The Washington Post
30 November 1918, page 3
MEET DEATH IN FRANCE.
...
Fredericksburg, Va., Nov. 29. - Mrs. John D. Bleight, of this city, received a telegram last night stating that her son, John C. Bleight, was killed in France on November 1. was with the gas and flame corps.
===
Additional information contributed by Billy Walker (31535270):
A month after the start of the Battle of the Meuse-Argon in the fall of 1918, on the night of November 1st, at the town of Romage-sous- Montfaucon, Theo Emery describes the death of Private First Class John Bleight recorded on page 357 in his book "The Hellfire Boys":
Running from a German artillery barrage, "toward the Romagne road", led by Sgt. Harold Higginbotham, "Higgie", "the platoon reached the sunken road and they lay down in some shell holes to rest."
"Higgie was still trying to catch his breath when a shell whistled directly toward him through the mist and gas. Private First Class John Bleight, a stout farmer's son from Florida who had marched out of American University with Higgie, hugged the ground in the crater beside Higgie's when the shell detonated. A shell fragment whizzed into the back of Bleight's skull and killed him instantly."
"Higgie wasn't prone to emotion, but as he wrote in his diary, there was a sense of disbelief, even sadness, that Bleight's life had been snuffed out beside him while he had been spared. When daylight came, some of the fellows returned to the sunken road to find a bury Bleight.
30 November 1918, page 3
MEET DEATH IN FRANCE.
...
Fredericksburg, Va., Nov. 29. - Mrs. John D. Bleight, of this city, received a telegram last night stating that her son, John C. Bleight, was killed in France on November 1. was with the gas and flame corps.
===
Additional information contributed by Billy Walker (31535270):
A month after the start of the Battle of the Meuse-Argon in the fall of 1918, on the night of November 1st, at the town of Romage-sous- Montfaucon, Theo Emery describes the death of Private First Class John Bleight recorded on page 357 in his book "The Hellfire Boys":
Running from a German artillery barrage, "toward the Romagne road", led by Sgt. Harold Higginbotham, "Higgie", "the platoon reached the sunken road and they lay down in some shell holes to rest."
"Higgie was still trying to catch his breath when a shell whistled directly toward him through the mist and gas. Private First Class John Bleight, a stout farmer's son from Florida who had marched out of American University with Higgie, hugged the ground in the crater beside Higgie's when the shell detonated. A shell fragment whizzed into the back of Bleight's skull and killed him instantly."
"Higgie wasn't prone to emotion, but as he wrote in his diary, there was a sense of disbelief, even sadness, that Bleight's life had been snuffed out beside him while he had been spared. When daylight came, some of the fellows returned to the sunken road to find a bury Bleight.
The Washington Post
30 November 1918, page 3
MEET DEATH IN FRANCE.
...
Fredericksburg, Va., Nov. 29. - Mrs. John D. Bleight, of this city, received a telegram last night stating that her son, John C. Bleight, was killed in France on November 1. was with the gas and flame corps.
===
Additional information contributed by Billy Walker (31535270):
A month after the start of the Battle of the Meuse-Argon in the fall of 1918, on the night of November 1st, at the town of Romage-sous- Montfaucon, Theo Emery describes the death of Private First Class John Bleight recorded on page 357 in his book "The Hellfire Boys":
Running from a German artillery barrage, "toward the Romagne road", led by Sgt. Harold Higginbotham, "Higgie", "the platoon reached the sunken road and they lay down in some shell holes to rest."
"Higgie was still trying to catch his breath when a shell whistled directly toward him through the mist and gas. Private First Class John Bleight, a stout farmer's son from Florida who had marched out of American University with Higgie, hugged the ground in the crater beside Higgie's when the shell detonated. A shell fragment whizzed into the back of Bleight's skull and killed him instantly."
"Higgie wasn't prone to emotion, but as he wrote in his diary, there was a sense of disbelief, even sadness, that Bleight's life had been snuffed out beside him while he had been spared. When daylight came, some of the fellows returned to the sunken road to find a bury Bleight.
30 November 1918, page 3
MEET DEATH IN FRANCE.
...
Fredericksburg, Va., Nov. 29. - Mrs. John D. Bleight, of this city, received a telegram last night stating that her son, John C. Bleight, was killed in France on November 1. was with the gas and flame corps.
===
Additional information contributed by Billy Walker (31535270):
A month after the start of the Battle of the Meuse-Argon in the fall of 1918, on the night of November 1st, at the town of Romage-sous- Montfaucon, Theo Emery describes the death of Private First Class John Bleight recorded on page 357 in his book "The Hellfire Boys":
Running from a German artillery barrage, "toward the Romagne road", led by Sgt. Harold Higginbotham, "Higgie", "the platoon reached the sunken road and they lay down in some shell holes to rest."
"Higgie was still trying to catch his breath when a shell whistled directly toward him through the mist and gas. Private First Class John Bleight, a stout farmer's son from Florida who had marched out of American University with Higgie, hugged the ground in the crater beside Higgie's when the shell detonated. A shell fragment whizzed into the back of Bleight's skull and killed him instantly."
"Higgie wasn't prone to emotion, but as he wrote in his diary, there was a sense of disbelief, even sadness, that Bleight's life had been snuffed out beside him while he had been spared. When daylight came, some of the fellows returned to the sunken road to find a bury Bleight.
Inscription
JOHN C. BLEIGHT / JUNE 28, 1889 / NOV. 1, 1918 / GAVE HIS LIFE IN THE BATTLE OF / "THE ARGONNE." / "GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN / THIS, THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE / FOR HIS FRIENDS." ST. JNO. 15. 13.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
