A village at war: When Irvington mourned its fallen Great War heroes

American Expeditionary Forces disembark at Saint-Nazaire, France on June 26, 1917. Irvington's Philip Michael McGovern and Louis Bernard Kindervatter waited a day aboard troop carriers in the Loire River, landing a day later on June 27.
(Associated Press photo, public domain)

On June 14, 1917, 14,000 American troops set sail from New York Harbor aboard four convoys bound for Brest, France to augment battle-weary French and British troops on the Western Front as World War I entered its third year.

Among those 14,000, the first troops ever sent by the United States to defend foreign soil, were two Irvington volunteers, 18-year-old U.S. Marine Corps Private Philip Michael McGovern and 20-year-old U.S. Army Private Louis Bernard Kindervatter. McGovern was with the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Regiment, Kindervatter with the 26th Infantry Regiment attached to the 1st Division, the famed Big Red One.

Kindervatter, born May 24, 1897, was the veteran of the pair. He'd enlisted on Jan. 26, 1916 at age 18 and reported for duty at Fort Slocum in New Rochelle. McGovern, born in Irvington on Dec. 20, 1898, enlisted on April 26, 1917, a day shy of three weeks after Congress on April 6 had approved a declaration of war.

The two shared much besides a penchant to serve their country. Here's a glimpse:

◼ At one point in their teens, Kindervatter and McGovern lived just one house apart directly across from Irvington Town Hall. McGovern lived at 88 Main Street, site today of the Irvington Volunteer Fire Department, and Kindervatter at 84 Main, a house that still stands next to the Irvington Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

◼ The pair were each born to immigrant parents. McGovern's father emigrated to the U.S. from British Ireland. Kindervatter's father Henry from Germany in the 1880s. 

◼ Each soldier came from a blue collar background. McGovern's father had three careers, first a coachman, then a delivery driver for a local grocery store and finally a gardener on a Gilded Age estate off Harriman Road. Kindervatter's father was a bartender at local watering holes.

Video explores 'Belleau Wood: The U.S. Marine Corps'
Bloodiest Conflict Of World War I'

A key difference between the soldiers was their religious affiliation. McGovern was a  parishioner at Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church at 6 North Broadway, Kindervatter a congregant at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church across the street.

 

World War I had become reality for the United States, some nine weeks after Congress declared war on Imperial Germany and its allies. The American Expeditionary Forces that departed on June 14 and included McGovern and Kindervatter were seen by the French and British as a sort of promissory note pending the training of the undermanned U.S. forces. The AEF were the only U.S. troops believed by military leaders to be properly trained to fight.

AEF convoys fearing German U-boat attacks, bypassed Brest, France's western-most port, on June 24 for the smaller Loire River port of Saint-Nazaire and arrived there on June 25. Troops took turns disembarking beginning on the 26th, with McGovern's 5th Regiment and Kindervatter's 26th Regiment not landing on French soil until June 27.

McGovern and Kindervatter spent the rest of the year training and working in support of French forces learning how to dig trenches for use as bases for attack and defense as well gas warfare under the direction of AEF commander Maj. Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing. They took part in some military actions, but their main fighting roles would come after June 1, 1918.

Marine Pvt. Philip Michael McGovern c. 1918. (Family photo courtesy Cathy O’Neill)

PRIVATE McGOVERN'S LAST DAY

McGovern served in the 51st Company of the Fighting Fifth's most decorated 2nd Battalion, the so-called 2/5, whose motto "Retreat, Hell!" — still in use today — comes from its actions at the Battle of Belleau Wood on the Western Front, the battle that claimed McGovern's life on June 11, 1918 near Chateau-Thierry, France. Told by a French officer to retreat, Marine 2/5 Capt. Lloyd W. Williams replied: "Retreat? Hell, we just got here."

McGovern's death came during a successful Allied counterattack during the Battle of Belleau Wood, some 50 miles northeast of Paris, that raged from June 1-26, 1918 and halted the Germans' spring offensive of 1918. 

