World War I Series - Hollie J. Smith, KIA

 

Hollie J. Smith

Paulding, Ohio was the birthplace of Hollie J. Smith. He was enumerated on the censuses there with his parents, Charles Isaac Smith and Eva Estella Bable Smith, in 1900 and 1910. On October 9,1895, John Hollie Smith was born in Blue Creek, Paulding, Ohio, the second child and son of his parents.  Most of the time, he was referred to as Hollie, a name that distinguished him from every other John.

At 14, Hollie was not only at school, but working on an outside farm for wages.  He was joined by his older brother, James, who was 16.

Hollie joined the Ohio National Guard on July 21, 1917, when he was 21 years old. 

It wasn't long before he found himself in Newport News, Virginia, boarding the transport ship, "Pocahontas." Hollie was a member of the United States National Guard, Company G, 147th Infantry, 37th Division and he was headed to France.

Transport ship, the Pocahontas

A telegram to General Headquarters' on March 12, 1919, reported that Private First Class Hollie J. Smith was missing in action.  A comrade later reported that he was killed in action on the Verdun front in September 1918.  As in many cases, Hollie was buried on the battlefield near Cierges, Meuse, France,  He was disinterred and reburied on June 7, 1919, in the Argonne American Cemetery, and his father was notified in May of that year.

But, the family wanted Hollie home. So, he was disinterred once again and taken to Antwerp, Belgium, where he set sail for the U.S. On July 21, 1921, the body of Pvt. Hollie J. Smith arrived in Hoboken, New Jersey on the U.S.A. transport, Catigny. He was buried in the Soldiers' Circle at Riverside Cemetery in Defiance, Lot 185, Block 26, Grave 1.

"Hollie J. Smith

Hollie J. Smith was born October 9, 1895 at Paulding County, Ohio.  He died in France October 12, 1918, aged 23 years and 3 days.  He enlisted in the army in Co. G., 147th Infantry, 37th Division, July 31, 1917.  He trained at Camp Sheridan with the Defiance boys and went overseas with them.

He leaves to mourn his father, mother, six brothers, one in France and one recently discharged and four sisters and an aged grandfather, James Bable, of this city, and a host of relatives and friends to mourn his loss as he was one of the Defiance boys to give up his life.

He was the first of a family of 11 children to break the circle and a place is vacant in that sad home for him.  No flowers deck his lonely grave.  For him who nobly fell, fighting for the U.S.A., for the home he loved so well.  We know he is safe up there, where flowers always bloom, where the birds sing in the morning over the soldiers' lonely tombs."

In Memoriam

Hollie John Smith