Writer Tells of Nickerson KIA While Heroically Volunteering With Two Others

May 7, 1959

…………………..BY THE CLEAR NEMASKET RIVER (A weekly column in the Middleboro Gazette, writer, unkown)
………… “With Memorial Day just a few short weeks away, we felt we felt that there may be some who
would not recall this photo of a Middleboro young man who lost his life in World War 1 during the Battle
of the Marne.
………..Simeon L. Nickerson for whom the local Post of the American Legion is named and for whose
memory Nickerson Avenue, formerly Town House avenue, was dedicated, was a member of Co. D of the
101st Infantry. He was Killed In Action on July 23, 1918 with two others in WW1 near Epieds, France.
………..The following brief excerpt written by Frank P. Sibley in the Boston Globe may best describe the
heroic manner in which this local son sacrificed his life for his country.
………..In writing of the “Brave New Englanders in the Battle of the Marne” he said, ‘“Perhaps the most
deliberate thing of the whole story was the act of Sergeant S. L. Nickerson of the scouts, with Corp. M. J.
O’Connell and Private Thomas Ryan. These men were out ahead of the line of the outposts and the
infantry they were protecting was pulled up by machine gun chattering in the woods opposite them.
……….An open field lay between, and these three men deliberately volunteered to walk out into the field
and draw fire.
……….The guns had to be located; otherwise the advance must stop, which was impossible, or else
scores of men would be killed.
………They went.
………It was certain death of course and they took it with their heads up, saving lives of a great many
others.”’
……….And, if we recall, this was the war to end all wars and make the world safe for democracy. If such
an end could ever be attained, we might consider these sacrifices were not made in vain. ……………………………………(Posted by Bob Lessard Historian 2014)