McGovern and his fellow 2/5 Marines began advancing on June 11 at 4 a.m. against parts of five German divisions not long freed from fighting on the Eastern Front with the signing by Russia of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire on March 3, 1918. The document was effectively a Russian surrender and removed the new Bolshevik regime from the Allied Powers opposition. The 2/5 was cut to pieces the morning of June 11 by interlocking German machine gun fire as its Marines marched toward the trees of Belleau Wood in a heavy early morning mist. But the 2/5 did manage to crush the German defensive line in the attack. An unnamed German private, whose company had 30 men remaining out of an original 120 after that fight, wrote later, "We have Americans opposite us who are terribly reckless fellows."

Pictured is the temporary grave of USMC Pvt. Philip M. McGovern
(center flag of three flags pictured, with sheaf above) at what is now the
Le Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial in France. McGovern's remains were later
returned to Irvington. He is now interred at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
On the sheaf above the grave one can make out the French words
Souvenir and Francais, meaning basically, 'Remembered by the French'.

(Photo from the Friday, July 4, 1919 edition of The Irvington Gazette newspaper)

It has been claimed, but never proven, that the Fighting Fifth (as the 5th Marine Regiment has been known since Belleau Wood) and all Marines, were given the nickname "Devil Dogs" ("Teufelshunde" in German) after the Battle of Belleau Wood by a German soldier acknowledging their ferocity and tenacity at the battle.

It is not known if McGovern died in the initial June 11 attack or one of five subsequent attacks that day made by the 2/5 before it expelled German forces from the forested area after running short on ammunition and being forced into hand-to-hand combat with bayonets and fists. 

McGovern was one of 1,811 Americans killed in the battle which raged for 26 days. The French were so impressed by the Marines' tenacity that they renamed Belleau Wood "Bois de la Brigade de Marine" — "Wood of the Marine Brigade" — at war's end. The 5th Regiment was awarded what would eventually become the famed Croix de Guerre (Cross of War) for valor. 

Artist Frank Earle Schoonover painted The Battle of Belleau Wood (shown here) in 1919. It depicts the U.S. Marines in action in the battle, an iconic event that will live forever in USMC lore. 

(Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

McGovern was interred in a cemetery near the site of his death at Chateau-Thierry, France. The site has hosted the La Ferte-sous-Jouarre Memorial since 1928. He was honored at a memorial Mass at the Irvington church of which he was a parishioner, on the morning of July 4, 1918. An honor guard of the Irvington Home Guard was on hand for a standing-room only group of mourners inside Immaculate Conception's granite facade (the original church no longer exists, having burned in 1970 and been demolished in 1996). McGovern's remains were returned to Irvington almost exactly three years later and lay in repose in his family's home on Station Road for several days before being re-interred at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

SGT. KINDERVATTER'S DEMISE WAS A MYSTERY

Sgt. Louis B. Kindervatter was killed in action on July 19, 1918 at the Battle of Soissons, but he was erroneously listed as missing in action, presumed taken prisoner by Imperial German troops. 

Kindervatter remained listed MIA until May 1919 when a returning comrade reported he had been wounded in action on July 19, 1918, and died of those wounds in a military hospital in Tours, France on Sept. 18, 1918. In 2008, the non-profit American War Memorials Overseas organization reported his remains had actually been found in France in 1935 and were positively identified in 1936. 

At that time Sgt. Kindervatter was laid to rest in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial in Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Departement de la Meuse, Lorraine, France beside Belleau Wood, site of Pvt. McGovern's final battlefield.

Maj. Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing pins the Distinguished Service Cross on Lt. Col. J. M. Cullison, commander of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, in France on Sept. 7, 1918. Pictured with his back to the camera is Maj. Gen. Charles P. Summerall, the 1st Division's commander.. The three officers commanded Irvington hero Louis B. Kindervatter who died at the Battle of Soissons on July 19, 1918.
(U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, U.S. Army War College
Historical Section, World War I Branch, Wikimedia Commons public domain)

Despite his identification and subsequent interment, Kindervatter's name remains inscribed today on the Tablets of the Missing at the Buzancy Military Cemetery seven miles south of Soissons, poignantly misspelled Kindervater with one T. It is possible Kindervatter's remains were originallly buried with those of other unidentified soldiers at Buzancy, since the remains of some 71 unknown soldiers remain there today.

