WWI VETERAN, REPORTED KIA ON 11,2,1918. HAROLD D. BLACKWELL COMMANDER POST 964 1971- 1973 HE WAS REPORTED KIA (KILLED IN ACTION) ON NOVEMBER 2, 1918. WHEN HE BECAME CONSCIOUS, HIS INTESTINES WERE SPILLED OUT ON THE GROUND. HE WAS WOUNDED BY AN ARTILLERY BOMBARDMENT AND THE ONLY SURVIVOR. HAROLD SAID "I HAD THE SENSATION OF DYING." HE STUFFED HIS INTESTINES BACK INSIDE, AND HELD THEM THERE WHILE HE WALKED 3 MILES TO AN AID STATION. "THEY GAVE ME A BELT TO HOLD MY GUTS IN, AND THEY PUT ME OUT BACK WITH THE REST OF THE WOUNDED WHO WEREN'T EXPECTED TO LIVE." RECOGNIZING THIS, HE MOVED HIS STRETCHER TO THE EVACUATION SECTION OF THE AID STATION. "THEY ASKED ME IF I HAD AN IDENTIFICATION TAG (A MOVEMENT TAG), I LIED AND SAID YES" HAROLD'S PARENTS RECEIVED NOTIFICATION OF HIS DEATH IN SOUTH DAKOTA WERE THEY LIVED. 6 MONTHS LATER, THEY WERE INFORMED THEIR SON WAS ALIVE. HAROLD'S CITATION READS "HE BRAVELY LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR THE CAUSE OF HIS COUNTRY. HIS NAME WILL EVER REMAIN FRESH IN THE HEARTS OF HIS FRIENDS AND COMRADES. THE RECORD OF HIS HONORABLE SERVICE WILL BE PERSERVED IN THE ARCHIVES OF THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES. SIGNED JOHN J. PERSHING, COMMANDER IN CHIEF, AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES.

 

 

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