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yellowwing
07-06-10, 04:05 PM
WWI Marine's Remains Returned Home
Beaver Dam Daily Citizen (http://www.wiscnews.com/bdc/news/local/article_720ee888-88b8-11df-b2e3-001cc4c002e0.html)
By PAUL MAROSE
July 5, 2010

First Sgt. George H. Humphrey, United States Marine Corps, never knew what hit him.

Helen Neitzel, of Horicon and Frances Richter, of Watertown, never knew him.

The United States of America never forgot him.

On June 23, 2010, 1st Sgt. Humphrey came home.

Nearly 92 years after the guns of World War I fell silent, Humphrey was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery, but that honored, final resting place was not the first grave the sergeant ever occupied.

On Sept. 15, 1918, Humphrey and about 40 other marines crested a hill near Thiaucourt, in northwestern France and in a muzzle flash, a German machine gun bullet punched through the top of Humphrey's shallow, steel helmet and burst from his face, killing him instantly.

One more casualty in "the war to end all wars," Humphrey, who once lived peacefully on a farm near Ixonia, was not alone in the dark that September night, but incessant enemy fire from a fortified, concrete "pillbox" kept Humphrey's comrades pinned to the hill on which he was killed until the following morning.

Then, in the face of continued enemy fire, Sgt. Frank Cleland and his fellow marines hastily buried their friend's body, just as it was, in a wooded area a few yards behind their lines.

There he lied until last September, despite efforts by the United States Government and his family to find him.

When Humphrey's remains were discovered by a French relic hunter, his family or what remained of it, was shocked.

"We were all dumbfounded," Neitzel said. "We had no idea. Even if we did know of him, we had never found him and we certainly never would have expected to," she continued.

"All that from last fall has been kept in Hawaii," Richter said of remains carefully excavated from beneath rocks, soil and trees and cataloged by official investigators. "It's so unbelievable, I don't know." she said.

Said Neitzel, "My father was Daniel Humphrey; he and George would have been first cousins."

"George was there, (in Ixonia) a little while, and as he grew into an adult his father moved to Utica, New York," said Richter.

At age 28, with the United States was embroiled in war, handsome, dark-haired George Humphrey enlisted in the Marine Corps., over his mother's objections.

"He wanted to join the Marines," Richter said. "His mother didn't like it, but he went anyway."

On Sept. 13, 1917, at Parris Island, South Carolina, Humphrey became a marine, according to Hattie Johnson, head of the United States Marine Corps' POW/MIA Section, who noted that Humphrey's career in the Corps. was nothing short of meteoric.

"He was appointed corporal on Mar. 14, 1918, made sergeant June 17, 1918 and first sergeant Aug. 17, 1918. Eleven months to first sergeant. That is extremely unusual," she said.

"He indeed is a World War I Marine serving with an army unit, - the 6th Marine Regiment attached to the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division," Larry Greer, spokesman for the Pentagon's POW/MIA office said.

"On Sept. 15, 1918, he and his fellow marines and soldiers were involved in the first, U.S.-led offensive of that war, at St. Mihiel," Greer said.

The "St. Mihiel Drive," as veterans later would call it, opened at 5 a.m., Sept. 12, 1918, when nearly 300,000 United States troops under the command of Gen. John "Black Jack" Pershing stormed experienced German defenders near the city.

In about seven hours, the Americans advanced nine kilometers to the small city of Thiaucourt and by Sept. 16, the battle was over. Tragically, Humphrey was killed in its final hours.

Despite later efforts by military graves-registration teams and by Cleland and Humphrey's family, the first sergeant remained missing in action somewhere on that hillside.

According to Johnson, in 1919, after the war was over, Humphrey's mother and his brother Oliver, a Wall Street broker, connected with Cleland, who lived in Davis, Calif., and asked about the dead Marine's whereabouts.

In a letter Johnson dated Oct. 2, Cleland wrote to the Humphreys and included a hand-drawn map.

"I am not very efficient in map drawing, but have made a map as best I can which I hope will help some. He went into action from Thiaucourt which is at the base of a good sized hill. We were dug in on this hill overlooking Thiaucourt as well as I can remember as all moving was done at night and I don't remember just where the North Star was," Cleland wrote.

"We followed a road that was lined with trees for possibly three or four kilometers and then just a trail across fields. While going along the road I noticed a fire on our left which looked like a village on fire. Just before getting into the woods I have marked we hit another road alongside a high bank which we followed for probably about a kilometer until we were fired upon when we ... into the woods on our right.

