Honoring Alabama Veterans

October 23, 2018

Special Feature

Brought to you by: Community Partner Tom Douglass, TomDouglassRealtor.com

Honoring Alabama Veterans, World War I. In honor of the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War I (WWI), we recognize some of the Alabama Veterans who served us during WWI. Details of their service are a part of the Register of Honor at the Veterans Shrine at The American Village. “These veterans are representative of the hundreds of thousands of Alabamians who have risked it all for the sake of our country and its freedom,” said American Village founder and CEO Tom Walker. “To all veterans we owe a debt we can never fully repay.”

Marine Private Claude Talmage Abbott of Cullman; killed in action at the Battle of Belleau in France June 11, 1918; posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre with gilt star by the government of France.

Army First Lieutenant Roland Lee Adams of Auburn; died in 1918 on the front line in France; received the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism.

Army Private Hugh Bagley of Talladega County; died on Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, of methane gas that penetrated his gas mask.

Army Private First Class Charlie M. Bonnell of La Pine; an orphan who died of wounds while serving in France in 1919.

Army Private Marion Andrew Brackin of Hedley; member of Co. L, 149^thand Co. H 163^rdInfantry.

Army Corporal Edgar Hubbard Freeman of Montevallo; member of the 187^thU.S. Infantry, the Rainbow Division; survived being shot in the back by a German sniper.

Army Sergeant Merida M. Gilbert of Oak Grove; died in the great influenza pandemic of 1919 after serving four years in Panama.

Navy Fireman Third Class Henry Curtis Godwin of Ozark; died February 19, 1918 of pneumonia at the Naval hospital in Norfolk.

Army Corporal James C. Hendrick of Montevallo; killed in action July 26, 1918.

Navy Seaman Osmond Kelley Ingram of Pratt City; killed on Oct. 15. 1917 aboard the U.S.S. Cassin when it came under submarine attack; posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and Purple Heart for bravery in saving his crew at the loss of his own life.

Navy Commander Samuel E. Johnson of Clanton; served in WWI and WWII.

Army Corporal William C. Jones of Six Mile; served in Battery E, 117^thField Artillery in WWI. His three children also served in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Navy Seaman Forman Austin Maze of Odenville; killed along with 305 other crewmen aboard the U.S.S. Cyclops on March 4, 1918 during a voyage to refuel British ships.

Army Corporal William Manuel McCaig of Russellville.

Navy Lieutenant John Tillman Melvin of Selma; first Naval officer killed in WWI. His ship, the U.S.S. Alcedo, was torpedoed and sank off the coast of France in 1917.

Marine Corporal Gordon M. Mercer of Demopolis; killed in action at the Battle of Belleau in France June 6, 1918.

Army Captain Harry G. Mouat of Birmingham; served in the 341^stInfantry stateside and the 36^thDivision in France; continued in the Army Reserve over 20 years.

Navy Seaman Joseph Mott Reynolds of Birmingham; served a year before being called home following his father’s death.

Army Private First Class James Joel Riley of Guin; died of disease November 7, 1918, while traveling to the front lines in France.

Navy Chief Petty Officer Ezra Hennigan Sessamen of Birmingham; served on a submarine chaser between Miami, Key West and the Bahamas during WWI.

Army Private Horace “Happy” Usry of Ohatchee.

Army Sergeant Ernest F. Walker of Fayette; sailed for France on June 10, 1918; assigned to the casualty division and reported the dead and wounded of the Battle of Bourges. His father died while he was at sea.

Army Private First Class Michael Assad Zataney, born in Syria; an optometrist in Birmingham who was mortally wounded on November 11, 1918 – just 13 hours before the signing of the armistice that ended WWI.

Help us honor, recognize, respect and remember our country’s veterans. Visit www.veteransregisterofhonor.com today and add your loved ones to the Register of Honor. †