Shared Photo: Matthew Jerome Maher Jr, age 16, WW1

Question

My grandfather Matthew Jerome Maher Jr. Enlisted in the US Army in World War 1 at the age of 16, he had to lie about his age to get in. He was a bugler, his occupation was listed as "machinist." He served in Company B, 64th Infantry.

He was in France on November 11, 1918, west of Moselle in the 2nd Army Offensive. He was Honorably discharged from Camp Upton on June 25th, 1919. He was awarded a Victory Medal, Defensive Sector.

He went on to serve as a Nassau County Policeman until his death in a diving accident in July 1928, leaving behind his wife and three young children.

Click here for the image details page or here for the full-sized version (1738 x 2964).

Answer 1

What a great photo of your granddad, but how young he was when he join up.

How proud he must have been to receive the victory cross, and how sad for the family he lost his life.

Thank You for sharing this wonderful and sad story and photo

Comments

He was very proud of his bugle and took good care of it. When he passed his wife (my grandmother, who had learned to play it), would go outside on holidays and serenade the neighborhood. I've been trying to track down where the bugle is now, I fear it's gone.

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I really hope you can find it!

Answer 2

He looks so young! Thank you for sharing and thanks for your service, Matthew!

Comments

I decided to pull out his discharge papers today and was thrilled to see that he was *there* exactly 100 years ago. Imagine the excitement among the young troops when they heard the news that the war was over!

Answer 3

Your story gave me goose bumps, as did the photo.  Our little town had the 100 bell rings at sunset, apart from the service at 11:00 a.m.  And with this photo I am reminded, once again, of the lives lost for our freedom and for peace.  Thank you for posting this picture on this day.

Answer 4

What a fabulous photo!

We can see the string around his right thigh above the knee, this holds his pistol holster close to his leg so that when he draws his sidearm, it comes out of the holster easily .Without it, if you pull the pistol, the holster bunches up and the gun gets "stuck."

The flag has 48 stars, 6 rows of 8 as Hawaii and Alaska were not yet states.

Trivia question for everyone: without looking, how many rows of stars does the current (50 star) American flag have?

Comments

Hint: it isn't 5 rows of 10 ;-)

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Without looking, but with some calculating, I'll say 4 rows of 8 and 3 rows of 6. Am I right???

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Nope, try again ;-)

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How embarrassing! Let's try again -- five rows of 6 (30) and four rows of 5 (20) -- alternating???

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Yes, that's it, four rows of five threaded between 5 rows of 6 - when you look at it, it is a Eureka moment:

Answer 5

Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful photo.  And thank you to all of you who have added a bit of history that surrounded the time. The "War to end all Wars"...  Wouldn't the world be a different place if that had been true?