5/16/2013 - Rick Martin provided middle name and place of birth. He also provided the following information:
"The 26th "Yankee" Division/ Soldier's Mail at the following link and thought you may wish to at it to Mr Shirley's bio as it concerns his death.
http://worldwar1letters.wordpress.com/the-adventure-unfolds/watchful-waiting-1917/26th-yankee-division/
1917/26th-yankee-division/On August 18, 2011 at 5:35 am Gene Sordillo said:
Hello,
In response to Rosemary Seal's note of last July, I can provide the following information. The name penciled into her book is Rolly Frey, who, on the night of 13 July, along with Corp. Joe St. Lawrence, Ralph Shirley, Walter Johnson and Frank Shaw were hit by shell fire while working in the ravine where it goes under the road to Lucy-le-Bocage. The St. Lawrence and Shirley were both killed and the other three later died of their wounds. My father, who was a member of the 14th Squad of Company F, 101st Engineers,relayed to me that St Lawrence was rather superstitious and did not want to go out that night, it being Friday the 13th and him being in the 13th Squad. Every member of that squad was either killed or wounded by that shell. My father was in the 14th Squad and had dirt thrown on him as he lay there but was otherwise unharmed. There are photographs of the members of Company F in the back of the book "The Story of Company F" written after the war by a committee of the company. The library at the Army War College in Carlisle, PA has a copy. As far as I have been able to determine, only Companies A, D, and F had histories published.
5/16/2013 - Rick Martin provided middle name and place of birth. He also provided the following information:
"The 26th "Yankee" Division/ Soldier's Mail at the following link and thought you may wish to at it to Mr Shirley's bio as it concerns his death.
http://worldwar1letters.wordpress.com/the-adventure-unfolds/watchful-waiting-1917/26th-yankee-division/
1917/26th-yankee-division/On August 18, 2011 at 5:35 am Gene Sordillo said:
Hello,
In response to Rosemary Seal's note of last July, I can provide the following information. The name penciled into her book is Rolly Frey, who, on the night of 13 July, along with Corp. Joe St. Lawrence, Ralph Shirley, Walter Johnson and Frank Shaw were hit by shell fire while working in the ravine where it goes under the road to Lucy-le-Bocage. The St. Lawrence and Shirley were both killed and the other three later died of their wounds. My father, who was a member of the 14th Squad of Company F, 101st Engineers,relayed to me that St Lawrence was rather superstitious and did not want to go out that night, it being Friday the 13th and him being in the 13th Squad. Every member of that squad was either killed or wounded by that shell. My father was in the 14th Squad and had dirt thrown on him as he lay there but was otherwise unharmed. There are photographs of the members of Company F in the back of the book "The Story of Company F" written after the war by a committee of the company. The library at the Army War College in Carlisle, PA has a copy. As far as I have been able to determine, only Companies A, D, and F had histories published.
Inscription
Co. F. 101 Engrs. WWI; Killed in France
Ae 22yrs 1mo 15dys
Family Members
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Arthur R. Shirley
1864–1934
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Bessie M. Shirley
1871–1938
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Leon Arthur Shirley
1897–1968
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Earl A. Shirley
1899–1962
Flowers
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Records on Ancestry
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Ralph Wellington Shirley
1900 United States Federal Census
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Ralph Wellington Shirley
1920 United States Federal Census
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Ralph Wellington Shirley
1910 United States Federal Census
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Ralph Wellington Shirley
New Hampshire, U.S., Birth Records, 1631-1920
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Ralph Wellington Shirley
New Hampshire, U.S., Birth Index, 1659-1900
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