GreatWarPittsburgh

Pittsburgh can be proud of one of its own citizens playing an important part in the early days of the Great War, and notably, becoming the first American to receive the French Légion d’honneur (Legion of Honour), the highest military award given by the French Government. The honor itself dates back to the time it was first established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802. The gentleman credited with this distinction was a young man from Pittsburgh named William “Bill” Thaw II. 

Thaw, only 21 years old when the war began, put himself in harm’s way numerous times to assist the French in their fight against Germany. He started the war in the trenches volunteering as an infantry soldier, flew in a French aero squadron, and ended the war representing the United States as a decorated American aviator. So how did a 21-year-old Pittsburgher get into such a situation? In his case, he volunteered for the service.

Thaw was born into a wealthy Pittsburgh family. His grandfather, William Thaw Sr. made his fortune in canals, the coke industry, and railroads. His father Benjamin Thaw, managed his late father’s estate and was himself a successful banker and trustee. His mother, Elma Dows Thaw, kept the family residence in the Squirrel Hill North neighborhood of Pittsburgh at Moorewood Place. The dwelling no longer exists, but it would have been located on the present-day grounds of Carnegie Mellon University (the Greek Quad). The Thaw Family also had a residence in New York City where the family would often spend time.

Bill Thaw dropped out of Yale in his sophomore year, took flying lessons, and began a small business/hobby of flying passengers in New York City, once even flying his Curtiss hydroplane under four of the bridges located on the East River without touching the water.  When the war began in 1914, Bill Thaw was already in France. He was there to compete in an organized race of seaplanes known as the Schneider Cup. Thaw donated his plane to the French War Department and offered his services to the French air service, but his initial offer to serve was rejected. Undeterred, he enlisted in the French Foreign Legion and served in the battlefront trenches for several months. An American correspondent with the volunteers wrote about their experiences in November 1914, “The second line trenches are rather more comfortable than the ones we have had before, as they have a fire in them. We got many good things in the shape of food that evening. It is reported that tomorrow we are going for a rest where we hone to find baths. Life is the same day in and day out. Nevertheless, it is exciting because of the danger in the presence of the inevitable shell.”

Life in the trenches did not give the young Thaw the pace of excitement he was seeking and he made his way to convince the commander of an aero squadron for an opportunity to transfer into that unit where he could provide his aviation knowledge and skills. Thaw was granted a transfer out of the French Foreign Legion and into a French aero squadron, given the role of a “soldat mitrailleur,” or soldier machine gunner. This placed him as an observer in a plane where he carried a pistol and machine gun as the pilot made runs to spot enemy movements (machine guns were not yet mounted). Some descriptions of his activities at this time report that this role as an observer-gunner inside the plane may have likely made him the first American to take part in aerial combat during the war. Thaw would serve in this role for a year, commended for his abilities, and eventually become the first American to be promoted a “sous lieutenant” or second lieutenant in the French military. Thaw was finally able to prove his flying abilities to the French superiors and was permitted to puts his flying skills to the test.

Thaw would partner with another American volunteer, Norman Prince, the son Frederick H. Prince, a wealthy American banker from Massachusetts. These two young men joined forces, with the support of other Americans sympathetic to the French fight against Germany. They convinced the French War Department to give the young Americans a chance to fly as their own squadron. The French word for a squadron is ‘escardon or escadrille.’ In 1916, a year before the United States entered the war, the French Government approved of the American volunteer squadron, under the leadership of a French commander, to form the “Lafayette Escadrille.” The name Lafayette used in honor of Marquis de Lafayette, the French military officer who came to America to fight in the Revolution.

Most people familiar with the topic of World War I have undoubtedly heard the phrase “Lafayette, we are here,” words that were said to have been spoken at Lafayette’s tomb when the United States arrived in France in 1917. These few words were an echo of the sentiment as to why the Americans were there to help the French people. In 1825, Marquis de Lafayette was actually in Pittsburgh on a tour of the United States. He was the guest at a reception given by Mayor Charles Shaler. Lafayette had this to say: “So, in the very time of the revolution, Pittsburgh has proved very interesting to us as a military post, nor can I recall those transactions, without gratefully remembering that my name has been associated with its military existence as a fort.” Lafayette was referring to a colonial fort that was located near present-day Penn and Ninth Streets. He was undoubtedly proud to have had his name attached to a military fort in Pittsburgh, and 92 years later, a young man from Pittsburgh would attach his name to another military entity, representing a group of Americans looking to honor and return the favor of his deeds.

