100 years ago in The Saratogian
Monday, Dec. 2, 1918
As casualty reports from the final weeks of the world war continue to arrive in Saratoga Springs, the Business Men’s Association starts planning a monument to the fallen.
The BMA unanimously approves a resolution creating a committee to select a site for and build “a suitable memorial in memory of our young men of Saratoga Springs and vicinity who died while serving with the colors in the cause of World Liberty.”
The resolution is presented by Adelbert C. Hayden, who describes the war as “a war of principles and a war of ideals. American could not but participate in such a conflict and for the past year and a half has been sending the flower of her youth to the battlefields of Europe. There they have added honor to ‘Old Glory,’ and have carried the stars and stripes which first floated over our battlefields of freedom to victory on the battlefields which spell the freedom of the world.”
Among the early suggestions at tonight’s meeting are a series of memorial tablets at the base of trees, a medal to be presented to returning soldiers, and a memorial tablet bearing the names of all who died in service to the nation.
For a time, friends and relatives here feared that Samuel W. Corey’s name would be on that list. Another local soldier wrote home recently that “it was too bad that Sam Corey got it,” leading people to believe that Sergeant Corey of Company K, 327th U.S. Infantry, had been killed in action.
The Saratogian reports today, however, that Sgt. Corey was alive and well, at least in the early part of November. Several friends and relatives confirm that they’ve received letters from him written early last month, though it’s unclear whether any were written after the armistice ending the war on November 11.
“An interesting coincidence is that in the same infantry [regiment] was another soldier, by the name of Sam Corey,” a reporter notes, “It may be that this soldier was probably wounded or killed in action and that some other soldier reporting it to a friend had thought it was Sergeant Corey of this city.”
While Corey’s loved ones feel relief today, Mr. and Mrs. Nathan E. Whipple of 23 Hyde Street learn that their son, Corporal John E. Whipple, was killed in action on October 25.
John Whipple, age 31, was a D&H brakeman before moving with his wife to Warrensburgh, where he was drafted in September 1917. His parents last received a letter from him on September 2. His wife was notified of his death by telegram this morning.