Milo Lemert (1890 - 1918)

Born 25 Mar 1890 in Albion, Marshall, Iowa, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Nellie Vaughn (Snodgrass) Johnson — married 29 Sep 1917 (to 29 Sep 1918) in Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States

Died 29 Sep 1918 at age 28 in Bellicourt, Aisne, Picardie, France

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Biography

Milo Lemert was awarded the Medal of Honor.

First Sergeant Milo Lemert served in the United States Army in World War I
Service started: 25 Jun 1917
Unit(s): Co G, 119th Infantry, 30th Division
Service ended: 29 Sep 1918

Sgt. Milo Lemert was Killed in Action 29 Sep 1918 near Bellicourt, France at the Hindenburg Line during World War I.

Milo Lemert is Notable.

Milo Lemert (March 25, 1890–September 29, 1918) was a soldier in the United States Army who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during World War I. He was one of only six from the state of Tennessee to be awarded the award for WWI.

Lemert was born in Marshalltown, Iowa on March 25, 1890 and died September 29, 1918 Near Bellicourt, France.

Milo was the son of Edward Lemert and Harriet VanVoorhis. In 1892 the family moved to Oklahoma and soon afterwards to Kansas. His father Edward Lemert was a Civil War Veteran.

He was a member of First Christian Church in Crossville, Tennessee. His funeral service was conducted at the church before his burial in Crossville City Cemetery.

He was the husband of Nellie V. Lemert of Crossville.

Milo was made a Mason in Crossville Lodge No. 483, 5 Oct 1915 and was passed to the degree of Master Mason 13 Dec 1915.^[1]

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: First Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company G, 119th Infantry, 30th Division. Place and date: Near Bellicourt, France, 29 September 1918. Entered service at: Crossville, Tenn. Birth: Marshalltown, Iowa. G.O. No.: 59, W.D., 1919.

Citation: Seeing that the left flank of his company was held up, he located the enemy machinegun emplacement, which had been causing heavy casualties.

In the face of heavy fire he rushed it single-handed, killing the entire crew with grenades. Continuing along the enemy trench in advance of the company, he reached another emplacement, which he also charged, silencing the gun with grenades.

A third machinegun emplacement opened up on him from the left and with similar skill and bravery he destroyed this also. Later, in company with another sergeant, he attacked a fourth machinegun nest, being killed as he reached the parapet of the emplacement.

His courageous action in destroying in turn 4 enemy machinegun nests prevented many casualties among his company and very materially aided in achieving the objective.^[2]

Medal of Honor Convention

Born in Marshalltown, lowa, on March 25, 1890, Lemert entered service in his hometown of Crossville, TN. The American Legion Post in Savannah, TN, is named for him. Savannah's Milo Lemert Memorial Bridge was dedicated in 1930 and served the area until it was taken down in 1980. The new bridge, dedicated in 1981, was named the Harrison-McGarity Bridge in honor of two other Hardin County Medal recipients. The former Crossville Post Office is now the Milo Lemert Memorial Building. In 1991, the Tennessee Department of Transportation announced that the bypass around Crossville would be designated the Sergeant Milo Lemert Memorial Parkway.

On Sept. 29, 1918, near Bellicourt, France, the left flank of Lemert's company was under fire from a machine gun emplacement causing heavy casualties. Lemert found the location of the gun and, under heavy fire, he rushed it single-handed, one man against the machine gun. He killed the entire enemy crew with grenades and continued along the enemy trench ahead of his company. He charged again, silencing the second gun with grenades. When a third gun emplacement opened up on him from the left, he destroyed it as well. With another sergeant (Sgt. Litton T. Thurman) , he then attacked a fourth machine gun nest and was killed as he reached the emplacement. His courageous action and skill against the enemy guns prevented many casualties in his company.

Less than two months before he was killed, Lemert wrote to his mother, "I am a pretty good soldier and am proud of it....As for me I can shut my eyes and dream such sweet dreams of Tenn. that I am sure I will have to be chained in heaven if I do get bumped off in No man’s Land."

After Milo's death, his brother and fellow soldier Nathan Lemert, wrote to their mother, "There is no use to grieve, tho Mama...He died like a man and hero. No one can die a braver death than he did...Every man in the company loved him and would do anything for him...His last words were, ‘I am finished, boys, give them hell.’...I helped bury him. We put him with the rest of our boys who were killed."^[3]

Medal of Honor Awarded

Medal of Honor Awarded

Sergeant Milo Lemert Honored for Conspicious Bravery “Beyond Call of Duty.”