"We went through these woods and your brother and I came out at the German barracks which was located at the bottom of a deep draw. There was a well in front of these barracks and from there the party moved about 200 yards north again until we found a trail up the hill and when we got to the crest, they opened fire on us with machine guns. It was there your brother was killed by a bullet going through his brain as the German fire was just clearing the crest of the hill. This hill sloped gradually on the other side and about 200 yards away there was a long pill box that was filled with machine guns, one pounders (small cannon) and trench mortars. We had to stay on this hill all day and night as there were only about 40 of us and we couldn't advance.

"During the day, we buried your brother on the crest of that hill about 150 yards from that trail. The trail of which I speak was a well beaten one through the woods. All the hill and the draw is thickly wooded and I think that most likely the trail is still being used, as boys coming back now tell about going over all the battlefields. The well will be a good landmark anyway as a shell couldn't destroy that. This place I would estimate is 12 kilometers from Thiaucourt.
"Hoping this will enable you to locate your brother."

In 2009, modern technology achieved what Cleland and the Humphreys could not.

"French nationals hunting war artifacts believed they found remains of an American soldier." Greer reported. "They notified U.S. authorities. Our team of scientists, archeologists and anthropologists excavated and recovered the remains and other artifacts which led to his identification.

In addition to artifacts, they used dental comparisons and DNA comparisons with family members," he said.

"They found George last fall," said Neitzel. "Someone was out with a metal detector, I guess. They sent us a book an inch thick from the forensics."

That book, Neitzel and Richter said, contains photos of a shallow grave run through with tree roots entwined within Humphrey's skeleton.

At the head of the grave was a rusted helmet, with a hole at the top that continued into the still-present skull.

Along the corpse's chest area were corroded clips of rifle ammunition, at its side was a first-aid kit and a few French coins along with some American pennies.

Humphrey's boots remained around his feet, their hobnails and horseshoe cleats rusted into the tough soles.

All articles found were catalogued by the forensic team and Johnson said a number of personal articles were mixed in with Humphrey's field gear.

"His wallet still was on him and in it were fragments of a New York Times article about the battle," she said.

"He smoked a pipe, which was handmade and there was a 14-carat gold fountain pen," Johnson continued, noting as well the presence of corroded, circular dog tags and, "even the pick they dug the hole with."

Johnson said Humphrey's next of kin intend to donate the sergeant's personal items to the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Va.

Despite the presence of metal items closely linked to the marine, the remains were shipped to the military's joint, POW/MIA command in Hawaii for further investigation.

There testing was performed to assure identification, after which, Greer said, "his remains were escorted from the lab in Hawaii to a local funeral home which will prepare them for burial at Arlington."

It was to Arlington that Neitzel and Richter traveled at government expense.

The day before the funeral, Neitzel said she and her sister were reunited with their cousin, Edith Scott, of Washington, D.C., who received initial reports of the discovery of Humphrey's remains.

In a letter to Scott, Maj. Gen. Gratien Maire, Defense Attaché at the French Embassy in Washington, wrote on June 4, "I read your deeply moving letter and was amazed at the unexpected turns history can sometimes take. Such a discovery, 92 years after the disappearance of your ancestor, feels like a miracle. I would like to convey my warmest thanks and gratitude to your family for the ultimate sacrifice of Sergeant Humphrey. Young men like him came to France to liberate my country. What France has achieved since then, we owe it to them.

"It will be a great honor for me to join you for the burial ceremony on June 23, 2010, at Arlington National Cemetery, the most sacred ground for military heroes like sergeant Humphrey to rest."

"The service wasn't until three o'clock in the afternoon on Wednesday. There were four burials scheduled at three o'clock; Arlington is a busy, busy place," Neitzel said. "He had a full-size casket, with a flag cover. When we came that afternoon, we could see the contingent, the Marine Band and the color guard waiting for the hearse to come.

"They led and the hearse followed. It was just very nice, but it was about 100 degrees. I like warm weather and I can't say I felt the heat - we were so involved in what was going on."

"It was very impressive," Richter recalled, noting the presence of the military and various dignitaries.

Equally impressive, was a surprise appearance by her nephew and Helen's son, Rob Neitzel. A Horicon native, Rob currently serves in the U.S. Army and was able to be on hand for the burial.

"I'm glad we went," Helen Neitzel said. "I feel he had the closure he deserved."

Said Richter, "It's all over, but it's the way it should be."


Semper Fi, Teufelhund

hbharrison
07-06-10, 04:12 PM
:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Danny C Smith
07-06-10, 05:10 PM
Welcome home Marine.
Now rest easy.:flag: