Photo Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
Print, Photographic |
Caption |
World War I photo taken in France |
Description |
Sepia toned photograph from World War I, Battery A 151st Field Artillery taken at a stone quarry at Pexonne France on March 7, 1918. Photo caption reads: Our first shelling McLaugins [Charles McLaughlin] was killed. An unidentified person at right is walking through the rubble of the shelling, including remainders of a trench, remnants of cloth strewn on trees, a bicycle turned upside down. Photo belonged to Axel Jensen who served in the 151st Field Artillery in WW I. He was a career United States Army Officer. Photo #7704 [U.S. Army Signal Corps] Charles W. McLaughlin was born May 1, 1897, son of John & Amelia Rannow McLaughlin. He attended Hutchinson public schools and in March 1914 became an apprentice printer in the Hutchinson Leader office, working there as a "printer's devil" until his enlistment in April 1917. He joined Battery C, 151st Field Artillery with 25 other Hutchinson boys. In October 1917 he embarked for France and in March 1918 while in the first engagement with his regiment he was wounded along with Walter Smith and after receiving treatment in several hospitals was sent to a rest camp. There he was stricken with scarlet fever and succumbed on May 19, 1918. He & Smith received the French Croix de Guerre (French war cross). He was the first Hutchinson man to die in World War I after a year of service to his country. The Hutchinson Veterans of Foreign Wars Post was organized May 27, 1931 and named in his honor. One of the first acts of the new Post was the erection at St. Anastasia Cemetery of a granite monument bearing the inscription: "Pvt. Charles McLaughlin, Rainbow Division, 151st Artillery, Battery 'C'." |
Catalog Number |
2020-0111-013 |
Search Terms |
World War I Battery C, 151st Field Artillery 151st Field Artillery, Battery C U. S. Army Signal Corps Pexonne, France Trench warfare |
Subjects |
World War I Trench warfare |
People |
Jensen, Axel McLaughlin, Charles |