It will prove gratifying news to many over the county who knew Sergeant Milo Lemert, to learn that he has been awarded the Medal of Honor provided by Congress, under the Act approved July 9th, 1918, in accordance with the cabled recommendation of Gen. John J. Pershing, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty, in action with the enemy. The citation of Milo Lemert was won September 29th, 1918, in action near Bellicourt, France, at the breaking of the Hindenburg line by the 30th U.S. Division, and is as follows: “First Sergeant Milo Lemert, (deceased), Company G, 119th Infantry (A.S. No. 1315827). For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty, in action with the enemy near Bellicourt, France, September 29th, 1918. “Seeing that the left flank of his company was held up, he located the enemy machinegun emplacement, which had been causing heavy casualties. “In the face of heavy fire he rushed it single-handed, killing the entire crew with grenades. Continuing along the enemy trench in advance of the company, he reached another emplacement, which he also charged, silencing the gun with grenades. “A third machinegun emplacement opened up on him from the left and with similar skill and bravery he destroyed this also. “Later, in company with another sergeant, he attacked a fourth machinegun nest, being killed as he reached the parapet of the emplacement. “His courageous action in destroying in turn 4 enemy machinegun nests prevented many casualties among his company and very materially aided in achieving the objective.”

No member of Company G, who went from this county as one of the volunteer company, which awarded to Cumberland County the distinction of being one of three counties in the state that furnished the first quota by enlistment, had more friends or was more universally admired and beloved than Milo Lemert. The news of his death pierced many a heart with deep pangs of sorrow. He died as would be expected of such a man; with his face to the enemy and pressing even beyond the call of duty to render the greatest possible aid to his country. His death, while a cause of much sorrow, was glorious in the extreme and fully in keeping with the high intrepidity of his life and splendid character. Cumberland County will always remember him with pride and love. The Distinguinshed Service medal had been, or will be, sent to Sergeant Lemert’s widow, Mrs, Nellie Snodgrass Lemert, who is at present visiting Sergeant Lemert’s sister, Mrs. Green, in Oklanhoma, Okla.

Our Hero (In memory of Sergt. Milo Lemert, of Crossville, Tenn., who fell in Flanders Fields.)

Facing the foe in that place of death,

Mid shot and shell,

Fighting for us with his latest breath,

Our Hero fell.

He died that the home-fires might burn on;

He gave his all

That the world might live secure from harm,

and foeman thrall.

O, glorious death! Though our tears fall fast

For that brave life,

Too swiftly sped in it’s youth’s glad morn,

By red war’s strife-

The flowers will bloom on that bloodstained field,

As the years pass by,

And the glorious tale will live for aye,

Forever and aye.

Over the seas in France he sleeps,

Under the sod,

But his dauntless soul moved on with God,

At home with God.

-Mrs. Lillian Benedict, Pomona, Tenn. ^[4]

It's Milo Lemert's Birthday, a Remeberance

It's Milo Lemert's Birthday: A Remembrance by Lisa M. Budreau, Ph.D.

Ask folks around Crossville, Tennessee, whose grave is the most visited and well-known in the city cemetery, and they will likely tell you it’s that of Sergeant Milo Lemert, recipient of the Medal of Honor (the nation’s highest military award), for bravery during the First World War. But, what few people know is that Lemert nearly spent eternity in France and not back in his beloved Tennessee. Here’s the story:

One hundred and thirty years ago this week, on March 25, 1890, Milo Lemert was born to Harriett and Edward Lemert, in Albion, Iowa. The elder Lemert was a Union Civil War veteran who frequently moved his family, first to Oklahoma, then Kansas, and finally to Tennessee, where they settled into a life of farming in 1911.

Several months after America entered the war in April 1917, Milo and his younger brother, Nathan, followed their father’s example and joined the US Army. Listing Crossville as their hometown, the two young men left for training at Camp Sevier, South Carolina, followed by several weeks at Camp Merritt, New Jersey. They were mustered into service with the 119th Infantry Regiment, of the 30th Division, a unit mobilized in the summer of 1917 and comprised mostly of men from the Carolinas and Tennessee.

At some point during or after his military training, Milo Lemert married Miss Nellie Vaughn Snodgrass on September 29, 1917. She was the daughter of the Hon. Judge C.E. Snodgrass of Crossville. The following May, Milo and his brother sailed for France.

Men of the 30th “Old Hickory” Division were one of the few American units to see action with the British forces on notoriously horrific battlefields like Ypres, Belgium. Their proudest triumph, however, was on September 29, 1918, when they smashed through one of the strongest defense systems in the entire theater of war, the famed Hindenburg Line near Bellicourt, France. On this day, newly-promoted First Sergeant Milo Lemert, aged 28, located enemy gun emplacements, which had been causing heavy casualties, and with courageous action, singlehandedly, destroyed three enemy machinegun nests. Later, in company with another sergeant, he attacked a fourth machinegun nest, but was killed as he reached the parapet of the emplacement.

