August 1918 - A Son's Letter Home

Pictured above in his Army uniform is Sgt. John Guess Jr. taken on his last visit home at the Savannah Ranch the summer of 1917 before returning to Camp Lewis in Washington Sate. Pictured with him is his grandfather John Guess on the far left, next to John Jr. on the right is his father Richard Guess and on the far right his uncle, Henry Guess.The little child called "Sonny" is believed to be a cousin.

Sgt. John Guess was with Company H, 364th Infantry, American Expeditionary Forces. He along with the balance of the 91st Division were deployed from Camp Lewis toward the end of June 1918. After a train trip across the U.S. they boarded the troop ship in New York around July 11th and began the twelve day journey across the Atlantic.

They would not be settled yet until they reached France, where for a short period things were quiet.

On July 23, 1918 John celebrated his 27th birthday in a small village in France, two days after his birthday he would write home to his mother to let her know how he was and to share with her his birthday celebration.

This would be John's last birthday. On September 28, 1918 he was seriously wounded in an encounter near Eclisfontaine, France that involved the capture of four machine-gun nests and the taking of three prisoners. For this act of bravery he was awarded, posthumously, the Distinguished Service Cross.

John Guess Jr. died in Base Hospital 61 in France on  November 7, 1918. He was buried in the American Cemetery in Beaune, Cote d'Or - grave number 239. Two years after the war the body of Sgt. John Guess would be brought home to Savannah Cemetery, his final resting place.

The Children of Savannah

Photo by: Heather H.

"Little Charlie," Baby Turner, and Alice are just three of over seven hundred children buried in Savannah Memorial Park - A Pioneer Cemetery, since the 1850s.  Baby Turner died at birth after his mother was shot during an 1874 robbery at the family's general store on La Puente Creek.  Unlike the beautiful headstone for one-year-old Alice Guess, the Turner baby  is one of many laid to rest in unmarked graves in, what was then known as, El Monte Cemetery.  Brace Gibson lost both his nineteen-year-old wife, Luty Velmar, and his four-month-old child, Luty Etta, in 1888.  Children ranging in age from stillborn to their teens died from accident, or diseases and epidemics of the time - pneumonia, typhoid fever, smallpox, influenza, or measles.  Luty Velmar Gibson died of consumption (known today as tuberculosis). 

A descendent of San Gabriel Valley pioneers, Jerry Lynne Treinen, is currently researching documentation for a story about the Children of the Savannah.  If you have any knowledge surrounding either the life or death of one of these children, she would be interested in hearing from you.  Whether from events told by word of mouth, or information written in a family bible or journal, what you know of family history is important.  Please contact her via the addresses below.

_____________

You may contact J. L. Treinen via email:  jltreinen@gmail.com 

or PO Box 5399, Eugene, OR 97405.

"Lasers had arrived in the death industry."

“At some point in the not too distant past--our initial investigation pointed to the last decade of the millennium--the way people marked the graves of their loved ones in this cemetery changed. And after that, for the rest of the time civilized humans observe such things, the difference will be apparent. Future archaeologists will be able to deduce when civilization had advanced to applying light amplification by simulated electromagnetic radiation to their eternity-invoking rites for the dead.”

Excerpted from “Lasers for the Dead:  A Story About Gravestone Technology” by Alexis Madrigal.

The full article can be read at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/07/lasers-for-the-dead-a-story-about-gravestone-technology/242601/

Charles E. Wiggins - Cenotaph

Cenotaph – An “empty tomb” or a monument erected in honor of a person or person whose remains are buried elsewhere. 

Charles E. Wiggins

Wiggins was born in El Monte in 1927. His family had lived there since 1851, and his father was fire chief in the community. The Korean War veteran was student body president in grammar school and sophomore class president in high school. [Source: Los Angeles Times obituary March 4, 2000]

He served in the United States Army from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1950 to 1952. Graduating from the University of Southern California School of Law in 1956, he established a legal practice in El Monte, California. He was elected to the United States Congress from California and served from 1967 to 1979. He served as a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, from 1984 until his death in 2000.  [Source: Find A Grave (bio by: Garver Graver)]

He was appointed to the El Monte city council in 1960 to fill a vacancy; in 1964 he was elected Mayor of El Monte. His body is buried in Arlington National Cemetery but his heart will always belong to El Monte.

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Arlington Cemetery - First Lieutenant Charles E. Wiggins

(click on above link for more information)

Savannah's Siege Mortar History Discovered

The year was 1929 and the Los Angeles Times newspaper headline read:

EL MONTE AND ROSEMEAD TO JOIN IN CELEBRATION

EL MONTE, July 2, 1929 – Patriotic exercises featured by the placing of a seven-inch trench siege mortar, obtained from Benicia Arsenal by the United Veterans of the Republic, in El Monte Cemetery in tribute to the war veterans buried there will be held here on Thursday.

Arrangements have been made by Charles A. King, adjutant of the Veterans of the Republic, and a chamber of commerce committee, Roy C. Addelman and Neil R. Murray to make this an historic occasion in this city.

State Senator Frank Merriam of Long Beach will be the principal speaker and Mayor C. A. Baker will be the chairman of the day. Rev. Bob Schuler will give the benediction. The procession to the cemetery will be headed by Grand Marshal T. H. Lambert, who will have a county motor patrol escort. Included in the line of march will be the City Council, Mayor Baker, United Veterans of the Republic, Civil War veterans, Spanish-American War veterans, El Monte Legion Post, Daughters of the American Revolution, El Monte and Rosemead Women’s Clubs, Lions’ Club of El Monte, Business and Professional Woman’s Club, Lexington Masonic Lodge No.104, Odd Fellows, Boy Scout troops of El Monte and Rosemead, and a section including the surviving pioneers of this city. Adjutant King has made special arrangements to have the naval band from the U.S.S. Colorado present. 

Source: Los Angeles Times – July 2, 1929

 

 

El Monte Cemetery Association board member Walter White, researcher and descendant of early settlers to the El Monte area came up with some additional and interesting facts about the 'little cannon' that makes it home at the Savannah Memorial Park.

Specifics of the mortar:

Siege Mortar, small seven inch bore                                      

Weight: 1689 lbs                                                                     

Serial No. 20

Inspector: G.W.B. 

Year of Mfg.: 1898 

Manufacturer: Watervliet Arsenal  - New York                                        

                                   

Researcher Walter White, writes: the trench siege mortar was manufactured in 1898 at the Watervliet Arsenal in New York. This arsenal was established in 1813 to support the War of 1812 and is still making weaponry in 2010. The cannon was made the same year as the beginning and end of the short Spanish‐American War.

For related topics see:

http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/intro.html,

http://www.wva.army.mil/museum.php and

http://www.militarymuseum.org/Benicia.html