| Birth: | Jun. 5, 1895
Baltimore
Baltimore County
Maryland, USA | | Death: | Nov. 11, 1918
Meuse, France | 
United States Army World War I Soldier. He was the last American combat fatality of World War I. He was serving in France as a Private with Company A, 313th Infantry Regiment, 79th Division, as it was advancing toward Metz when it was announced that the Armistice would take effect at 11:00 a.m. on November 11. Despite this an attack was ordered, and as his unit was advancing they ran into a German ambush near the village of Chaumont-devant-Damvillers. Enraged at what appeared to be a German double-cross, he charged the German position with his bayonet and was shot within a few yards of the German position. Some reports give his time of death as 10:59, others say 11:01. American Expeditionary Force commander General John J. Pershing officially recognized him as the last American death in his Order of the Day for November 11 announcing the Armistice. Gunther was posthumously promoted to Sergeant and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. His story is told in Joseph E. Persico's "Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour." Gunther's remains were repatriated in 1923, and he is now buried in Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland. (bio by: Paul F. Wilson)
Search Amazon for Henry Gunther | | | Burial:
Henry Gunther Memorial
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Meuse
Champagne-Ardenne Region, France
*Memorial Site [?] |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Record added: Oct 27, 2008
Find A Grave Memorial# 30913043 |
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