‘Not forgotten’: WWI soldier from Lilly posthumously awarded Purple Heart more than 100 years later

LILLY, Pa. – What started as a simple request for a photo of U.S. Army Pvt. John J. Andrews became an international effort to honor the World War I soldier’s service with a Purple Heart more than 100 years after his death.

“I’m just extremely grateful, after all these years, that he’s not forgotten,” Andrews’ great-niece Susan Johnston said.

Andrews was born May 5, 1890, and raised in Lilly Borough. He was a member of the St. Michael Sokol, the United Mine Workers of America and the American Federation of Labor and was treasurer of District No. 5 of the Catholic Sokol, according to a Johnstown Tribune article.

He was drafted in 1917 and served with U.S. Army Company G, 2nd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment, and died Sept. 29, 1918, at Bazoilles Hospital Center’s Base Hospital No. 116 in Bazoilles-sur-Meuse, France. The official cause of death, according to Andrews’ service record, was lobar pneumonia.

He was supposedly buried in U.S. Military Cemetery No. 6, Bazoilles-sur-Meuse, France, before being moved in 1921 to the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France, where he remains.

Wever later penned a 2024 story about the American’s unusual burial for World War One Illustrated magazine and, through a friend, requested the assistance of Johnstown resident and retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Craig Minnick to track down a photo. That international connection was the spark that led the U.S. Department of the Army to recognize Andrews’ service.

“It was Craig who noted that Pvt. Andrews had been admitted to the hospital because of wounds received in action, which made him eligible for a Purple Heart, even though he died of pneumonia, presumably as a complication of the Spanish flu,” Wever said. “Craig did everything possible – for which I have much respect – to provide Pvt. Andrews posthumously with the honor he deserved.”

The Purple Heart medal is awarded to any member of the U.S. Armed Forces who, after April 5, 1917, “was wounded, killed or who has died of wounds under circumstances including in any action against an enemy of the United States.”

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