Charles Whittlesly's name is on his family's stone in Pittsfield Cemetery although his remains were not recovered.
Charles W. Whittlesly
Three years after the end of World War I, the United States followed the lead of other powers involved in the war by dedicating a tomb to an unknown soldier as a way to memorialize the many casualties who would not return home in any form.
The day, Nov. 11, 1921, was filled with somber pomp and ceremony as the cortege wound its way from the Capitol to Arlington National Cemetery. The War Department had gone to great lengths to ensure that this soldier — who would represent all U.S. servicemen and women — was truly unable to be identified.
His body was accompanied by a host of dignitaries and national leaders including three presidents and Gen. John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces. Walking as honorary pallbearers were three Medal of Honor recipients: Sgt. Alvin York, Lt. Samuel Woodfill, and Lt. Col. Charles Whittlesly of the famed "Lost Battalion."
Barely two weeks later, Whittlesly would disappear off the SS Toloa on its way to Havana. He was presumed to have jumped overboard, leaving a note among his papers in his cabin that "I will not be back."
His friends believed that he had been overcome by his participation in the memorial.
"For the last two years there has scarcely been an hour when the grief and horror of war have not been brought vividly before him," his law partner Charles W. Little told reporters.
Whittlesly graduated from Pittsfield High School and Williams College, later earning a degree from Harvard Law School. He enlisted in May 1917 and by September was commissioned a major leading the 308th Infantry Regiment, part of the 77th Infantry Division.That October his unit was among the forces pushing back against the Germans in the Meuse-Argonne. The battalion advanced faster than the others and was cut off and surrounded for nearly five days until the advancing American units could catch up.
Pinned down by fire from both sides, and without food and supplies, more than half his force was killed or injured. Whittlesly refused to surrender, purportedly telling the Germans to "go to hell."
Runners failed to make it back to headquarters to report their position but their last surviving messenger pigeon, Cher Ami, did. She was shot and wounded as she took off but still flew nearly 30 miles in 25 minutes to deliver the message: "We are along the road paralell to 276.4. Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heavens sake stop it."
Whittlesly was presented the Medal of Honor at a ceremony at Boston Common and received the Croix de Guerre from France. (Cher Ami would also be awarded the Croix de Guerre and she is on display at the Smithsonian Institute.)
But Whittlesly was never able to return fully to civilian life or escape the war. His cenotaph is in Pittsfield Cemetery but his remains were never recovered.
More than 110,000 American servicemen died in the "war to end all wars," more than half from disease and deprivation, and Massachusetts lost 5,775 men and women. More than 189,000 from the Bay State served during the war (many with the 26th "Yankee" Division made up of National Guardsmen) for the United States or for allied forces.
Massachusetts honored her sons and daughters in 1933 with the dedication of the Mount Greylock War Memorial Tower on the state's highest peak in Adams. The 93-foot tall monument was recognized this year as one of 100 national monuments by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission.
iBerkshires has rounded up some examples of the residents who went to war and some of what they did afterward.
Much of this material is thanks to the Adams Historical Society, North Adams Historical Society, Berkshire Historical Society, the Williamstown Historical Museum and the archives of the North Adams Library and Berkshire Athenaeum.
Below, artillery on the River Moselle along the American front one minute before and one minute after the ceasefire at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918, from the Imperial War Museum collection.
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