Memorial Month: Thomas Weaver
Editor’s note: Throughout the month, with the help Dianna Pendleton-Dominguez and Kim Reiher, The Evening Leader will be placing a spotlight on the men and women who have lost their lives defending the country. The articles will run every Tuesday leading up to Memorial Day.
This week’s article is one based on the research of Kim Reiher, who pieced together the story of Thomas Weaver, a member of the Ohio National Guard in St. Marys Armory. Weaver himself was specifically a member of Company K, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 37th Division.
Weaver had been a part of several operations, with him being a corporal in the expedition on Pancho Villa in 1917 and later a second lieutenant when his company was sent out to France in World War I. His division would go on to participate in the Lorraine, Meuse-Argonne and Ypres-Lys campaigns in the country.
It was in September 1918 that Weaver would lose his life. The 37th Division was working as part of the U.S. Army V Corp in order to launch the MeuseArgonne Offensive as a method to push back the German lines to Belgium, which had started on Sept. 26. Starting on 5:30 a.m. of that day, the offensive lasted two days and the division suffered many casualties in the mean
time.
It was said that Weaver died sometime during the last day of the offensive in what is speculated to be near the village of Cierges-sous-Montfaucon, where he was mortally wounded. His body was buried in the village of Epinoville, and if he had lived for one more day, he would’ve been one of the soldiers of his division that was relieved of combat.
However, despite his death, his story continued.
Weaver, among many other soldiers that died within enemy lines, had his remains moved about to find a more permanent resting place. In April 1919, the Second Lieutenant had his body moved to what would be the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial in
Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France.
This was temporary due to Weaver’s family wanting, like many other solider’s families, to have his resting place be put closer to home, his body once again being moved in June 1921. His body was among many delivered home by the famed USAT Wheaton, which carried 5,000 caskets at a time between 1919 and 1921. He was buried in Greenlawn Cemetery outside of Wapakoneta.
He was one of many who soldiers who received the Silver Star posthumously, along with the Victory Medals that were awarded to him. He was commended for his gallantry and his leadership by President Warren G. Harding as part of his speech during the homecoming ceremony done in 1921.
This article couldn’t have been done without the help Dianna PendletonDominguez and Kim Reiher, who are dutifully researching on the subject of veterans in the local area.
PendletonDominguez is part of the Honoring Hometown Heroes project and can be reached at the group’s
Facebook page or her email at dpend440@aol.com to talk about the project and what it offers to veterans in the area. For anyone with information on the Ohio National Guard veterans of St. Marys or have questions about the Ohio National Guard Memorial project, feel free to contact Reiher through the city auditors office at any time. Updates on the memorial and minibios on other soldiers are available at the Ohio National Guard Memorial Facebook page.