Sturmmann1918 Posted 6 November , 2019 Share Posted 6 November , 2019 Hello everyone, I just recently discovered a family member who was killed in action during the First World War. I am curious if anyone can find any more information regarding his death/burial/photo. His information is as follows Sgt. John Thomas Curran Born-August 1st, 1891 in Philadelphia,PA Died- November 7th, 1918 Entered service from Bethlehem, PA 79th division, 316th infantry division, M company The ABMC has him listed as MIA 79th division book has him listed as died from wounds And he is not listed in the PA roll of honor With the conflicting information from the above sources I have struck a brick wall. I have also collected around 2,000 postcards/photographs through out my time collecting. Unfortunately, I do not have a photo of John. If it is possible that a photo exists through unit histories, news papers etc I would be thrilled to see it but I am stuck on where to begin searching. Thank you in advance to anyone who could help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Rayner Posted 6 November , 2019 Share Posted 6 November , 2019 Find a Grave has him here SGT John T. Curran Birth1 Aug 1891 Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA Death7 Nov 1918 (aged 27) France Burial Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Departement de la Meuse, Lorraine, France Memorial ID55955653 · View Source https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/55955653 Ancestry has his registration card here Name: John Thomas Curran Race: White Marital status: Single Birth Date: 1 Aug 1891 Birth Place: Pennsylvania, USA Street address: 22 No 5 Ave Residence Place: Lehigh, Pennsylvania, USA https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=6482&h=10513193&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Yiy22700&_phstart=successSource George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Rayner Posted 6 November , 2019 Share Posted 6 November , 2019 https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/60884/41744_182029006040_0876-01575?pid=860590&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid%3D60884%26h%3D860590%26indiv%3Dtry%26o_vc%3DRecord:OtherRecord%26rhSource%3D6482&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.24017714.905486147.1573055812-1533967676.1499237068#?imageId=41744_182029006040_0876-01578 says wounded Nov 4th '18 and not seen since 11/4/18 (American date pattern I guess) George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturmmann1918 Posted 6 November , 2019 Author Share Posted 6 November , 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, George Rayner said: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/60884/41744_182029006040_0876-01575?pid=860590&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid%3D60884%26h%3D860590%26indiv%3Dtry%26o_vc%3DRecord:OtherRecord%26rhSource%3D6482&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.24017714.905486147.1573055812-1533967676.1499237068#?imageId=41744_182029006040_0876-01578 says wounded Nov 4th '18 and not seen since 11/4/18 (American date pattern I guess) George Thanks for your help! I wonder why he does not have a known grave then? Wounded on the 4th and reported missing, confirmed dead November 7th. How could they confirm November 7th if they were not in possession of his body? And if they were in possession of his body, where would it be? Maybe buried at a battlefield gravesite and during the process of transferring the graves to a proper cemetery, his remains were lost? He is not buried at the Meuse Argonne cemetery but listed on the tablets of the missing wall there. So many questions! Edited 6 November , 2019 by Sturmmann1918 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOVE23 Posted 7 November , 2019 Share Posted 7 November , 2019 From the Official History of the 79th Division (pp.21-22 on this pdf): Quote On November 4 and 5 the left brigade, in conjunction with the French 15th Colonial Infantry Division, attacked the heights known as La Borne de Cornouiller. Successes gained on these days forced the Germans to withdraw and, on the 7th, the left of the division advanced about 2 kilometers. On the 8th the division pivoted on its right brigade, and changed the direction of its advance from north to east. Bois de Wavrille, Bois de la Grande Montagne, Bois d'Ecurey, Etraye and Reville were occupied on a front of 8 kilometers. On November 9 the divisional zone of action was limited to that of the right brigade, which advanced 2 kilometers, occupied Crepion and Wavrille, and crossed Thinte Ruisseau. On the following day Chaumont-devant-Damvillers, Buisson Chaumont and Cote 319 were captured. An attack on Cote de Romagne and Cote de Morimont was halted by the Armistice on November 11. I am going to have a trawl of the burial index cards and see if I get lucky with our man, but if he's listed as an unknown I probably won't find him. Watch this space! