George enlisted in the US Army as a Private at Spencerport, New York on 24 Feb 1918. He was assigned to Company D, 308th Infantry, 77th Division. He was trained at Camp Devens, Ayer, Massachusetts and Camp Upton, Yaphank Long Island, New York.
He left for Europe on 8 Apr 1918. The last letter his mother, Caroline Quinn, received from him was dated June 2, 1918, which said that her son was encamped in an orchard in bloom, and was about to enter the trenches. After waiting months for further word, Mrs. Quinn moved from Charlotte, New York to Hilton, New York following the death of her husband, Nicholas Quinn.
Private Quinn was killed in the Argonne Forest on September 29, 1918, while attempting to carry a message between Major Charles W. Whittlesey and the latter's Adjutant, Lieutenant Arthur McKeogh. This was during the operations immediately preceding the German occupation of ground in the rear of Major Whittlesey's famous command, the "Lost Battalion" The Adjutant had been sent back with a score of light machine gunners to silence machine gun positions that had cut communications with the rear during the night, and gave Runner Quinn a message to Major Whittlesey, which was never delivered.
Nothing was learned of Quinn's fate until four months after the Armistice. After lying out in the jungle depths of the Argonne all winter, almost buried by vines and underbrush, his body was accidentally found by an American burial squad.
The message and an unposted letter to his mother was found on the body, the papers being hardly legible. The identification was made positive by the tag, which bore Quinn's serial number. Near the fallen runner were the bodies of three Germans. It seemed possible from the manner in which they had fallen that all three Germans had been crawling up to Quinn, who may have killed them even as their bullets hit him mortally.
When military authorities tried to notify Mrs. Caroline Quinn, George's mother, of the death of her son, the letter was returned because she had already moved. Later a poem written by Captain Arthur McKeogh, describing the incident of Quinn's death in detail, and dedicated specifically to him, was published in the Saturday Evening Post. Mrs. Quinn read this poem, and wrote to the Saturday Evening Post explaining that because she had moved to another village, leaving no forwarding address, poem was the first notice she had of her son's death.
He left for Europe on 8 Apr 1918. The last letter his mother, Caroline Quinn, received from him was dated June 2, 1918, which said that her son was encamped in an orchard in bloom, and was about to enter the trenches. After waiting months for further word, Mrs. Quinn moved from Charlotte, New York to Hilton, New York following the death of her husband, Nicholas Quinn.
Private Quinn was killed in the Argonne Forest on September 29, 1918, while attempting to carry a message between Major Charles W. Whittlesey and the latter's Adjutant, Lieutenant Arthur McKeogh. This was during the operations immediately preceding the German occupation of ground in the rear of Major Whittlesey's famous command, the "Lost Battalion" The Adjutant had been sent back with a score of light machine gunners to silence machine gun positions that had cut communications with the rear during the night, and gave Runner Quinn a message to Major Whittlesey, which was never delivered.
Nothing was learned of Quinn's fate until four months after the Armistice. After lying out in the jungle depths of the Argonne all winter, almost buried by vines and underbrush, his body was accidentally found by an American burial squad.
The message and an unposted letter to his mother was found on the body, the papers being hardly legible. The identification was made positive by the tag, which bore Quinn's serial number. Near the fallen runner were the bodies of three Germans. It seemed possible from the manner in which they had fallen that all three Germans had been crawling up to Quinn, who may have killed them even as their bullets hit him mortally.
When military authorities tried to notify Mrs. Caroline Quinn, George's mother, of the death of her son, the letter was returned because she had already moved. Later a poem written by Captain Arthur McKeogh, describing the incident of Quinn's death in detail, and dedicated specifically to him, was published in the Saturday Evening Post. Mrs. Quinn read this poem, and wrote to the Saturday Evening Post explaining that because she had moved to another village, leaving no forwarding address, poem was the first notice she had of her son's death.
