Hubert Harold Schermerhorn was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but he grew up on his father's farm outside Nimrod, noted for the unusual octagon barn built by his father. He was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War I and reported for duty April 29, 1918 (serial No. 2855741). He was sent to Texas to fill out the 90th Infantry Division as part of Company B, 360th Infantry Regiment, and shipped off to France. Private Schermerhorn fought in the battles of Ypres Lys, St. Mihiel, and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, September 12-15, 1918, where he was exposed to poison gas that damaged his lungs. During the Meuse-Argonne Offensive a nearly spent German bullet pierced his thigh. He dug the bullet out with his bayonet and dressed the wound himself, keeping the bullet as a souvenir. After a few months of occupation duty he returned to the United States aboard the U.S. Army Transport Service ship S.S. Mongolia, departing St. Nazaire, France, on May 27, 1919, and arriving at Boston, Massachusetts, on June 7, 1919. Private Schermerhorn was discharged a week later on June 14, 1919, and returned home to his farm in Orton Township. He married Hulda Marie Nelson in 1922 and fathered five children before succumbing to the effects of mustard gas. (Initially, poison gas was not recognized as a wound; and when the "Purple Heart" was established in 1932 it could only be awarded to a living "wounded veteran"!) He died less than two months before his son Hubert was born. He told his hired man, Harold Siemsen, shortly before his death, "Uncle Sam asked me for one year of my life and the son-of-a-***** stole the whole ***** thing!" Harold later married Hubert's daughter Madelyn.
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In Memoriam
Thud! A bursting shell
in the darkness of this hell!
Wait! No flash nor bang. My God!
The greenish fog spills o'er the sod.
Fumbling for my mask I hold my breath
against the harbinger of death
that takes life not in minutes or hours,
but in years meant to be ours.
Now with a gasping gurgling cry,
I am, at last, allowed to die...
(Hubert's grandson, CW3 S. Siemsen, U.S. Army [Retired]; written on Nov. 11, 2018)
Hubert Harold Schermerhorn was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but he grew up on his father's farm outside Nimrod, noted for the unusual octagon barn built by his father. He was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War I and reported for duty April 29, 1918 (serial No. 2855741). He was sent to Texas to fill out the 90th Infantry Division as part of Company B, 360th Infantry Regiment, and shipped off to France. Private Schermerhorn fought in the battles of Ypres Lys, St. Mihiel, and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, September 12-15, 1918, where he was exposed to poison gas that damaged his lungs. During the Meuse-Argonne Offensive a nearly spent German bullet pierced his thigh. He dug the bullet out with his bayonet and dressed the wound himself, keeping the bullet as a souvenir. After a few months of occupation duty he returned to the United States aboard the U.S. Army Transport Service ship S.S. Mongolia, departing St. Nazaire, France, on May 27, 1919, and arriving at Boston, Massachusetts, on June 7, 1919. Private Schermerhorn was discharged a week later on June 14, 1919, and returned home to his farm in Orton Township. He married Hulda Marie Nelson in 1922 and fathered five children before succumbing to the effects of mustard gas. (Initially, poison gas was not recognized as a wound; and when the "Purple Heart" was established in 1932 it could only be awarded to a living "wounded veteran"!) He died less than two months before his son Hubert was born. He told his hired man, Harold Siemsen, shortly before his death, "Uncle Sam asked me for one year of my life and the son-of-a-***** stole the whole ***** thing!" Harold later married Hubert's daughter Madelyn.
---
In Memoriam
Thud! A bursting shell
in the darkness of this hell!
Wait! No flash nor bang. My God!
The greenish fog spills o'er the sod.
Fumbling for my mask I hold my breath
against the harbinger of death
that takes life not in minutes or hours,
but in years meant to be ours.
Now with a gasping gurgling cry,
I am, at last, allowed to die...
(Hubert's grandson, CW3 S. Siemsen, U.S. Army [Retired]; written on Nov. 11, 2018)
Inscription
Private, 360 Inf., 90 Inf. Div.
Family Members
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Nellie Ellen Schermerhorn Hamilton
1895–1960
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Elizabeth Agnes "Bessie" Schermerhorn Johnson
1898–1943
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Grace Katherine Schermerhorn Fisher
1900–1976
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Max Howard Schermerhorn
1902–1902
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William James "Bill" Schermerhorn
1903–1973
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Gordon Martin Schermerhorn
1906–1957
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Leo John Schermerhorn
1909–1966
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Marvin Edward Schermerhorn
1915–1974
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