PFC, 107th Infantry             CWO, 77th Division, WWII

Born 1876 in NJ, he graduated from Montclair (Military) Academy, and was working in NYC when WWI loomed. Turned down for enlistment for being underweight, once stuffed with bananas, he was later accepted and became the tallest man in the 7th Regt of New York NG, which was incorporated into the 27th Div, and sent to Spartanburg, NC. That, and subsequent experience in the war, he put into the book “Mike of Company D” when I was a boy in the early thirties.

Early in France he was hospitalized by a mustard gas attack, but returned to duty with the (now) 107th, and remained with them throughout the war. He was awarded a medal for attempting to rescue a wounded comrade on the battlefield. .

For gallantry at Vaux-Andigny, October 14, 1918, in going out under heavy enemy machine gun fire to carry the body of a fatally wounded comrade to the shelter of a nearby building.

When the troops returned home after the hostilities, he became a stockbroker, and married Helen Knight, residing in Montclair, NJ, and remaining in the Regiment for some years, leaving as a lieutenant.

After “Mike” was published there were two more, and he decided to stop commuting, which meant giving up the Regiment.

The writing went well, until Pearl Harbor. He felt his experience would be useful, But when he went to sign up, he was offered a commission, in stateside PR! So he enlisted, and immediately was made a Sergeant in the MPs,in the NY 77th Div. He always seemed to end up with sevens, even having several in his serial number. With the 77th, crossed the country seven times. By the time they left the country, he was CWO, and assistant G-1 of the division. They entered combat at Okinawa, and were credited with the capture of Kadena Airfield.( Oddly enough, when his grandson Don graduated from Norwich University in 1988, he was commissioned in the Air Force and his first assignment was Kadena Air Base.)

After the hostilities ended, the 77th was sent to Japan for a time, then returned home. To continue his writing career, Don and Helen moved to Vermont, where he felt a call to the ministry. He became a Deacon, but before his ordination, was found to have cancer, which may have been caused by the mustard gas in first war. He died in 1952, aged 56.

Charles Scribner's Sons, N.Y. 1939

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WILLIAM MARKS
PRIVATE, HQ. CO., 107th INFANTRY
27th DIVISION A.E.F.
Enlisted or Inducted at: Kingston, NY

Discharge	William Marks	Service Record

Photo courtesy of Carol Marks, daughter

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PETER MURRAY (born Pierre Joseph Morin)
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS, COMPANY B., 2nd INFANTRY, NGNY
105th INFANTRY
27th DIVISION A.E.F.
Enlisted at: Cohoes, NY, April 1, 1915
Served: Mexican Border, Belgium and France (May 17, 1918 to January 18, 1918)
Wounded: Oct., 17, 1918 at L’Arbe de Guise
Discharged: May 23, 1919

from A SHORT HISTORY AND ILLUSTRATED ROSTER OF THE 105th INFANTRY, U.S.A., 1918

Envelope from home

Headstone, St. Joseph's Cemetery, Waterford, NY

My Great Grandfather Peter Murray (baptized as Pierre Joseph Morin) was born in Cohoes, Albany County, NY on October 9th, 1891 at the Old Cohoes Hospital. Parents were William Henri Murray(Morin) and Matilda Monast.

He enlisted in service at the National Guard in Cohoes at the Armory there on April 1st, 1915 at 22 years of age. He was assigned to Company B 2nd Inf. NYNG( later the 105th Inf) to discharge. Peter was a veteran of the Punitive Expedition and served on the Mexican Border with the N.Y 6th Division at McAllen, Texas and went overseas as part of the 27th Division serving in Belgium and France from May 17th, 1918 to January 18th, 1919.

On October 17th the 105th helped spearhead an assault against the German defenses, and rapidly took a portion of the line at L’Arbe de Guise, holding it against vigorous counterattacks. He was severely wounded on that date, most likely in that attack.

What I heard from my father growing up was that Pepere Peter was mustard gassed in the war and was shot in the ankle. From a new letter that has surfaced, I have found that he was evacuated to England October 22nd, 1918 after he was gassed/wounded and then later on transferred to ward E-2 at the US Naval Hospital in Brooklyn, NY.

In a letter from Peter to his parents from Brookyln he mentioned he was going to have surgery for an ulcer and something else. Pepere Peter was honorably discharged on May 23rd, 1919. At discharge he was considered 30% disabled.