Perhaps the pinnacle of William Thaw’s performance as an aviator came when the French government bestowed upon him the “Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.” The citation reads, “A volunteer for the duration of the war. A pilot remarkable for his skill, his spirit and contempt of danger. Has recently delivered 18 aerial combats at short distance. May 24 at daybreak he attacked and destroyed an enemy plane. The same evening, he attacked a group of three German machines and pursued them from four thousand meters of altitude down to one thousand. Painfully wounded during the combat, he succeeded, thanks to his daring and his energy, and bringing into our lines his gravely damaged aero plane and landed normally. Already twice cited in the Order of the Army. This nomination carries with it the Croix de Guerre with palm.”

One of the more striking photos that I have seen of William Thaw in France is when he is surrounded by members of the Layfette Escadrille, holding an American Flag that was made by employees of the US Treasury Department. The flag was passed to the French Ambassador via Eleanor Wilson McAdoo, daughter of President Woodrow Wilson. Her husband was Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo. Thaw is pictured here wearing his French uniform. However, once the US entered the war, the Lafayette Escadrille would later become the 103rd United States Aero Squadron. The photo that follows shows Thaw in his uniform for the United States where he would eventually be promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

After the war, Lt. Col William Thaw returned to Pittsburgh and married Marjorie E. Priest in 1921. The couple lived in the Schenley Apartment (now a dormitory for University of Pittsburgh students). He went into the insurance business but died prematurely in 1934 of pneumonia at just 40 years of age. He is buried in Allegheny Cemetery in Lawrenceville.

Bill Thaw lost his younger brother who was also serving during the war. Alexander Blair Thaw was an aviator in France and was killed when his plane was caught in some wires and the aircraft crashed to the ground on top of him. I will explore Alexander Blair Thaw’s service in a separate article.

There is no shortage of material available to read about the Lafayette Escadrille and William Thaw II. My goal here was to introduce the topic of this Pittsburgh aviator to anyone unfamiliar with his story. He was indeed an interesting man who played a vital role in a noble cause. Please take a look at the YouTube video about the “Lafayette Escadrille.” I’ll end this article with an observation by Edwin C. Parsons, a former French Foreign Legionnaire and WWI pilot who served with Thaw. “Bill was without question the most striking and popular figure on the front. There was never a dull moment in his company. It seemed as if there weren’t a man, woman or child from Dunkirk to the Voges who didn’t know ‘Meester Beel Taw’; not only know him, but love him.”

The following article was written by the late Michael Connors, Pittsburgh Historian and former vice-president of the Lawrenceville Historical Society. It appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on November 9, 2007.

The Saturday before Veterans Day, 1984, I was driving through Stanton Heights. I came across the entire contents of a house piled along a curb. Being an antique collector, I pulled over to investigate. On top of an end table covered in the season’s first snow, there was some sort of placard. Signed by Gen. John Pershing, it commemorated the service of Thomas Enright, one of the first battle casualties of World War I. He was, moreover, born and raised in Pittsburgh. It was a historical fact that fired my imagination. I launched a quest to piece together the life of Thomas Enright, the Army private from Bloomfield who was a national symbol of America’s war sacrifice.

