Private First Class, Machine Gun Co, 319th Infantry, 80th Division.
Killed in action at Bois la Ville, near Vilosnes-sur-Meuse, France, September 27, 1918. Age 22.
Town: Batavia (also Erie, Pennsylvania; see text)
Burial: Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Plot F Row 36 Grave 2, Romagne, France
Herman R Andrews was born on March 31, 1896, in Batavia (Genesee County), New York, and lived there until he was 18 years old, when he moved to Erie, Pennsylvania. Both the 1900 and 1910 US censuses show Herman living with his parents (Charles J and Elizabeth) and two brothers (Judson A and Clifford D) in Batavia. In the 1910 census, his age is given as 14 and he is shown to be attending school, but also is listed in the “occupation” column as “Teacher of Music.” Several classified advertisements appear in 1910 and 1911 Batavia Daily News issues promoting young Andrews’s services. “Herman R. Andrews, piano and organ instructor, will be at his studio on the Creek road from now on,” reads an ad in the June 22, 1911 Batavia Daily News. “Terms reasonable.”
When Andrews registered for the draft in Erie, Pennsylvania, on June 5, 1917, he listed his occupation as Foreman and his employer as the Erie Bolt and Nut Company. He was drafted in December and sent to Camp Lee, Virginia, where he was assigned to the 80th Division’s 319th Infantry. The division left for overseas duty in May, 1918.
In the November 7, 1918 Batavia Daily News article announcing Andrews’s death, it was reported that a letter from his mother in Erie stated that he was “a dispatch bearer, carrying messages up to the front on a motorcycle.” It’s not known whether he was still serving in that capacity at the time he was killed. All official sources say that he was a member of the 319th Infantry’s Machine Gun Company.
“Erie County Pa. in the World War” gives Pfc. Andrews’s death date as September 28, 1918. However, all other sources, including the ABMC database and all documents in his Burial Case File, give his death date as September 27, 1918. This is likely correct.
On September 26, 1918, the day before Andrews was killed and the first day of the Allies’ massive Meuse-Argonne offensive, the 80th Division, as part of the American First Army’s III Corps, attacked in the Bethincourt Sector, advancing first across difficult swampy terrain and then through an open valley against increasingly heavy enemy fire from artillery, German planes, and machine-gun nests positioned in surrounding woods. Fighting into and through the woods, the 319th’s advance was held up by enemy fire around noon. But the regiment renewed its attack at 9 p.m., moving in darkness past Dannevoux and into the forested slopes of the Bois des Moriaux and the Bois la Ville beyond. It was not until after midnight, early on the 27th, that most elements of the 319th had fought their way to the high ridge of the Bois la Ville overlooking the Meuse River just south and east of German-held Vilosnes-sur-Meuse, on the opposite bank. Patrols were sent to establish outposts at the railroad north of the ridge. The day was spent consolidating the regiment’s position amid shelling, gas, and sniper fire.
The details of Pfc. Andrews’s death on the 27th are unknown. A Burial Case File searcher’s report quoting a signed statement from eyewitness Captain Perry W. Huston, the 319th Infantry Machine Gun Company’s commanding officer, reads only: “I was present at the time of the death and burial of this soldier.” Also on the report: “Killed: Sept 27th 1918. Place of death: Bois la Ville. Grave location: Bois la Ville near R.R. 8 in one grave.”
In June, 1919, Pfc. Andrews’s body was reinterred at the Meuse-Argonne National Cemetery.
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November 7, 1918 Batavia Daily News p1 c6
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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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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri
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Herman R Andrews Headstone, Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Plot F Row 36 Grave 2, Romagne, France
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Herman R Andrews Sources:
– County Lists 1, 4; also BHR
– Jan 15, 1910 BD p7 c3
– Jun 22, 1911 BD p3 c5
– Nov 7, 1918 BD p1 c6*
– Nov 9, 1918 BT p2 c1
– Nov 13, 1918 BD p2 c4
– “United States Census, 1900.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Charles Andrews (head) and Herman R Andrews (son, age 4), citing Census Records, Batavia, Genesee, New York; sheet number 19 B, line numbers 71 and 74, microfilm series T623, Roll 1038, page 52.
– “United States Census, 1910.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Charles Andrews (head) and Herman R Andrews (son, age 14), citing Census Records, Batavia, Genesee, New York; sheet number 1, line numbers 23 and 26, microfilm series T624, Roll 951, page 72.
– WWI database, American Battle Monuments Commission website (www.abmc.gov/search/wwi.php)
– World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Ancestry.com)
– “Erie County Pa. in the World War,” published 1920, online excerpt pp 1-3 (www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~paerie/military/WWI-pg1.htm)
– Company F History 319th Infantry, p 36
– 80th Division, Summary of Operations in the World War, pp 4, 13-26
– BCF
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