Ernest Percy Irish

Birth: 12/23/1888, Cleveland, Ohio

Address: 1130 W. 53rd St., Los Angeles, California at time of draft registration, and 414 E. 105th St., Bratenahl, OH (parents)

Demographics: age 28 at draft registration; single; Caucasian; native-born Clevelander; occupation Electrical Worker at Bell Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co., Southern California Division

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

Draft Date/Enlistment Date/Rank: 5/30/1917; enlistment date not known; Chauffeur/Private First Class (The rank Chauffeur in WWI was defined as a soldier whose job was driving a team of horses or motor vehicles to transport supplies to the front lines and bring the wounded back to medical stations.)

Deployment: 2/18/1918 from Hoboken, NJ aboard SS Covington 

Action: served in the U.S. Army's 411th Telegraph Battalion, Company D 

Death: January 24, 1919 "at sea" aboard the steamship Maui at age 30; cause of death Lobar Pneumonia; a photograph of him in military attire (see left) attached to his findagrave.com record on ancestry.com has a caption as follows: "Sprained ankle during last days of Meuse-Argonne just before Armistice. Sent to Hospital and then evacuated to U.S. While on board U.S. Steamship Maui returning he was suddenly stricken with pneumonia, dying on January 24, 1919. Buried in Cleveland, Ohio, with military honors." 

Burial: 2/1/1919 at Lake View Cemetery, 12316 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH, Lot 1135 Section 22

Next of Kin: E. A. Irish, brother, 1130 W. 53rd St., Los Angeles, CA; brother Edwin Aubre Irish was division superintendent of construction for the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph company. 

Additional Information: Father: William Edwin Irish (1845-1933), born England, emigrated ~1884, occupations included Electrical Engineer, Inventor, Mechanical Engineer and Vice-President of Charles F. Irish Co. (the landscaping business of his son--see below), buried Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, OH; Mother: Alice Weedon Irish (1858-1933), born England, emigrated ~1885, had 7 children, buried Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, OH; Siblings: Alice Bessie Irish Denius (1881-1941); Edwin Aubre Irish (1882-1946); Lillie?; Marmaduke John Weedon Irish (1887-1961), who had a son named Robert Ernest Irish (1922-2014), presumably named after Private Ernest Percy Irish; Charles Frederick Irish, Sr. (1891-1960), renowned Cleveland arborist; Gertrude E. Irish Morton (1895-1978)