Now all roads lead to France and heavy is the tread
Of the living; but the dead returning lightly dance.
Edward Thomas, Roads

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Remembering a Veteran: Sgt. Paul Smithhisler, 112th Engineers, 37th Division, AEF

Source: U.S. Army Engineering School, Ft. Leonard Wood

2 comments:

  1. Seems to me Private Burke deserved a medal too--he sacrifice himself for his sergeant.

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  2. The Belgium people honored both Sgt.Smithheisler and Corporal Frank Burke in Oudennarde Belgium in 2014. Both men's photos are memorialized in a plaque at the Ohio Bridge in Oudennarde. They plan to do another commemoration in May of 2018 at the close of their WWI Commemoration.
    It would be fitting to give Frank Burke a listing on the "Roads to the Great War" site for his heroic actions that almost certainly ended his short life. His exposure to straight chloride gas the night of his mission almost certainly weakened his ability to fight off influenza and he died a month later. He was never officially recognized for his part in the mission-much to his Sergeant's dismay.
    For more information:

    http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/psmithhisler.htm

    http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-people/diaries/1763-flanders-belgium-1918-battlefields-then-and-now-sgt-paul-a-smithhisler-a-photo-journal.html#sthash.xo8i78pU.dpuf

    https://www.facebook.com/usembassybelgium/posts/10152521416988110

    https://www.pri.org/stories/2014-11-11/world-war-i-heros-family-found-his-story-alive-and-well-belgium

    ReplyDelete