The Killing Fields of France, Part 1: Dillwyn Parrish Starr; Alan Wood Lukens; Alfred Reginald Allen; Elisha Kent Kane Wetherill

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #074

 

The United States was dragged into a war that it seemed nobody wanted, but that was inevitable anyway. Philadelphia produced massive amounts of materials for the American doughboys.

 

1LT Dillwyn Parrish Starr was impatient for action. He joined Britain’s esteemed Coldstream Guard and was readily accepted by them. He was killed at the Battle of the Somme before the United States even got officially involved.

CPT Alan Wood Lukens came from two families of steel mongers. Although he was killed in late September of 1918 at Meuse Argonne, his family did not discover the truth until several months later. Lukens was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross posthumously.

MAJ Alfred Reginald Allen trained as a research neurologist and became one of the best photomicrographers in the country. He wrote operas, overtures, and hymns, and he founded the Savoy Company to perform the operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan. Yet when he volunteered for war service, it was as an officer in the Army.

2LT Elisha Kent Kane Wetherill trained at PAFA and in Paris with James Whistler. He was apparently wounded by poison gas and spent the last few years of his life suffering from its effects.