David Renton and Lester B. Pickering

The first Post Commander of the Renton Post # 79 was Tracy Orville Peck, and the first Adjutant was Loy E. Carlin.  Other Post Commanders in those early years were:  Ray Hillyer, Scott Wilbur and Ludwig Fitzberd.

David Renton

            In 1894 on their heavily timbered claim on the North Fork, to David Renton and his wife was born a son, young Dave. 

          At the time, life was pretty rugged in the Upper Valley.  Dave attended elementary school in the old North Fork schoolhouse but a good share of his education was obtained in the woods he loved so well.

          Ted Boalch remembers him at the age of 15 pulling a “Swedish fiddle” (buck-saw) on a cottonwood pulp job.  He got as far away as Montana on a railroad construction job once but he soon came back to the Valley to work on a survey screw or in a logging camp.  When the urge to enlist got him in 1917 he and Bob Johnson were in the woods near Skyhomish; they came back to Snoqualmie and with Earl Odell and Jim Mattaal went into Seattle, enlisted in the 20^th Engineers, and were shipped to Washington, D.C. for outfitting and training.

          Dave was in isolation with the measles and was left behind when Bob, Jim, Earl and their outfit sailed for France in December.

Ill-fated Voyage

          In January Dave had recovered from the measles and was assigned to the sixth battalion of the 20^th, for shipment overseas.  About the 22^nd the outfit boarded the old Anchor liner, “Tuscania,” and with a convoy headed out to sea from New York.  The destination was Liverpool, but before they reached it disaster struck.  On the evening of February 6^th, while passing through the north channel of the Irish Sea between Scotland and Ireland, the Tuscania was picked off by a German submarine, which broke through the convoy to score a torpedo hit amidships.  The Tuscania floated about three hours before going under.

          Dave Renton, like many of the others, got off in a lifeboat.  They didn’t realize that wind and tide were taking them toward the cliffs of the Isle of Islay, off the western coast of Scotland.  Most of those not picked up by midnight were smashed on the rocks, with almost 100 percent loss of life.  Dave was in one of these boats.

          Luckier were other local boys who were also on the Tuscania’s ill-fated crossing.  Charlie Hanson was in one of the lifeboats picked up by an English trawler doing rescue work for the English Navy.  Joe Knott, then a resident of Monroe and later the chief of the Institute of Agricultural Science at Pullman, was also on the ship, as well as Charlie Cabe of North Bend.

          About four years later Dave Renton’s body was returned to the States and buried with military honors in that resting place of heroes, Arlington National Cemetery, just across the Potomac from the scene of his army camp life.

Note: The information above was condensed from a newspaper article, a copy of which was found in Post records.  No author is named, and identification of the Newspaper is unknown at this time.Renton-Pickering Post 79 of The American legion in Snoqualme, Washington is named for not just one decorated WW I Veteran but two local men who served in WW I – David Renton and Lester B. Pickering.

Lester B. Pickering

Lester B. Pickering was born on June 17, 1895 to Jeanette and Al Pickering on the old Pickering homestead in Novelty.  Here he grew up attending grade school at Novelty and three years of high school at Duvall.  He took his senior year of high school work at Queen Anne in Seattle while his parents and family moved to Chesaw in Okanogan County.  In the fall of 1913 he entered the University of Washington majoring in civil engineering.  The summer of 1916 he worked on a government survey crew in eastern Washington.

A month after the outbreak of World War I Lester was in uniform at the Presidio, a member of the First Officers’ Training camp. While in camp he was awarded his degree in engineering from the university with the Class of ’17.  Upon completion of officer training in August he was assigned to the 316^th Engineers at Camp Lewis as a 2^nd Lieutenant in June, 1918. In December 1917 Lester made the trip to California where he was married to his childhood sweetheart, Leila Thayer, a Duvall girl.

Wounded in Action

          In June 1918 his regiment left for France as a part of the 91^st Division.  Over there after some more drill and pioneer engineer training they were in reserve in the St. Mihiel drive.  In the latter part of September they went into the Argonne.

          Quoting from the Red Cross report, “The platoon of 1^st Lieutenant Lester B. Pickering Co. C went over the top in the advance of the 29^th, assisting in filling the gap at the left of the 91^st.  Units of Co. C advanced nearly a mile that afternoon, and during the advance the lieutenant was struck below the right knee by a machine gun from the left flank.  The wound was not serious, as the bullet entered the inside fleshy part of the leg and glanced off the bone.  The lieutenant put on his own first aid and continued to advance, although he had some difficulty walking.

          “He was advised by fellow officers to go to the hospital, after the retirement that night, but insisted on staying with the company.  Finally Lieutenant Colonel Powell, commanding the engineers, gave him an official order to go to the hospital.  He was accordingly evacuated and in a few days reached base hospital No. 23 at Vittel, department of Vosges, about 90 miles from where he was wounded. 

          There he is said to have recovered so rapidly as to be able to walk around.  But on October 15 he died from pneumonia following influenza.  The lieutenant was considered a remarkably fine officer and his death was keenly felt in the regiment.”

          In January 1922 his body was brought home to Novelty and buried with military honors in that beautiful little cemetery on Novelty hill.  For many years before the monument was erected in the Veterans plot at Novelty the Memorial services were held and the volleys fired over the grave of Lieutenant Pickering.

Note: The information above was condensed from a newspaper article, a copy of which was found in Post records.  No author is named, and identification of the Newspaper is unknown at this time.

The Renton-Pickering Post # 79 of The American Legion has a long and distinguished history. Our post is named after David Renton and Lester Pickering, two Snoqualmie Valley residents who were killed in World War I. Originally there were two posts chartered in 1919 in North Bend, and 1922 in Duvall respectively. These posts consolidated in 1925. We have been located in our current building since the late 1920’s, and have been an active and important part of our community ever since.