Like McGovern, Kindervatter was a volunteer. He reported for duty at the Army's Fort Slocum in New Rochelle on Jan 26. 1916. After enlisting as a private, Kindervatter was promoted to corporal in October 1917 and to sergeant in January 1918. He was killed in the key Battle of Soissons, fought by American, British and French troops against the Germans from July 18-22, 1918. 

The Soissons campaign was part of the Allies' Aisne-Marne counter-offensive drawn up to reverse gains Imperial Germany made in its stalled spring 1918 offensive. The goal of the battle was to cut off Kaiser Wilhelm II's two Marne salient road and rail supply lines between Soisson and Chateau-Thierry. It would theoretically force the Germans to retreat to their pre-offensive lines.

The battle was the turning point of the war. Germany went on the defensive for the rest of the war before the Nov. 11 armistice.

Sgt. Kindervatter was the youngest of three children and only son born to German immigrant father Henry. His mother Anna (Dale) Kindervatter was born in Illinois. Her father, Augustus, was a Union officer who fought in the Civil War. Her two uncles (her father's brothers) also fought against the Confederacy. Albert O. Dale was killed in action in June 1862. Her uncle Martin survived, as did her father.

Kindervatter was assigned to the 26th Infantry Regiment, Company H which was in turn attached during World War I to the U.S. Army's famed 1st Division, the so-called "Big Red One." The 26th remains attached to the Big Red One today and has its own nickname, Blue Spaders, from the term "Blauerspadern" used by German troops to describe its distinctive regimental insignia.

Bouresches, a French commune near the Marne River at Belleau Wood, France,  previously held by German troops, is shown after its conquest by American and French troops at the Battle of Belleau Wood in June 1918.
(Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

At Soissons, Kindervatter and the 26th reached their objective on the 18th, the opening day of the battle, beginning at 4 a.m. and capturing the town of Missy-aux-Bois by 9 a.m. before being pinned down just shy of the Soisson to Chateau-Thierry Road by German machine gun fire.

The following morning, Sgt. Kindervatter's last day alive, the 26th crossed and cut off the road by 4:30 p.m., but was pinned down again by German fire. At 5 p.m. the 26th resumed its attack and advanced 1.83 miles, taking part in the capture of Ploisy.

At some point during that day, Sgt. Kindervatter was lost.

Silent film footage from the National Archives of the Aisne-Marne
Allied Counter-offensive including the Battle of Soissons.

Kindervatter's father never learned his son's fate since Henry Kindervatter had died on Jan. 26, 1919, before Louis' death had been confirmed. Henry and Anna had left Irvington and for Manhattan by that time. Grief had destroyed their family. In addition to the uncertainty of their son's battlefield fate, they had lost their daughter Ida to pneumonia in late 1915.

Pvt. McGovern and Sgt. Kindervatter gave their lives on the same front about five weeks apart, McGovern's comrades ending the German spring offensive and Kindervatter's comrades driving the Germans onto the defensive for the rest of the war.

The Irvington next-door Main Street neighbors fell between five and 10 miles apart. Kindervatter is buried at the foot of the hill on which stands the village McGovern helped capture, Belleau. The Belleau Wood Battlefield is preserved as a memorial directly attached to the cemetery in which Kindervatter is buried.

Irvington's fledgling American Legion Post 345 was named in honor of McGovern, the villages's first soldier killed in action in the World War, when it was founded on Sept. 5, 1919. The post was named "Philip McGovern Post 345, American Legion." 

The post held its first formal event to honor McGovern in November 1919, packing Irvington Town Hall for a ticketed dance featuring McGovern's family and more than 100 of the 151 Irvington residents who volunteered or were drafted into the war effort, both domestically and abroad.

