The saga of George ‘Nevin’ Oswald, a Washington County, MD veteran of World War I

On July 13, 1918, George “Nevin” Oswald found himself 2,000 miles off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, sailing for France with 20,000 other soldiers of the 79th Division. “I think I can take care of myself,” Nevin wrote in a letter to his parents while at sea, “and trust me, I won’t be foolish.”

Little did Nevin know that his division would ultimately fight in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, one of the deadliest campaigns in American military history and the final Allied offensive of World War I. Nevin’s story, preserved in his letters, is one example of Washington County’s many veterans who served in the Great War.

Nevin Oswald was born on Sept. 25, 1893, to parents Edward Oswald Sr., clerk of the Washington County Court, and Mary Ella (Shade) Oswald. He had a younger brother, Edward Jr., and the family lived at 835 Oak Hill Ave. Nevin attended Hagerstown High School, followed by Mercersburg Academy before entering the University of Maryland Law School.

WWI was set in motion by the assassination of Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914, although Europe had long been straining under the effects of militarism, imperialism, nationalism and colonialism. Two rival powers emerged — the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey) and the Allied Powers (France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and eventually the U.S. in April 1917).

By May 18, 1917, the U.S. government authorized the Selective Service Act. Nevin’s academic trajectory shifted when he registered for the draft.

Officers and non-commissioned officers of Company K, 313th Infantry, taken at Mortague-sur-Sevre, France; Nevin Oswald is front row, fourth from left.

By Sept. 26, Nevin was inducted into Company K of the 313th Infantry Regiment, 79th Division of the U.S. Army Reserve. He left for Camp Meade, newly built in 1917. After training for 10 months, the 79th sailed out of New York Harbor for France.

Nevin’s company landed in France and began a slow procession by boxcar and foot through the countryside, towards the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in northeastern France. Nevin wrote to his parents, “I’d drop dead if I could sit down to a nice white spread table, silverware, butter, bread and a square meal … I’m now ready to crawl in the hay (literally) so good night.”

By early September, Nevin lamented, “We get up at 5:00 and go to bed at 9:00. Every minute we are working. … We used to damn Camp Meade, but now we say ‘Good’ly Meade’.” Nevin’s company continued traveling towards the front-line through mud, trenches and the sound of artillery fire. “For the past four or five weeks we’ve been doing nothing but move, move, move.”

⇒ Read the entire article on the Hagerstown Herald-Mail website.
External Web Site Notice: This page contains information directly presented from an external source. The terms and conditions of this page may not be the same as those of this website. Click here to read the full disclaimer notice for external web sites. Thank you.