Honoring Marion Ohio Veterans

Auguste Rhu Taylor was the son of Joel Brundge Taylor, MD & Emma Lucinda Wolford Taylor. From the Judge Advocate General, Taylor later requested a name change, from Auguste R. Taylor of Field Artillery to A. Rhu Taylor on 21 Oct 1938.

A. Rhu Taylor was a 1914 graduate from Marion High School. Taylor then attended Ohio Wesleyan University from 1914 to 1917 and was a member of Ohio Delta Chapter, Sigma Alpha Epsilon. With a family history of serving in the military, Rhu enlisted in the Army in 1917, following the United States entry into The Great War. This was at the end of Taylor’s junior year at Ohio Wesleyan University. Rhu Taylor continued a family tradition of military service, as his paternal grandfather, three uncles and his father had been volunteers in Ohio’s forces in the Civil War. One uncle was wounded; another died in Andersonville Prison. His father, Dr. J.B. Taylor served as a bugler with G company, Eighty-Eighth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

The unit that Taylor had enlisted in was an Ohio National Guard unit that was being called to federal service, the 147th Field Hospital Company, 112th Sanitary (Medical) Team. Governor James Cox visited the unit to give a patriotic speech. At the end Taylor stepped forward to shake the governor’s hand. Cox then surprised Taylor by inviting him to apply for a nomination to West Point.

At the time the course of study was shortened due to the war, but with the war ending on November 11, he would have to stay to finish his studies. Taylor would graduate from West Point with the Class of 1920. He was ranked 41 in a class of 271. He would also get a Bachelor of Science degree in absentia from Ohio Wesleyan.

Taylor would receive his commission and be sent to the Field Artillery. He would meet his wife, Estelle Nunnally Taylor while at Camp Knox, Kentucky. On 5 August 1923, they would have a daughter, Nancy Jane Taylor. He would then serve in various Field Artillery units until 1928, when he would be appointed as a mathematics instructor at the United States Military Academy. Taylor was the next year assigned to teach physics and would remain at West Point until 1934. He would then attend Yale Law School. In 1935, he received his captaincy; and in 1937, he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Law. In 1942 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel while Staff Judge Advocate, VIII Corps. Taylor retired as a Colonel in 1947.

In addition to theater and service medals, Rhu was awarded the Legion of Merit for his claims work, received the Ouissam Alaorite Cherifien Order in the rank of Commander from the then Sultan of Morocco, and was made an honorary private first class in the French Foreign Legion, Sidibel-Abbes, Algeria.

A. Rhu Taylor met his second wife, Cecile Berton. Cecile at the time was employed by the Office of Strategic Services, Algiers, Nice. They married in 1953 and remained so until her death in September of 1981. Cecile Taylor’s ashes are interred in the Marion Cemetery.

Taylor would eventually live in New York and later San Francisco where he would live the rest of his days. A. Rhu Taylor died in San Francisco, California, on 27 Oct 1981. His ashes have been interred in the Marion Cemetery, Marion, Ohio.

Auguste Rhu Taylor is also remembered on the World War II Veterans Memorial Wall at the Marion Cemetery, Marion, Ohio.

Thank You to West Point Association of Graduates for research assistance.