Charles Henry ABERCROMBIE

ABERCROMBIE Charles H

Source : Findagrave.com

NUMBER OF SERVICE

155002

AGE

DATE OF BIRTH

8 November 1878

ENLISTMENT STATE

OREGON

FAMILY

Spouse : Lucile Ford ABERCROMBIE

Children : Harrit Lucille, Alice Genevieve (jeanne) & John Charles

Parents : John et Harriett (Earle) ABERCROMBIE

RANK

Captain

FONCTION

Infantry Man

JOB BEFORE ENLISTEMENT

DATE of ENLISTEMENT

COMPANY

Company M

REGIMENT

363^th Infantry Regiment

DIVISION

91^st Infantry Division

DATE OF DEATH

11 October 1918

ABERCROMBIE Charles H

Source : Soilsister

STATUS

DNB

PLACE

He was injured between Eclisfontaine and Véry.

PLACE OF DEATH

Hôpital de base n° 31 in Contrexéville, Vosges.

CEMETERY

MEUSE-ARGONNE AMERICAN CEMETERY and MEMORIAL

Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Département de la MEUSE LORRAINE

GRAVE

Plot	Row	Grave
E	25	2

DECORATION & BADGE

Goldstar

World War I Victory Medal

victory medal

STORY

Son of John and Harriett (Earle) Abercrombie, Charle Henry was born on November 8, 1878 in Wisconsin.

He was a lawyer in Portland (Security Savings & Trust) and married to Lucile Ford Abercrombie, he was the father of Harriet Lucille Abercrombie, Alice Genevieve (Jane) Abercrombie and John Charles Abercrombie Hackman.

Captain in the army (91st division, 363rd regiment of infantry company M), he volunteered to accomplish a dangerous mission on 27 September, near Varennes.

The enemy fire and shells overwhelmed them ceaselessly, about ten of his men were wounded, a shell fell very close to Captain Charles Henry Abercrombie, his two legs were hit, one of them almost torn off.

His soldiers took turns to carry him to the aid station in the canyon of Véry, two hours after he was hit.

From there he was evacuated to evacuation hospitals, his right leg cut off.

He writes to his wife that he will be back by Christmas.

He died of his wounds on 11 October 1918, and his family received the letter announcing his death on Christmas Day. He will posthumously obtain the goldstar.

He is buried in the American Cemetery of Meuse-Argonne (in plot E, row 25, grave 2)

ABERCROMBIE Charles H

Source : Ancestry

It was mid-July when he got to France, and in less than two months he was on his way to the front. September 26, at daybreak, he took company M over the top from a point near Chigallerie butte, on the north side of the Foret de Hesse, and proceeded through the western edge of the Bois de Cheppy toward the village of Very. Captain Abercrombie's company was part of a support battalion on the first day, and accordingly had few losses.
On September 27, however, company M was in the front wave, and in traversing the bullet and shell-swept plateau between Very and Eclisfontaine had no fewer than 13 men killed or fatally wounded, of whom one was the redoubtable captain.
It was about 4 P.M. before the captain was struck. His men had advanced about two kilometers since the morning. The captain himself had got across the national highway running through Varennes, Eclisfontaine and Romagne. Sergeants Pedrioli and Thompson, Corporals Powell and Nonnenmann and Privates Tucker, Kicker, Blair, Gallagher, Eide and Wainio, all company M. men, were already dead or dying, while many a man had fallen with lesser wounds among the shell holes or in the barb wire. A few hundred yards to the left rear, the 35th division (Missouri and Kansas) was trying to struggle forward. The 35th was a little behind, and, although company M did not know it, 91st headquarters was soon to stop men from going farther till the line could be straightened out.
Then a shell fell close to the captain. James Hammill, a private, had an eye blown out. His captain was struck in the legs, and the right leg was nearly torn off. The boys gathered around him and discussed getting him back to Very. He was an immense man, and it was nearly two miles to the dressing station. Sixteen of his men took turns in carrying him back.
Twice on the way he asked the boys to take their knives and cut off the worst injured leg, but it was not done. Soldiers were always chary of doing surgical work. "I think I'll lose both my legs," he said at one time. He asked once for water.
One of the boys remarked that they had the Huns running, and he said: "That's good." One officer who talked with him soon after he had been struck was F. S. Sever of Portland, commander of company L. Another was Major Cadwalter. Soon after the sorrowful procession started toward Very, a shell came so close that the captain put his hands over his face to keep off the debris.
He reached the dressing station in Very canyon about two hours after he was hit. He was sent through the evacuation hospitals in the Aire river valley, a dozen miles southeast, and on October 3 reached base hospital No. 31 at Contrexeville, Vosges. The right leg had been amputated in the Aire river valley.
From Contrexeville, Captain Abercrombie twice wrote to his wife, Mrs. Lucile Abercrombie, then in Chicago, now living in Portland. He wrote that his fighting days were over, but that he thought Uncle Sam would hurry the wounded home, and that he might get there by Christmas.
A chaplain prayed with him on October 10. On the 11th he died.
Meanwhile the little family expected him home for Christmas. It was its practice to hurry to the door when the bell rang in hope that he might be there.
As Christmas dinner was being prepared the bell rang again. The mailman was there.
What he handed in was a letter from the chaplain announcing Captain Abercrombie's death.

ABERCROMBIE Charles H