Ralph Sweeney

Ralph Aloysius Sweeney

[During World War I, Ralph Aloysius Sweeney was a student at Campion College in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. He was a member of S.A.T.C. or Student Army Training Corps. (later ROTC). Military students participated in 2 hours of drill per week and one hour of military science and were housed at Marquette Hall at Campion College. In 1917 the famous American writer and poet Joyce Kilmer gave the graduation address at Campion college. Kilmer was killed in action in World War I on July 30, 1918 at the age of 31.]

https://www.lostcolleges.com/campion-college

https://campion-knights.org/History/history79.html

Birth: 10/17/1898

Address: 1356 E. 91st St., Cleveland, OH

Demographics: age 19 at draft registration; marital status not known; Caucasian; native born; occupation Clerk at Cleveland Tractor Company at Lamb and Euclid Ave. (previously Cleveland Motor Plow Co., founded 1916 by Rollin H. White, a founder of the famed White Motor Co., which sold 40,000 tractors in the U.S. and 70 foreign countries in its first decade)

Draft Date/Enlistment Date/Rank: Drafted 9/12/1918 Cleveland, OH; Enlisted 10/26/1918 Prairie du Chien, WI; Private

Service Number: 5311072

Deployment: N/A

Action: N/A

Death: Died of Influenza at age 20 on November 23, 1918 at Campion College, Prairie du Chien, WI (may have been a victim of the 1918-1920 flu pandemic?)

Burial: 11/27/1918 at Calvary Cemetery, 10000 Miles Ave., Cleveland, OH; Lot 418, Section 11, Grave 1

Next of Kin: Frank P. Sweeney, father

Additional Information: father Frank P. Sweeney (1852-1924), born Ireland, immigrated 1875, occupation Traveling Salesman at a clothing company; mother Esther M. Kelly Sweeney (1860-1941), born Ohio of Irish ancestry; Ralph Sweeney was the youngest of 5 boys: James J. (1890-1903); Frank P. (1891-1948); William Alexis (1893-1967); George B. (1895-1965); entire family buried at Calvary Cemetery, except for Frank P. who was buried at Gordon Cemetery, Gordon, Nebraska; brother William named one of his sons Timothy Ralph, presumably after his deceased younger brother