Lemuel Thurman Boydston

(1895-1918)

SS Susquehanna

Gravestone, Corporal Lemuel Thurman Boydston, Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Lorraine, France

Monument to the 372nd Infantry, near Monthois, France, with inscription below

Lemuel Thurman Boydston

*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: 9/14/1895, Chillicothe, Ohio

Address: listed merely as Cleveland, Ohio on military records

Demographics: no draft registration card found which would have contained additional demographic information; Black; native-born citizen; occupations Elevator Operator and Porter

Appearance: not known

Draft Date/Enlistment Date/Rank: draft date not known; enlistment date 6/2/1917; rank Corporal

Service Number: 2336489

Deployment: 3/30/1918 from Newport News, Virginia aboard SS Susquehanna.

Action: Company H 372nd Infantry was a segregated African American regiment that served with several other regiments under French command in WWI. A monument [see image below] to the 372nd Infantry Regiment was erected after the war south of Monthois, France to commemorate their fighting in the Champagne region, in which they took 579 casualties (total killed, wounded, taken prisoner, and missing). The Regiment was awarded the French Croix de Guerre Palm for its heroic actions in battle. https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=802&MemID=1102

Death: September 28, 1918 at Ardeuil-et-Montfauxelles, Champagne-Ardenne, France at age 23; cause of death Killed in Action

Burial: Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Lorraine, France, Plot E Row 31 Grave 14

Next of Kin: Mrs. Lula Boydston, sister in-law, 6940 Colfax Rd., Cleveland, OH

Additional Information: Research on this soldier may have been impeded by the scarcity of genealogical information for Blacks. Father: Oscar N. Boydston (1862-?1911), born Ohio, married 1877, occupation Teamster; Mother: Mary or Marion Wilson Boydston (1855-?), born Virginia, married 1877, occupation Laundress; Siblings: Frederick Boydston (1878-1917); Daisy Boydston Hammond (1878-?) who was noted to live in Mt. Vernon, OH; Jessie Boydston Decks (1881-?) who was noted to live in Wilkesbarre, PA; Joseph Boydston (1883-1887)); John Walter Boydston (1886-1931); Carrie Boydston (1889-?); Bessie Boydston (1892-?); Sam Boydston (1896-?). Sibling list may be incomplete.

References