Clare Emerson Josselyn, my paternal grandfather & Leon Webster Josselyn, his older brother.
Josselyn Doughboys, members of the U.S. Army Infantry Company K, 26th Division, 101st Regiment in a panoramic regimental photograph taken at Camp McGinness, Framingham, Massachusetts, USA 1917. My grandfather Clare( front row, center left in the thumbnail) is seated next to his brother Leon who gave his life at the Battle of St. Mihiel in western France, September 30, 1918.
Great Uncle Leon's grave marker in France ... https://www.flickr.com/photos/20436671@N00/22946329495/in/dateposted-public/
Leon's body was shipped home in the 20s and buried in our Hanover Center Cemetery. In 1978 I visited the areas in France where they fought and the American Cemetery at St. Mihiel. I was able to show my grandfather slides of the beautiful area, healed from the terrible scars of his terrifying stint of trench warfare. He died about 6 months after that slide show.
Grandpa Josselyn served in the same unit as Leon. He was not in action with Leon when he was hit, but was with fighting close by. Grandpa was with Leon as he was brought in and soon died at the Aid Station. I have posted posted very sad letter home to his folks on my journal in 2013. Clare and Leon were from a large blended family of 13 children, they had older siblings born to their father's first wife who died of typhoid. Grandpa was 22, Leon 27. Also in the photograph are two of my grandfather's future brother in laws. Above him, Vernon Henderson, who later married his sister Elva, and above Leon, sits Harry Wallace Hill with his campaign hat at a rakish angle, the twin brother of Clare's future wife, my grandmother, Ruth Sandidge Hill Josselyn.
I retired from public school teaching after happily spending twenty eight years playing in Kindergarten. Now I fill my days watching cat antics, taking endless...
