Walter J. Manguem

1889 - 1953

Army
WWI

Their Story

Walter J. Manguem was born on February 13, 1889, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Harry and Mattie Birch Manguem. He married Pearl Jensen on November 15, 1921, in Cuyahoga, Ohio. She was just 18 and he was 33.1 He was a tinner (tin miner or tinsmith) at the time of the marriage. They later divorced in 1930. Walter and Pearl had one son, Walter Joseph Manguem, born in Akron, Ohio, on December 15, 1923.2

Manguem served in the Army with Co. A, 9th U.S. Infantry beginning April 8, 1911, in Ohio.3 After his discharge on April 8, 1914, Manguem re-enlisted in Laredo, Texas, three days later. He was transferred to Co. A, 37th Infantry and served with that unit until March 1917. He was then transferred to Co. A, 28th U.S. Infantry Division and saw action overseas from June 1917 to August 1919.4 He participated in the following engagements: Montdidier Noyon, Aisne – Marne, Meuse-Argonne Offensive, St. Mihiel, Lorraine, and Picardy. On July 10, 1918, he was severely5 wounded in his head by shrapnel.

The Second Battle of the Marne was the last major German offensive of the war taking place from July 15-18, 1918. The Germans attacked the Allied troops near the Marne River in France’s Champagne region in a diversionary attempt to prevent them from a separate planned attack in Flanders. The assault failed when a counterattack by French and American troops, supported by several hundred tanks, overwhelmed the Germans on their right flank, inflicting severe casualties. The Germans were forced to retreat.6

The Meuse-Argonne offensive took place from September 26 until November 11, 1918. This offensive involved 1.2 million American soldiers, resulting in 28,000 battle deaths, and costing 26,277 American lives. To date, the Meuse-Argonne remains the deadliest single battle in American military history.7

The Allies launched the Meuse-Argonne Offensive to overwhelm the German forces and to end the war. The American Army of around 1.2 million was a decisive reason in the outcome of the offensive. The Germans battled with a great deal of resistance, but the sheer numerical superiority of the Allied Forces saw the German defenses start to collapse. The American troops outnumbered the Germans by two to one. The Germans, by November 1918, had lost most of their defensive positions along the western front and were retreating. An armistice was declared, and the conflict ended on November 11, 1918.8

Corporal Walter J. Manguem was awarded the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for his service during World War I. He was furloughed to residence on December 31, 1919, at Camp Taylor, Kentucky,9 and discharged June 4, 1920.10 Shortly after, he applied for the Victory Medal, which was approved.11 After his discharge from the service, Manguem worked as a sheet metal worker in Cuyahoga, Ohio12.

In 1930, he was admitted to a National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Danville, Illinois, for a left inguinal hernia.13 In 1934, he was a resident of the Soldiers Home in Johnson City, Tennessee.14 He died on June 26, 1952, in Johnson City, Tennessee, survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Walter Joseph and Rosemary.15 His son died in 1993.

References

1 Ancestry.com – Cuyahoga County, Ohio, U.S., Marriage Records and Indexes, 1810-1973

2 Walter J Manguem – Facts (ancestry.com)

3 Ancestry.com – Pennsylvania, U.S., World War I Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917-1919, 1934-1948

4 Ancestry.com – Pennsylvania, U.S., World War I Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917-1919, 1934-1948.

5 Ancestry.com – Pennsylvania, U.S., World War I Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917-1919, 1934-1948

6 “Second Battle of the Marne,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_the_Marne.

7American Battles and Campaigns of World War One (historyguy.com).

8 “Meuse-Argonne Offensive 1918,” American History. https://american-history.net/world-war-1/meuse-argonne-offensive-1918/

9 Ancestry.com – Pennsylvania, U.S., World War I Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917-1919, 1934-1948

10 Ancestry.com – U.S., National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962

11 Ancestry.com – Pennsylvania, U.S., World War I Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917-1919, 1934-1948

12 1920 United States Federal Census – Ancestry.com

13 U.S., National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938 – Ancestry.com

14 Ancestry.com – Pennsylvania, U.S., World War I Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917-1919, 1934-1948

15 Walter J Manguem – Facts (ancestry.com)