On September 26, 1918, the soldiers of the 28th Division, many of them from Philadelphia, nervously glanced at their watches as dawn approached. The massive artillery fire from their gunners which had begun hours before had finally ceased. H Hour was nearly upon them, and as the men in the trenches awaited the signal to “go over the top”, the macabre paradoxes of war found many shaken with fear, yet strengthened by courage while stalked by Death.
For 28th Division Lieutenant Daniel Lafferty of the 109th Infantry Regiment, and Sergeant Bernard Breen of the 108th Machine Gun Battalion, both alumni of Philadelphia’s Roman Catholic High School, the moment was all too familiar as they had already experienced heavy fighting during the summer. Indeed, Lafferty was slightly wounded just a few weeks before, but had returned to his regiment. It’s likely that their thoughts were for the men that they would soon lead into battle, as Lafferty and Breen were well-respected Army veterans, admired for their leadership qualities. Both had served on the Mexican border in 1915, and Lafferty had received his commission a few months prior to the battle, while Breen had just been recommended for his commission. They knew that the success of the attack, and the lives of their men, depended upon how well they would lead them into battle.
A rolling fog crept through the Argonne forest as the officers told their men to get ready. Helmet straps were tightened. Field packs, gas masks, rifles, and ammunition were checked. Fighting was expected to be at close quarters, and a final order was barked to the infantry: “Fix bayonets!”
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On the morning of September 26, 1918, at 5:30am, following a 6 hour Allied artillery barrage from over 2,700 guns, the largest and deadliest battle ever fought by American soldiers began: The great Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Its primary objective was to capture the Sedan-Mezieres railroad hub, Germany’s main supply and communication link, which was located between the River Meuse and the Argonne Forest. The Allies believed that capturing this crucial railway hub would result in a German withdrawal from France and force them to capitulate. It would not be an easy task. Opposing the attacking Allied soldiers along this front just north of Verdun were 40 German Army divisions.
The bitterly-fought battle lasted 47 days, and ultimately resulted in the end of the Great War. It involved 1.2 million American soldiers, and by the time that it concluded, 26,277 U.S. troops lost their lives, with another 95,786 wounded – the highest number of casualties for any battle ever fought by American soldiers. Newspaper accounts of the great battle captivated an American public anxious for news from the front lines. Worried families of the soldiers agonized as they read these dispatches which not only provided horrific descriptions of the battle, but listed the mounting casualties as well.
Perhaps the most sobering revelation of my now 9-year search for the alumni of Roman Catholic High School who gave their lives in World War 1 has been the terrible suffering that was endured by Philadelphians, both the soldiers and their families, during the Battle of the Meuse-Argonne. Newspapers from that era, such as the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Public Ledger, and the Catholic Standard and Times, have been my most valuable resource in this search, and it was while poring over these newspapers from 1918 that I noticed a gradual, yet significant, change beginning with the early days of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The number of names on the daily published casualty lists, as well as the number of ominous stories from the front lines, slowly began to increase. In the Public Ledger, pictures of the dead and wounded soldiers, with their accompanying short biographies, sometimes covered a full page. The grim casualty lists which had previously been a half-column in length, gradually expanded to 3 columns.
There were also numerous heartbreaking stories of parents receiving news that two of their sons had been killed, or that a previous notification of a son’s death was incorrect. And due to the archaic communication flow of that era, there were also stories of parents receiving a letter from their son after already being notified that he had been killed in battle. My two sons are the same age as the soldiers I was reading about, and many times I had to stop reading the articles to gather myself.
My search for the names of the 32 Roman alumni who died in World War 1 has determined that many lost their lives during the Meuse–Argonne offensive. On November 1, 1918 the Philadelphia Public Ledger reported that Bernard Breen had been “killed in action during the fighting along the Meuse.” The article noted that his brother, Joseph, was an Army Captain, also serving in France.
The December 9, 1918 Philadelphia Inquirer revealed that Daniel Lafferty was “killed in action in the Argonne Forest.” Five days later, the Catholic Standard & Times reported that Lafferty was killed while “bravely leading his men in the early dawn in the advance before Petit Boureuilles, near the Argonne Forest, and edifying his men by his courage…” It also stated that a letter from a fellow soldier was sent to his widow, Mrs. Esther Lafferty, that “pays a glowing tribute to the deceased as an officer and a man.”
Information traveled slowly back then, and my subsequent research found that, although their families received official notifications of their deaths in late October and early December, both men had actually died on September 27 – just one day after the start of the great Offensive.
Sergeant Bernard Breen and Lieutenant Daniel Lafferty, alumni of Roman Catholic High School, who both served in the 28th Division and lost their lives on the same day, are buried in France at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery. Their graves are located in the same Plot, just 2 rows apart.
More stories of Great War veterans, as well as an entire chapter chronicling the author’s search for the Roman Catholic High School alumni who died in World War I, can be found in the new book by Philadelphia writer, Chris Gibbons: “Soldiers, Space, and Stories of Life”. Amazon.com link is below: