Harry T. Love was born 17 March 1883. He is the son of Captain Henry N. & Eunice (Lee) Love. Harry was a member of G Company, Fourteenth Regiment, O. N. G., on a muster roll dated October 1896; he would have been thirteen years old at this time. Love would be referred to as “the company’s kid”, and also was nicknamed, “Possum.” He was 15 years old when he served as the bugler for the company when it was mustered in with the 4th O. V. I., during the Spanish American War. Harry’s father did get some criticism for sending his minor son off to war, but he said , “Madame, I consider that my boy has gone in a good cause. I may never see him again, but my country is welcome to his services.”
While Harry Love was serving as a musician in Puerto Rico, he would write to his mother asking, “Has Papa got out with his company yet?” He was asking about his father H. N. Love, who was trying to organize another company from Marion to fight in the war. Harry shared that he was with the company when they captured the town of Guayama and was even shot at. Among his exploits he had also captured a Spanish flag along with Lt. Andrews and Private Shaffer. Harry would also describe the things he saw while serving in a foreign land.
We are not sure why, but young Harry was discharged ahead of most of the company via telegraphic orders from the War Department. Maybe he was not excused from school! If he was still to attend school after returning from such an adventure, we can only imagine the heroic welcome back to school he would have.
Harry went on to perform as a musician in Marion, Ohio. Harry Love also volunteered for service during World War One. He would die in October of 1918, at a military training camp. It is sad and ironic to think that he may have succumb to the Spanish Flu of 1918. This is not verified as to cause of death. Harry T. Love is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery Piqua, Miami County, Ohio.
G Company, Fourth O. V. I. in Puerto Rico (1898)
After arriving in Puerto Rico and making their landing, G Company would move with the 4th O. V. I. and capture the town of Guayama. G Company would take up guard duties and have some time to write home about their experiences.
We get an idea of what G Company and the 4th O. V. I. was experiencing through the letters that G Company members sent back to Marion, Ohio. We see what town life, social structure and what some of the army life was like in Puerto Rico in 1898.
After the peace was signed on 12 August 1898, the company was assigned to patrol parts of the eastern sector of the island of Puerto Rico.
LITTLE HARRY LOVE
Studies the Anatomy of the Infantile
Porto Ricans.Marion Daily Star dated 8-3-1898
Harry Love write home to his parents as follows:
Guayama, Porto Rico, August 7, – We landed from the St. Paul Tuesday morning. The troops captured a number of lighters* and our battalion got out on them first and a steamer took us in tow. Our company was in the last lighter, and there was a lifeboat astern. When we stopped the lifeboat was pulled alongside, eight of us got into it and pulled for the shore. I was the fourth to land.
Well, we stayed in the town for two days and then packed up and marched on to Guayama to capture it. We had fighting for two miles. I remember the first bullet. It went “wiz-buzz” right over our company. We had a fight to get the town, and, when we did get in, G company captured the northwest corner of it and had hardest fight after all. The bullets came up the streets in hundreds. We are now guarded in the town by outposts.
This letter may not reach you very soon as the mail has to wait for a steamer.
I have a machete. We can talk with the natives and make them understand us. Did you get the letter with the chevron and ribbon I sent you from the St. Paul?
There are cocoanuts and everything here. It is not very hot down here; the climate is very nice. Has papa got out with his company yet? Have any more troops been sent anywhere? What is the news? We don’t hear anything down here. What is going on at San Juan – at Havana?
Well, we have been under fire. Lieutenant Andrews, Private Shaffer and I captured two Spanish flags in a store.
The people are nearly starved down here. The babies have awful stomachs on them. They run naked – not a stitch on them.
The Cincinnati and St. Louis Bombarded the his the other day. It was a pretty sight.
Tell me all the news you can. We don’t hear a thing. How is everything in Marion. Are you all well?
The houses down here are not as good as barns. It is bad to not be able to get an American sandwich or lemonade. We eat hardtack, corned beef, tomatoes, beans and coffee. We have not had any ripe bananas yet.
Some of the men in the regiment found some Spanish bullets that had been shot in the fight. When we went into the fight we threw away everything on a pile but our guns and canteens.
The mountains here are like the eastern mountains in the United Sates.
Well, I must close now. I am well. Good bye. Write as soon as possible.
HARRY T. LOVE
Trumpeter Co G, 4th O. V. I.
- Lighters are a type of barge
Spec. Larry L. Woolum – Vietnam Casualty
Larry Lee Woolum was born on 19 May 1948. He is the son to Calvin T. & Georgianna (Abrams) Woolum of Marion, Ohio. Larry L. Woolum was a 1967 Graduate of Harding High School. While at Harding, Larry had been on the Student Council.
As a Private, Woolum received his basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. He then was assigned to Fort Polk, Louisiana, for his advanced individual training.