Thomas Enright was born May 8, 1887, on Taylor Street in Bloomfield. He was the seventh child (fourth surviving child) of Ellen and her considerably older husband, John Enright. Thomas was their first child not born in their native Ireland. He spent his youth on Taylor Street. While the construction of Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall was under way, a few weeks before the start of the 1909 World Series, Enright enlisted into the very small U.S. Army. It was the inaugural season of Forbes Field when Honus Wagner and the Pirates defeated the Detroit Tigers led by Ty Cobb. By the end of his second enlistment and return to Pittsburgh, Enright had an impressive record. He had been to China, post-Boxer Rebellion. He had earned the title of expert cavalryman, fighting Moros in the Phillippines. In 1914, as part of the 16th Infantry, Enright was one of the troops in Vera Cruz harbor when seaman Francis DeLowry was shot from the mast of the USS New Hampshire. DeLowry had been a classmate at St. Mary’s in Lawrenceville. In 1916 Thomas Enright was back in Mexico. Though he wrote to his sister Mary of seeing nothing but starving cattle, he was part of the Pershing-led punitive expedition in pursuit of Pancho Villa. After a short time back in Pittsburgh, perhaps out of a sense of duty, hearing talk of U.S. involvement in Europe’s war — or a good look at his brothers’ lives as industrial laborers — Enright re-enlisted. He rejoined the 16th Infantry stationed in Fort Bliss, Texas, just in time to be sent back across the country by rail to Hoboken, N.J. The 16th Infantry, 2,600 strong, not unlike the rest of the Army, was made up largely of new enlistments. Many were expecting a Boy Scout-type adventure. That adventure began with a two-week crossing of the Atlantic Ocean as part of the very first troop convoy. On June 26, 1917, they disembarked in St. Nazaire, France, as part of the First Infantry Division. Their chief of operations would become well known to history — it was George C. Marshall of Uniontown. The First would come to be known as “Pershing’s Darlings.” The best damn division in the Army, Pershing would call them. When the French government requested a U.S. military presence for a Fourth of July ceremony, Pershing ordered Enright’s battalion from the 16th to Paris. “The first appearance of American combat troops in Paris brought forth joyful acclaim from the people,” wrote Pershing in his memoir. At this occasion, a U.S. officer to declared — to acknowledge France’s key role in the American Revolution — “Lafayette, we are here!” (It’s possible that Pershing himself uttered it.) Four months after that proclamation, the U.S. Army was for the first time at the front. Company F, 16th Infantry, to which Enright belonged, had been in the trenches only a few hours. The Germans were aware of their presence, having been informed by a French deserter. A little after 3 a.m. on Nov. 3, 1917, the Germans launched a nearly hour-long “box assault.” This was an artillery assault to the left, right and rear of Company F’s position, cutting them off from reinforcements or retreat. Across a frozen no-man’s land, 200 seasoned German shock troops advanced with the odds 10 to 1 in their favor. Eleven men of Company F were taken prisoner. Five others were left wounded. Pvt. Merle Hay, Cpl. James Gresham and Thomas Enright were killed. Hay was shot, stabbed and stomped to death. James Gresham was shot between the eyes. A few yards away lay Thomas Enright, expert cavalryman, face down, his head nearly severed from his body by a trench knife — a 20th-century weapon little improved upon since the days of ancient Rome. Scattered in and about the trench were a few German helmets and rifles. The Pittsburg (as the city was spelled at the time) Press quoted a French general: “You fell facing the foe in a hard, desperate hand-to- hand fight.”

On Nov. 5, 1917, Enright, Gresham, and Hay were buried in the country where they had died, with the following inscription to mark their graves in the Lorraine region: “Here lie the first soldiers of the illustrious Republic of the United States who fell on French soil for justice and liberty.” The deaths of these three men would solidify the country’s resolve, becoming a notorious episode in U.S. military history. Enright, Gresham, and Hay were no sons of privilege. They could have been any farmer’s or millworker’s boys. There was a spike in war bond sales. Cheeks stained with tears, soldiers fired large French 75s (artillery pieces) in the direction of the German lines with “a prayer they would hit their mark,” wrote The Pittsburg Press. A banner headline from a local paper on Nov. 5 was “Huns Kill Local Youth.” At the election night smoker of the Pittsburgh Commercial Club, plans were laid for raising funds to build a memorial to Enright. Every person in the city would be asked to contribute the number of pennies corresponding with their age. Councilman John S. Herron introduced a resolution to rename Premo Street in Morningside, where Thomas’ sister Mary lived, “in honor of the dead patriot.” “I know that if he had a moment of consciousness before death came, he was glad to go the way he did,” the papers quoted Mary. Mary wired the War Department asking for Enright’s body to be returned, as did Mayor Joseph Armstrong and the United Spanish War Veterans. Despite their requests, Thomas Enright would lie in a French grave for over two years after the Armistice was signed.

