The Lost Faces of World War One — Part Three

This is the continuation of a series of stories about men who died in World War 1, and whose photographs appeared in a publication called “Our Nation’s Roll of Honor.” The original post and explanation can be found at this link.  There will also be a complete listing of all the names researched at that same blog post.

THE LOST FACES OF WORLD WAR ONE: Our Nation’s Roll of Honor (Part 3)

Private Bernard H. Bolt
South Bethlehem PA
Died of Wounds

Bernard Herman Bolt was born 9 Nov 1898 Germany, and died of wounds 29 May 1918 in France.  He was the son of Friedrich Carl Gustav & Wilhelmine Friederike Marie Sophie (Meinke) Bolte, and he immigrated to the United States about 1903 with his family.

In March (29) of 1918, “he was one of an American patrol, officer, sergeant and 3 men who took four prisoners from a German outpost position. Quietly slipped up behind and covered six Germans. One was Bernard Bolt of South Bethlehem PA.”  –Colorado Springs Gazette, April 1, 1918, page 8.   He was awarded the French War Cross for aiding in this capture.

Bernard H. Bolt’s dates of service was from 21 October 1916 to his death date of 29 May 1918.  Reportedly he served in Co. K. 34th Regt US Infantry, and Co. K, 28th Regt US Infantry (his tombstone shows this latter company).  The official history of the 28th Infantry Regiment in WW1 shows at the time of his death, his company was involved in the first American offensive of the war,  near Cantigny, France, begun on May 28,1918.

The June 13, 1918 Evening Public Ledger newspaper of Philadelphia PA noted that he was “injured in action with Pershing’s forces in France,” and that he had died of his injuries.   He was buried in Fountain Hill Cemetery, Lehigh County, PA [see an additional photograph]

In 1910 he was living in East Allen, Northampton Co. PA with his family. He was single, but besides his parents, at the time of his death he left behind siblings: Ernest J. Bolt, Adolph K. Bolt, William H. Bolt, Mada, Bolt, and Erma L. Bolt.

Corporal Charles O. Brown
Poplar Bluff, MO
Killed in Action

Charles O. “Charley” Brown, was born 27 May 1896 in Missouri, son of John Thomas & Edna A. (Foss) Brown of Poplar Bluff, Butler Co., Missouri. A series of newspaper reports tell the story of tragedy.

Saturday, June 15, 1918 Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock) page 8 –IS KILLED IN ACTION
Special to the Gazette. Poplar Bluff Mo., June 14.–According to a message received today by Mrs. J.T. Brown from Adjutant General McCain, Corp. Charles O. Brown, a Poplar Bluff boy, was killed in action during the battle of the Marne on June 4. Corporal Brown was with the first detachment sent to France from Poplar Bluff. Some time ago he was gassed and was out of the hospital only a short time before he was killed.

July 16, 1918 Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock) page 2 TO HONOR DEAD HERO.
Poplar Bluff Mo. July 15–A movement is on foot here for funds to erect a monument in the public square in honor of Charles O. Brown the first Poplar Bluff boy killed in action in France. E.C. Graham is at the head of the movement. [I could not find a record of this monument, or if it was ever erected, however a monument was much later erected to honor the dead of several wars.].

Thursday, October 24, 1918 Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock AK) p. 2 — KILLED BY HUN MINE.  C.O. Brown of Poplar Bluff Victim of German Treachery. Poplar Bluff Mo., Oct. 23.–Mrs. J.T. Brown today received a letter from Capt. J.B. Cook in France, giving an account of the death of her son, Corporal Charles O. Brown, who was killed during the battle of the Marne. The letter in part follows: “Your son, Corporal O. Brown, Company H., 18th Infantry, died of wounds received in action at 1:10 a.m., June 4, 1918. He was wounded at about 11:40 p.m. on June 3, in the front line trench at Chateau Grivesnes, France, by a German grenade, while he was in charge of a working party digging trenches. “The trench your son was working on recently had been taken from the Germans and the men were repairing the trench when one of them hit a trap set by the Germans with his pick, injuring four men, of whom your son was one. The trap was set by the Huns and buried, and the men working in the dark could not see it. All work in the front lines has to be done at night, or the enemy would shell all working parties. Your son was an excellent soldier and a good squad leader.”

