Kennedy's parents, Charles Wesley Kelly and Samantha Williamson Kelly were natives of Spartanburg District, SC. Beginning in 1872, they made a series of moves to Panola County, MS, Sebastian County, AR, and finally Montgomery County, AR. There they homesteaded in 1886 outside the town of Oden, where their seventh child Kennedy was born in 1890.
After his school days, Kennedy left Arkansas with his brother Wendell Key "Bill" Kelly to find work in the lumber industry of Washington state. By 1910, they had settled in Cosmopolis, WA, and worked at a nearby Grays Harbor mill.
When they registered for the WWI draft in 1917, the Kelly brothers had moved to Seattle. They lived on a houseboat in the harbor, working for the Phoenix Shingle Company mill. They both were called for service in the Army. (The draft registrar entered Kennedy's year of birth incorrectly as 1889; all family documents consistently record his year of birth as 1890.)
Kennedy trained at Camp Lewis, WA. He was sent to France in summer 1918, in time for the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which began in September. Kennedy was in the 308th Regiment of the 77th Infantry Division. His Company "A" was one of several units in the 77th Division which later came to be called the "Lost Battalion." They were attacked by German forces for six days, surrounded in the Charlevaux Ravine of the Argonne Forest. (Charlevaux Ravine is a deep and densely-forested gorge two miles northeast of the community of Binarville.) Only one-fourth of the soldiers in the "Lost Battalion" left the ravine alive. Kennedy was killed in action there on 10/8/1918.
Clark Kelly
After his school days, Kennedy left Arkansas with his brother Wendell Key "Bill" Kelly to find work in the lumber industry of Washington state. By 1910, they had settled in Cosmopolis, WA, and worked at a nearby Grays Harbor mill.
When they registered for the WWI draft in 1917, the Kelly brothers had moved to Seattle. They lived on a houseboat in the harbor, working for the Phoenix Shingle Company mill. They both were called for service in the Army. (The draft registrar entered Kennedy's year of birth incorrectly as 1889; all family documents consistently record his year of birth as 1890.)
Kennedy trained at Camp Lewis, WA. He was sent to France in summer 1918, in time for the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which began in September. Kennedy was in the 308th Regiment of the 77th Infantry Division. His Company "A" was one of several units in the 77th Division which later came to be called the "Lost Battalion." They were attacked by German forces for six days, surrounded in the Charlevaux Ravine of the Argonne Forest. (Charlevaux Ravine is a deep and densely-forested gorge two miles northeast of the community of Binarville.) Only one-fourth of the soldiers in the "Lost Battalion" left the ravine alive. Kennedy was killed in action there on 10/8/1918.
Clark Kelly
Kennedy's parents, Charles Wesley Kelly and Samantha Williamson Kelly were natives of Spartanburg District, SC. Beginning in 1872, they made a series of moves to Panola County, MS, Sebastian County, AR, and finally Montgomery County, AR. There they homesteaded in 1886 outside the town of Oden, where their seventh child Kennedy was born in 1890.
After his school days, Kennedy left Arkansas with his brother Wendell Key "Bill" Kelly to find work in the lumber industry of Washington state. By 1910, they had settled in Cosmopolis, WA, and worked at a nearby Grays Harbor mill.
When they registered for the WWI draft in 1917, the Kelly brothers had moved to Seattle. They lived on a houseboat in the harbor, working for the Phoenix Shingle Company mill. They both were called for service in the Army. (The draft registrar entered Kennedy's year of birth incorrectly as 1889; all family documents consistently record his year of birth as 1890.)
Kennedy trained at Camp Lewis, WA. He was sent to France in summer 1918, in time for the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which began in September. Kennedy was in the 308th Regiment of the 77th Infantry Division. His Company "A" was one of several units in the 77th Division which later came to be called the "Lost Battalion." They were attacked by German forces for six days, surrounded in the Charlevaux Ravine of the Argonne Forest. (Charlevaux Ravine is a deep and densely-forested gorge two miles northeast of the community of Binarville.) Only one-fourth of the soldiers in the "Lost Battalion" left the ravine alive. Kennedy was killed in action there on 10/8/1918.
Clark Kelly
After his school days, Kennedy left Arkansas with his brother Wendell Key "Bill" Kelly to find work in the lumber industry of Washington state. By 1910, they had settled in Cosmopolis, WA, and worked at a nearby Grays Harbor mill.
When they registered for the WWI draft in 1917, the Kelly brothers had moved to Seattle. They lived on a houseboat in the harbor, working for the Phoenix Shingle Company mill. They both were called for service in the Army. (The draft registrar entered Kennedy's year of birth incorrectly as 1889; all family documents consistently record his year of birth as 1890.)
Kennedy trained at Camp Lewis, WA. He was sent to France in summer 1918, in time for the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which began in September. Kennedy was in the 308th Regiment of the 77th Infantry Division. His Company "A" was one of several units in the 77th Division which later came to be called the "Lost Battalion." They were attacked by German forces for six days, surrounded in the Charlevaux Ravine of the Argonne Forest. (Charlevaux Ravine is a deep and densely-forested gorge two miles northeast of the community of Binarville.) Only one-fourth of the soldiers in the "Lost Battalion" left the ravine alive. Kennedy was killed in action there on 10/8/1918.
Clark Kelly
Inscription
PVT. 308 INF. 77 DIV.
WASHINGTON
Gravesite Details
Washington
Family Members
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