On July 10, 1921, on the same Hoboken Pier from which Thomas Enright and his comrades had departed, Gen. John “Blackjack” Pershing stood straight and square to greet the transport ships Wheaton and Somme, which carried the bodies of Thomas Enright, James Gresham and Merle Hay. More than 7,000 flag-draped coffins were unloaded from the two ships. When carried onto the embarkation pier, they stretched row upon row. Never comfortable as a public speaker, Pershing spoke with measured voice but with visible emotion: “These men who died on foreign soil laid down their lives for us. They fought for freedom and for eternal right and justice, as did the founders of the great American Republic before them. “They gave all, and they have left us their example. It remains for us with fitting ceremonies, tenderly with our flowers and our tears, to lay them to rest on the American soil for which they died” Pershing gently laid a wreath on the coffin of Gresham, Hay and Enright. On July 14, Enright’s casket arrived in Pittsburgh at Pennsylvania Station, accompanied by William Wiggans, one of the very few of Company F to have survived the box assault intact. Comrades of various veteran organizations and a squad of motorcycle policeman were present. The body was taken to the home of Enright’s sister, Mrs. Charles Trunzer, in West Etna. The following day, Enright’s casket was delivered to Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall where, like Francis DeLowry before him, he lay in state. Throughout the day, a steady stream of mourners arrived, not only those who knew him, but those who knew him only as a rallying cry. Dozens of floral arrangements were delivered. On Saturday, July 16, Enright’s flagdraped casket was carried on the shoulders of his pallbearers through the front door of Soldiers & Sailors Hall. All were alumni of St. Mary’s school and veterans of the Great War. Enright was carried down the long walkway and placed on a gun caisson drawn by six horses and taken to St. Paul Cathedral for the service. During the formation of the procession, headed by a detachment of 500 ex-servicemen from the Pittsburgh police and fire departments, “the great crowd stood in silent tribute … many wept unashamed,” The Pittsburg Press reported. The cathedral could not accommodate the overflow crowd. Thousands crammed their way inside, filling the aisles. Most waited outside while a Mass was said by Bishop Hugh C. Boyle. From Oakland, the procession made its way to St. Mary’s Cemetery in Lawrenceville, where after multiple conflicts and thousands of miles, Private Thomas Francis Enright was buried again, not far from where he had been born. Pershing’s wreath was laid upon the freshly mounded earth.

If the Pittsburgh Commercial Club did collect pennies, the Enright memorial was never built. However, the Enright Theater was dedicated on a pleasant, unseasonably mild Saturday in December 1928 more than 11 years after his death. A parade launched the opening ceremonies for the theater. The 324th observation squadron flew their PT Army planes low across the sunny sky dropping wreathes upon the theater’s roof. Thomas’ sister raised the flag to the top of the gleaming new flag pole, while the 107th field artillery drum and bugle corps from Elizabeth played the national anthem. The civic-conscious crowd stared in disbelief as the first volley shattered the windowpanes of the new box office. The last 20 cannon blasts broke dozens more windows, roaring implacably on over the screams of police and populace. In a span of less than 30 years, all of the theater’s windows would be broken again. This time intentionally and for good, the flagpole from where Old Glory had been raised would be razed by urban planners. By the time of the demolition of the Enright Theater, Enright’s tombstone had become worn and illegible — due in part to the quality of Pittsburgh’s air. On Memorial Day, 1961, through the efforts of VFW Post 897, headed by Commander Joseph Borkowski, a new stone was unveiled. Some residents of Premo Street objected to Councilman Herron’s proclamation to rename the street. Today, Premo Street is Premo Street. Along the border of East Liberty and Friendship, roughly two blocks west of the site of the Enright Theater, today sits Enright Parklet, discernible by a piece of wolmanized lumber fashioned into a sign. The swingset and slide is too small to be a park. Thus “parklet.” Off Broad Street in East Liberty is Enright Court, a group of homes built during the urban revitalization that tore down the theater and created the East Liberty circle. There is irony in the city having named a dead-end street for Enright. I asked several residents of Enright Court who had spied me looking at their street sign if they knew who, or what their street was named for. They had no idea.