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOVE23 Posted 7 November , 2019 Share Posted 7 November , 2019 Ok, as I suspected he is not in the Burial Index Cards so he has no known burial. History of the 316th Infantry, start reading at pg. 72, it discusses the action of November 4. A small sample below: Quote Soon the skirmish line got as far as the American barrage and had to wait for it to lift, meantime trying to connect up with troops on the right and left. Company I, under Lieutenant Bliss, commanding, and Lieutenant Bostick, held the advance outpost, stretching along the road just back of the east crest of Hill 378, through the woods to Cote 370. The line was then continued by K and M companies under Lieutenant Ferris—Captain Somers and Lieutenant Sayres having been wounded—and Company L under Lieutenant Erickson, and Sergeant Miller after Lieutenant Erickson was wounded, back to 26.0-82.8, near the Etraye Road. In this attack Captain Claude C. Cunningham received a fatal wound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOVE23 Posted 7 November , 2019 Share Posted 7 November , 2019 Here is the 79th Divisions Summary of Operations Map, warning, it's a HUGE file! Look over on the left where the red lines are all crazy and then join together. The line called Nov. 4 is either where the division started on that day or ended on that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOVE23 Posted 7 November , 2019 Share Posted 7 November , 2019 Okay, I did a bit of asking around with people who are far more knowledgeable about MIA American soldiers than I am, what you're going to want to do is ask the National Archives for a copy of John's Burial Case File. This file usually has witness statements (if there are any) regarding each soldier's death, and correspondence between his family back home and the government regarding the disposition of his remains. I've never examined a missing soldier's case file but my great grand uncle's case file got me within 10 meters of his original battlefield burial location (and I could get the exact spot if the f!@#$%^ing GRS survey maps were in a complete state, but that has nothing to do with Sgt. Curran right now). The U.S. government and the Army was incredibly meticulous about gathering as much data on fallen soldiers as they could. I can't promise you anything, but there's a chance someone wrote the government and said "Sgt. Curran was struck by a machine gun bullet in our advance to X place," which will get you about as close as you can get with the current information we have. There are also Burial Case Files for Unknown Soldiers called U-Files (which Sgt. Curran would be if his body was recovered at some point), but unfortunately nobody knows where the hell the U-Files are now. I think they're still with the U.S. Army, but people who are a lot more dedicated to our missing and unknown soldiers are absolutely on the hunt for these U-Files and if and when they find them and get them released, it may be possible to say that the unknown soldier buried at X grave was originally exhumed from Y battlefield location which matches the last known location of Z soldier. I will send you some more info via PM on a service you can use to get Sgt. Curran's case file and an organization that works to identify missing doughboys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturmmann1918 Posted 7 November , 2019 Author Share Posted 7 November , 2019 @JOVE23 I cant begin to thank you enough for the information you and @George Rayner have provided. I have replied to your PM. Again, thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturmmann1918 Posted 26 August , 2020 Author Share Posted 26 August , 2020 @JOVE23 @George Rayner Figured I would update you guys since you were the first two to help me. To make a long story short, Sgt Curran was wounded in the thigh by a machine gun bullet at hill 378. His unit was able to capture the crest of the hill after hand to hand combat, and fought off an enemy counter attack. The 2nd counter attack was too strong, and he was taken by the Germans as a prisoner of war. He died 3 days later in a German field hospital. The German authorities informed the US of Sgt Curran’s burial twice, in 1919 and 1926. The last correspondence of his burial file states the US would send someone to check the grave site given by the Germans and update with the results. There was no update. It’s very possible nobody was sent to the site. Doughboy MIA has been informed and they have created a case incident with a nice report. Going over in May to the physical site to gather more information. There is a possibility for a recovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Rayner Posted 26 August , 2020 Share Posted 26 August , 2020 Thanks for the update. George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOVE23 Posted 22 October , 2020 Share Posted 22 October , 2020 Interesting update! I'm curious as to what coordinates were given for Sgt Curran's burial? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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