Alex Stern

Alex Stern

Birth: 3/14/1887; ?may be Zhytomir, Russia

Address: 2445 E. 79th St., Cleveland, OH

Demographics: age 30 at draft registration; married with 2 children; Caucasian; citizenship status Alien; occupation Machine Hand at Cleveland Pneumatic Tool Company, 3734 E. 78th St., Cleveland, OH (founded in 1899 as makers of pneumatic tools and appliances for use in shipyards, marine boiler shops, foundries, and bridge and structural shops from the rough stock and forgings to the finished product; in 1908 Cleveland Pneumatic produced the rock hammer drills used to dig the Panama Canal); claimed wife and 2 children as dependents and also listed "stomach trouble" on draft registration card

Appearance: Height medium; Build medium; Eyes brown; Hair black

Draft Date/Enlistment Date/Rank: 6/5/1917; 5/26/1918; Private  

Service Number: 2660139

Deployment: 7/22/1918 from New York aboard SS Orca

Action: 32 Co 8 Bn 3 Inf Repl Cp Gordon Ga to July 15/18; 30 Co July Aut Repl Draft Cp Gordon Ga to Aug 14/18; 5 Co 1 Inf Tng Regt to Aug 21/18; Co H 39 Inf to death. Pvt. St. Mihiel; Meuse-Argonne; Defensive Sector. AEF July 22/18 to death. KIA Sept 30/18.

Death: September 30, 1918; Killed in Action

Burial: buried locally in France; remains disinterred and reburied on 12/23/1921 in Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Romagne, France, Grave 7 Row 17 Block E; on WW I Burial Card, widow was listed as Hannah Stern, 3256 E. 117th St., Cleveland, OH. Burial card also noted, "Certified Jewish by the J.W.B." (Jewish Welfare Board)

Next of Kin: Mrs. Esther E. Goldstein, sister-in-law, 2445 E. 79th St., Cleveland, OH

Additional Information: In December 1917, the 39th Infantry was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division and in the spring of 1918 sailed for France as part of the American Expeditionary Force in World War I; its service earned the regiment its nickname "Fighting Falcons;" the question of why Alex Stern did not list his wife as next of kin is answered in the 1930 Census which shows that his wife, Hannah Estes Stern, age 40 and a "Russia/Jewish" widow, did not immigrate until 1921; in 1930 she was the head of household at 3256 E. 117th St., Cleveland, OH living with her 16 year-old daughter; in 1929 Hannah Stern was listed on a WW I Gold Star Mothers' Pilgrimage list as requesting a pilgrimage in 1930 (mothers and non-remarried widows were eligible for the all-expenses-paid-by-the-government trip to visit the graves of their sons or husbands, and more than 6,000 women traveled); it appears that she sailed on 5/7/1930; on 7/3/1930 Hannah Stern, age 41, married for a second time to Louis Mazur, age 50 and born in Russia, a machinist.