Lester H Merrill

Private First Class, Co C, 325th Infantry, 82nd Division.

Killed in action near St. Juvin, France, October 15 or 25, 1918. Age 24.

Town:  Byron

Burial: North Byron Cemetery (Barker Farm, Rt. 237), Byron, Genesee County, New York

 

Lester Hitchcock Merrill was born on August 24, 1894, in Byron (Genesee County), New York, and apparently lived there all his life before joining the Army in 1917. He was the youngest son of Abner Jay Merrill and Mary L Merrill, and had three siblings (brothers Milan Jay and George Lewis; sister Sara Irene). The 1900 and 1910 US censuses, the 1915 NY Census, and 1917’s “Militia Enrollment List” and Farm Journal Illustrated Directory of Genesee County all show Lester and his parents and siblings living in Byron on Route 25, or Merrill Road. Unlike all other sources, the 1900 US Census lists Lester’s first name as “Leicester.” Merrill consistently gave his occupation as “farm laborer” and his father as employer.

Lester Merrill was one of 107 men in Genesee County’s second draft contingent. They were inducted into the Army in Batavia on September 25, 1917, and left the next day for Camp Dix, New Jersey, home of the 78th Division. Like most other members of the county’s first two contingents, Lester was initially assigned to Battery D of the division’s 307th Field Artillery. Two months later, Merrill was transferred to the 82nd Division at Camp Gordon, Georgia, and assigned to Company C of that division’s 325th Infantry. His regiment left for France on April 25, 1918, and arrived in mid-May.

There is some confusion over the date on which Pfc. Merrill was killed. Nearly all newspaper sources, as well as the NY Roll of Honor, his NYSS, and two documents in his Burial Case File, give his KIA date as October 25, 1918. However, according to a January 14, 1919 Batavia Daily News article, although the official report of Merrill’s death said it occurred on October 25th, a notice received shortly thereafter from Company C Lieutenant Edwin Randall, an eyewitness to his death, stated that the date was actually October 15. A searcher’s report in Merrill’s Burial Case File also gives that date.

Despite the preponderance of sources that list Merrill’s KIA date as October 25, October 15 seems more likely. In the section covering October 23 through November 2, 1918, 82d Division, Summary of Operations in the World War (page 52) reads: “No activity, other than routine reliefs and patrolling, occurred during the period October 23 to 31.” Official History of 82nd Division American Expeditionary Forces likewise reports little action during that time.

October 15, however, was a day of intense combat for the 82nd Division during the Meuse-Argonne campaign. The previous day, with Merrill’s 1st Battalion leading at the center, the 325th Infantry had attacked northward just east of St. Juvin towards the Kriemhild Stellung, the southern portion of the Hindenburg Line, composed of strong German artillery and machine-gun emplacements positioned amid hills, ridges, and ravines. Jumping off near the St. Georges – St. Juvin Road, the regiment fought its way almost to the objective, but was driven back by heavy machine-gun fire and at the end of the day dug in on a ridge north of the road.

At 7 a.m. on October 15, a half hour before the 325th was to jump off to continue its assault, with Merrill’s battalion again leading, the Germans attacked the front lines behind a heavy barrage of artillery and machine-gun fire. “Visibility was very poor on the morning of the 15th and our men had practically no warning of the approaching enemy infantry,” reads Official History of 82nd Division American Expeditionary Forces. “The German barrage held our men on the exposed ridge, flattened in fox holes . . . Some of our combat groups were forced back a couple of hundred yards on to the St. Juvin-St. Georges Road . . . Prompt action by A and C companies on the right flank broke up the Boche line in front of the Regiment and the enemy retired . . . Shortly after H hour the 325th Infantry advanced to the crest north of the road but could go no farther. Heavy machine-gun fire from the front and flanks held our men at this point.”

The descriptions of this combat match the time, place, and conditions given in sources that say Merrill was killed on October 15. A searcher’s report in his Burial Case File reads, “Killed on morning of October 15, 1918, just North of St. Juvin-St. George’s road and about 1-1/2 kilometers from St. Juvin.”

“I was lying beside him when he was killed,” wrote Lieutenant Blake in a letter to Lester’s parents published in the same January 14, 1919 Batavia Daily News article that reported he’d given Merrill’s KIA date as October 15. “A machine gun bullet hit him in the stomach and he only lived possibly one minute.”

In October, 1921, Private First Class Lester Merrill’s remains were returned under military escort to Byron, New York, and were interred at North Byron Cemetery. Today, Bergen’s American Legion Post #575 bears Merrill’s name and that of two other fallen Byron-Bergen WWI soldiers, Dewey Sackett and Walter White.

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December 6, 1918 Batavia Daily News p1 c6

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December 7, 1918 Batavia Daily News p8 c3

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January 14, 1919 Batavia Daily News p7 c3

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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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Lester H Merrill headstone, North Byron Cemetery, North Byron, Genesee County, New York

GPS Coordinates: Lat 43° 6’ 28.929” N, Long 78° 3’ 53.869” W (DD: 43.108036, -78.064964)

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Lester H Merrill Sources:

– All County Lists

– Nov 24, 1912 BT p3 c2

– Dec 2, 1912 BD p3 c1

– Aug 11, 1916 p3 c1

– Aug 1, 1917 BD p7 c2

– Sep 7, 1917 BD p2 c1

– Sep 13, 1917 BD p8 c6

– Sep 25, 1917 BD p1 c6-7, p2 c4

– Dec 6, 1918 BD p1 c6*

– Dec 7, 1918 BD p8 c3

– Jan 14, 1919 BD p7 c3

– Oct 12, 1921 BD p2 c3

– “United States Census, 1900.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Abner Merrill (head) and Leicester H Merrill (son, age 5), citing Census Records, Byron, Genesee, New York; sheet number 5, line numbers 35 and 39, microfilm series T623, Roll 1038, page 187.

– “United States Census, 1910.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Abner J Merrill (head) and Lester H Merrill (son, age 15), citing Census Records, Batavia, Genesee, New York; sheet number 3B, line numbers 87 and 90, microfilm series T624, Roll 951, page 34.

– “New York State Census, 1915.” Online index and images, Ancestry.com. Entry for Lester H Merrill, age 20, citing Census Records, Byron, A.D. 01, E.D. 01, Genesee, New York; page number 3, line 5.

Farm Journal Illustrated Directory of Genesee County (1917), p 236

– “Militia Enrollment List” (Genesee County, 1917), p M9

– NYSS

Roll of Honor (NY State), p 65

World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Ancestry.com)

82d Division, Summary of Operations in the World War, pp 37-46, 52

Official History of 82nd Division American Expeditionary Forces, pp 4-11, 85-86, 144-62, 203-9

– BCF

– Email correspondence 25 August 2014 with Raymond MacConnell, Village of Bergen historian, Bergen, NY re: Sackett-Merrill-White American Legion Post name

– North Byron Cemetery tombstone transcriptions, M-Z listings, online, Interment.net (http://interment.net/data/us/ny/genesee/northbyron/nbyron_mz.htm)

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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.