Gunner Orville George Moyer

Profile
Parents: Charles D. and Mary Wilkerson Moyer
Birth: November 7, 1896, Columbus, Indiana Went to Canada early in 1916
Enlisted in: Canadian Army, Aug 19, 1916, Amherstburg, Ontaria
Assigned to Battery C. 63rd Field Artillery
Overseas: October 1916
Assigned to: 31st Battery, 334th Regiment, 9th Brigade
Death: Killed in action Nov 3, 1917, near Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium
Burial: Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery, Plot 12, Row E, Grave 7

The Columbus Republican
Columbus, Indiana
Thursday, November 22, 1917
Page 3

LOCAL BOY WAS KILLED IN WAR

Orville G. Moyer, First Columbus Resident to Give Up Life in Great Struggle.

BORN HERE AND WENT TO COLUMBUS SCHOOLS.

Moyer Was Member of Canadian Trench Mortar Battery And Was Killed In Action November 3-Official Word Received.

Orville G. Moyer, aged 21 years, is the first Columbus boy to give up his life in the great war. His aunt, Mrs. James H. Arnold, has just received word of his death. He was killed in France, November 3, but no details are available.

Moyer was a member of a mortar battery with a Canadian regiment, having enlisted with a Canadian command so he might see service abroad. Only recently a letter was received from him in which he expressed the hope that he would see some of the Columbus boys soon.

Moyer was born in Columbus, November 7, 1896, and was a son of the late Charles Moyer. He attended the common and the high school here. In 1913 he was in the Philippines with the United States army, remaining in the service there about a year. He returned to Columbus in December, 1915. In August, 1916, he enlisted in the Third Canadian Division. Letters received from him showed that he had been in active service since October, 1916, and had taken part in several important battles.

The official announcement of his death came to his mother, who lives at Decatur, Ill., and she notified Mrs. Arnold.

Moyer had many friends in Columbus and was a splendid young man in every way. He owned property on Second street. His name appears on the Bartholomew County Roll of Honor in the court house yard.

Although Moyer's letters to relatives here were cheerful, he expressed the opinion on numerous occasions that the boys at home certainly were lucky. On one occasion he wrote that he had been fighting in mud up to his hips. He was in the battle of Vimy Ridge, one of the biggest offensive movements of the allies of the present year.

William G. Irwin, who had the Bartholomew County Roll of Honor erected in the court house yard, will have a red star painted opposite the name of Mr. Moyer. This star will denote the fact that he was killed in action. If other names on the roll of honor are included in the lists of killed, the red star will follow them. A red dash will be painted after the name of Melville G. Gross to show that he was wounded in action.

The Republic
Columbus, Indiana
Thursday, January 31, 1918
Page 5

COLUMBUS BOY DIED BRAVELY

Comrade of Orville George Moyer Writes His Mother About Local Man's Death.

WAS CREDIT TO COUNTRY AND A GENUINE SOLDIER

Body of Moyer Is Buried In New Military Cemetery In Belgium And May Be Shipped Home After War Is Over.

Orville George Moyer, the first native of Columbus to fall a victim of the Hun in the present war with Germany, lies buried in Plot No. 12. Row E, Grave No. 7, of the new military cemetery at Vlamertinghe, Belgium, near Ypres. All of his personal effects have been sent to the base from which they will be forwarded to his mother, Mrs. Mary L. Wilkerson, of Decatur, Ill.

Lieut. J. A. Joy has written Mrs. Wilkerson, telling her of the disposition of her son's body and informing her that while it will be impossible for her to claim the body while the was is in progress, the remains will be shipped to her when peace is made.

Mr. Moyer was killed last November, in the battle of Vimy Ridge. Mrs. Wilkerson has received various letters, praising her son's spirit and bravery, but one of teh best that has come to her was written my Lionel Wood, a comrade, and which has just been received. A copy of the letter has been sent by Mrs. Wilkerson to Mrs. James H. Arnold, of this city. Mr. Moyer was Mrs. Arnold's nephew.

The letter from Wood says:

"Mrs. Wilkerson: I think I knew your son about as well as any boy in the battery and I can voice the sentiments of the whole of our unit when I say that he was one of the finest boys that his unit here ever had. I have been with him on more than one occasion when it was very dangerous, and I have never known him to shirk his duty. He was with me a Vimy, and we had many a night worked right through firing all night and a cooler fellow I could not hope to have been with. He was a true sport in every way, and a great enthusiast of bade ball and all outdoor sports, and his genial way soon gained for him a whole host of good friends. I have often heard him mention his home and what he was going to do after the war."

"One cannot tell out here who may be taken next, but it is my earnest hope that if my time should come tomorrow that mine will be such a noble death as Orville's. He was a true soldier and a credit to his country."

Although he has gone from amongst us his was a great death. He was on duty working his gun, when this shell came and the piece which killed him came right through the board. Although he did not die instantly he was unconscious before they were able to get him to the dressing station which was not far distant, and he died like a true hero."

"My time is up now as I have to go on guard, but I feel Orville would like me to write you, if he knew, and this was my first opportunity. While I know his loss has been terrible hard for you to bear, he died as a true soldier and a credit to his country, and this alone should bring you a small solace."