Sergeant Thurmorn Littren, a Grossville, Tennessee, native with Company H, 119th Infantry, witnessed Milo’s death and later reported to military authorities that death was instantaneous. Milo, or “Mike” as he was known to his men, was killed by a machine gun bullet to his side.

Milo Lemert’s body was wrapped in burlap and hastily buried by his comrades in Grave #39 in a temporary resting place at the Old Hickory Cemetery in Hargicourt, France, on October 1, 1918, where he lay until after the armistice in November. Like other brave men who had sacrificed their lives to this war, Lemert’s remains were temporarily disinterred and reburied several times. On June 4, 1919, he was placed in Grave 43, Row 2, Plot B, at the Bony American Military Cemetery in the Somme sector for what was thought to be his final home.

Back in the U.S., Milo’s young widow, Nell, was living in Oklahoma City by 1919. She and her family had received word of Milo’s death in a letter sent from Nathan Lemert in which he briefly recounted his brother’s final moments. Adding to her sorrow was the recognition that he had fallen on September 29, 1918, their first wedding anniversary.

Like many American families, Nell was impatient for further information. She wrote to the War Department on New Year’s Day, 1919, asking for details of the grave location and a photo. On pink stationery, she penned an impassioned plea:

"I am asking now for any information that you can give me about the grave of my husband, 1st Sgt. Milo Lemert… He has been officially reported killed in action on Sept. 29th of this year and I think it was somewhere around Cambrai. I wish that you could give me the exact location of his grave and if possible, the most direct way to reach it. I should like a photograph too. And, [can] any arrangement be made through the bureau for any particular care or special marking for any grave.[?] I realize that the army is being swamped with similar requests but I also imagine that the bureau realizes that each request means everything to the person who writes it.”

Americans had been promised that all those who had died in battle would be returned home for burial after the war, according to the wishes of the next of kin. Yet, the War Department was slow in providing further information. Families grew increasingly impatient, unaware that the War Department had no plan for such an unprecedented, nightmarish endeavor. Politicians and the military were caught unprepared at war’s end and they struggled to form a policy to deal with the countless dead, missing, and unidentified. Ultimately, families were given a choice: they could leave remains buried in an American cemetery in France; or, have the body sent to Arlington National Cemetery. There was also a third option: the government would return the deceased to hometown, local cemeteries.

The agony and painful indecision this caused the grieving was matched only by the sacrifice of loss itself as many struggled to make a choice that they would have to endure forever. Letters were exchanged between Milo’s widow and the War Department for months; sometimes they crossed, other times these vital words never arrived. Finally, Nell decided to leave Milo’s body buried in France, but her letter was strangely delayed and, in September 1920, the War Department wrote again to ask about the disposition of Milo’s remains. Fate had intervened. During the interval, Nell had changed her mind.

The young widow expressed some frustration in her tone, when in December, 1920, she wrote:

“More than a month ago, I filled out the specified form as to the wishes about my husband’s interment and I cannot understand why this has not reached you. I stated in that form that I wish Sgt Lemert’s body shipped to our former home, Crossville, Tenn, in care of my father, Judge C.E. Snodgrass of that place. And all of his family wish to have this done.”

By 1921, Nell had remarried and was living in Birmingham, Alabama. The decision was no longer hers to make, according to the government’s next of kin policy. Instead, they turned to Edward Lemert, Milo’s father, who was living in California by this time. He stated that his son’s body should remain in France. After much confusion and undoubtedly long family negotiations, the War Department was notified, again, that Milo should be returned to Crossville for burial in the City Cemetery.

So, on June 3, 1921, Milo’s remains left the port of Antwerp, Belgium, to retrace the long voyage back to Tennessee that began more than three years ago. His casket was shipped to Hoboken, N.J., aboard the ship, SS Wheaton, and then sent by rail to Crossville, where it was claimed by his father-in-law, Judge CE Snodgrass on July 28, 1921. Milo Lemert lies buried there today.

Years later, Nellie Snodgrass Lemert Johnson, who had received her husband’s medal posthumously, would graciously donate Milo Lemert’s treasured Medal of Honor to the Tennessee State Museum. It is currently on loan to the Medal of Honor Heritage Center in Chattanooga where it will remain on display until May.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ Crossville Chronicle. 3 Aug 1921. pg 4. Vol. XXXV, No. 31
2. ↑ Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo_Lemert
3. ↑ http://www.mohconvention.com/tn-recipient/17/milo-lemert/
4. ↑ Crossville Chronicle, 7 May 1919. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19880278/milo_lemert_crossville_chronicle/
5. ↑ https://tnmuseum.org/Stories/posts/happy-birthday-milo-lemert?locale=en_us

See also:

• Find A Grave: Memorial #7862313 accessed on 08 Mar 2021
• Wikidata: Item Q16059492