Calvin John Ward's World War I Story
The final American and French offensive in that great war was the Meuse-Argonne Battle that started on September 25, 1918, and ended on Armistice Day, which is of course, November 11. During those 47 days, American casualties rose to more than 117,000, which represented more than half of all casualties suffered by Americans in that war. This is still recognized as the bloodiest battle in American history with more than 26,000 deaths.
A Greene County Tennessee resident, Calvin John Ward, emerged from this battle as the most decorated American Soldier in World War I. This fact almost always surprises people because they believe that either fellow Tennessean Sergeant Alvin York or Texan George Lawson Keene was the most decorated American.
York and Keene were highly decorated heroes. York won 3 American & 5 Foreign Awards including the Congressional Medal of Honor. Keene won 5 American and 5 Foreign awards including the Medal of Honor.
Calvin John Ward won 6 American & 6 Foreign Awards becoming the most decorated American in World War I. Few people outside of Greene County and Morristown, Tennessee, have ever heard of Ward.
His story is one of great courage and heroism. On October 8, 1918, during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Ward's company was stopped by a German machine gun position. Ward and Sergeant James Karnes, deciding they had "had all they could take" of this situation, fixed bayonets, charged and captured the position. This freed their company to advance against German lines in the last major offensive of the war. Both men won the Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism in this action.
A few years later there was a tragic turn in his story. After re-enlisting he was ultimately given a dishonorable discharge in 1930 because of alcoholism.
The Greeneville Sun Newspaper reported in 1997 that Calvin John Ward died on December 15, 1967. His death was ruled a suicide. "It took a literal act of Congress to get the grave marker," said Maxine Meade, of Sullivan County, Ward's only surviving sibling. "Calvin was never the same after the war," Mrs. Meade said. "He never talked about it, and neither did we. That gas over there was so horrible. He just never got over that shock." The gas and the scars from the horrors of war so dramatically altered the course of the rest of his life that some members of his family still list him as a casualty of the war.
I hope this story illustrates how devastating invisible wounds can be for the bravest and most honorable heroes among us. In this day and age, we are beginning to recognize the vulnerability of our troops to a malady that has been identified in recent decades as “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.”
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