It would be impossible to reflect on Pittsburgh’s involvement in the Great War without including a bit of history surrounding Thomas Francis Enright, one of the first Americans to be killed during the war. Enright was born and raised in the Bloomfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh, joined the Army prior to the United States’ involvement in the war, got out of the Army, but then re-enlisted when the United States declared war with Germany. Enright was killed on November 3, 1917, along with two fellow soldiers of Company F, 16th Infantry Regiment, First Division; James B. Gresham from Evansville, Indiana, and Merle D. Hay from Glidden, Iowa. These three men were the first Americans to be killed in the Great War.

Despite the notoriety that would be attached to these three men, an honor not wished upon by anyone, their deaths would apparently ignite a surge in the Liberty Bond drive and sharpen the Nation’s frame of mind of ensuring that its citizens were getting behind the war effort. I would venture to guess that the people of Western PA read about Enright’s death in the newspaper, learning about how the Germans overpowered the Americans in their trenches, used brutal hand to hand combat to commit their deed, and learning that some of the soldiers in the unit had been taken prisoner during the incident. It undoubtedly struck an emotional chord with many, possibly feeling that personal connection with a local boy and relating it to someone they knew who was about to head overseas to fight. I believe it may have also been the reaction to how the French people responded to the death of these men, and their subsequent burial. Several efforts have been made over the past century to ensure that future generations in both the United States and France would honor and remember Private Thomas F. Enright and the “First Americans to be killed.”

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The Enright family lived at 414 Taylor Street in the Bloomfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Thomas Enright was 14-years-old when his mother Ellen Hern Enright passed away at the age of 49. In 1913, his father, John Enright, died in Saint Francis Hospital of pneumonia following a streetcar accident that fractured his neck and femur. Enright’s first enlistment in the Army occurred on September 15, 1909, at 22 years of age. Enright was serving in the Army in 1914 when his childhood friend from Pittsburgh, Francis DeLowery, was killed in Mexico while serving with the Marines. The Veterans Administration Master Index card for 1917 has his address at 80 Dewey St, West Etna, the home of his sister Johanna Trunzer. Enright reenlisted in the Army on April 6, 1917, the day the United States formally declared war against Germany. When the Army reported Enright’s death in November 1917, his sister Mary Irwin was living at 6641 Premo Street in Pittsburgh. She talked to the Pittsburgh Press shortly after learning about her brother’s death and said that he had enlisted “eight years ago,” referring to this 1909 enlistment. However, she reported that she had not seen him in at least 5 years. Pittsburgh City Councilman John S. Herron proposed in November 1917 of renaming Premo Street to Enright Street, but the measure never passed.

The photograph of Enright’s first burial site in France has been shared extensively, and if you look closely, you can just make out Thomas Enright’s name at the base of the wooden cross with “Co F” written below his name. Although his remains are no longer in France, there are at least two memorials in France that honor and remember his service. One monument is located at the entrance to the Bathelémont cemetery. The history of the original monument placed to honor these three men is a fascinating story. In short, the first monument was placed in the center of Bathelémont, seen below in the postcard image titled “Americas First Offerings.” However, this first memorial would later be destroyed during the Second War, October 16, 1940, when members of the German Army dynamited the monument. A replacement monument was later installed and it presently sits next to the Bathelémont cemetery entrance. A more recent memorial was created in 2017 and has been placed in the location where researchers believe the men were killed. The location of the trenches was researched by the Jean-Nicolas-Stofflet Association for the purpose of placing the centennial marker seen below on Haut-des-Ruelles hill, in the municipality of Réchicourt-la-Petite.  When the men were killed, their bodies were carried off the battlefield to the nearby village of Bathelémont and buried the next day.

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In 1921, Enright’s body was disinterred and returned to the United States. On July 10, 1921, General Pershing presented a wreath to the fallen at a memorial service held at the Hoboken, NJ pier. The wreath placed on Enright’s casket would later appear in this photograph that was taken at Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery in Lawrenceville, Enright’s final resting place. A headstone was placed in the cemetery, but by 1938, it was apparently deteriorating to the point that Enright’s sister Johanna was pleading for a replacement marker to adorn her brother’s gravesite. About a decade after Johanna Trunzer’s death, Robert B. Laufer of Louisville, KY, a survivor of Company F, made a plea in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette asking for a new marker, stating that the original was “so beaten by the weather and Pittsburgh’s infamous smoke and grime, that the inscription is barely legible.” In 1961, the stone marker that exists in the cemetery today was installed by VFW Post 897.