George enlisted in the US Army as a Private at Spencerport, New York on 24 Feb 1918. He was assigned to Company D, 308th Infantry, 77th Division. He was trained at Camp Devens, Ayer, Massachusetts and Camp Upton, Yaphank Long Island, New York.
He left for Europe on 8 Apr 1918. The last letter his mother, Caroline Quinn, received from him was dated June 2, 1918, which said that her son was encamped in an orchard in bloom, and was about to enter the trenches. After waiting months for further word, Mrs. Quinn moved from Charlotte, New York to Hilton, New York following the death of her husband, Nicholas Quinn.
Private Quinn was killed in the Argonne Forest on September 29, 1918, while attempting to carry a message between Major Charles W. Whittlesey and the latter's Adjutant, Lieutenant Arthur McKeogh. This was during the operations immediately preceding the German occupation of ground in the rear of Major Whittlesey's famous command, the "Lost Battalion" The Adjutant had been sent back with a score of light machine gunners to silence machine gun positions that had cut communications with the rear during the night, and gave Runner Quinn a message to Major Whittlesey, which was never delivered.
Nothing was learned of Quinn's fate until four months after the Armistice. After lying out in the jungle depths of the Argonne all winter, almost buried by vines and underbrush, his body was accidentally found by an American burial squad.
The message and an unposted letter to his mother was found on the body, the papers being hardly legible. The identification was made positive by the tag, which bore Quinn's serial number. Near the fallen runner were the bodies of three Germans. It seemed possible from the manner in which they had fallen that all three Germans had been crawling up to Quinn, who may have killed them even as their bullets hit him mortally.
When military authorities tried to notify Mrs. Caroline Quinn, George's mother, of the death of her son, the letter was returned because she had already moved. Later a poem written by Captain Arthur McKeogh, describing the incident of Quinn's death in detail, and dedicated specifically to him, was published in the Saturday Evening Post. Mrs. Quinn read this poem, and wrote to the Saturday Evening Post explaining that because she had moved to another village, leaving no forwarding address, poem was the first notice she had of her son's death.
He left for Europe on 8 Apr 1918. The last letter his mother, Caroline Quinn, received from him was dated June 2, 1918, which said that her son was encamped in an orchard in bloom, and was about to enter the trenches. After waiting months for further word, Mrs. Quinn moved from Charlotte, New York to Hilton, New York following the death of her husband, Nicholas Quinn.
Private Quinn was killed in the Argonne Forest on September 29, 1918, while attempting to carry a message between Major Charles W. Whittlesey and the latter's Adjutant, Lieutenant Arthur McKeogh. This was during the operations immediately preceding the German occupation of ground in the rear of Major Whittlesey's famous command, the "Lost Battalion" The Adjutant had been sent back with a score of light machine gunners to silence machine gun positions that had cut communications with the rear during the night, and gave Runner Quinn a message to Major Whittlesey, which was never delivered.
Nothing was learned of Quinn's fate until four months after the Armistice. After lying out in the jungle depths of the Argonne all winter, almost buried by vines and underbrush, his body was accidentally found by an American burial squad.
The message and an unposted letter to his mother was found on the body, the papers being hardly legible. The identification was made positive by the tag, which bore Quinn's serial number. Near the fallen runner were the bodies of three Germans. It seemed possible from the manner in which they had fallen that all three Germans had been crawling up to Quinn, who may have killed them even as their bullets hit him mortally.
When military authorities tried to notify Mrs. Caroline Quinn, George's mother, of the death of her son, the letter was returned because she had already moved. Later a poem written by Captain Arthur McKeogh, describing the incident of Quinn's death in detail, and dedicated specifically to him, was published in the Saturday Evening Post. Mrs. Quinn read this poem, and wrote to the Saturday Evening Post explaining that because she had moved to another village, leaving no forwarding address, poem was the first notice she had of her son's death.
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PVT. 308 INF. 77 DIV.
NEW YORK
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New York
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