After the war Pepere Peter worked for his Father William Murray's brickyard in Cohoes as a mason and was a communicant and member of St.Patrick's Church in Cohoes and was a member of the E.T. Ruane Post of the American Legion Post #476 He married Celina Bruneau on October 18th, 1919 at St. Joseph's Church in Cohoes, N.Y. She was the daughter of Adolph Bruneau and Celina Picard both of Cohoes. Together they had 6 children. Pepere Peter died from what the story goes was a mustard gas bubble which exploded in his lungs; He had a wound in his side(Prob. from surgery) that ruptured and Peter Died right there at home at 14 Devlin Street in Cohoes on January 3rd, 1936. He was buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery, Waterford, Saratoga County, NY under a military marker.

John B. Endres was a New York City police officer at the time of his enlistment, probably in the 1st N.Y. Cavalry. This unit was reorganized upon arrival at Camp Wadsworth into the 106th Machinegun Battalion, 27th Division. The 106th MG. Bn. was assigned to the 54th Infantry Brigade along with the 107th and 108th Infantry regiments.

John Schmermund, great nephew of John Endres, has done extensive research and assembled a large number of documents and pictures related to his great uncle's service and death. Click on the photo to view the documents and photos.

Charles E. Raynor and Edward B. Raynor were brothers. They both served in Company B of the 107th Infantry Regiment, 27th NY Division. Both were wounded on September 29th, 1918, in the battle for the St. Quentin Canal tunnel and the Hindenburg line.

Edward B. (Birkett) Raynor was born in 1897. Charles E. (Eugene) Raynor was born in 1899. In 1900, they both lived with their mother, Clara Jane (Birkett), and their father, Willett Morton Raynor, along with their older sister, Nettie. They lived in the house of their grandmother Eliza Hall. She was Willett Morton’s mother. The location was # 200 Putnam Ave. in Brooklyn according to the 1900 census. Willett Morton’s father, Charles Russell Raynor, had died when he was just three years old and his mother had remarried John LeRoy Hall. Her maiden name was Terry. There were several Hall children living in the house at # 200 Putnam as well.

Eliza Hall had died in 1905 and in 1910 the family of Willett Morton and Clara Jane were living at 1161 East 19th Street (near Greenfield Old Ocean Ave.).

Both Willett Morton Raynor’s family and Eliza (Hall/Raynor) Terry’s family were from the Eastern end of Long Island. Accordingly, both Charles E. and Edward B. spent some summers in Center Moriches.

Both Charles E. and Edward B. enlisted for the World War. I knew very little about the War itself. The “O’Ryan’s Roughnecks” website has been very helpful to fill in some of the details.

After the War, my father and Uncle Ed must have returned to the family home at 1316 Avenue J, again in Brooklyn. Both my father and Uncle Ed married sisters of a family that lived just around the corner on East 15th Street.

I have no photos of either Charles E. or Edward B. in uniform. I have attached a photo of my father playing baseball in Brooklyn. (I think this must have been before the War). I have a medal that his team won with regard to a baseball tournament in Brooklyn. The photo of Edward B. is of him rowing a boat. Once again, I think this must have been before the War and probably at Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

Morris Liebman enlisted in the 23rd Regiment, NGNY as a private and advanced in rank to Lt. Colonel (May 3, 1917), a promotion that brought him to the 105th Infantry as second in command. While at his headquarters near Dickebusch Lake he was killed by enemy artillery fire on August 6, 1918. Colonel Liebman was awarded the Belgium Croix d' Guerre for his service. He is buried at Flanders Field American Cemetery near Waregem. In civilian life he was an electrical engineer and a graduate of the University of Nebraska, Class of 1900.

He led a small group of men to the attack, under terrific artillery and machinegun fire, after they had become separated from the rest of the company in the darkness. Single-handed he rushed an enemy machinegun which had suddenly opened fire on his group and killed the crew with his pistol. He then pressed forward to another machinegun post 25 yards away and had killed 1 gunner himself by the time the remainder of his detachment arrived and put the gun out of action. With the utmost bravery he continued to lead his men over 3 lines of hostile trenches, cleaning up each one as they advanced, regardless of the fact that he had been wounded 3 times, and killed several of the enemy in hand-to-hand encounters. After his pistol ammunition was exhausted, this gallant officer seized the rifle of a dead soldier, bayoneted several members of a machinegun crew, and shot the other. Upon reaching the fourth-line trench, which was his objective, 1st Lt. Turner captured it with the 9 men remaining in his group and resisted a hostile counterattack until he was finally surrounded and killed.