The memory of Thomas Enright was also honored when his name was attached to the theatre complex on Penn Avenue in the East Liberty neighborhood in 1928. The address at the time was 5820 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, but the building and theatre were razed and have since been replaced by new construction along Penn Avenue.

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In 2007, Pittsburgh historian Michael Connors wrote a wonderful piece for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about Thomas Enright, which included in the heading, “Here is the story of a forgotten hero.” Not surprisingly, the more time that passes from the years of the Great War, the less Enright’s name is even remembered in modern Pittsburgh history as it was even a few decades after the Great War. And that is all the more reason that people like myself find it so important to share his story. If we can recall his name, recall his sacrifice, we can ensure that Enright and all the fallen from the Great War be honored and remembered.

My hope is that the memory of Thomas Francis Enright will continue to resonate with future generations of people from Pittsburgh, an ever so simple gesture to ensure that we do not forget this young man. Perhaps it will be the young student reading about the Great War in school for the first time, the young researcher scanning the web about stories of how Pittsburgh honored her heroes, or someone looking to pay a visit to the cemetery and the site of his burial. Nothing would inspire me more than to know that time was allotted in a person’s day to find his burial plot in Lawrenceville, only to stop and read his inscription, saying his name out loud, “Thomas Francis Enright, you are remembered.”

Continually on the search for stories about the Great War connection to Pittsburgh, I found it interesting to learn that on the day of Enright’s initial burial in France, a young officer from Western Pennsylvania was present to witness his burial. The officer was George C. Marshall, born in Uniontown, PA, then aide-de-camp for General Pershing. Marshall, a legendary figure in American history, recalled in his memoir some of the facts about the burial that took place on November 4, 1917. Marshall wrote that General Paul Bordeaux of the 18th French Division gave an “eloquent tribute to their service,” and Marshall asked General Bordeaux if he could write down what was said that afternoon. This is what was dictated:

“Men! These graves, the first to be dug in our national soil, at but a short distance from the enemy, or as a mark of the mighty hand of our allies, firmly clinging to the common task, confirming the will of the people and Army of the United States to fight with us to a finish; ready to sacrifice as long as it will be necessary, until final victory for the noblest of causes; that of the liberty of nations, of the weak as well as the mighty. Thus the death of this humble Corporal and these two Private soldiers appear to us with extraordinary grandeur. We will, therefore ask that the mortal remains of these young men be left here, be left to us forever. We will inscribed on their tombs: ‘Here lies the first soldiers of the famous Republic of the United States to fall on the soil of France, for justice and liberty.’ We will, therefore ask that the mortal remains of these young men be left here, be left to us forever. The passerby will stop and uncover his head. The travelers of France, of the Allied countries, of America, the men of heart, who will come to visit our battlefield of Lorraine, will go out of the way to come here, to bring to these graves the tribute of their respect and of their gratefulness. Corporal Gresham, Private Enright, Private Hay, in the name of France, I thank you. God receive your souls. Farewell!”

Additional photo sources:

https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=544&MemID=814

https://www.fondation-patrimoine.org/les-projets/obelisque-de-rechicourt-la-petite

https://www.facebook.com/US-Army-in-Lorraine-549466258485181hoto

This educational website was created from a desire to learn more about World War I history by actively seeking out information about the “Great War” through the lens of people who lived in Western PA, or the Pittsburgh Region. It’s been shown that understanding and retaining knowledge of a complex subject can come easier when it is associated with something that is already familiar.  Anyone who has studied the Great War can attest to the complexities of this period in history.

While doing research for my book Good War, Great Men, I had to remain disciplined on my key subject at hand, a machine gun battalion, in order to prevent myself from getting lost down a “rabbit hole” of information and potentially never finishing the book. Along that journey, I discovered many fascinating stories that I now want to go back and rediscover and research. I was intrigued by the number of times Pittsburgh, or people from Western Pennsylvania, surfaced in my past research. I enjoy living in this region of the country, and the people of Western Pennsylvania can certainly be proud of the momentous part that it played in the Great War. I’ve found great satisfaction in learning from others who have a similar passion for history and hope that I can give back by sharing my own discoveries. 

