Edward A Coyle - The County and the Kaiser

First Sergeant, Co H, 16th Infantry, 1st Division.

Killed in action near Soissons, France, July 19, 1918. Distinguished Service Cross. Age 23.

Town: Darien (also Erie County; see text)

Burial: Darien Center Cemetery, Darien, Genesee County, New York

Edward A Coyle was born in Albany, New York, on February 20, 1895. (Note that there is significant uncertainty over Coyle’s birth year. Both cited censuses indicate that he was born in 1893, as does the September 21, 1918 Batavia Times article confirming his death. However, his tombstone gives 1895 as his birth year, and in an August 22, 1919 letter in his Burial Case File, his mother refers to him as 23 years old when killed in 1918. Because of the personal weight of those two sources, 1895 is the date used here.)

Edward Coyle was the only son of Edward A Coyle Sr. and Josephine nee Maher Coyle. In 1900, the family moved to Buffalo (Erie County); the 1900 US Census shows Edward at age 7 and his parents and a younger sister (Florence) living in that city. Edward Coyle, Sr. died in 1904. The 1905 NY Census lists Edward’s mother at age 32, widowed and working as a dry goods clerk, with 12-year-old Edward and his sister, still in Buffalo. In June, 1908, Edward’s mother married Charles Sanderson, and the family moved to Darien Center (Genesee County), New York. Various reports in the Batavia Daily News during the 1908 and 1909 period refer to Edward Coyle as a Darien resident. At some point he moved to Buffalo; several Batavia newspaper articles from 1911 and 1912 refer to Coyle as “of Buffalo.”

Coyle travelled to California in 1913 and enlisted in the Army at Fort McDowell, San Francisco, on November 25, about nine months before The Great War began in Europe and more than three years before the United States entered it. In the intervening years, Coyle served with the 30th and 38th Infantry regiments, first doing duty for several months at Fort Liscum, Alaska, then in 1915 at Plattsburg, New York, and later, starting in 1916, at Eagle Pass, Texas, on patrol at the Mexican border. In 1917, he was sent to a mobilization and training camp near Syracuse, New York. This may be where Edward Coyle met and married Miss Lucile Brenneman (or Brennerman) of that city. In July, 1917, he was promoted to First Sergeant and in August was transferred to the 1st Division’s 16th Infantry. He went overseas on November 22, 1917, and arrived in France in early December.

At the time Sergeant Coyle was killed, Germany’s summer 1918 offensive towards Paris had been checked, and the Allies launched an offensive of their own toward Soissons. Without that city’s railhead, crucial for supply, the enemy would be forced to withdraw across the Aisne River. The 1st Division had been assigned the most heavily defended sector, west and south of Soissons. At 4:35 a.m. on July 18, 1918, the division attacked, with Coyle’s 16th Infantry regiment at the right center of the attacking line. The 2nd Battalion, including Coyle’s Company H, formed the regiment’s left flank. Advancing across rolling wheat fields, the troops encountered dense enemy fire, and took especially heavy losses when the 26th Infantry, on the left, was stopped more than a kilometer behind, exposing the 16th’s left flank to vicious machine-gun fire while in front the enemy continued a hail of bullets and shells. Hundreds died before the troops reached their objectives. “The losses had been staggering,” reads History of the First Division. Speaking specifically of Coyle’s battalion, it says, “The 2d battalion, 16th Infantry, was almost annihilated.”

Many sources, including several Burial Case File documents and his NYSS, say that Sergeant Coyle was killed on that day, July 18. One source, a letter to Coyle’s mother from his regimental colonel quoted in the May 3, 1919 Batavia Daily News, gives July 20 as the date Coyle died. But most authoritative, first-hand sources say that Coyle was killed after leading his remaining troops into battle the following day, July 19. This seems most likely to be the correct date.

Though it doesn’t name Coyle specifically, History of the First Division, describing attack plans for July 19, says, “On the previous day the 2d Battalion, 16th Infantry, had lost nearly all of two companies and all the officers, leaving the remnants of the battalion in command of a sergeant.” Sergeant Coyle’s Distinguished Service Cross citation reads: For extraordinary heroism in action near Soissons, France, July 19, 1918. After all the officers of his company had been wounded, Sergt. Coyle reorganized it and led it in the attack with skill and courage until he was killed.”

A letter to Coyle’s mother from Colonel Charles C Pierce of the Quartermaster General’s Graves Registration Service, quoted in the June 19, 1920 Batavia Times, gives a detailed date-specific account. Colonel Pierce wrote: “On July 18th, Sergeant Coyle after carrying his wounded company commander to safety and dressing his wounds, took command of the company, all of the officers having been either killed or wounded, and reorganized it under heavy enemy fire. On the following day, he successfully led the company in the attack attaining all objections [sic; “objectives”]. He later exposed himself to heavy machine gun fire while directing units in order to repulse an enemy countermarch. While in performance of this act he was killed by enemy fire.” Sergeant Coyle’s Silver Star citation gives a similar detailed description, also saying that he was killed on the 19th.

Authoritatively supporting these accounts is a searcher’s report in his Burial Case File, headed “Killed In Action July 19th 1918,” quoting an eyewitness statement from Sgt. William B Mapes and signed by Capt. Herbert S Ford of the 16th Infantry. The statement (with typos intact) reads: “1st. Sergeant Edward COYLE was killed instantly by machine gun bullets while leading his company in the 2nd;Day of the advance at Soissons July 19th.1918 bullet going through his forehead. He was a wonderful leader of men, loyal soldier and loved by all his comrades. He was buried right on the battle field of Soissons.”

Sergeant Coyle’s body was returned to Darien under military escort in May, 1921. On the day of his funeral, May 19, all business in Darien was suspended for the day, and all schools were closed.

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—— [CLICK ON DOCUMENTS TO OPEN FULL VIEW IN SEPARATE TAB] ——

September 11, 1918 Oswego Daily Times p8 c6

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September 21, 1918 Batavia Times p5 c3

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February 4, 1919 Batavia Daily News p7 c3

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May 3, 1919 Batavia Daily News p2 c5

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June 19, 1920 Batavia Times p1 c2

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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