In 1921 his body was returned to the United States for reburial at Woodlawn Cemetery in Poplar Bluffs, Missouri. Wednesday, April 6, 1921, Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock AK) page 8 — TO BURY HERO. Poplar Bluff Mo., April 5.–Funeral services for Corp. Charles O. Brown, first  Poplar Bluff boy killed in action during the World war, will be held tomorrow. Mayor J.W. Berryman issued a proclamation today setting two hours tomorrow afternoon as a holiday, during which time the funeral services will be held. All business in the city will stop so that all persons may pay their respects to the dead hero.

The local American Legion post was named for Brown. Post 153 Brown-Mabry [Charter Date: Sept 1 1924, American Legion 100th anniv 1919-2019].

Charles O. Brown was single, but besides his parents, he left behind siblings: Dewey Grant Brown, Effie A. Brown, Mary Lucreacie “Creacie” Brown,  and Georgie O. Brown.

Private Samuel Butchalter [Buchalter]
Colchester, CT
Killed in Action

Samuel “Sam” Buchalter was born 1/2 January 1894 in Selets [Seltz], Belarus, Russia, son of Naftali/Nathan & Rebecca (Litchitsky) Buchalter.  He immigrated with his family to the United States. His father was a blacksmith and in 1910 the family was living in Salem, New London Co., Connecticut.

Samuel Buchalter enlisted in the regular army at Ft. Slocum, NY on July 7, 1917, at the age of 23 years. He was in Co. M 55 Infantry from July 18 1917 to Aug 21, 1917;  2nd Co Training Battalion 26th Infantry to February 2 1918; Co. D 26 Infantry to death. Rank: Private. He was Killed in Action May 29, 1918 at the Battle of Cantigny. He was cited for Bravery.

His body was returned to the United States after the war ended, and is buried in plot 203-5 New Jewish Cemetery, Colchester, Conn, p 105 [aka Ahavas Achi, Cabin Road, Burial Plot G79].  Besides his parents, he left behind siblings: Jennie Buchalter, Bessie Buchalter, Nathan Buchalter, Lillie Buchalter, and Bertha Buchalter.

Capt. Harry A. Bullock
Cambridge, Mass.
Killed In Action

Harry Albert Bullock was born 8 September 1878 in Needham, Norfolk Co. MA, son of Edwin Orr & Ann “Annie” Veazie (Warren) Bullock.  In 1880 his family was living in Needham, Norfolk Co. MA, his father being a dry goods merchant there. His siblings included: Edwin Warren Bullock, William F. Bullock, Charles J. Bullock, Annie C. Bullock [Mrs. Emerson Kimball], and Grace F. Bullock.

He was a well known reporter for the New York Times prior to his enlistment, and so his death and burial was greatly detailed in the newspapers as follows.

NY Times, 6 June 1918
Captain Harry A. Bullock, for nearly ten years a member of the reportorial staff of the New York Times, and later Secretary of the Municipal Railway Corporation, a subsidiary of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, was killed on duty in France, May 30 [1918]. Captain Bullock, a graduate of Plattsburg assigned to the Quartermaster’s Reserve Corps was killed by an aerial bomb which struck the portable officer five miles from the front line trenches where he and his superior officer, Colonel Bertram T. Clayton , were supervising the bringing up of supplies to the troops. Colonel Clayton also is listed as killed in action. The dead Captain was one of the first Plattsburg men to go overseas and in letter which he wrote he said that for some time he had been detailed to study the transportation problem in France. His advisers indicated, however, that for the last three weeks he had been on duty in an especially active sector of the American line. The first word of his death to reach his home in Brooklyn came in a letter which Captain Bullock’s brother, Professor Charles J. Bullock of the Department of Economics at Harvard University, wrote to Timothy S. Williams. President of the B.R.T. In his letter Professor Bullock supplemented the Adjutant General’s brief notification of his brothers death with details which he had obtained by cable….. In addition to Professor Bullock, the dead soldier is survived by another brother, Edward Bullock and by two sisters, Miss Grace F. Bullock and Mrs. Emerson Kimball, both of Concord NH.