I’ll mention just a couple of other catalysts that got me started with Great War Pittsburgh. First, if Rich Condon can have Civil War Pittsburgh, then why not Great War Pittsburgh? I appreciate what I have learned from Rich’s focus on the Civil War from a Pittsburgh perspective, and the use of social media to allow others to share their family history tied to the region. As an amateur historian, I hope that I can do half as good a job as Rich in my presentation.

Second, the push came to me after I purchased a photograph on eBay of an older gentleman named André Albert Dubret, the Mayor of Nantillois, France. This commune in France was where my grandfather’s machine gun battalion fought its most difficult days during World War I. After the war, the people of Pennsylvania built a memorial in the center of this village honoring the veterans of the 80^th Division.

A 1927 newspaper article mentioned Mr. Dubret welcoming any visiting veterans, and also mentioned his wish to find a “Godmother” to his village. It so happened that a woman passing through Nantillois volunteered for the role. This woman, Katherine May Edwards, was from Pittsburgh and her back story immediately raised my curiosity. She will be explored later in more detail, but it has been my continual interest in discovering the stories of people from my local region that motivated me to pursue this website. I hope that others with a similar passion for the Great War will allow us to collaborate and learn from each other.

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Pittsburgh Woman Godmother to a Village in Nantillois The Daily Republican, Monongahela, Pennsylvania, Page 3, April 7, 1927

Nantillois, France, April 6 – Because of the ingenuity and persistence of Andre Albert Dubret (he of the grand barb) this village now has like many other villages in the Argonne, an American godmother. She is Katherine May Edwards, 4801 Forbes Street, Pittsburgh, Pa. And this is how come. Nantillois didn’t have a godmother. It was entitled to one because it was freed by American soldiers in the Argonne drive after days of fierce fighting. Monsieur Dubret was the mayor. He tired of hearing that Cierges and Landres- St. Georges and other towns had acquired this unique distinction, while Nantillois lagged. So, across the main street of the village, near the bridge over the creek, he erected a simple barrier – a long pole on two wooden standards. Every time an automobile came along it, quite naturally, stopped. And the aged mayor, peering in, asked if there might be a prospective godmother in the crowd.

Days went by and countless machines paused at the barrier. But all were barren of godmothers. Until along toward noon of a hot August day in 1926. Miss Edwards and her parents honked along on their way to Romagne. The party stopped. The mayor repeated his inquiry. Miss Edwards agreed. And now she is the godmother of Nantillois, a justly-famous little Bourg in the Argonne.

M. Dubret laughs when he tells this story. He likes to tell it. The only other story he likes to tell better is the one concerning his entertainment of General Price², of Pittsburgh. This American officer helped to dedicate the monument in Nantillois erected to the Pennsylvania troops who lost their lives in action in that sector. The General, so the mayor says, drank champagne with him – in his home and they had a very good time.

When the war broke out in 1914, M. Dubret was mayor of Nantillois. He was mayor there for 25 years, in fact. So the mayor, whiskers and all, went down to Verdun to enlist. He was 70 years old then. Now he is 82, growing on 83. The commandant at Verdun refused his services. So he streaked it out for Paris and was accepted. All through the war until the Armistice was signed he worked in a commissary depot there. Then he came back to Nantillois and obtained a godmother for the village.

M. Dubret (he of the grand barb) is on the direct line from Verdun to Romagne that The American Legion members will take on one of their pilgrimages this summer. And he declares he’ll be out to shake hands with every veteran especially – those who liberated his village while he was working as a private soldier in Paris in 1918.

¹Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute; Rembrandt c. 1916–1919, Accession number: 1997.42.3.40 © Public Domain

²Major General William Gray Price, Jr. (1869-1960) served in the U.S. Reserve Corps, entered the National Guard of Pennsylvania in 1886, and served in Belgium and France with the 53rd Artillery Brigade during WW1. He was selected as President of the Pennsylvania Monuments Commission.

The image below gives the location of where Mr. Dubret was standing in 1927. The memorial to honor those from Nantillois who were killed during the war is located in front of the home, and the Pennsylvania Memorial is located across the street. The home is still owned by members of the Dubret family. The YouTube video below pans the ruins of this home and village in 1919 and provides a then-and-now comparison 100 years later.