The Names in the Belltower

Over the names of the NC State students and alumni who died in the Great War of Europe is inscribed the often-used words of poet Theodore O’Hara as a broad military farewell:

On fame’s eternal camping ground,
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead.

Here are the NC State alumni identified in the chapel of NC State’s Memorial Tower, along with the name George E. Jefferson, who represents all unnamed alumni who served and died in the conflict.

• James Henry Baugham, of Washington, North Carolina, Lafayette Air Service, killed in action on July 2, 1918, France.
• John Kingsley Culbertson, 21, of Mooresville, North Carolina, killed in an aviation training accident on August 25, 1918, in Arcadia, Florida.
• Gaston Lewis Dortch, Goldsboro, N.C., killed in action by a mortar shell on Oct. 18, 1918, buried at Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. He was a member of the U.S. Army, 30th Division, 119th Infantry, Company B. He attended both NC State and UNC and was the son of U.S. Marshall W.T. Dortch of Goldsboro.
• Joshua Barnes Farmer Jr., Wilson, N.C., a corporal in Company M, 26^th Infantry, was killed in action on July 18, 1918, in France.
• David Swain Grant, Asheville, N.C., 2^nd Lieutenant, Company F, 39^th Infantry Regiment, 4^th Division, U.S. Army, killed by machine-gun fire while leading his platoon into battle on Aug. 5, 1918, at St. Thibault, France. Awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de Guerre.
• Thurman M. Gregory, of Pasquotank County, N.C., killed following the war in a flying exhibition for Gen. John J. Pershing in Issoudun, France, on March 5, 1919.
• John Wesley Griffith, Winston-Salem, N.C., left for France on Oct. 6, 1918, and contracted double pneumonia during his transatlantic voyage and died shortly after arriving at Brest, France, on Oct. 22, 1918, a member of the Third Company Coast Artillery Corps.
• George Rom Hardesty, Goldsboro, N.C., a captain for the 30^th Engineers, Gas and Flame Regiment, died of lobar pneumonia near Soissons, France, on Oct. 5, 1918. Buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
• John Quincey “Pap” Jackson, Wilson, N.C., chemist for the Sanitary Corps, who died of pneumonia at Camp Upton, New York. He attended both NC State and UNC.
• George E. Jefferson, in honor of the service of unknown NC State alumni.
• Aston Jensen, of Jacksonville, Florida, a mess sergeant for the 105 Sanitary Train, 30^th Division, died after the war on Nov. 28, 1918, at Belleau, France.
• Grover Alphoso Jordan, of Edenton, N.C., U.S. Navy, died in Officer’s Training Camp in Virginia on Oct. 9, 1918.
• Hugh O’Keefe Kendrick, Opelika, Alabama, served as commanding officer for Company K, 141^st Infantry, 36^th Died in combat on Oct. 8, 1918, in St. Etienne, France. Awarded the French Croix de Guerre with palm for leading his men into violent machine-gun fire.
• Arthur Templeton Kenyon, Field Clerk for I Army Corps Illinois, died at St. Mihiel, France, on March 5, 1919.
• Douglas Hamilton Knox, Jr., Fredericksburg City, Va., private in the U.S. Marine Corps, 6 Marine, 2^nd Division, who was mortally wounded in the battle of Belleau Woods on June 18, 1918. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
• Almon Kemp Lincoln, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, died while training as a cadet in the Air Corps on Dec. 3, 1918, at Call Field, Wichita Falls, Texas.
• John C.S. Lumsden, Jr. of Raleigh volunteered for the North Carolina Infantry in the Spanish American War in Cuba and re-enlisted in 1917 as a gunner/observer. He died in an airplane dogfight while defending another plane behind enemy lines.
• John Elvis Lynch of Orange County, N.C., a private killed in action while serving in the 321st Infantry Regiment, 81^st Division of the U.S. Army, in Hurbachie, France.
• George Baldwin McCoy, South Orange, New Jersey, 1^st lieutenant, 18^th Infantry Regiment, 1^st Division, U.S. Army. He died in combat in Soissons, France, on July 20, 1918, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
• Wade Hampton Miller, New London, North Carolina, a corporal in the military police, was killed in action on July 15, 1918, in France.
• Charles Milton Morris of Cabarrus County, North Carolina, a sergeant in the 114^th Machine Gun Battalion, 35^th Division, U.S. Army, killed in action on Oct. 17, 1918, in Moleine, France.
• Alexander Holladay Pickell of Lake City, Florida, was a chief quartermaster of the U.S. Naval Reserve Force when he died of pneumonia on April 18, 1918, at the Naval Training Hospital, Chelsea, Massachusetts.
• James Edwin Scott of Haw River, North Carolina, died of Spanish influenza at Camp Humphries, Virginia, on Oct. 8, 1918.
• George Fletcher Sedberry of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was one of eight American servicemen who died on Oct. 18, 1916, when the British steamship Marina was sunk by a German U-boat, en route from Glasgow to Baltimore, about 30 miles off the coast of Ireland. He was NC State’s first fatality of the Great War.
• William Thomas Shaw, Jr., Weldon, North Carolina, a captain who was killed in action on July 14, 1918.
• Orin Morrow Sigmon of Hickory, North Carolina, a 2^nd lieutenant service in the 117^th Regiment, 42^nd Division, died in a training accident on Sept. 30, 1918, in France.
• Basil S. Snowden, Currituck County, North Carolina, a captain of the 318^th Engineers, 6^th Division, killed in a motorcycle accident on Dec. 2, 1918, at Verdun, France, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
• Charles Augustine Speas of Huntsville, North Carolina, a sergeant with the 105^th Engineers, 30^th Division, American Expeditionary Force, died of wounds received in action on Oct. 29, 1918, in Saint-Souplet, France. Buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
• James Jeffries Sykes, Salisbury, North Carolina, first lieutenant in the Aviation Corps, killed when his plane was shot down behind enemy lines on Aug. 1, 1918, in Soissons, France.
• Frank Martin Thompson, 32, Raleigh, N.C., a first lieutenant in the 115^th Machine Gun Battalion, 5^th Division, was killed in action at St. Mihiel, France.
• Robert Hurst Turner of Statesville, North Carolina, a first lieutenant in the 115^th Machine Gun Battalion, 30^th Division, died in action in France on July 24, 1918.
• Ernest Leroy Twine of Tyner, North Carolina, was killed in action on the battlefields near Bony, France, on Sept. 29, 1918.
• Robert Clay Waitt of Raleigh, North Carolina, a civil engineer in Texas who enlisted in Virginia, died of pneumonia at Camp Humphreys, Virginia, on Oct. 4, 1918.
• James Thaddeus Weatherly of Greensboro, North Carolina, was a sergeant when he died of pneumonia at Camp Sevier, South Carolina.
• Guy Jennings Winstead of Roxboro, North Carolina, a first lieutenant in Company C, 38^th Infantry Regiment, 3^rd Division, American Expeditionary Forces, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for leading his platoon behind enemy lines in heavy fire. He was killed in action at Chateau-Thierry, France, on July 15, 1918.