Richard W. Blair

*No plaque found

*The List of Liberty Row Names indicates the possible original location of the plaque.

*No soldier photograph found in the following book: Doyle, A. C., Haulsee, W. M., Howe, F. G. Soldiers of the Great War. Washington, DC: Soldiers Record Publishing Company, 1920.

Birth: 12/8/1895 or 1896, New York, New York

Address: 1980 Ford Dr., Cleveland, Ohio

Demographics: age 21 at draft registration; single; Caucasian; native-born citizen; occupation Chemist at American Agricultural Chemical Company, Cleveland, OH; attended Chase Technical School in Toledo, OH as a student of chemistry according to the newspaper article on this page; [https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p16007coll33/id/185447/ shows an historic photo of Chase School, Toledo, OH] 

Appearance: Height medium, Build medium, Eyes brown, Hair brown

Draft Date/Enlistment Date/Rank: 6/5/1917; 7/25/1917; Ranks of Lieutenant and Private First Class both noted in military records

Service Number: not found

Deployment: 11/23/1917 from New York aboard RMS Baltic

Action: According to the information in the newspaper article on this page [presumably a newspaper in Manchester, Iowa where this soldier's uncle Fred B. Blair lived and received the news of his nephew's death], Richard W. Blair was a Lieutenant and a member of the first flying squadron of American aviators who were sent to France for additional training. In military records, he was noted to be a Private First Class in the 16th Foreign Detachment Signal Corps. [The Signal Corps' Aviation Section created the first aviation squadrons, and was responsible for pilot training and managing aircraft and aerial warfare. It was the precursor to the U.S. Airforce.] One muster roll listed him as a Flying Cadet, Private First Class https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6DQ3-4N4V?lang=en

Death: January 22, 1918 at age 21 at a Post Hospital in the Air Service Reserve Corps barracks in France; cause of death Pneumonia https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6DQ3-4N4V?lang=en  

Burial: 1/24/18 buried locally in France; remains disinterred and reburied 5/6/1922 at Suresnes American Cemetery, Departement des Hauts-de-Seine, Ile-de-France, France, Plot C Row 2 Grave 13

Next of Kin: Charles O. [sic] Blair, father, address given: Sub-Treasury, New York 

Additional Information:  Grandparents: Judge and Mrs. A.S. Blair and Dr. and Mrs. W.B. Sherman; Father: Charles L. Blair (1863-1935), born in Iowa to parents who were born in Ohio, occupation Bank Clerk; Mother: Mertie Sherman Blair (1862-1927), born in Iowa, daughter of a physician born in New York and a mother born in Ohio, buried Riverside Cemetery, 3607 Pearl Rd., Cleveland, OH [not clear if this is the same Mertie S. Sherman, as she was living in NY as recently as 1924]; Twin Brother: Byron Sherman Blair (1895-1976), occupations Bank Clerk and Salesman, who apparently also served in WWI in the aviation section and was honorably discharged, married in New York in 1926 and had a daughter Virginia Blair, about whom no information was found

References