No Higher Service

11/01/2024

Looking forward to meeting with the Sandy River Valley Chapter tomorrow at the Farmington Public Library at 10am.

The Maine Genealogical Society (MGS) is a non-profit charitable and educational organization. It was founded in 1976 to collect, exchange, preserve

06/19/2024

This is "Teague WW1 Memorial Arch Celebration - May 28th, 2024" by MBTV on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

06/01/2024

It was an honor to stand with so many people in remembrance of our fallen heroes.

05/28/2024

05/20/2024

Honoring Private Frank Dubord, Jr., of Jay. He was one of thirty-three of Franklin County’s fallen soldiers from WWI. He and the other thirty-two are memorialized in my recent book written on their behalf: No Higher Service.
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Frank Faithful Dubord, Jr., of Jay, Maine.
Killed in Action 05 OCTOBER 1918, Age 25.
Private, Company E, 28th Infantry, 1st Division, AEF.
Memorialized at Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France. Listed on “Tablets of the Missing.” Memorial in Holy Cross Cemetery, Livermore Falls, Maine.
Survived by father Frank Faithful Dubord (Francois Fidele Dubois), mother Marie Rose Delima (Tondreau) Dubord, sisters Florida Blanche Dubord, Alma Dubord, brothers Joseph Louis Philippe Dubord, and Emile J Dubord.
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2725538. One ship from Montreal carried to France a cohort of men from Maine, serial numbers almost adjacent. Among them was the soldier born Francois Fidele Dubord Jr.

He was a paper maker, not a soldier. But in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the largest operation of the AEF in World War I, he was more than even that. He was a hero.

Frank, the American of French-Canadian descent, chose to serve the colors with his life. German forces were massed at the hills of Exermont, 400 yards away. After two days of heavy shelling by the Americans, his superiors needed a report on the enemy.

Frank volunteered – though it meant crossing the bullet-strafed no-man’s-land between hostile trenches. Amid vicious fire, Private Dubord traversed and scouted the enemy placements, suffering his way back, for the mission had cost him wounds that would mean his death. Yet he returned to report what would be the last things he saw.

For his service, Private Dubord received a posthumous Distinguished Service Cross for heroism. In the melee that followed, his body was never recovered.

Months later, back in Maine, in lieu of the son who would never return, his parents Frank Senior and Marie accepted the cloth and bronze pin on his behalf.

05/20/2024

Honoring Private Lester Howard Wills, of North Jay. He was one of thirty-three of Franklin County’s fallen soldiers from WWI. He and the other thirty-two are memorialized in my recent book written on their behalf: No Higher Service.
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Lester Howard Wills of North Jay, Maine.
Died of Pneumonia 17 SEPTEMBER 1918, Age 22.
Private, Company D, 28th Infantry, 1st Division, AEF.
Buried in Pleasant View Cemetery, Livermore Falls, Maine.
Survived by mother Lorinda (Morse) Wills, father Bertrand George Wills, brothers Elmer John Wills, Fred M Wills, and sister Hattie M Wills.
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2725566. His serial number. Assigned on the 28th of May in 1918, in Farmington, where his recruiting officer lined him up with 72 others in response to a presidential call for more men. More men!

Lester lived in Jay, where he farmed his own land. He was summoned to the county seat, with those more men, all assigned sequential serial numbers. Six of those Franklin County men would not come home alive.

Forty days later, departing from Montreal on the City of Poona ship, Wills shipped to France, along with others who had trained with him at Fort Devens, 35 miles outside of Boston.

Private Wills’ service to country ended first among his group of more men – from pneumonia in France. First among those men from common backgrounds, on a common mission, serving in common, dying in common.

Uncommonly, this soldier’s family had his body returned to Maine two years later, to full military honors. Seven servicemen fired three rifle volleys.

His parents oversaw the burial.

A lone bugler sounded taps.

05/17/2024

Please join us at this historic rededication event. As one of the featured speakers, we will have the chance to share four poignant stories of sacrifice and valor.

The centennial anniversary will be recognized at 10 a.m. May 27, on Memorial Day, at the arch.

05/10/2024

Please join us for this historic and reverent event.

Join us on Memorial Day, Monday May 27th, for our public observance of the centennial anniversary of the Teague WWI Memorial Arch. Our program begins at 10 am at the Arch. At approximately 1130 am we hold a ceremony at Meetinghouse Park. We will have an extended program at the Arch with guest speakers and wreath laying. Please bring a lawn chair for comfort. Our program can be found on our website - www.farmingtonpost28.com

After the entire program concludes, at 12 pm, we will hold a public chicken barbeque in collaboration with the Farmington Historical Society at the North Church on High Street. The cost is $15 per person for eat in or take out. First come, first served. The Historical Society will have items submitted for the time capsule on display for public viewing during the barbeque.

