Corporal Edward J. Lynch – World War One Casualty

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Edward James Lynch was born on 19 May 1888 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His parents are Patrick & Jennie (Coyne) Lynch of New Orleans. Edward had a sister and brother. His brother was serving in the Navy at the time of Edwards death. Edward J. Lynch was a resident of LaRue, Ohio. He was married to Mayme (Chrysler), also of LaRue. Lynch work for a short time in Marion, Ohio.

Edward J. Lynch enlisted in 1917, while living in New Orleans, Louisiana. Lynch attained the rank of Corporal (Cpl) and was serving in the Engineering Corps. He departed Hoboken, New Jersey on 10 July 1918. He traveled aboard the SS Manchuria (1903) for Europe. He served with Company B, Sixty-First Engineers (Railway Operating).

On 2 October 1918, his wife of four years received a telegram reporting her husbands death. Cpl Edward J. Lynch died on 13 September 1918 of bronchial pneumonia.

From The Marion Daily Star dated 10-3-1918

EDWARD J. LYNCH DIES
OF PNEUMONIA IN FRANCE

Widow Living at No. 614 Darius
Street, Marion.

LYNCH ENLISTS AT
HOME IN NEW ORLEANS

Wife Is Formerly Miss Mayme
Chrysler, of LaRue – In the
Engineers’ Corps.

Yesterday afternoon, Mrs. Edward J. Lynch, formerly Miss Mayme Chrysler, of Larue, now residing with her brother, William Chrysler, No. 614 Darius street, received a telegram from Washington notifying her of the death of her husband, Corporal Lynch, who was with the engineering corps in France. He died September 13, of bronchial pneumonia.
At the time of his enlistment about a year ago, Corporal Lynch served with the 61st. Engineers. He enlisted at his home in New Orleans and was sent overseas in the engineering corps. He was married about four years ago to Miss Chrysler, of LaRue, and, although this was never permanently his home, he worked in Marion for a short time. Aside from his widow he leaves his father and a sister in New Orleans and a brother in the navy.

Tombe Edward J. LYNCH

Corporal Edward J. Lynch is buried in Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial, Fere-en-Tardenois, Departement de l’Aisne, Picardie, France.

Corporal Edward J. Lynch is remembered on the Honor Roll, at the Veterans Memorial Park in Marion, Ohio; and the World War One Honor Roll, located on the second floor of the Marion County Courthouse.

Pfc. Robert L. Briggs MIA – Korean War

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Robert Leroy Briggs was born 23 August 1931. His parents were William M. Briggs & Geraldine (Strose) Briggs. Robert had a brother, William A. Briggs (1929-2012), who was also a Korean War Veteran.
Private First Class (Pfc.) Robert L. Briggs was a member of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division “First Team.” While fighting the enemy in South Korea on 21 August 1950, Pfc. Robert L. Briggs was listed as Missing in Action (MIA). He was later presumed dead on 31 December 1953.
Among Pfc. Briggs’ awards were the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.
As of this writing (1-26-2020) Pfc. Robert Leroy Briggs’ body remains unaccounted for.
Pfc. Robert L. Briggs’ name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial and National Korean War Veterans Memorial Washington, D. C.
Robert L. Briggs is remembered on the Honor Roll, at the Veterans Memorial Park in Marion, Ohio; and on the west wall of the Marion County Courthouse.

From The Marion Star dated 7-8-1950
Brothers, Both In Army, Meet in Japan
Brothers in service- who are former Marion residents met last week at Tokyo. Japan, after a separation of a year and a half. They are Pvt. William A. Briggs, 22, and Pvt. Robert L. Briggs, 18, brothers of Mrs. Robert J. Johnson of 138 St. Clair street. Their parents are Mr. and Mrs. William Briggs who are now living in Columbus. The older brother entered service in the fall of 1948, and the younger followed last fall. Each received his basic training at Ft Knox, Ky., then sailed for Japan from California. Both are in infantry units. The word concerning their meeting in Tokyo came to Mrs. Johnson in a letter this week. It said that they expect to be in Korea within four weeks and asked the family not to worry if letters did not come regularly.

Pfc. William H. Zieg – World War Two Casualty

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William H. Zieg was born in Marion, Ohio, on 29 November 1921. He was the son of Harry E. & Emma (Roseberry) Zieg. William attended school at Harding High School. Before entering service Zieg was employed with Erie Railroad.
William H. Zieg entered service in August of 1942, at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. He received additional training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. In July of 1943 he would leave for Hawaii for service duty. From Hawaii Zieg was assigned to duties in Papua, New Guinea.
On 26 June 1944, Pfc. William H. Zieg would die of wounds sustained during combat. His remains were returned for burial in Marion Cemetery, Marion, Ohio, in June of 1945.
Besides his parents, Zieg left behind three sisters, Elizabeth L. (Zieg) Simpson, Mary A. (Zieg) Rinnert, and Dorothy (Zieg) Sult.
Pfc. William H. Zieg is remembered on the Honor Roll, at the Veterans Memorial Park in Marion, Ohio; on the west wall of the Marion County Courthouse; and on the World War II Veterans Memorial Wall at the Marion Cemetery.

Spec. Timothy E. Dye – Vietnam Casualty

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DyeTim01Timothy Elden Dye was the son of Elsa M. Colby. Timothy E. Dye was born 25 December 1948. Timothy Dye was a 1967 graduate of Harding High School. While a junior in high school, Dye was Ohio’s High School Mid-Heaveyweight Weightlifting Champion in 1966. Dye was in his first week of classes at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, when he was notified to report for enlistment. Timothy E. Dye was drafted into service on 8 November 1967.
Specialist Timothy E. Dye served as a mortarman with the Mortar Platoon, E Company, 4rd Battalion, 173rd Airborne Infantry Brigade (Sky Soldiers). He arrived in Vietnam on 11 July 1968. Pfc. Dye would be awarded the Bronze Star with V for Valor, for his actions on 21 August 1966.

