After almost 106 years, a fallen World War I hero has received a memorial for his sacrifice.
On Monday morning, a memorial service for Private Charlie Blair was held at Centertown Cemetery beginning with presentation of colors and followed by a speech from his great-great nephew John Elliott. Earl Blair, Charlie’s nephew, was presented a retired flag which once flew in Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery by Warren County High School ROTC. American Legion performed a gun salute and Taps.
“Over the next 50 years, his siblings would speak of him often and wished they could visit his grave in France,” said John during his speech. “We know through Johnnie’s son, Earl, that the family privately honored Charlie for his sacrifice and would have done so publicly had they had the resources. A military service was provided in France in 1921, but none of the family was able to attend. Although Charlie’s body rests in France today, we publicly honor him here in the place he grew up.”
Charlie was a member of the Daylight community and was drafted in 1918 alongside his older brother, Johnnie, to serve in World War I. The brothers hitched a ride on their neighbor’s buggy and reported for duty in McMinnville, bound for Camp Pike in Little Rock, Ark. before their eventual voyage on The Leviathan to serve overseas in France.
Unfortunately, Charlie was ultimately killed by shellfire little more than four months after he left his family’s farm on Oct. 9, 1918. His family would not be made aware of his passing until 49 days later on Nov. 24. Johnnie would be honorably discharged the following year on April 7, 1919 and return home to his family, where he would pursue his dreams of being a farmer.
With a war which claimed over 14,000 American soldiers, there was great debate and uproar about what should be done with the bodies of the fallen soldiers. It was finally decided to leave the decision in the hands of the families.
Each soldier’s family was issued a postcard with boxes to decide between having the body privately buried, to have it returned for burial in a military cemetery or to allow it to remain overseas.
As the case with Charlie and many others, his body found its eventual resting place in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in Verdun, France, which serves as a memorial cemetery for the American forces who died during the war.
After the passing of Charlie’s brother Johnnie in 1971, the family discovered a trunk filled with a plethora of letters sent between the brothers’ family members and themselves during the war, documents, bits and pieces of gear, photographs and medals which had previously not been known to exist.
Among the contents of the trunk was a short song written in memory of Charlie by their father, John Carlton Blair Jr.:
“Plant never-fading flowers,
That bloom all the year,
In memory of our boy,
Who we hold most sacred dear.
Our hopes are all blasted,
Our courage almost gone.
But still we trust in Jesus,
While I compose this song.
I have gone through many trials,
And troubles here below,
But this great world-wide conflict,
Is the very worst I know.”
“Even though he (Johnnie) didn’t talk about the war very much, he still kept all of these things,” said Chandra Elliott, wife to John. “I can tell it was important to him to make sure we got to know about this story, even if he couldn’t tell us himself.”
The discovery of this trunk led to a renewed effort to honor Charlie and Chandra organized a service for Monday, on Memorial Day, to formally include him in the family’s section of Centertown Cemetery. A black headstone was placed behind John’s, emblazoned with the quote which Chandra reports kept the coals burning to not allow Charlie to be forgotten.
