CPL George W. Meadows

courtesy of Marijke Taffein

CPL George W. Meadows was probably born in October 1897 in Roanoke County in Virginia.  His sister, Beulah L. Meadows, may have been his twin.  The children were orphaned before 1910 and were living in the Baptist Orphanage of Virginia in Salem, Virginia. Beulah worked as a telephone operator.

George was working as a laborer when he enlisted in L Company 2nd Virginia Infantry on 22 Jul 1917. George was with the unit at Camp McClellan, Alabama when it was reorganized as part of M Company 116th Infantry to which he was assigned. He was with the unit when it sailed for France aboard the USS Finland departing Hoboken, New Jersey on 15 Jun 1918. After the trench warfare training that the regiment and division experienced and the time in the "quiet" sector, CPL Meadows was with the unit when it participated in the "push" beginning on 8 Oct 1918. CPL Meadows was killed in action on 12 Oct 1918. 

CPL Meadows was buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery.