OUR HEROES DON’T ALWAYS COME HOME, PART II: Remembering Robert F. Arnold

17 July 2018

Erie, Pennsylvania

My World War I journey has taken so many twists and turns. I think of my Uncle Archie and how he never could have imagined a great niece taking an interest in his story and going so far as to read over 40 books on World War I to say nothing of the hours of DVD WW I footage I have watched, the maps I have pored over, and being on the eve of my 2^nd trip to WWI battlefields in France. I think my uncle was representative of so many young courageous men who wanted to represent their country, who wanted to “take their stand with the Armies of many nations now fighting in the Old World the great battle for human freedom.” * 

I have taken many paths on this journey, but all those paths ensure that I recognize the courage, the valor, and the faith that our American soldiers and those who supported them had as they engaged in war so very far away from home.

A New Friend
The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) has joined with the World War One Centennial Commemorative Commission which formally recognizes Commemorative Partners who demonstrate a commitment to honoring, commemorating, and educating the public about The Great War, to include (but not limited to) the 4 million Americans who served and the 116, 516 who sacrificed their lives

So recently, by chance, I was navigating a DAR World War I Facebook page when I saw a post indicating someone was looking for her uncle’s grave in France.

I messaged Sandy from Texas that I was going to France and would be pleased to look for her uncle’s grave site. As it turned out, her uncle, originally from St. Louis, Missouri, is buried in the United States.

However, our research did lead us to the discovery that her uncle, Robert F. Arnold, was in the 28^th Division, 112^th Infantry, the same unit that my uncle and Friend Ann’s great uncles were in. Then I found Robert Arnold’s name in the book I have mentioned before, With the 112^th in France, A Doughboy’s Story of the War, by James A. Murrin.

The listing was as follows, “Robert F. Arnold, 2d Lt., Co. H; died October 13^th from shrapnel wound received in action in early part of the Argonne Battle.”

This is only a listing in a book. We know there is so much more to the story—a young man who had a life in Missouri yet joined the National Guard and became an officer. He lost his life serving his country. A young man whose family mourned him then, and still mourns today.

The entire book by Murrin can be found at this website:

https://archive.org/stream/with112thinfranc00murr/with112thinfranc00murr_djvu.txt

I value Sandy’s interest in World War I, and her uncle. I will honor him, my Uncle Roy, and Ann’s uncles at Fismes, France, and other sites where the 112^th was engaged.

* King George V: Letter to Soldiers of The United States - April 1918. Each soldier was given a letter from King George III of England. This is part of the that text.