Glenn S Loomis - The County and the Kaiser

Private, 17th Co, 5th Regiment, 4th U.S. Marine Brigade, 2nd Division.

Killed in action at Belleau Wood, France, June 7, 1918. Age 23.

Town: Batavia

Burial: Elmwood Cemetery, Plot 6 Lot 614, Batavia, Genesee County, New York

Glenn Shotwell Loomis was born on February 10, 1895. His draft registration card and NYSS give his place of birth as Oakfield (Genesee County), New York, but the June 28, 1918 Batavia Daily News and the June 29, 1918 Batavia Times say that Glenn was born in Sherburne (Chenango County), and lived there until he was eight years old, when he moved with his family to East Pembroke. The 1900 US Census shows Glenn in Sherburne at age 5 with his parents, Charles R and Katherine, and the 1905 US Census shows them in Pembroke, where they lived for about four years before relocating to Batavia. The 1910 US Census lists Glenn at age 15 with his parents and a two-year-old brother, Frederic, at 21 Lincoln Avenue.

Loomis graduated from Batavia High School in 1913 and in November of that year took a position in Cleveland, Ohio as a railway mail clerk. According to the June 28, 1918 Batavia Daily News he remained in the mail service for about a year. An item in the June 14, 1914 Batavia Times refers to him as “employed in Cleveland.” By June 1915, however, he’d returned to Batavia. The 1915 NY Census lists him back with his family at 21 Lincoln Avenue; his occupation is listed as “railway mail clerk.” At some point he was also employed as a reporter for the Batavia Sunday Times. His draft registration card, his entry on Genesee County’s Militia Enrollment List, and his listing in the Farm Journal Illustrated Directory of Genesee County—all from 1917—give “student” as his occupation. Newspaper articles announcing his death mention that he had nearly completed a course at Rochester Business Institute when he enlisted.

Glenn Loomis joined the Marine Corps in July, 1917, and was sent to Port Royal (Parris Island), South Carolina for initial training and then in November to Quantico, Virginia. He left for France in mid-December, arriving at the end of the month.

By the end of May, 1918, a major German offensive had successfully driven south through French lines to the Marne at Chateau-Thierry, and had then turned west towards Paris. With French defenses faltering, the American 2nd Division, which included the 5th and 6th Marine regiments, was rushed to the area northwest of Chateau-Thierry to halt the enemy advance. On June 1 the division took up positions west and south of Belleau Wood, where several German divisions had taken the adjacent villages of Belleau, Bouresches, and Torcy and had set up strong machine-gun emplacements in the woods and on surrounding high ground. For the next five days the division held its ground against German attacks, stopping the advance.

Before dawn on the morning of June 6, 1918, Loomis’s 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, launched the first offensive attack in what would become a month-long battle for Belleau Wood. Sweeping north from its position near Champillon west of Belleau Wood against strong machine-gun fire, advancing across a ridge, over an open wheat field, and through woods to take enemy-held high ground, the battalion reached its objectives by mid-morning despite heavy losses and dug in, where it fought off repeated German counterattacks. Because an expected liaison on the right with the 5th Marines’ 3rd Battalion never happened, the 1st Battalion’s right flank—occupied by Loomis’s 17th Company—was left unprotected.

Private Loomis was killed in a counterattack sometime around midnight that evening. This explains why some sources give his death date as June 6, 1918, while others (the majority) say June 7.

In a letter to Glenn’s parents dated October 17, 1918, and published in the October 21, 1918 Batavia Daily News, Loomis’s platoon commander, Lt. Bernard Gissel, wrote, “He died in the Chateau-Thierry section during a Boche counter attack, made at night. I had sent him out as a listening post to warn us of the approach of the enemy. His last deed was to give us the warning, and then as a real marine, he went one better and was the first to start after the Boche. I do not doubt but what he saved many a life in my platoon. We drove off the enemy and a few minutes later brought back your son’s body. He had been killed instantly.”

Eight searcher’s reports in Loomis’s Burial Case File vary slightly in details but give similar accounts. “Killed June 7th, 1918,” reads one report, relaying information from James E Cooly of Loomis’s company. “Informant says Loomis was stuck with a bayonet at Chateau Thierry just as he was getting out of the small trench they were occupying to repulse a counter attack at midnight. He was killed almost instantly. Informant saw this.”

Another report, quoting Sergeant F. A. Seeres, reads: “Killed in action June 7th. Loomis was killed on June 6th during counter attack. He cried ‘Boche’ and came tumbling down the hill and fell against a tree. He was stabbed in the back through right side. Bayonet going through chest. . . . We were at the foot of a ravine and I was right there when he fell.”

Glenn S Loomis was the first Batavian killed in combat in the World War, and one of four Genesee County marines killed at Belleau Wood. Tragically, the Loomis’s only other child, 10-year-old Frederic, also died that year, on April 19, 1918.

An article appearing in the March 2, 1918 Batavia Daily News, three months before the Belleau Wood fighting, reported a letter from Glenn Loomis in which he mentioned meeting three other Batavia marines, including Robert Spencer. Sadly, the two would come together again on September 1, 1921, when hundreds filed by their flag-draped caskets, recently arrived from France, during a memorial service at Batavia City Hall followed by a double funeral that afternoon.

On January 24, 1919, a gathering of returned soldiers and other citizens formed one of the nation’s first veterans’ posts, naming it the Glenn S. Loomis Post No. 1, World War Veterans. The American Legion, formed two months later in Paris, France, granted the post a charter in August, 1919. American Legion Post No. 332 still bears the name of Glenn S Loomis.

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

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June 29, 1918 Batavia Times p1 c3

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October 21, 1918 Batavia Daily News p6 c4

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September 1, 1921 Batavia Daily News p1 c7

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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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