The Dover, Massachusetts American Legion Post 209 was named after a
town resident named George B. Preston who was killed in April 1918 in
France. Preston enlisted in the Massachusetts National Guard and was sent
to the 102nd Infantry in Connecticut when the Yankee Division was formed up
for training.
During the first major battle of the division Preston was killed by enemy fire at
the Battle of Seichperey. The Germans used a rolling barrage and waved the
102nd Regiment and the attached 102nd Machine Gun Battalion. The fighting
broke down to hand to hand and one of the 102nd regimental cooks had to kill
two Germans with meat cleavers.
The battle was considered a major propaganda victory for Germany, but the
division actually got all the land back the next day. Due to infighting between
General Pershing and Yankee Division’s General Edwards, both had been
rivals for the top position before the war, the division was reprimanded.
Yankee Division had the most gas casualties of any American unit of the
Great War, many self inflicted, and was the basis of study for a 1957 report
as to why the United States should never use chemical weapons again.
By Christopher J. Swift
town resident named George B. Preston who was killed in April 1918 in
France. Preston enlisted in the Massachusetts National Guard and was sent
to the 102nd Infantry in Connecticut when the Yankee Division was formed up
for training.
During the first major battle of the division Preston was killed by enemy fire at
the Battle of Seichperey. The Germans used a rolling barrage and waved the
102nd Regiment and the attached 102nd Machine Gun Battalion. The fighting
broke down to hand to hand and one of the 102nd regimental cooks had to kill
two Germans with meat cleavers.
The battle was considered a major propaganda victory for Germany, but the
division actually got all the land back the next day. Due to infighting between
General Pershing and Yankee Division’s General Edwards, both had been
rivals for the top position before the war, the division was reprimanded.
Yankee Division had the most gas casualties of any American unit of the
Great War, many self inflicted, and was the basis of study for a 1957 report
as to why the United States should never use chemical weapons again.
By Christopher J. Swift
