Corporal, Co M, 108th Infantry, 27th Division
Killed in action at Duncan Post near Hindenburg Line east of Ronssoy, France, September 28, 1918. Age 23.
Town: Batavia
Burial: Elmwood Cemetery, Plot 10 Lot 836, Batavia, Genesee County, New York
William Hyde was born and raised in Batavia (Genesee County), New York. His mother was Fanny Hyde, who in the 1900 US Census is listed as the head of the household, widowed, living in Batavia with William and four siblings (brothers Milton and Harry; sisters Emily and Celinda). The 1910 US Census shows William’s mother, listed as Fannie, married to Densmore Austin of 23 Hewitt Street in Batavia; William, listed as Willie (stepson), is the only child shown. There is some question regarding William Hyde’s birth year. The 1900 US Census lists him at 2 years old and gives his birth month and year as January, 1898. The 1910 US Census, accordingly, shows him to be 12. This means that Hyde would’ve been only 20 years old when he was killed in September 1918. However, the November 26, 1918 Batavia Daily News article announcing his death says that William Hyde was 23 when killed. Correspondingly, his NYSS gives his age at enlistment in 1916 as 21 (meaning a birth year of 1895), and Elmwood Cemetery records also give his birth date as 1895. Lacking evidence to the contrary beyond the two censuses, his age at death is given here as 23.
William Hyde was working as a linotype operator for the Batavia Times when he enlisted in the New York National Guard’s 74th Regiment in Buffalo in early July, 1916, during an enlistment campaign to raise troops to send to the Mexican border to guard against Pancho Villa’s raiders. That month, the 74th left for Texas and served on the border until its return in late February, 1917. War on Germany was declared about six weeks later, and in mid-July, all National Guard units were called into federal service. At the end of September, the 74th Regiment was sent to Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina, where it became part of the 27th Division’s 108th Infantry. Hyde’s Company M, along with the rest of the 108th Infantry’s 3rd Battalion, left for overseas from Newport News, Virginia, on May 17, 1918, aboard USS President Grant.
There is uncertainty over the exact date of Corporal Hyde’s death. County List 1 (August 5, 1919 Batavia Daily News), the November 26, 1918 Batavia Daily News, and several subsequent articles give Corporal Hyde’s KIA date as September 20, 1918. This is inaccurate. Most of the articles also say, correctly, that he was killed “during the attack on the Hindenburg Line.” That attack had not yet taken place on September 20, and in fact on that date the 27th Division was miles away in training, according to Volume 1 of Story of the 27th Division, and did not reach the front until September 24-25. Preliminary attacks on the Hindenburg Line, mostly carried out by the division’s 106th Infantry regiment, were launched on September 27, in preparation for a main assault on September 29.
County List 2, the NY Roll of Honor, the casualty list in Story of the 27th Division (Volume 2, page 1075) and all pertinent documents in his Burial Case File give Hyde’s KIA date as September 28, 1918. This is most likely to be accurate. On that day, Hyde’s 3rd Battalion sustained heavy casualties from machine-gun fire as the 108th pushed forward to relieve the battered 106th Infantry and improve the 27th Division’s jump-off position for the next day’s main assault (see Story of the 27th Division, Volume 1, pages 302-3).
Further supporting September 28 as the correct date is a searcher’s report in William Hyde’s Burial Case File, in which Pfc. James L Wenrick of Buffalo, who was a fellow member of Company M, gives an eyewitness account of Hyde’s death. The report reads: “Killed in action on the afternoon of Sept. 28th 1918 at Duncan Post, Hindenburg Line. Buried at St Emilie, France in the American Plot, Row I Grave 6. Cpl HYDE was corporal of my squad, we had left the jumping off place and were going straight ahead. We had only gone about 30 or 40 yds. when Cpl. Hyde plunged forward and fell in a heap on the ground. He gave a sharp cry after stretching out on the ground and by the time I had caught up to him he was dead. He must have been hit by a good many bullets because there were numerous wounds bleeding all over his chest and stomach. Death was quick and I think he never knew what struck him.”
It should be noted, however, that a divisional citation, also published in Volume 2 of Story of the 27th Division (page 990), and contradicting the date given in the same volume on page 1075, says that Hyde was killed on September 29. The citation reads: “For gallantry during the battle of the Hindenburg Line, September 29, 1918, in assuming command of a combat patrol after its Sergeant had been seriously wounded, and continuing to lead the attack until killed.”
Because most official sources say that Hyde was killed on September 28, that is the date used here.
On Sunday, March 27, 1921, the bodies of William Hyde and Thomas A Brown, both members of the 108th Infantry’s 3rd Battalion who were killed in the attacks on the Hindenburg Line, and both recently returned home under escort from military cemeteries overseas, lay side-by-side in flag-draped caskets in Batavia’s City Hall while hundreds of citizens filed past in solemn tribute.
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November 26, 1918 Batavia Daily News p7 c4
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March 28, 1921 Batavia Daily News p1 c6-7
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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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William Hyde headstone, Elmwood Cemetery, Plot 10 Lot 836, Batavia, Genesee County, New York
GPS Coordinates: Lat 42° 59’ 22.589” N, Long 78° 10’ 8.179” W (DD: 42.989608, -78.168939)
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William Hyde Sources:
– All County Lists; also BHR
– Jan 13, 1917 BT p1 c2
– Feb 19, 1917 BD p7 c5
– Aug 24, 1918 BT p4 c2
– Nov 26, 1918 BD p7 c4*
– Mar 22, 1921 BD p1 c6-7, p2 c1
– Mar 28, 1921 BD p1 c6-7
– Apr 2, 1921 BT p2 c3
– “United States Census, 1900.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Fanny Hyde (head) and William Hyde (son, age 2), citing Census Records, Batavia, Genesee, New York; sheet number 6, lines 36 and 41, microfilm series T623, Roll 1038, page 62.
– “United States Census, 1910.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Densmore Austin (head) and Willie Hyde (stepson, age 12), citing Census Records, Batavia, Genesee, New York; sheet number 13B, lines 80 and 82, microfilm series T624, Roll 951, page 186.
– NYSS
– Roll of Honor (NY State), p 65
– Short History and Illustrated Roster of the 108th Infantry, p 120
– 27th Division, Summary of Operations in the World War, pp 13-26
– The Story of the 27th Division Vol. 1, pp 39, 146, 300-313, 328a
– The Story of the 27th Division Vol. 2, pp 573, 990, 1075
– BCF
– Email correspondence 20 November 2012 with Kathy Facer, reference desk, Richmond Memorial Library, Batavia, New York re: Corporal William Hyde in “Elmwood Cemetery Records” compiled by DAR in 1938.
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