This is a photo of the grave of U.S. Army Private George Hazlett in France sent to his mother Annie in 1919 by an unnamed French photographer in gratitude for the grieving mother's son's sacrifice. Private Hazlett's remains were later returned to Irvington and he was re-interred in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
(Image from the July 4, 1919 edition of The Irvington Gazette newspaper)

THREE MORE FALLEN SOLDIERS

In addition to McGovern and Kindervatter, three other Irvington residents died in military service during World War I. Two of those three lived within four blocks (on Dutcher and Cottenet streets) down Main Street west towards the Hudson River from McGovern and Kindervatter. 

The other three who died while in WWI service were:

⬛  U.S. Army Pvt. George Hazlett (sometimes mispelled Haslett), 31, of 30 Main Street, (he listed 3 North Cottenet Street — known as North C Street at the time — as his address when he enlisted), died in France of influenza and bronchial pneumonia on Nov. 12, 1918, the day after the armistice ending the war. He is buried at the U.S. Army Cemetery in Libourne, France. 

Pvt. Hazlett's father Thomas was an Irish immigrant who worked as a gardener, again likely on one of the area's Gilded Age estates. Thomas was 34 years older than his wife, Annie, an English immigrant who was 22 when George was born on Jan. 8, 1887. George had three younger brothers, Harry, Robert and Thomas. Like George, Thomas served in the Great War, but he survived. 

George Hazlett was a plumber in civilian life and an Irvington volunteer firefighter. He was inducted into the service on May 25, 1918 and arrived in France on June 30, 1918.

The 2nd Pioneer Infantry was known as the 14th Regiment Infantry of the New York National Guard before being deployed by the U.S. Army to France. It saw light action there, serving mostly in reserve.

⬛  U.S. Army Pvt. Frank Edward Farrell, 30, of Taxter Road in East Irvington, a hamlet popularly nicknamed Dublin because of the large number of Irish immigrants living in that area. Pvt. Farrell died of an accidental gunshot wound while cleaning his weapon at a shooting range during training near Spartanburg, S.C., on March 15, 1918. Farrell, born on April 8, 1887 in Irvington, was a steam fitter for a Manhattan heating contractor, Frank M. Wear, whose offices were at 206 East 29th Street. 

Farrell had enlisted on July 28, 1917 and served in the 71st Infantry before transferring to the 105th Infantry. He was one of seven children raised by Irish immigrants Patrick and Bridget Farrell. Patrick was a gardener by trade, likely on one of the Gilded Age estates of the area. His mother, father, five sisters and brother survived him.

French artist Georges Scott created this illustration, American Marines in Belleau Wood (1918), for the French magazine Illustrations. It shows U.S. Marines attacking and taking German prisoners (hands raised, lower left). (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

⬛  U.S. Army Sgt. John Donahue Kelly Jr., 23, of 18 South Dutcher St., who died of bronchial pneumonia at Camp Hancock, Ga., on Nov. 17, 1918. He was the son of John D. Kelly Sr., a carpenter who was elected to several terms as the village's Collector of Taxes, and Mary A. (Dinan) Kelly, a mother and homemaker. Sgt. Kelly had been born on Aug. 17, 1895 and in civilian life, he worked as a junior drug clerk under proprietor John H. Barr at the Irvington Pharmacy, 46 Main St., southeast corner of South Dutcher and Main streets. 

Before being drafted, Sgt. Kelly was the recording secretary of the Irvington Fire Association, forerunner of today's Irvington Volunteer Fire Department. 

On June 5, 1917 he successfully sought exemption from the new federal military draft, claiming to be the sole means of support for three sisters under 12. Interestingly, the girls appear to have actually been 13, 12 and 7 at the time and their father was alive, living in the home and apparently working. 

John Jr. was drafted, however, in July 1918, likely because his brother, James, had graduated from high school and was also working to support the family. The Kellys' mother, Mary (Dinan) Kelly, had died in 1915, but it would appear that John Sr. was still working as a carpenter until he died in 1930 at about age 62.

