Private, Co L, 147th Infantry, 37th Division.
Killed in action near Ivoiry, France, September 29, 1918. Age 31.
Town: Alabama (also Allegany, Livingston, and Erie Counties; see text)
Burial: Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Plot F Row 4 Grave 21, Romagne, France
Carl Eugene Bird can conceivably be called a Genesee, Erie, Livingston, and Allegany County soldier.
Born on March 3, 1887, in Grove (Allegany County), New York, Bird is listed on the November 13, 1918 Syracuse Journal casualty list as from Swains (actually Swain), a hamlet of Grove. The 1892 NY, 1900 US, and 1905 NY censuses show him living with his parents (Michael and Ina) and brothers and sisters in Burns, yet another Allegany County town. The 1910 US Census, however, lists his family—but not Carl—living in Nunda (Livingston County), New York. A November 14, 1968 Nunda News “50 Years Ago” entry says he was formerly from Chautauqua Hollow, which is a community near Nunda. The November 23, 1917 Batavia Daily News and September 29, 1917 Batavia Times say he was from Akron, New York, which is in eastern Erie County.
At the time he was inducted, however, Bird appears to have been living and working in Alabama (Genesee County), New York. His residence is listed as such on the NY Roll of Honor, his NYSS, and on Genesee County’s 1917 “Militia Enrollment List” (which gives his residence as Alabama, his street address as RFD 4 Akron, and his occupation as farm hand). Bird registered for the draft in Genesee County and was a member of the county’s third draft contingent, which left for Camp Dix, home of the 78th Division, on November 23, 1917. He can justifiably be included here as a Genesee County soldier.
Private Bird was initially assigned to the 78th Division’s 153rd Depot Brigade, a training unit for draftees, but in early June, 1918, he was transferred to Company L of the 147th Infantry, part of the 37th Division. By the end of June the division had arrived in France.
There is some uncertainty over the exact date on which Private Bird was killed. A searcher’s report in his Burial Case File gives the date as September 26, 1918, quoting this eyewitness account from Edward Schmidt, of the 147th Infantry’s Medical Company: “I was called to administer first aid to Pvt. Carl E. Bird at about 2:30 P.M. Sept 26, 1918. No wound was visible, but blood was flowing from nose and mouth. His limbs were paralyzed. He was removed to first aid station where physician pronounced it to be a fracture of the base of the skull. He died about 9:30 P.M. Sept 26th, 1918. He was buried on battle field near Ivory [sic] France on Sept 27, 1918.”
Undoubtedly Bird was in the thick of combat on September 26, 1918, the first day of the Allies’ Meuse-Argonne offensive, when the 37th Division, as the center thrust of the American First Army’s V Corps, attacked northwest from Avocourt. Bird’s 3rd Batallion, 147th Infantry, on the left center of the leading assault wave, advanced against machine-gun fire through the Bois de Montfaucon and Bois Chemin before taking up and holding positions at Tranchée du Crocodile, just south of the village of Ivoiry.
All other sources, however, including the remaining documents in Bird’s Burial Case File, give September 29 as the day he was killed. At 7 a.m. on that date, the 147th Infantry attacked toward Cierges and Gesnes from Bois Emont, which is about two to three kilometers northwest of Ivoiry, against high-explosive, gas, and shrapnel barrages and strong machine-gun and trench-mortar fire. The 37th Division was relieved from the front lines on the following day, September 30.
Because September 29, 1918, is the date given for Bird’s death in all official sources except for one, that is the date used here. It should be noted, however, that other documents in Bird’s Burial Case File agree that he was buried on the battlefield near Ivoiry, which was indeed the scene of fighting on September 26. Regardless of the accuracy of the dates in the eyewitness account, the details given of Private Bird’s death are probably correct.
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Source: New York Service Summary from Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919, NY State Archives, Albany, New York
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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri
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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri
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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri
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Carl E Bird headstone, Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Plot F Row 4 Grave 21, Romagne, France
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Carl E Bird Sources:
– County Lists 2, 3
– Sep 29, 1917 BT p6 c3
– Nov 23, 1917 BD p1 c7
– Nov 13, 1918 Syracuse Journal p11 c4
– Dec 19, 1929 Fredonia Censor p5 c4
– Nov 14, 1968 Nunda News p5 c2-3
– “New York State Census, 1892.” Online index and images, FamilySearch.org. Entry for Carl E. Bird, age 5, citing Census Records, Burns, E.D. 01, Allegany, New York; page number 12.
– “United States Census, 1900.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entry for Michael Bird (head) and Karl [misspelling of Carl] Bird (son, age 13), citing Census Records, Burns (Canaseraga Village), Allegany, New York; sheet number 2, line numbers 31 and 36, microfilm series T623, Roll 1008, page 158.
– “New York State Census, 1905.” Online index and images, FamilySearch.org. Entry for Carl Bird, age 18, citing Census Records, Burns (Canaseraga Village), E.D. 01, Allegany, New York; page number 14, line number 24.
– “United States Census, 1910.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entry for Michael Bird (head) and family, citing Census Records, Nunda, Livingston, New York; sheet number 7B, line numbers 66-73, microfilm series T624, Roll 987, page 32.
– “Militia Enrollment List” (Genesee County, 1917), p B14
– NYSS
– Roll of Honor (NY State), p 64
– WWI database, American Battle Monuments Commission website (www.abmc.gov/search/wwi.php)
– World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Ancestry.com)
– 37th Division, Summary of Operations in the World War, pp 4, 8-18
– United States Army in the World War 1917-1919 (Vol. 9), pp 128-84
– Final Report of Gen. John J. Pershing, Document No. 626, Government Printing Office, Washington DC 1920, pp 46-47
– BCF
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