May 1918). Report of the Work of the Invalided Soldiers’ Commission. p 7. Ottawa: J De L Taché. 5. (Back) This will be the subject of a separate essay.
This essay is about the single First World War casualty commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Georgia.
“This is not for you fellows, this is a white man’s war.” [1]
The grave of Private James Doval Stewart
The recruitment of Black Canadians for service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force caused much debate in Canada. Many Black Canadians, swept along by patriotic fervour at the beginning of the war wanted to volunteer but prejudice prevented widespread recruitment. By November 1915 orders had been issued to allow recruitment of Black soldiers; it was largely ignored. Although small numbers of Black Canadians had managed to enlist from early in the war, it was not until after the introduction of conscription that Black soldiers served in any numbers; even then few made it to front-line battalions. The largest group of Black Canadians to serve with the Canadian Expeditionary Force did so in No.2 Construction Battalion.[2]
This essay is about the single First World War casualty commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in North Carolina.
Private Baxter Franklin
William Baxter Franklin was born on 11 November 1896 at Pigeon Township, near Canton, North Carolina. He was the fifth of the six children of John Baxter Franklin, a farmer, and Minnie Francis (née Penland).[1] A few days after his third birthday, Baxter Franklin’s father died. Minnie was unable to provide for the children and they went to live with her parents, Reed and Lavonia Penland. The young family moved with their grandparents to Medicine Hat, Alberta in 1902.[2]
By 1910 Baxter had returned to North Carolina and was working as a farm hand on a property at Pigeon. On 23 May 1912 he moved back to Canada and went to work as a teamster near the hamlet of Old Wives in Saskatchewan, where his brother Charles had bought land.
He enlisted very early in the war, on 27 September 1914, at Valcartier in Quebec, the primary training base for the First Canadian Contingent.
This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Virginia.
Lieutenant William Strong, Canadian Machine Gun Corps
‘This is a fight for humanity and I want to be in it.’[1]
William Strong came from prominent family in Washington DC—his paternal grandfather, also William Strong, was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.[2] His maternal grandfather, John Watkinson Douglass, had been President of the Board of Commissioners for Washington DC, as had his uncle, Henry Brown Floyd MacFarland. Reportedly, William Strong was the first man from Washington DC to volunteer to fight. He served with the Canadian Machine Gun Corps in France, before falling ill. He died in 1919.
This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Virginia.
The Canadian Book of Remembrance showing the entry for Private Charles Philip Gruchy
Charles Philip Gruchy, a Canadian, served in France with the 3rd Battalion, where he was wounded. He succumbed to illness after the war while living in the United States; his death being attributable to his war service.
He was born at D’Escousse on Isle Madame in Nova Scotia on 12 June 1880.[1] His father, Peter William Gruchy, a merchant and trader, married his mother, Eliza Lucy (née Ward), in 1874. They had eight children, of which only three—Charles and his sisters Nellie and Violet—survived beyond childhood.[2]
After leaving school, Charles Gruchy worked as a bank clerk and he served for three years with 17th Field Battery, Canadian Artillery in the Non-Permanent Active Militia.
He enlisted for service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force early in the war, on 12 August 1914, when he joined the Active Service Mobilisation Detachment of 27th Lambton Regiment (St. Clair Borderers).
Sacrifice 