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SSG Justin Davis
to remember
Flanagan, Hillery Benson, Sgt.
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Contact Info
Home Town Red Creek
Date of Passing Jul 19, 1957
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THE FLANAGAN BROTHERS HILLERY BENSON BORN 19 JULY 1892 AND GORDON DAYTON BORN 21 MAY 1894 WERE FROM THE FIRST GROUP OF 66 MEN DRAFTED FROM TUCKER COUNTY WV ON 20 SEPTMEBER 1917 KNOWN LOCALLY AT THAT TIME AS "THE 66." BOTH SERVED IN BATTERY "A" OF THE 313TH FIELD ARTILLERY HILLERY AS SERGEANT AND GORDON AS CORPORAL. ACCORDING TO "A HISTORY OF THE 313TH FIELD ARTILLEY" BY THOMAS IRVING CROWELL HILLERY WAS WOUNDED ON 9 OCTOBER 1918 NEAR THE BOIS DE SEPTSARGES WHEN THE RECOIL OF HIS FIELD PIECE CUT ONE OF HIS FINGERS OFF HE WAS EVACUATED AND THEN RETURNED TO DUTY ON 15 DECEMBER 1918. GORDON WAS WOUNDED ON 30 SEPTEMBER 1918 NEAR BOIS JURE BY AN ACCIDENTAL GUN SHOT HE WAS EVACUATED AND APPOINTED TO CORPORAL 1 OCTOBER 1918 AND RETURNED TO DUTY. GORDON PASSED AWAY IN RAINELLE, GREENBRIER COUNTY, WV ON 23 MAY 1949. HILLERY PASSED AWAY IN THE VETERANS HOSPITAL ON 19 JULY 1957.
The 80th Division was first organized August 5, 1917 in the National Army and headquartered at Camp Lee (now known as Fort Lee), Virginia. The Division originally consisted of men mostly from Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia and was nicknamed the "Blue Ridge Division." The unit's distinctive insignia was adopted in 1918 and consists of three blue mountain peaks representing the Blue Ridge Mountains in Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. The Division also adopted the Latin Motto, "Vis Montium" or "Strength of the Mountains."
In World War I, the 80th Division reached full strength with 23,000 soldiers and sailed to France, landing on June 8, 1918. The 80th Division trained with the British Third Army and joined forces on the front lines near the Artois sector with heavy action in the Somme Offensive of 1918 and in the Meuse-Argonne. The 80th returned to the States in May 1919 and was inactivated at Camp Lee on June 26, 1919.
The Division of Unique Distinction - never failed to gain its objective. It was the only A.E.F. Division called upon three times in the great Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The 80th was ranked first of all National Army Divisions by the War Department. It always led and captured two Huns for every man wounded. The 80th accomplished these results of vast importance to the success of the general operations with a far smaller percentage of casualties than any other division engaged.
