HIRAM O. TAYLOR
October 17, 1891 - September 13, 1918
- Photo given to post by Lillian Elliot
Born 17 Oct. 1891, son of Mrs. George Elliott, Sterling, MA.
Hiram O. Taylor enlisted June 1917 in Lowell, Ma. Two months later he went to Camp Syracuse for 2 weeks training. He was assigned to E Co, 23rd Infantry Regiment, originally formed in 1812. Sent overseas, the regiment arrived at St. Nazaire in September 1917 and received more intense training with French army veterans.
His regiment was assigned on 21st of that month to the newly forming 2nd Infantry Division, consisting of 1 brigade of Army infantry, 1 brigade of Marines, an artillery brigade, and various support units.
The 2nd division was officially born on 26 October 1917 in Bourmont, France. It was the first American Army Division to be formed overseas and to be under command by both the British and French. In addition, Marine Generals BG. C.A. Doyen and MG. John A. Lejeune also commanded the division.
The Army's 2nd Infantry Division (Indian Head Division) included the Army's 9th Infantry Regiment and the Marine Corps's 4th and 5th Regiments as well as a machine gun battalion.
The 2nd Division drew first blood in Belleau Wood, followed by actions in; Chateau-Thierry, Soissons and Mont Blanc and participated in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. The regiment also has Campaign ribbons for battle actions in: The AISNE, ST. MIHIEL, MEUSE-ARGONNE.
For its service in the Soisson and Mont Blanc campaign, the regiment was awarded the French Fourragere.
As an infantry man of the 23rd Infantry Regiment, Hiram O. Taylor would have participated in many bloody battles, from the 2nd Division's inception, until his death.
Hiram had previously received shrapnel wounds but was sent back into action. Two months before the armistice, on 13 Sept. 1918, during the battle in the St. Mihiel salient, where the 2nd division was used as shock troops and the 23rd Infantry as the lead regiment, Hiram O. Taylor gave his life. He was the first and only son of Sterling to be killed in action, during the "war to end all wars".
His mother requested his body be sent home, and on Oct 18th, he was brought back to Sterling for burial, where a horse drawn hearse carried him to his final rest in Oak Hill Cemetery.
For his sacrifice, American Legion post 189 is named in his honor.
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