After the war, his remains were returned to the United States for reburial.
16 April 1921: MILITARY FUNERAL SUNDAY FOR CAPT. HARRY A. BULLOCK
Sunday afternoon more than 500 ex-service men In uniform will parade as an escort of honor to the body of Capt. Harry Albert Bullock, of 6 Channlng street, former division quartermaster of the First division, A. X. F., who was killed in action May 30, 1918, and whose funeral will take place at Mt. Auburn chapel, Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o’clock. The body of Capt. Bullock, who was a brother of Prof. Charles J. Bullock, of Harvard, will be accorded full military honors. His flag-draped casket will be carried from his home to Mt. Auburn on a gun caisson at the head of the military escort. Key. Dr. William 11. Van Allen, of the Church of the Advent, Boston, will officiate at the services, and a firing squad will give the regulation military salute at the grave. Burial will be In Mt Auburn. The military escort, which will parade from Harvard square to the cemetery, will be composed of members of the Cambridge post, No. 27. American, Legion; Russell E. Hoyt post. No. 299, Veterans of Foreign Wars; George Dillboy post. Veterans of Foreign Wars, of Somerville; and the Somerville. Drum corps. Capt. Bullock was born September 8, 1878. In Wellesley Hills. He enlisted In the army in February, 1917. and first served as quartermaster at the Plattsburg camp. He sailed for France In October 1917 where he served first as quartermaster at the base hospital at Boulogne and later as divisional quartermaster of tho Flint division. He was killed at Noyers. St. Martin, by an air bomb dropped, during a German attack, following the capture of Cantigny by the First division, on the headquarters ‘of the quartermaster’s department. Capt. Bullock was cited by Maj. Gen. Summerall of the First division, in general orders issued Jan. 1. 1920, for ”gallantry in action and especially meritorious services.” Previous to entering the service. Capt. Bullock was employed by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co. as assistant to the president. He was a graduate of Amherst college and for several years was In the newspaper business, first an a reporter and later at city editor of the New York Times. His only immediate survivors are two brothers and two sisters: Charles Bullock, Dr. E. W. Bullock, of Haverhill: Mrs. F. A. Kimball, of St. Paul., and Miss Grace F. Bullock, of Brookline.

The Harry A. Bullock Post VFW in Brooklyn NY named after him.

Private Rollin M. Cannon
Westminster, MA
Died of Wounds

Rollin M. Cannon was born 27 January 1896 in Canada, the son of son of Fletcher Bent & Dorcas Ann Harriet (McDonald) Cannon. He died 10 June 1918 of wounds suffered at the Battle of Chateau Thierry, in France.  He was a member of the 18th Co., 5th Regt. U.S.M.C.
After the war ended, his body was returned to the United States, and buried at Rutland Rural Cemetery, Rutland MA.   Rollin M. Cannon had siblings Robert, Edith G., Aidan, George F., Elizabeth A. His grandfather was Mariner Cannon.  Additional newspaper clippings tell his story.

Boston Post (Boston MA) 22 June 1918: DIES OF WOUNDS
Private Rollin M. Cannon, a member of the 18th Company, Fifth Regiment Marines, died on June 9 of wounds received in action. He was one of three sons of F.B. Cannon of Westminster, MA in the service. His brother Aldran C. Cannon, 29, is in France with C Company 104th Infantry, and his brother Robert H. Cannon, 26, is in an aviation camp in Texas. Private Cannon was born 22 years ago on Jan. 27, the Kaiser’s birthday, and was educated at Rutland High School and the Mt. Hermon School and was formerly employed by the Norton Grinder Company, Worcester. He enlisted April 12, 1917.

Fitchburg Sentinel (Fitchburg MA) 27 June 1918: WESTMINSTER: Memorial to Rollin M. Cannon.
A very simple but impressive memorial service, attended by relatives and friends, was held in the Congregational church Wednesday evening as a tribute to Private Rollin M. Cannon, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher B. Cannon, Damon hill, who died from wounds in France, June 10.  Rev. Charles N. Gleason, pastor of the church had charge of the service. The members of the choir sang two selections. The ushers were members of the Cyrus K. Miller camp, S of V and were Commander Edward R. Miller, Albert E. Gates, Robert O. Hurd, and Charles L. Mansur. The members of Joseph P. Rice post, G.A.R. attended in a body.
. The services consisted of prayers by Rev. Lucy Milton Giles, hymn by the choir, etc etc. Taps by soldiers form Camp Devens closed the service.

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