Doughboy MIA For May 2024: Lieutenant Samuel Nord
Published: 15 May 2024
By Alexander Curran
Researcher – Doughboy MIA
Lieutenant Samuel Nord framed
Lieutenant Samuel Nord was born on January 21st, 1892, in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. He studied at the University of Wisconsin for one year and later attended Officer training at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. In July 1918, he sailed to France as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 338th Infantry, 85th Division.
Upon arriving in France, he was transferred to Company “K”, 128th Infantry, 32nd Division, where he led his men in some of the fiercest fighting in the Oise-Aisne and Meuse-Argonne sectors. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant on November 3rd, 1918.
One week later, on November 10th, the third battalion of the 128th Infantry was operating near Lissey, France, advancing towards Peuvillers. Lieutenant Nord led his men toward German positions head-on through heavy bombardment and a thick wall of machine gun fire. The Germans counterattacked, and Lieutenant Nord was wounded by three machine gun bullets. Stretcher-bearers picked him up, but owing to the heavy bombardment, machine gun fire, and the quickly approaching Germans, the evacuation proved difficult.
Lieutenant Nord reportedly told the stretcher Bearers, “Boys! Drop me and save yourselves!”. They left him at his request, and he died.
After the war, there was speculation that the Germans buried him, but this could not be proven. The Graves Registration Service considered the possibility that the remains of an Unknown Soldier (U-3503) buried at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery could be the remains of Lieutenant Nord. The Identity of these remains could not be established as Lieutenant Nord as the dental chart was not a complete match.
Lieutenant Nord is memorialized on the Tablets of the missing at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, where he likely rests as an Unknown American Soldier. His date of death is officially carried as November 9th, 1918.
Would you like to be involved with solving the case of Lieutenant Samuel Nord, and all the other Americans still in MIA status from World War I? You can! Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to our non-profit organization today, and help us bring them home! Help us do the best job possible and give today, with our thanks. Remember: A man is only missing if he is forgotten.
