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Downer, John Walker, COL.
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Contact Info
Home Town Charleston
Date of Passing Jan 28, 1977
Location of Interment Spring Grove Cemetery - Cincinnati, Ohio
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Distinguished Service Cross Awarded for actions during the World War IThe President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Lieutenant Colonel (Field Artillery) John W. Downer, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 6th Field Artillery, 1st Division, A.E.F., near Beaumont, France, 11 March 1918. While commanding a battalion of artillery in support of an extensive raid, Colonel Downer was severely gassed. Despite his sickness and suffering from pain, he remained at his post, which was subjected to several direct hits, and directed the fire of his battalion. He rendered invaluable aid to the advancing infantry, holding his men at their posts during the intensity of the continual gas bombardment, lasting one entire night.
General Orders: War Department, General Orders No. 32 (1919) Action Date: 11-Mar-18 Service: Army Rank: Lieutenant Colonel Regiment: 6th Field Artillery Division: 1st Division, American Expeditionary Forces
Silver Star Citation Awarded for actions during the World War IBy direction of the President, under the provisions of the act of Congress approved July 9, 1918 (Bul. No. 43, W.D., 1918), Major (Field Artillery) John W. Downer, United States Army, is cited by the Commanding General, 1st Division, American Expeditionary Forces, for gallantry in action and a silver star may be placed upon the ribbon of the Victory Medals awarded him. Major Downer distinguished himself by gallantry in action while serving with the 6th Field Artillery, 1st Division, American Expeditionary Forces, conducted on the 11th day of March, 1918. During the operations , this officer, although severely gassed, remained at his post, directing the firing of his battalion until so completely overcome that his removal to the hospital became necessarily.
General Orders: Headquarters, 1st Division, A.E.F., General Orders No. 13 (March 16, 1918) Action Date: 11-Mar-18 Service: Army Rank: Major Regiment: 6th Field Artillery Division: 1st Division, American Expeditionary Forces
Silver Star Citation Awarded for actions during the World War IBy direction of the President, under the provisions of the act of Congress approved July 9, 1918 (Bul. No. 43, W.D., 1918), Major (Field Artillery) William Bowers, United States Army, is cited by the Commanding General, 1st Division, American Expeditionary Forces, for gallantry in action and a silver star may be placed upon the ribbon of the Victory Medals awarded him. Corporal Bowers distinguished himself by gallantry in action while serving with Battery B, 16th Infantry, 1st Division, American Expeditionary Forces, in action during World War I. Major Downer answered a call for a barrage in exceptionally quick time and continued in action although subjected to an extremely heavy fire.
General Orders: Headquarters, 1st Division, A.E.F., General Orders No. 13 (March 16, 1918) Action Date: World War I Service: Army Rank: Major Company: Battery B Regiment: 16th Infantry Division: 1st Division, American Expeditionary Forces
Other Comments:
U.S. Army World War I Officer, U.S. Olympic Games Participant. Born in Charleston, West Virginia, he was the son of Dr. John Trevor Downer. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1902 and served as an officer in the United States Army until 1943. During World War I, Downer commanded the battalion that fired the first American artillery shell in combat. A member of the U.S. Riding Team at the 7th Olympic games in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium, he was also a representative of the Olympic Committee. Downer had a long and illustrious military and equestrian career. He died in 1977 at the Stonewall Jackson Hospital in Lexington, Virginia when he was 96 years old. An oil painting of him was completed by Asen in 1920 and is displayed at the Preston Library at VMI on the sixth floor.
World War I
From Month/Year
April / 1917
To Month/Year
November / 1918
Description The United States of America declared war on the German Empire on April 6, 1917. The U.S. was an independent power and did not officially join the Allies. It closely cooperated with them militarily but acted alone in diplomacy. The U.S. made its major contributions in terms of supplies, raw material and money, starting in 1917. American soldiers under General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), arrived in large numbers on the Western Front in the summer of 1918. They played a major role until victory was achieved on November 11, 1918. Before entering the war, the U.S had remained neutral, though it had been an important supplier to Great Britain and the other Allied powers. During the war, the U.S mobilized over 4 million military personnel and suffered 110,000 deaths, including 43,000 due to the influenza pandemic. The war saw a dramatic expansion of the United States government in an effort to harness the war effort and a significant increase in the size of the U.S. military. After a slow start in mobilising the economy and labour force, by spring 1918 the nation was poised to play a role in the conflict. Under the leadership of President Woodrow Wilson, the war represented the climax of the Progressive Era as it sought to bring reform and democracy to the world,[citation needed] although there was substantial public opposition to United States entry into the war.
Although the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, it did not initially declare war on the other Central Powers, a state of affairs that Woodrow Wilson described as an "embarrassing obstacle" in his State of the Union speech.[26] Congress declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire on December 17, 1917, but never made declarations of war against the other Central Powers, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire or the various Co-belligerents allied with the central powers, thus the United States remained uninvolved in the military campaigns in central, eastern and southern Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
The United States as late as 1917 maintained only a small army, smaller than thirteen of the nations and empires already active in the war. After the passage of the Selective Service Act in 1917, it drafted 2.8 million men into military service. By the summer of 1918 about a million U.S. soldiers had arrived in France, about half of whom eventually saw front-line service; by the Armistice of November 11 approximately 10,000 fresh soldiers were arriving in France daily. In 1917 Congress gave U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans when they were drafted to participate in World War I, as part of the Jones Act. In the end Germany miscalculated the United States' influence on the outcome of the conflict, believing it would be many more months before U.S. troops would arrive and overestimating the effectiveness of U-boats in slowing the American buildup.
The United States Navy sent a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet, destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland and submarines to help guard convoys. Several regiments of Marines were also dispatched to France. The British and French wanted U.S. units used to reinforce their troops already on the battle lines and not to waste scarce shipping on bringing over supplies. The U.S. rejected the first proposition and accepted the second. General John J. Pershing, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) commander, refused to break up U.S. units to serve as mere reinforcements for British Empire and French units. As an exception, he did allow African-American combat regiments to fight in French divisions. The Harlem Hellfighters fought as part of the French 16th Division, earning a unit Croix de Guerre for their actions at Château-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and Séchault.
Impact of US forces on the war
On the battlefields of France in spring 1918, the war-weary Allied armies enthusiastically welcomed the fresh American troops. They arrived at the rate of 10,000 a day, at a time when the Germans were unable to replace their losses. After British Empire, French and Portuguese forces had defeated and turned back the powerful final German offensive (Spring Offensive of March to July, 1918), the Americans played a role in the Allied final offensive (Hundred Days Offensive of August to November). However, many American commanders used the same flawed tactics which the British, French, Germans and others had abandoned early in the war, and so many American offensives were not particularly effective. Pershing continued to commit troops to these full- frontal attacks, resulting in high casualties against experienced veteran German and Austrian-Hungarian units. Nevertheless, the infusion of new and fresh U.S. troops greatly strengthened the Allies' strategic position and boosted morale. The Allies achieved victory over Germany on November 11, 1918 after German morale had collapsed both at home and on the battlefield.