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…
Florida Fallen Stories
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…
Cora Belle Davis and Margaret Virginia Dickey
In 1922, The Women’s Overseas Service League, a national organization formed the previous year to recognize women who served overseas in or with the Armed Forces…
Laura Anna Baird
Laura Baird was born in Hague, Florida, a small community located between Gainesville and Alachua, on March 12, 1886, to Emmet Joseph Baird (1857-1925) and Mary Ann Eshelman (1860-1948). She had two older brothers…
Clara Summerlin Mendenhall
Clara Summerlin was born in Fort Myers, Florida on December 5, 1880, daughter of Samuel Summerlin (1856-1944), a pioneer cattle rancher, and Katheryn (Kate) Deisher (1858-1901). In 1885, she lived…
Florida’s Fallen at Camp Wheeler
At many as 108 of Florida’s Fallen died at Camp Wheeler, some 165 miles from the Florida-Georgia state line. Camp Wheeler was established in 1917 as one of 16 Army National Guard Mobilization and Training Camps…
Florida’s Fallen at Camp Devens
More of Florida’s Fallen died at Camp Devens than at any other place in the United States. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of the 124 known deaths occurred during the…
John Clarence Cheshire
So, who made the metal box that contained the Scrolls until they were unearthed by the members of the Jacksonville Fire & Rescue Department in November 2018? The only clue is the mark on the box with the initials…
Esley W. Washington
Washington was born in Aiken County, South Carolina on August 6, 1890. In the 1900 Census, he is listed as a 10-year-old farm laborer in Windsor Township, Aiken County, with his mother, Sarah, age 45, as head of household…
Marcus (Mike/Pickles) Gatewood Milligan
When Marcus (nicknamed “Mike”) was 16, he moved with his with parents to Pensacola, Florida, where he attended high school. The 1916 city directory for Pensacola lists him as…
Benjamin (Ben) Lee II
Born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on November 4, 1894, Benjamin Lee II was the third son of Leighton Lee (1866-1898) and Mary Cooke Justice (1867-1949). Lee’s paternal grandfather, Benjamin M. Lee, was a practicing physician…
Luther Wade Pilcher
Scroll 2 # 730 Born in Dothan, Alabama, on January 1, 1898, Wade was the son of Richard (Dick) Lafayette Pilcher, Jr. (1871-1941), who, with his eight siblings and parents, had moved from rural Dale County to Dothan in 1882. They lived at the corner of...
Peter (Pete) Giles
Peter Giles was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky on January 13, 1892. By 1900, he had moved to Tampa, Florida, where his father, John Manson Giles (1856-1948), was a citrus grower. He was the youngest of seven…
John Lawton Moon
Moon was born in Cartersville, Georgia on November 21, 1879. He graduated from Emory College (now University) with highest honors in 1903. Serving as a missionary in Cuba for six months…
Carl Oscar Anderson
Carl Oscar Anderson was born on March 3, 1892, in Orange County, Florida. Anderson’s parents, Axel Teodor Anderson (1858-1937) and Anna Augusta Wilhelmina Elisabet Nilsson (1864-1903), were Swedish immigrants…
Albert Anderson
Anderson was born in Pinewood, Florida, on April 15, 1890, son of John and Lucinda Anderson, farm laborers, who in 1900 lived in Milton, Santa Rosa County, along with their four other children…
Elizabeth (Bessie) Gale
Elizabeth (Bessie) Gale was born in New Marlborough, Massachusetts on April 24, 1872. Her father was Sullivan French Gale (1842-1909), former 1st Sergeant, Co C, 13th Vermont Infantry and a veteran of Gettysburg…
Elbert Clive Trafford
Trafford was born in Sanford, Florida on March 14, 1878. He appears in the 1880 Census for Orange County, Florida, with his father, Edward Robert Trafford, a civil engineer…
USCGC Tampa
U.S. Revenue Cutter Miami, before it was renamed the Tampa. In the summer of 1917, the Tampa was one of six United States Coast Guard cutters sent overseas on convoy duty. Only the Tampa did not return. The German submarine UB-91 torpedoed and sank the Tampa...
Vincenzo Guerriero (“Jimmie Ross”)
Boy 1st class. Enlisted in U.S. Coast Guard at Tampa on April 18, 1917, under an assumed name because he was afraid his father would object. Born June 26, 1899, in Potenza, Italy…
Charles Emmitt Galvin
Master at arms. Born in Brandon, Hillsborough County, Florida, March 12, 1894. Lived in Tampa and attended Sacred Heart Academy. Enlisted in U.S. Coast Guard at Key West…
William Leonard Felton
Ordinary Seaman. Enlisted Dry Tortugas, Florida, April 12, 1917, age 16 years, 5 months. Next of kin: Mrs. Carrie Elizabeth Gay Felton (mother), 616 Ashe Street, Key West. Both of his…
Herrick Leopold Evans, Jr.
Boy 1st class, African American. Born in Key West, June 30, 1899. Enlisted U.S. Coast Guard, Key West, April 6, 1917. Next of kin: Mrs. Isabelle Major (stepmother), 722 Windsor Lane, Key West…
Albert Cecil Emerson
Boy 1st class. Enlisted U.S. Coast Guard in New York City, December 15, 1916, 18 years, 10 months. Born in Crystal River, Florida, by 1910 he resided with his parents and…
Jules Louie Garnier Darnou, Jr.
Chief Gunner. Born Jackson, Illinois, December 14, 1876, he was the son of a French sign painter who later moved to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Darnou first enlisted in the Navy in 1891…
Richard Edward (Ricardo Eduardo) Cordova
Seaman. Enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard in Tampa on April 8, 1917. Born Monte Santo, Cuba, August 8, 1892. Arrival Key West, Florida, from Havana, September 21, 1905…
Walter Randolph Connell
Boy 1st class. Enlisted U.S. Coast Guard in Tampa on May 4, 1917, age 18 years, 4 months, one of nine children of Edwin A. Connell (1872-1919), a carpenter…
Herman Allen Carmichael
Boy 1st class, African American. Enlisted U.S. Coast Guard at Tampa March 13, 1917, age 17 years, 5 months. Next of kin: Mrs. Estelle Carmichael (mother)…
William Richard Bozeman
Machinist’s mate 1st class. Enlisted in U.S. Coast Guard, December 4, 1916. Born October 5, 1888. Expert boilermaker prior to enlistment…
Leonard Richardson Bozeman
Seaman. Enlisted U.S. Coast Guard, June 1, 1917. Born in Tampa September 27, 1894. Nicknamed “Boisy.” Worked at Southern Lumber Company, where his father, Thomas…