Private, Co A, 59th Infantry, 4th Division.
Died July 23, 1918, of wounds received in action near Courchamps (Aisne), France. Age 22.
Town: Batavia
Burial: Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Plot A Row 9 Grave 12, Belleau, France
Albert Herman Gelonek was born on August 22, 1895, in Batavia (Genesee County), New York, and lived there his entire life before enlisting in the Army in 1918. He was the second of five children born to German immigrants August Gelonek, a cabinetmaker, and Johanna nee Krause Gelonek. In May, 1898, Albert’s four-month-old sister, Ella, died of whooping cough. The 1900 US Census shows Albert at age 4 and a brother, William, age 6, living with their parents in Batavia. The 1910 US Census lists the family, with the addition of sisters Elma and Hilda, at 21 Buell Street in Batavia. This is the same address given for the Geloneks in the 1915 NY State Census and for Albert on his NYSS, draft registration card, and the 1917 Genesee County “Militia Enrollment List.”
Albert Gelonek’s work history reflects a young man trying various ways to make a living. In the 1910 US Census, Gelonek, at age 14, is shown as a florist’s apprentice; in the 1915 NY Census, his job is given as cemetery worker. When he registered for the draft on June 5, 1917, Gelonek gave his occupation as laborer for the Lehigh Railroad. The Farm Journal Illustrated Directory of Genesee County, which was compiled somewhat later in 1917, lists him as an employee for the Gun Works (presumably, the Baker Gun Works in Batavia).
In February, 1918, Gelonek was among seven Genesee County draft-eligible men who chose to apply for induction directly into the infantry at Camp Greene, in Charlotte, North Carolina, home of the newly formed 4th Division. Of those seven who left Batavia for Camp Greene on March 4, 1918, three—Gelonek, Patrick Molyneaux, and Charles Votrie—lost their lives fighting with the 4th Division’s 59th Infantry.
In the days (July 18-July 21) leading up to Private Gelonek’s death from wounds received in combat, the 59th Infantry, advancing in hilly, exposed terrain against devastating enemy artillery and machine-gun fire during the Aisne-Marne offensive, sustained over 1,000 casualties, including 181 killed and 860 men wounded. Though it is known that Gelonek died at a field hospital on July 23, 1918, it is not clear precisely when he received his mortal wounds. An account in a searcher’s report in his Burial Case File points to July 19 as the possible date of Gelonek’s wounding, though the statement incorrectly says that he was killed on that day. Sergeant Curtis Collier of Company A, 59th Infantry is quoted: “Was killed morning July 19 ’18 by machine gun bullets in body. Buried in Chevillion Cem.”
July 19 was, in fact, a day of intense fighting and heavy losses for Gelonek’s unit. At 4:35 a.m., the 59th Infantry’s 1st Battalion, including Company A, led the center of an attack north of Courchamps (Aisne)*, advancing eastward over wheat-covered hillsides against stubborn enemy artillery and machine-gun fire. “It found its progress disputed with a determination that cost many lives,” reads The Fourth Division: Its Services and Achievements in the World War. “Every movement drew intense fire.”
Documents in Private Gelonek’s Burial Case File state that on the day he died he was buried on the grounds of a chateau at Gué-à-Tresmes, department of Seine, Congis (not Chevillion as stated in the previously mentioned searcher’s report). The chateau at Gué- à –Tresmes, located about a mile from the village of Congis-sur-Thérouanne and 17 miles from the front at Courchamps*, had been converted to a field hospital early in the war and was used by the Allies as a surgical center.
In 1919, Private Albert Herman Gelonek’s body was moved to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in Belleau, France.
*Located in the Aisne Department, Picardy region, just east of Hautevesnes in northern France. There is also a Courchamps in the Maine-et-Loire Department in western France.
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August 5, 1918 Batavia Daily News p6 c6
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August 10, 1918 Batavia Times p2 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
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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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Albert H Gelonek headstone, Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Plot A Row 9 Grave 12, Belleau, France
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Albert H Gelonek Sources
– All County Lists; also BHR
– Dec 19, 1892 BD p1 c6
– May 26, 1898 BD p4 c4
– Mar 4, 1918 BD p6 c6
– Mar 5, 1918 BD p1 c4
– Mar 9, 1918 BT p2 c1
– Aug 5, 1918 BD p6 c6*
– Aug 6, 1918 BD p1 c4, p2 c7
– Aug 7, 1918 BD p8 c3
– Aug 10, 1918 BT p2 c2
– “United States Census, 1900.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for August Gelonek (head) and Albert H Gelonek (son, age 4), citing Census Records, Batavia, Genesee, New York; sheet number 19B, line numbers 92 and 95, microfilm series T623, Roll 1038, page 74.
– “United States Census, 1910.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for August Gelonek (head) and Albert Gelonek (son, age 14), citing Census Records, Batavia, Genesee, New York; sheet number 23B, line numbers 78 and 81, microfilm series T624, Roll 951, page 196.
– “New York State Census, 1915.” Online index and images, Ancestry.com. Entry for Albert Gelonek [indexed as Gelonck], age 19, citing Census Records, Batavia (Ward 6), A.D. 01, E.D. 06, Genesee, New York; page number 6, line 17.
– Farm Journal Illustrated Directory of Genesee County (1917), p 49
– “Militia Enrollment List” (Genesee County, 1917), p G4
– NYSS
– Roll of Honor (NY State), p 65
– WWI database, American Battle Monuments Commission website (www.abmc.gov/search/wwi.php)
– World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Ancestry.com)
– 4th Division, Summary of Operations in the World War, pp 9-15, 34
– The Fourth Division: Its Services and Achievements in the World War, pp 81-87, 337
– The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War, Volume VIII, Field Operations, Chapter XII, pp 381, 423 [re: Gué-à-Tresmes]; accessed online, U.S. Army Medical Department, Office of Medical History (http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwi/fieldoperations/chapter12.html)
– BCF
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Click for Key to Source Abbreviations. See the Bibliography for complete title, author, and publisher information, with links to online access when available.