03/31/2024

This presentation is on Wednesday, April 3. Still time to register.

https://gold-leaf-institute.coursestorm.com/course/no-higher-service-franklin-county-s-fallen-soldiers-of-wwi1

02/23/2024

Honoring Second Lieutenant Donald William Norton, of Kingfield. He was one of thirty-three of Franklin County’s fallen soldiers from WWI. He and the other thirty-two are memorialized in my recent book written on their behalf: No Higher Service.
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Donald William Norton, of Kingfield, Maine.
Killed in Action 2 NOVEMBER 1918, Age 22.
Second Lieutenant, Company K, 319th Infantry, 80th Division, AEF.
Memorialized at Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France. Listed on “Tablets of the Missing.” Memorial also in Sunnyside Cemetery, Kingfield, Maine.
Survived by mother Imogene F***y (Parker) Norton, father Lavella Augustus Norton, brother Parker Lavella Norton, sisters Stella J Norton, and Flora Amanda (Norton) Dexter.
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He was the first man to enlist from Kingfield.

Donald Norton trained for science and he trained for combat. An exemplary student at Orono studying chemical engineering, he left for officer training when war was declared. Though decorated as a scholar, he completed his training as an officer.

At Camp Devens, Second Lieutenant Norton served as adjutant, eager for his overseas orders. They came the next July. He sailed on the Aquitania.

At every opportunity, Donald volunteered to serve. He volunteered to lead. He volunteered to fight. And in a letter home three days before his fatal battle, he wrote that he regarded himself as one of the fortunate ones to be chosen for the front.

That front would be the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, one of the attacks that brought an end to the war, and the largest operation of the AEF, comprising more than one million American soldiers.

It was also the deadliest campaign in American history. Lieutenant Norton was among its 26,000 dead.
Months later, in advance of Norton’s memorial service, his regiment captain wrote to Donald’s parents, with details and closure:

“My Dear Mrs. Norton, ... Lieutenant Norton was killed, instantly I believe, in an advance on November 1st. As far as I can learn, a piece of shell struck him in the back of the head. As you may suppose, he was in exactly the spot where his duty called him to be – giving his best to a great cause. That was the advance that broke the last stand of the Germans and brought peace. I was in command of the battalion at the time and was not far from your son where he fell, about a mile North of a place called Sommerance, and was buried there. I need not tell you that he was a brave man who did his duty well always.”

Today, Kingfield’s Norton-Wuori Post #61 of the American Legion exists in commemoration of Lieutenant Donald Norton’s service and sacrifice.

02/02/2024

The Doughboy Foundation helps keep faith with America's WWI soldiers. They support programs, projects and activities that educate the public about America’s participation in World War I.

This month they've chosen to feature No Higher Service on their site.

In Farmington, Maine, stands the John M. Teague Memorial Arch. A veteran of the Civil War, John, along with his wife, chose to commemorate WWI soldiers from Franklin County, to honor their service. Though of humble means, the Teagues gifted their entire estate for the Arch's construction. It was ere...

01/23/2024

Honoring Private Matthew K Myshrall, one of thirty-three of Franklin County’s fallen soldiers from WWI. He and the other thirty-two are memorialized in my recent book written on their behalf: No Higher Service.
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Matthew K Myshrall of Rangeley, Maine.
Killed in Action 20 JULY 1918, Age 21.
Private, Company C, 103rd Infantry, 26th “Yankee” Division, AEF.
Buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Rangeley, Maine.
Survived by father Ephraim Louis Myshrall, brothers John Allen Myshrall, Arthur E Myshrall, Edwin Russell Myshrall, Claude Velmar Myshrall, William Robert Myshrall, sisters Edith Lillian (Myshrall) Curnow, and Emily Selena (Myshrall) McGarvey.
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His death came on the 20th of July, the most tragic day of the war for Franklin County’s families, as four of its young men would fall. The 103rd Infantry, still the tip of the fighting spear, led the vanguard at the Marne River, where leaders of the Allied forces had determined that stopping the Germans here could sway the war, even though the price be dire.

12,000 US soldiers paid with their lives. There were 120,000 more French, British, and Italian casualties. The numbers belie comprehension. German losses were even higher: 168,000 men.

Matthew Myshrall enlisted at age 20 with his brother, William, and two friends. Another younger brother was later drafted. The other four eventually made it home, and Matthew would survive warfare overseas for ten months himself, until this, the Second Battle of the Marne, and the bloodshed of July 20.

This was the last major German offensive on the Western Front. Allied forces had, as planned, lured the enemy into overextending, but at immeasurable cost – including trading a German rifle bullet for the life of Private Matthew Myshrall.

This battle, these sacrifices, ended a string of German victories and enabled the start of the Hundred Days Offensive that would in three months end the war.