Larry L. Woolum was an infantryman with the 101st Airborne Division. Woolum arrived in Vietnam on 2 September 1968. While in Vietnam he was serving with A Company, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry. Woolum attained the rank of Specialist. He was injured on 25 February 1969, when an enemy booby trap exploded near Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam. Spec. Woolum was an RTO (Radio/Telephone Operator) at the time of the incident. A platoonmate stated that an enemy trip wire was hung overhead along a trail. Woolum’s radio antenna triggered the booby trap, which was a claymore mine. He was taken to a military medical treatment facility where he died of his wounds. Spec. Larry L. Woolum died in Vietnam on 25 February 1969. Woolum was engaged to be married upon his return home from Vietnam, in September.
Spec. Woolum would be posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart among other awards.
Spec. Larry L. Woolum is buried in Grand Prairie Cemetery, Brush Ridge, Marion County, Ohio.
Spec. Larry L. Woolum is buried in Grand Prairie Cemetery, Brush Ridge, Marion County, Ohio.
Spec. Larry Lee Woolum is remembered on the Honor Roll, at the Marion Veterans Memorial Park in Marion, Ohio; on the west wall of the Marion County Courthouse; on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, at the Marion County Admin building, at 222 West Center St. in Marion, Ohio; and on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on Panel W31, Line 62.
Honored in the book A Promise Kept by Melissa Call, ED D. and Sgt. Wayne Raulerson
Fleet Mitchell – World War One Casualty
Fleet Mitchell was born in 29 December 1893. His parents were Mr. & Mrs. Clyde Mitchell of Marion, Ohio. Fleet Mitchel had a brother, James W. Mitchell, who would later serve in World War Two. James would also become a war casualty. Prior to entering service Mitchell was a car inspector with the Pennsylvania railroad. Mitchell left Marion on 1 June 1918, to Camp Sherman, for training. He would then be transferred to Camp Mills, with the 83rd Division, “Thunderbolt” and from there moved overseas. He would serve with D Battery, 322nd Field Artillery.
Fleet Mitchell would die of lobar pneumonia in a hospital in France on 2 November 1918. He was temporarily buried 3 November 1918, in Beaune, France. His remains would return to Hoboken, New Jersey, on 15 December 1920, aboard the U. S. A. T. Wheaton (funeral ship). Arrived in Marion, Ohio, for final resting place in the Marion Cemetery.
Fleet Mitchell is also remembered on the Honor Roll, at the Veterans Memorial Park in Marion, Ohio; and on the World War One Honor Roll, located on the second floor of the Marion County Courthouse.
Pvt. Gerald E. Baxter – Vietnam Era Casualty
Gerald Eugene Baxter was born in Marion, Ohio, on 10 January 1948. He was the son of Kenneth & Virginia Baxter. Gerald grew up with his older brother, Ron, in Waldo Ohio. Gerald was known by his friends and family as Jerry.
Jerry (Gerald) was a 1966 graduate of River Valley High School. Gerald would volunteer as a firefighter with the Waldo Fire Dept. prior to entering service. Gerald would be drafted into service in 1967. Ron Baxter, Jerry’s older brother, said that they were close brothers as they not only shared a bedroom, but also a small bed. He laughed when he told of how there was an imaginary line down the middle of the bed, and if even a finger or toe crossed it; one got hit. But Ron said that as brothers, they were very close.
Ron said that prior to State Route 23 bypassing Waldo, Jerry and he would play wiffleball with the neighborhood kids on the old S. R. 23 which went through the center of Waldo.
Ron remembers Jerry owning a motorcycle and enjoying riding it. He also said that he remembered a time when Jerry owned a Pontiac convertible. Ron said that one time on State Route 98 just north of Waldo, Jerry and two friends were in an accident in which they rolled the car over. Ron said that they had the top down and amazingly, no one was injured.
Ron also related the events that surrounded Gerald’s tragic death. Ron said that he and his wife, Karen, were married on Saturday, November of 1967. Gerald would stand with Ron as his best man. Ron and Karen would delay their honeymoon, so Ron could take Jerry to the GreyHound bus station on the following Wednesday. On Wednesday Jerry would board the bus with other draftees and head to Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Gerald would be assigned to a detail the next day, after processing in for basic training. On this detail Gerald, at 6ft. 3in. and 220lbs., would be riding in a deuce-n-half truck. It was raining and as the truck was about to stop, Gerald had dropped his rain poncho. He then jumped down from the slow moving truck, but he had turned and the momentum of his feet would slam his head into the pavement. He thought he was OK, but the commander seeing how hard he hit his head said he was calling for help. Sadly Gerald would die shortly thereafter from a skull fracture.
The family was shocked to hear of his death and wonder what could have caused such an injury. They would be informed on the details by another soldier who had witnessed the terrible accident.
Ron said that Gerald had no problem in answering the call to serve his country, even in time of war.
Pvt. Gerald E. Baxter is buried near his parents at the Waldo Cemetery, Waldo, Ohio.
Gerald E. Baxter is remembered on the Honor Roll, at the Veterans Memorial Park in Marion, Ohio and the Waldo Township Veterans Memorial, located in front of the Waldo Village & Township Hall.
(Thank You, to Ron Baxter for sharing memories and photos of your brother, Gerald.)
Honoring Marion Ohio Veterans 