DyeTim03
T. Dye in Vietnam

Citation:

Actions on 21 August 1966 (not the action in which Sp4. Dye was killed)

With complete disregard for his own safety, Pfc. Dye moved through the murderous concentration of fire to his mortar position and began preparing and placing rounds within his position for use in counter mortar fire.
Pfc. Dye’s apparent unconcern for his safety while moving about his duties instilled confidence in the members of his squad.
When the fire direction center was destroyed, Pfc. Dye, without hesitation and at great risk to his continued safety moved 40 meters across an open area exposed to automatic weapons fire to retrieve the radio from the fire direction center bunker.
After assisting in moving the fire direction center to the alternate position, Pfc. Dye returned to his position and resumed preparing ammunition until the ammunition at his position was running low.
Pfc. Dye then volunteer to cross 50 meters of open area to the central ammunition bunker to carry the vitally needed ammunition.
Without regard for his own safety, Pfc. Dye carried ammunition for more than two hours, making numerous trips between the two positions, repeatedly exposing himself to the intense hostile fire that was sweeping the area.
Pfc. Dye’s heroic actions were instrumental in repelling the numerically superior enemy force, causing the enemy more than 40 soldiers mortally wounded while sustaining relatively light friendly casualties.

Pfc. Timothy E. Dye was killed while in a night defensive position in Lam Dong Province South Vietnam. He was attached to Bravo Company of the 1st Platoon, 3rd Battalion, 503rd Infantry as a Forward Observer on the night he was killed. He died on 7 April 1969, at the age of 20.

Bravo-Lima-Memorial-Easter-1969
Easter Memorial Service held for the Eleven Men Who Died on 7 April 1969

Sp4 Timothy E. Dye was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star (Valor), Bronze Star (Merit), Purple Heart , and Air Assault Medal among other service ribbons.
Timothy E. Dye is buried in Chapel Heights Memory Gardens, Marion, Ohio.
Sp4 Timothy E. Dye 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 W27, Line 30.

The other soldiers who died in the same action as Sp4. Dye were:
1st Plt B Co, 3rd Bn. 503rd Infantry:
SFC Jack B. Beers, Clarksville, TN
SGT Kenneth R. Bird, Monrovia, CA
SP4 Robert M. Cochran, Sarasota, FL
PFC Peter Godoy, Los Angeles, CA
SP4 John T. Gray, Ellisville, MS
SP4 Michael D. Griffis, Philadelphia, PA
SGT Larry M. Kelley, Blytheville, AR
SGT Thomas V. Mitchell, Pittsburgh, PA
CPL Larry G. Pyle, Fort Worth, TX

SGT Floyd A. Deal Globe, AZ, Medic from HQ Co. 3/503

From 2/503 Newsletter March-April 2019, Issue 85
11-20-2014
“Brother in Arms. I was there, April 7th, 1969, the day I lost so many brothers. Tim was a friend and brother. He fought like hell that day. We all were hit hard, no one made it out clean. Had we not ran out of ammo we would have continued to fight. God Bless you Tim.”
Paul Dalton

PFC Claude N. Boxwell – Border Campaign Veteran & World War One Casualty

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Claude N. Boxwell was born 14 August 1894, in Ohio. His parents are Robert E. & Mary Boxwell, of Green Camp, Ohio. Camp.

Boxwell was a veteran of the Border Campaign having served with D Company there. He stayed with D Company as they trained and fought in Europe. He had sent letters home to his family when he first arrived as well as after he had served time in the trenches.

From The Marion Daily Star dated 4-19-1918

Claude Boxwell Writes of Life on
Battle Line

Green Camp, O., April 19 –
The following was taken from a letter received from Claude Boxwell, dated March 11, 1918 and received on Saturday: “I have just come out of the trenches for the second time since my arrival in France and begin to consider myself quite a veteran. I am enjoying the best of health and am having the time of my life. We are getting all the good substantial grub we want and our sleeping quarters are good and warm, and if our mail should come a little more regularly we wouldn’t have the shadow of a ???? coming, as we soldiers would rather have a letter than an unexpected pay day.” Mr. Boxwell is with company D., 166th United States Infantry.

Another letter from Boxwell early in the war is found in a previous article.

On the night of December 25 Mr. and Mrs. Boxwell both dreamed that thyey saw their son, who had come home from the war, and their hearts were happy on Christmas day. While they lay dreaming of their son, he was dying of bronchial pnumonia in a French hospital.

From The Marion Daily Star

The Star also went on to state that PFC Claude N. Boxwell had not been wounded but had been gassed. He was treated in a hospital and was released. That was when Boxwell had last written his parents. By the time he had reentered the hospital, hostilities had ceased in the war.

PFC Boxwell died of bronchial pneumonia on 26 December 1918, in Sedan, France. He was then buried in the American Cemetery, Bazoilles, sur Meuse, Vosges, France. On 27 January 1921, his remains were disinterred and transported aboard the U. S. A. T. Wheaton. The Wheaton arrived back in this country at Hoboken, New Jersey, on 18 May 1921. His remains arrived at Green Camp, Ohio, forfinal rest on 27 May 1921. He is buried in the Greencamp Cemetery in Greencamp, Ohio.

PFC Claude N. Boxwell is 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.