Thomas Lawrence McWade was born 25 December 1898, in Middleburg, Ohio. McWade’s address on the D Company Roster from World War One, list him at Bellefontaine, Ohio. He was not shown on the list of those leaving with D Company when they left Marion. It is not known if he enlisted and was assigned to D Company or if he was transferred in from another company.
We do know that Private Thomas L. McWade served with the D Company boys in hard combat and was seriously injured during the Second Battle of the Marne. He gives some description of his experience in Europe in the attached article.
We also see in the article that the government was urging wounded veterans to learn a trade. McWade was making plans to learn auto mechanics. We also must note that McWade would live on to the age of 74 years old. He died on 17 August 1973, in Logan County, Ohio. He is buried in the Bellefontaine City Cemetery, Bellefontaine, Ohio.
THOMAS M’Wade, SHOT
IN BOTH LEGS, IS HOMED Company Boy Arrives in
Bellefontaine SaturdayRemembers Apple Pie He Gets
Last Thanksgiving Day Back
of Verdun.Private Thomas McWade nineteen, member of D company, 166th infantry, Rainbow division, reached his home on south Detroit street in Bellefontaine Saturday evening where a joyful welcome awaited, says Monday’s Bellefontaine Examiner.
From The Marion Daily Star dated 11-26-1918
Private McWade was wounded in both legs on July 29 when struck by portions of a Hun shell near Chateau Thierry. The flesh of the calf of the left leg is entirely gone and the right leg has a hole the size of a half dollar. He is not lame but must exercise great care of his physical condition.
The soldier lad lay from 2 o’clock on the day that he was wounded until 10:30 the following morning on that stretch of terrain known as No Man’s Land. The Germans were shelling the town to the rear so fearfully, having obtained almost perfect range, that to remove the wounded was impossible without great loss of life.
He Stays With Him.
Elmer King, son of Samuel King and wife, West Liberty, stayed by the side of Private McWade when he could, of necessity being forced to go to the fighting line at intervals, dressing his wounds and being instrumental with others in getting him to a dressing station. Many wounded men were left on the field that day and suffering was fearful.
Private McWade has been in a number of hospitals in France and came here directly from the Walter Reed hospital in Washington D. C. to which he must return on December 20, provided an extension of furlough is denied. He has signed up to take a course in auto mechanics there, the government acting at once to urge all wounded soldiers to learn a trade.
“Last Thanksgiving season I spent the time in the little town of Oel, back of Verdun, and remember that the cook was able to get some apples to make us fellows a fine pie,” said young McWade who remarked that about the only difference in the observance of holidays, when in the army, to mark them from other days, was that the men did not drill and frequently did not fight.
Uses Automatic Rifle.
Private McWade used an automatic rifle all of the time that he was at the front, the accuracy of which is good for at least half a mile. Certain squads of men in the different companies were drilled for this kind of attack and D Company was ready, at least fairly so, when the men left for France in October of 1917. They went from Camp Mills, New York.
Concerning the brutality and trickery of the Germans, Private McWade had considerable to say. He remarked that they would throw a bayonet and yell “Kamerad” at the same time, taking a chance upon the mercy of the one against whom the fight was being made. “I took no chance with any of them,” he remarked adding that the confidence of the Germans was fast falling when he left France in October. I only wish that they were driven out of the world,” he added, meaning that he has no faith in the people as a race. He said that the Chateau Thierry drive was the beginning of the end for the enemy. “They constantly put more men at the front after that drive and they were just constantly pushed back by the allies.”
Private McWade is being given a warm welcome as will be accorded all of the members of the Rainbow division and of all other divisions who return. What is there in the world so grand as the reuniting of kindred about the family hearthstone.”
Honoring Marion Ohio Veterans 