Oct. 8, 1918: Lee Iten of Highland is killed while fighting in France in World War I
The Lee Iten American Legion Post 439 is named for Lee (Leroy) Iten, the only man from Highland, to die in action in World War I.
Iten, who served with 147th Infantry of the American Expeditionary Force, was killed on Oct. 8, 1918 in Benny Woods, St. Mihiel, France, just a month before the end of the war.
Only four days earlier, President Woodrow Wilson received a request from the German government, sent via the Swiss, asking for armistice discussions. Wilson responded with a list of demands as a prelude to discussions, including German withdrawal from all occupied territories and a total halt of U-Boat attacks.
The Allies had been putting pressure on the Germans with the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which stretched along the entire Western Front. It was fought from Sept. 26, 1918, until the Armistice of Nov. 11, 1918.
As part of the offenseive, Iten’s 37th “Buckeye” Division, along with three other divisions, were sent on Oct. 4 to capture Montfaucon d’Argonne. But the attack failed.
The website wordwar1.com sets the scene of the St. Mihiel area when the 37th Division took over the front there: “The enemy continued heavy artillery fire, shelling all portions of the sector night and day. Airplanes made nightly visits, dropping their terrorizing bombs in large numbers. These bombs inflicted heavy losses and caused extreme vigilance for anti-aircraft guns crews. The clatter of machine guns was continually ringing in the ears of the troopers.”
The Americans launched a series of costly frontal assaults that finally broke through the main German defenses the Hindenburg Line, and by the end of October, U.S. troops had advanced 10 miles and had finally cleared the Argonne Forest.
The battle helped bring an end to the war, but it also cost 26,277 lives, and 95,786 wounded, making it the largest and bloodiest operation of the war for the American Expeditionary Forces.
On the day Iten was killed, the British 3rd and 4th Armies took 8,000 German prisoners while advancing toward Cambrai and LeCateau.
Also on this day in 1918, United States Cpl. Alvin C. York reportedly killed more than 20 German soldiers and captured an additional 132 at the head of a small detachment in the Argonne Forest, near the Meuse River in France. The exploits later earned York the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Iten was first buried in France and then after the war, was returned to Highland and buried at Highland City Cemetery on June 26, 1921.
Next week, see the story of the Iten family.
This story was originally published July 14, 2016 at 7:59 AM with the headline "Oct. 8, 1918: Lee Iten of Highland is killed while fighting in France in World War I."