Leon Frank Geyer 1899-1918

GEYER, THOMAS

Posted By: Faye Cortright Hutchinson (email)
Date: 6/2/2010 at 17:50:52

Waterloo Times-Tribune, Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Iowa
Thursday, October 31, 1918

American Red Cross Camp Service
U. S. Army Hospital
Ft. Des Moines, Oct. 28, 1918

Mrs. Martha Geyer:

Received a letter this evening thru the Red Cross, which I suppose was handed from Lieut. Col. Cooper, in charge here, asking about your son Leon. I can and will give you some information in regard to your son. He was a very close friend of mine while we were in France. The report was true, he was killed on the morning of the 6th of June. I and Leon were in charge of a machine gun at Contingy at the time he was hit. The lieutenant sent me and Leon to the captain’s quarters one night but we were not able to get there on account of gas and bombardments, so we returned and told our lieutenant. So the next morning the lieutenant sent Leon with a fellow named Parks. They delivered the message all O.K. and were returning out of the dugout and the town was being bombarded and he and Parks were killed instantly in the door of the dugout. They never knew what hit them was the report I got at the time.

I was over at Contingy that evening and saw the two, Leon & Parks. They were buried there at Contingy that night. Leon was liked by all of the officers and boys as well. He was not the shirking kind and always ready to do his little bit wherever he was and that way he had quite a reputation, and was well like by everyone. I went over the same time your son left the states and was with him every day, so I got to be a friend to him and him to me. He never was in any kind of trouble the whole time I knew him. He was ready to do anything that came along. He was hit in the stomach and nearly cut in two. So you see that he did not suffer any at all. I was wounded in Contingy the 9th, when we were getting relieved, but have recovered considerable up until now. Suppose your papers never have the full details of anything as there is so much that the government could not give all as fellow could out of one’s company that has been hit. If there is anything that I can tell you people in regard to your son, would do it with pleasure, as most mothers are anxious to know of their sons. My address is:

George F. Holifield, General Hosp. Ward 15, Ft. Des Moines, Iowa.

Note: This letter was received by Mr. and Mrs. Frank Geyer and tells the way their son was killed while in action in France, June 6. Leon was one of the first boys from New Hartford to enlist and go to France, and first to make the supreme sacrifice. By writing to the American Red Cross bureau of communication for information Lieut. Col. Cooper found Private Geo. F. Holifield was of the same company as Leon and a bosom friend.

Note: Leon Geyer is the son of John Frank Geyer and Martha Thomas Geyer of Butler County, Iowa. Geyer served in the 16th Infantry Regiment, lst Infantry Division, Killed at Cantigny, France June 6, 1918 A.E.F. He is buried at the Oak Hill Cemetery in New Hartford, Butler County, Iowa.