My great-grandmother Olive (with whom I share a middle name) was the only girl in a family of six children. The family lived on both the East and West sides of the Cascades, the family finally settling in the Wenatchee area, Malaga specifically. I haven't delved into property records to see if the location of their orchard is able to be found. Many of the family members spent the majority of their lives in the area, although not all. Frank Chester Danner was the second oldest son of the family, born 10 Oct 1892 in St Paul, Nebraska. Initially I had found his World War I draft information via FamilySearch, and did some scrounging to find that he did die in France on 10 October (his birthday....) 1918. As Armistice day is coming up, Nov 11 1918, he was very close to making it home alive. And indeed his older brother Roy who was also fighting in France did make it home. They may have even been on the same fields of battle.
Frank's VA Index card lists him as being in Company D of the 361st Infantry. This fantastic History Link article says that the 361st Infantry was Washington State's main fighting force, and was known as the "Wild West Division". They trained at what was then Camp Lewis (today Joint Base Lewis-McChord) and fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which was the final push to neutralize German forces at the end of the war. Initially I had guessed Frank had died in France, and then found his name listed in "United States World War 1 Expeditionary Forces Deaths" to confirm. Then I got this excellent article from the treasures in my grandmother's house. As always, the details are brought to life by the recorded story of a survivor. I don't know how well you can read the image, which I believe is a photocopy from the Wenatchee World newspaper.
"Early on October 10th the Infantry began to push North. The woods provided good cover and the men had learned how to avoid the worst of the dangers, but it cost men to get the next mile. Private Frank C Danner, who was drafted from Route 1 out of Everett, but who's mother now lives in Wenatchee, was in an advance party of 14 scouts with two corporals and a sergeant that on the morning of October 10 went forth toward hill 288 with instructions to get into contact with the front German line. Danner was to bring back the news, and in about two hours he returned with news and with a package of German hardtack, from which he gave some to sergeant Alfred G Graebner of Girrodl, ID. He said his party had run into a lot of German equipment and that the Hun seemed to have gone in a hurry. He borrowed a drink from Graebners's canteen and set out again to rejoin the scouts.
"When Danner was killed, the scouting party of 17 was up in the hill 288 horseshoe, with machine guns on three sides of it, those in front not more than 200 feet away. The men were almost in the barbwire at the bottom of hill 288, Sergeant Raymond Best of Densmore, Kan. had should a German snipper (sic), and Corporal Peter Colter of Reno, Nev could hear the Germans jabbering about it. They were telling one another to keep the machine guns still, except one or two as a blind, until the Americans got into the barbwire, so that they could all be killed there. Danner was about six feet to the left of the sergeant in charge of the party, William M Couts of Camas, Wash. He was resting his head on his elbow and hand. A machine gun from each side opened. A bullet went down in his chest. He said 'My God, I'm hit' and died instantly.
"The party was then only 200 yards from the southerly crest of hill 288. The tangle of brush saved the party from annihilation".
The History Link article states the 91st were moved to Reserve on 4th October, but for whatever reason, Frank did not go with them. I will have to look for more accounts of this group, which I'm sure exist.
This is a Master's thesis for a Military college degree written by Brian Woodcock in 1998 that has a fairly extensive history of the 91st division of the 361st. He states they went into the Meuse-Argonne offensive sorely undertrained and with no combat experience at all. The aggressiveness of their push through the end of September and beginning of October was disastrous for casualties and morale. Woodcock writes "The 91st had done its best to accomplish its objectives throughout the battle of the
Meuse-Argonne. It reached the Kriemhilde Stellung first, the 1st Army objective, but
there was no way it could continue forward, or hold its position. It was surrounded on
three sides and did not have the support from other units to continue. The troops were
tired, and they had captured the town of Gesnes at great loss". (The Kriemhilde Stellung was part of the defenses of the Hindenberg Line)
This document from PBS speaks a little more about Hill 288, stating it was one of the two dominant hills in the region (the other Cote de Chatillion) that needed to be secured when General MacArthur's troops arrived to support on 11 October. It was finally taken on 14 October, so one can imagine the danger the scouts undertook in scoping out this line at the time of Frank's death.
I look forward to learning more about this offensive and the experiences of the survivors. Perhaps next installment can cover his brother Roy's experience in France. It is very interesting the difference in tone of the almost diffident Wenacthee World article, and the graveness of the thesis and other coverages of the account. Possibly the desire to cover a local man's death and share his memory caused the writers to stick to a more positive tone. Each time I dive into one of these I learn so much, and its only the tiniest sliver, even of a short life like Frank's 26 years.
