![]() The division spent the rest of the winter and early spring stationed at Camp Lee until they departed for France on May 26, 1918.Endgame: German soldiers surrendered in their thousands as the Allied steamroller rumbled forwards during the Hundred Days Offensive of autumn 1918. France, and the rest of the division, trained at Fort Meyer until Novemwhen they were transferred to Camp Lee, Virginia. The 80th Infantry Division was nicknamed the “Blue Ridge” division because it primarily consisted of volunteers and draftees from the Blue Ridge Mountain region of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. After enlisting France was assigned to Company I of the 380th Infantry, 80th Division at Fort Meyer, Virginia. James Wayne France, who graduated from VPI in 1915 with a degree in agriculture, volunteered for the Army on August 26, 1917. Daisy Wayne France, on the death of her son 1st Lieutenant James France “All this makes us very proud of our boy, it is what we expected of him, but oh! Nothing, nothing can compensate us for his loss” For his actions, Sergeant Gregory received the Medal of Honor, becoming the first native-born Virginian to receive this honor.Ĭompany I, 380th Infantry, 80th Infantry Division James Wayne France Shouting, “I will get them!” Gregory, grabbing a rifle and using trench mortars as grenades, charged the enemy positions, capturing 23 German soldiers, a machine gun, and a howitzer. ![]() In fighting near the Bois-de-Consenvoye, Gregory’s unit was pinned down by German machine gun fire. The remarkable leadership demonstrated by Gregory in Mexico continued into World War I, where he was the Platoon Sergeant of a trench mortar platoon during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in October 1918. It was in Mexico that Gregory rose to the position of 1st Sergeant of his company before his 20th birthday. Before the war, Sergeant Gregory served in Mexico during the Mexican Expedition against the Mexican revolutionary forces of Francisco "Pancho" Villa. Gregory, from Chase City, Virginia, was a member of the United States Army before the start of World War I. Gregory, October 8, 1918, Meuse-Argonne OffensiveĮarle D. Headquarters Company, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division Earle D. He was Honorably Discharged with the rank of Captain at the end of the war. During the six hours of shelling before the infantry advance, American artillery units expended more ammunition than was spent by both sides during the entirety of the American Civil War. ![]() When the Meuse-Argonne Offensive began, Faulconer and his unit poured an incredible amount of artillery fire into German lines in preparation for the infantry advance. But he wrote that the hard work was also reassuring because it meant that him and his unit would have some protection from returning German artillery fire. He described the work as harder than any he ever done before. Under the cover of night and poor weather, the 315th built their gun positions. On the evening of September 9, 1918, Faulconer and his unit arrived on the battlefield and began preparations for the upcoming Meuse-Argonne Offensive. With the 315th, Faulconer participated in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Faulconer was assigned as a battery commander with the 315th Field Artillery Regiment, 80th Division. ![]() Just months after the war began, Faulconer joined the United States Army on Jas a Second Lieutenant. John Waller Faulconer, Letter in The Virginia Tech, September 15, 1918 ![]()
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