PVT William H. Tovey

PVT William H. Tovey was born 15 Aug 1890 in Watseka, Illinois. He was the 2nd of 3 sons born to Frederick William and Ida Mae (Higgins) Tovey. His father was a native of Bristol, England. His father worked for a bank. In 1910, William was working on the Census.  In 1917, William was working as a drug clerk for T. S. Arnold & Son in Watseka.

William entered the service (he was probably drafted) and sent to Europe as a replacement.  PVT Tovey sailed for France aboard the Agpenor departing Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 27 Jul 1918. After his arrival he was assigned to Sanitary Detachment 116th Infantry, perhaps because of his civilian experience as a drug clerk. He was present with the unit when a major offensive kicked off on 8 Oct 1918. However, it appears that PVT Tovey took ill and died of disease on 10 Oct 1918.

PVT Tovey was repatriated in 1920, his body being returned aboard the USAT Wheaton. PVT Tovey was re-interred in Oak Hill Cemetery in Watseka, Illinois. 

His brother, Henry Oliver Tovey, attended the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy.  He was lost at sea on 22 Mar 1917.

PVT Maryland Virginia Griffith

PVT Maryland Virginia Griffith was born 10 Aug 1897 in Augusta County, Virginia.  He was the youngest of 6 children born to Dr. Robert Sumter and Annie Julia (Webb) Griffith.  He was given the name "Maryland" to honor where his parents had been born and "Virginia" to honor the state where his parents had chosen to make a new life. Of Annie's children, only he and his older brother, William Louis Griffith, lived to adulthood. Both parents had been born in Maryland. His father was a medical doctor who had practiced in Springfield, West Virginia before moving to Basic City (now Waynesboro), Virginia. Maryland's mother died in 1913 and his father re-married and had  2 more children. Maryland was a student at Randolph Macon College in 1917.

Maryland volunteered for service with the 1st Virginia Infantry for Mexican Border duty in 1916. He and the unit were again called to duty for the war in Europe.  After reorganization at Camp McClellan, Alabama PVT Griffith would find him assigned to Sanitary Detachment 116th Infantry which was commanded by CPT (Dr.) White, his father's friend. He sailed for France with his unit aboard the USS Finland.  The ship departed Hoboken, New Jersey on 15 Jun 1918 and arrived at the port of Saint Nazaire, France on 28 Jun 1918. After training in trench warfare and a period of acclimatization in a "quiet" sector on the front, the 116th along with its division, the 29th, was part of a major offensive beginning on 8 Oct 1918.  The next day Maryland and others from his unit were at a spring getting water for the regiment. The Germans had targeted the water source and shelled it. PVT Griffith was seriously wounded and evacuated to a hospital where he died on 10 Oct 1918.

Dr. White was instrumental in bringing PVT Griffith home where he was re-interred in Riverview Cemetery in Waynesboro, Virginia. 

Our thanks to Nancy Sorrels for her previous research and article on Maryland in the 18 Feb 2012 issue of The News Leader. 

PFC William Glenwood Dailey

PFC William Glenwood Dailey was born 26 Dec 1894 in Cambridge, Maryland.  He was the 3rd of 6 children born to John C. and Elsie Belle Dailey. His father was a ship's carpenter.

William joined the National Guard on 20 Apr 1917.  He was promoted to PFC on 5 Apr 1918.  He was transferred from  C Company 1st Maryland Infantry. That unit was reorganized as C Company 115th Infantry. PFC Dailey was sent to the Base Hospital at Camp McClellan, Alabama on 6 Nov 1917. He was transferred to the Sanitary Detachment 116th Infantry on 21 May 1918. He sailed for France aboard the USS Finland with that unit on 15 Jun 1918 and arrived in the port of Saint Nazaire, France on 28 Jun 1918.  PFC Dailey was sent to hospital on 3 Oct 1918.  He died of lobar pneumonia and pulmonary edema on 9 Oct 1918.

PFC Dailey rests forever in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery.