Private, Co I, 108th Infantry, 27th Division.
Died of wounds near Poperinghe, Belgium, August 25, 1918. Age 25.
Town: LeRoy
Burial: St. Francis Cemetery, LeRoy, Genesee County, New York
Leo A Fiorito was born in Holley (Orleans County), New York, on September 7, 1892, and moved with his family as a child to LeRoy (Genesee County). He was one of seven children (brothers Isadore, Thomas, John, and Anthony; sisters Mary and Lena) of Joseph Fiorito and Mary nee Padony Fiorito. The couple emigrated from Italy to the United States in 1886. The 1900 US Census shows Leo at age 8 living in LeRoy with his parents and three siblings, including a new sister, one-year-old Concella, who’s listed in later censuses as Lena. Leo’s father is listed as a laborer. The 1915 NY Census shows the family, including 22-year-old Leo and five siblings, at 19 Erie Street in LeRoy. Leo’s father and two brothers, Isadore and Thomas, are listed as quarry workers, while Leo is shown as a laborer for the Genesee Pure Food Company. His draft registration card indicates that he was still working at the Genesee Pure Food Company in LeRoy when he registered for the draft on June 5, 1917. Five days later, on June 10, 1917, he enlisted in Buffalo in the New York National Guard’s 74th Regiment.
In mid-July, 1917, all National Guard units were called into federal service, and at the end of September Fiorito was sent with the 74th Regiment to Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina, where the unit became part of the 27th Division’s 108th Infantry. On May 17, 1918, Fiorito’s Company I, along with the rest of the 3rd Battalion of the 108th Infantry, left for overseas from Newport News, Virginia, aboard USS President Grant.
In early July, 1918, in anticipation of a strong German assault, the 27th Division, as part of the British XIX Corps, was assigned a section of the East Poperinghe Line, part of a defensive system southwest of Ypres, Belgium, in the Dickebush Lake/Scherpenberg sector. The troops were under almost constant enemy pressure. “The experience of officers and men during the months of July and August,” reads Volume 1 of The Story of the 27th Division, “included constant harassing shell fire in the back areas, almost nightly bombing from enemy planes, constant machine gunning and sniping for those in the forward trenches, with frequent patrolling and raids.” A few days before Private Fiorito died, the 108th Infantry was ordered to move into reserve positions nearer the front line.
All sources agree that Private Fiorito died of wounds on August 25, but there is some uncertainty over the date on which he received his wounds. Initial reports, based on a letter dated August 25 that his parents received from an Army chaplain who was with him when he died (see the September 18, 1918 LeRoy Gazette-News) indicated he’d been wounded the day before, August 24. However, a later official statement, reported in the September 25, 1918 Batavia Daily News, stated that he’d been severely wounded on August 25. This is supported by daily event summaries printed in Appendix B of The Story of the 27th Division (Volume 2). For the 108th Infantry, 3rd Battalion, August 24 (page 773), all that is noted is “one casualty (wound).” For August 25, the report for the 108th Infantry, 3rd Battalion (page 774) reads: “Report five bombs dropped by enemy aeroplane, one striking billets inflicting five casualties (two killed, three wounded, two severely).” A searcher’s report in Private Fiorito’s Burial Case File reads simply, “Killed by enemy aero bomb Aug 25/18 East Poperinghe Line.”
Initial newspaper reports gave Private Fiorito’s age as 23, but the birth date on his draft registration card and his age on censuses indicate that he was 25, not quite two weeks shy of his 26th birthday, when he was killed. Today, LeRoy’s American Legion Botts-Fiorito Post #576 bears his name and that of another fallen LeRoy WWI soldier, George Botts.
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September 18, 1918 LeRoy Gazette-News p1 c4
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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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Leo A Fiorito headstone, Saint Francis Cemetery, Genesee County, LeRoy, New York
GPS Coordinates: Lat 42° 58’ 3.41” N, Long 77° 59’ 10.919” W (DD: 42.967614, -77.986366)
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Leo A Fiorito Sources:
– All County Lists
– Sep 13, 1918 BD p1 c6-7*
– Sep 14, 1918 BD p7 c3
– Sep 14, 1918 BT p1 c6
– Sep 18, 1918 LG p1 c4
– Sep 25, 1918 BD p2 c3
– Nov 11, 1918 BD p3 c3
– Nov 13, 1918 LG p4 c3
– Jan 12, 1921 LG p6 c5
– “United States Census, 1900.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Joseph Fiorito [indexed Frosito] (head) and Leo (son, age 8), citing Census Records, LeRoy township, Genesee, New York; sheet number 3, line numbers 33 and 37, microfilm series T623, Roll 1038, page 236.
– “New York State Census, 1915.” Online index and images, Ancestry.com. Entry for Leo Frito [Fiorito misspelled, indexed Frito], age 17, citing Census Records, LeRoy, A.D. 01, E.D. 02, Genesee, New York; page number 22, line 11.
– New York, 74th Infantry National Guard Enlistment Cards, 1889-1917 (Ancestry.com)
– NYSS
– Roll of Honor (NY State), p 65
– World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Ancestry.com)
– Short History and Illustrated Roster of the 108th Infantry, p 102
– 27th Division, Summary of Operations in the World War, pp 5-8
– The Story of the 27th Division Vol. 1, pp 39, 146, 221-22
– The Story of the 27th Division Vol. 2, pp 773-774, 1072
– BCF
– St. Francis Cemetery (LeRoy, NY) listings (online), http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycleroy/Cemeteries/StFrancisD-F.htm
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