From the Wilkes-Barre Record, 1918
Newspaper article announcing the death of Lt. John V. Curry, Company E, 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division. Son of Sara Curry. He was by all accounts a remarkable young man, just 23, part of the cream of the officer corps that was chosen to represent the U.S. in its first engagement of WWI. He was struck by a sniper's bullet on May 28 (the newspaper and his gravestone are incorrect) at the Battle of Cantigny.
Two years ago my son Edward and I visited Sara Curry's grave in Plains, PA and put a metal Gold Star Mother gravemarker next to the headstone. Sara lost her son Lt. John V. Curry in WWI (and her husband Gilbert to lighting in 1899) and is an incredible example of courage and strength in the face of adversity. I know the members of the Plains American Legion, including my friends Bob and Bobby Corcoran, will once again honor our vets and Sarah as they do every year.
My great uncle John's grave marker, in the Somme American Cemetery in Bony, France. He died in the first major American engagement in WWI, the Battle of Cantigny.
Thanks to all our veterans on Veterans Day, Sunday, November 11.
In May my friends Bob Corcoran and his son Bobby were kind enough to arrange a loan of the portraits of Lt. Curry and Lt. Duddy to the Plains American Legion Post 558, from the school district where they were in storage. When the paintings are restored, Bob has kindly invited me to come to the ceremony and stay with him and his lovely wife Rose in the house his parents bought from my grandmother, Sara Curry. Sara would surely be grateful that these heroes are still remembered by their community and country. Thank you Corcoran family, Board of Education of the Wilkes-Barre School District, and American Legion Post 558.
My mother's uncle, Robert Koenig, and my father's uncle, John Curry. Both were killed in action in WW1. Robert served in the German Navy. John, in the U.S. First Army, 28th Infantry. World War 1 was carnage, and pointless. Lt. Curry's story is below.
More William Britains toy soldiers wearing masks. Below is a photo of Vickers machine gun crew wearing masks in WW1. My great uncle, Lt. John Curry of the 28th Infantry, was gassed in the War. He eventually returned to duty where he was killed in action in the Battle of Cantigny. Click any image to enlarge.
Front and rear photos: Imperial War Museum.
W. Britains soldier with a machine gun.
Bobby Corcoran, who grew up in Plains, PA in the same house as Lt. John Curry, is also on the School Board there. He asked the Superintendent of Schools to search high and low for the portrait of my great uncle, John, that used to hang in the high school alongside Lt. Michael Duddy. Both soldiers were killed in action in World War 1. Sure enough, they found it. Bobby and his dad Bob hope to get it framed and hang it in the American Legion Hall in Plains. I'm so excited that they found it and that there are still people from his community that remember him and his mother, Sara Curry. Thank you, Corcorans!
Eddie and I visited my great grandmother's old house on a snowy day in March, 2010. I'd gotten the address from correspondence between Sara and the Army Quartermasters Corps after her son, Lt. John Curry, was killed in action in 1918. We knocked on the door, not expecting anyone there to remember Sara or John. No one was home, but I was wrong about anyone remembering the Currys.
The week after Christmas, 2011, Eddie, George and I went back to 102 Henry to meet the Corcorans. Bob's dad bought the house from Sara in 1939, and Bob knew all about Sara and John, and knows all about the history of Plains as well. That's Bob, George, Ed, and Bob's son Bobby in the photo. We're so happy we got to meet them. Click to enlarge.
This is a scan from the July 8, 1918 Wilkes-Barre Record sent to me by my friend Bob Corcoran. It's a photograph of the Lieut. John V. Curry Memorial Service at Wilcox Field in Plains. There's no such field anymore, but Bob showed me a spot he think could be the location shown in the newspaper. I think Bob's right. Click to enlarge and look at the house at the top right with the barn-shaped roof. Then check out the photo below, snapped 94 years later. The house to the right of the evergreen with the green facing looks like the same building.
