The boy soldier of World War I

By Jim Bradshaw
Louis Stanley Martin was 16 when he volunteered to fight in World War I. He was not yet 18 on July 20, 1918, when he died on a battlefield in France.
Stanley had just gone back to the trenches after being hospitalized after a toxic gas attack in the spring of 1917. His commanding officer, Lt. E.H. Dietz, wrote then to Stanley’s parents, Dr. and Mrs. G.A. (Bedon) Martin.
“I am very sorry to have to inform you that your son is one of many … who are now in the hospital as a consequence of having passed through a most violent gas attack. We have since had information about him to the effect that he is getting along nicely, and it is sincerely hoped that he will suffer no ill effects.”
Adjutant General Henry P. McCain wired the news of Stanley’s death to his parents, and the sad news quickly spread through the town.
The Lafayette Advertiser reported: “Lafayette bowed its head in sorrow yesterday afternoon when the news spread that Louis Stanley Martin, the mere boy-soldier … had sacrificed his life in France on the altar of liberty. The news carrying sadness in its every word came in the following telegram: ‘Deeply regret to inform you that it is officially reported that Private L.S. Martin, infantry, died July 20 from wounds received in action.’”
A later newspaper report supplied a few more details.
“Due to a rule made when our boys were sent ‘over there,’ he was buried in the American cemetery in Paris, on the height above the city, and his body will repose there until the end of the war. According to the rules, he was given a military funeral, including the soldier’s escort, the religious ceremony by a chaplain and the Red Cross contingent, the silent salute for no guns are permitted to be fired over graves in France during the war, then taps by the bugler. The grave is properly identified by the Red Cross.”
Col. James A. Moss, a Lafayette native who was Commanding Officer, 367th Infantry Regiment in France, wrote a letter of sympathy to the bereaved parents, praising Stanley, the “Boy Hero,” for his patriotism and bravery.
Stanley’s remains were not returned for burial in St. John Cemetery in Lafayette until 1921. The newspaper reported, “a simple service … impressively held” on Aug. 25, which would have been his 21st birthday.
His body arrived on train Number 7 on a Saturday, Aug. 24, and members of the American Legion led a procession from the railroad station to the family residence. The funeral was held the next day.
A tribute by Mayor Charles D. Caffery was reported in the Lafayette Gazette: “In him is found the young hero, the first flower of young American manhood, of the type, indeed, that fought the battles of the Revolution. All honor to his memory, all honor to his father and mother who allowed the boy to go. The sympathy of this community goes out to them, but let them not grieve, rather let them take unto themselves the glory and the honor that comes from the knowledge that this dear boy was brave, that he never flinched, and that he gave his life for a cause as holy, as pure, as just, and as righteous as any of which history tells.”
Gen. John J. Pershing, who led the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, also sent a message: “He bravely laid down his life for the cause of his country; his name will forever remain fresh in the hearts of his friends and comrades.”
Stanley’s father, meanwhile, took immediate action when he learned of his son’s death. He sent this wire to President Woodrow Wilson: “Just received official word of the death of my son. … May I not beg of you to make an exception and send me over there to finish his task. I am fifty-seven and can stand any examination. I am as good as twenty-one.”
The President’s secretary wrote back, commending Dr. Martin’s bravery and patriotism. But President Wilson declined the father’s offer to join the fray and avenge his son.
American Legion Post 69 in Lafayette is named for Stanley Martin and for Louis Felix Ducrest, who was killed in World War II.
You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.