Florida Fallen

Photo courtesy of Mark Krancer

Who are the Florida Fallen?

Florida troops, Camp Wheeler, February 1918

Floridians who died in service during “The Great War,” known today as World War I, are honored as the Florida Fallen. In 1924, when Memorial Park was dedicated, the number was thought to be 1,219 men and one woman. Since then, the list has grown by more than 40 percent thanks to one man.

Award-winning retired history professor, Dr. R.B. Rosenburg, former Associate Dean at Clayton State University, Morrow, Georgia, generously gives his time to Memorial Park Association for a project which is helping to preserve Florida’s World War I history and heritage. Ongoing since 2017, Rosenburg’s research project – The Florida WWI Memorial Database: Uncovering military-related deaths during and after the Great War – assists Memorial Park Association to uncover the stories of the men and women who gave their lives in service during World War I. Rosenburg’s research expanded the original list of deaths from 1,220 to more than 1,700 and also filled in the blanks of indiscernible names on the waterlogged memorial scrolls.

Florida Fallen by Dr. R.B. Rosenburg

The best contemporaneous archival source that provides information on Florida’s World War I service-related deaths is the State Archives of Florida…

Florida Fallen Stories

Edward Cantey De Saussure

Edward Cantey De Saussure

The vast majority (96%) of Florida’s Fallen were enlisted men, the most common rank being private or its naval equivalent of apprentice seaman. Edward Cantey De Saussure was among the relatively few officers from Florida who…

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Lee Brezel

Lee Brezel

Lee Brezel (pronounced “bre-zeal”) was born on May 25, 1890, in Gordon, Wilkinson County, Georgia, between Macon and Milledgeville. His father was Forrest Brezel (1868-1924) from Irwinton who married Mollie Brantley…

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