Privates Hazlett and Kelly died quite likely as a result of the Spanish flu pandemic that swept through battle-torn Europe and came to the U.S. with returning service members.

This list, published in the Friday, July 4 1919 edition of the Irvington Gazette newspaper, shows the names of all the U.S. military members from Irvington who served during the Great War as well as several who served in relief roles. The dead are marked by asterisks. Please click on this image to view larger, more legible type.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Lifelong Irvington resident Cathy O'Neill, daughter of late Irvington Mayor Kevin O'Neill and Agnes (Foley) O'Neill, is the grandniece of Philip Michael McGovern, brother of her grandmother, Mary "Tiny" (McGovern) Foley. She relates a family legacy that the McGovern family was living in the white house still standing today, albeit heavily renovated, next to the lower level entrance to Memorial Park on the south side of Station Road next to the east side of the Old Croton Aqueduct Tunnel.

The family was mystified on the night of June 11, 1918 when their family dog climbed to the top of the aqueduct viaduct and began howling. It was later that the family was informed their son had died that day in France. ...

... Cathy also relates that the McGovern family still has a large presence in the Irvington area, although the McGovern name died out with Philip. He was the oldest of six children, the others all sisters. The current generation of McGovern family descendants (second cousins today) Cathy says, include the surnames Foley, O’Neill, Kelly, Merrill, Roy, Falasca and Ferris. ...

... Numbers vary depending on the source, but Irvington, with a population of only about 2,500 at the time of the U.S. entry into World War I, saw at least 151 and perhaps more than 200 residents volunteer for some sort of war-related service, whether it be the military itself, ambulance, nursing, medical, state-side support service or the Home Guard, among some options. ...

... Philip McGovern's mother, Mary (Kiernan) McGovern, was born in Irvington to builder Michael and Margaret (Duff) Kiernan of Clinton Avenue, who had several other daughters whose descendants' names are also familiar to locally: Tewey, Redmond, Squazzo and Irwin being a few. ...

... The 5th Marine Regiment saw five Westchester County soldiers die during World War I. McGovern's four fallen regimental comrades were Sgt. Archibald Miller of Ossining, a member of McGovern's 51st Company who died of pneumonia (likely Spanish flu) on Nov. 8, 1918, and three others who were wounded in battle and died later: Sgt. James Joseph Marco of Tarrytown (d..Oct. 6, 1918); Pvt. Izaak Walton Brush of Mount Vernon (d. Oct. 4, 1918) and Pvt. Frank Anthony Rea of Yonkers (d. June 7, 1918). ...

... From Louis Kindervatter's 26th Infantry Regiment, Pleasantville Pvt. Giovanni Garufi was killed in action Oct. 6, 1918. ...

... Other Tarrytown World War I casualties included Pvt. James A. Hunter of pneumonia (likely Spanish flu) at Camp Upton, Long Island on Sept. 19, 1918; Pvt. Stachy Montonaro, killed in action Oct. 22, 1918; Cpl. Howard Slawson, killed in action, Sept. 1, 1918; Pvt. Lester Storms, died of wounds, Dec.9, 1918; Pvt. Waclav Wolpiuk, died of pneumonia (likely Spanish flu), Oct. 6, 1918; and U.S. Navy Seaman 2nd Class Russell Vince Cantwell, Feb. 12, 1918 (cause of death not given); Private James F. Dick Jr., airplane accident, Jan. 5, 1918.

... Sleepy Hollow casualties (it was North Tarrytown at the time) were: Pvt. Alcan H. Levy, killed in action Sept. 17, 1918; Pvt. Michael Santz, killed in action, Aug. 27, 1918; Pvt. Thomas R. Cullington, died accidentally after contacting a German tank mine (possibly attempting to disarm it), Nov. 20, 1918; 2nd Lt. John A. Kelly, killed in action, Nov. 3, 1918. ...

SPECIAL NOTE TO READERS: Click on individual illustrations to view larger images.