https://vpiworldwarone.lib.vt.edu/files/original/5b3c5e8e6b4a7f10f2cd3ac77970b026.jpg 364c27314770e96e36a27a8be1e074b9 https://vpiworldwarone.lib.vt.edu/files/original/e266aef39d402076b01256e6e9e0a7ed.jpg ff089085a130b4c1b46c607916cbf039 https://vpiworldwarone.lib.vt.edu/files/original/834258b056c7c40399e7eb0c4981a3ea.jpg edac71f712415cb0ebb7f813ec851e7e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource VPI Class of 1920 Person An individual. Last Name Clemmer First and Middle Name Jay Frank Nicknames or Other Names Jay VPI Graduating Class In what VPI class did this individual graduate or what class should they have graduated from? 1920 Rank What military rank did this individual hold? Second Lieutenant Death Date August 2, 1918 Cause of Death Died of Wounds Place of Death France - buried in the Somme American Cemetery Other Events What other significant events, outside of the military, occurred in this individual's life? Training May 1917 Service Branch What branch of the military did this individual serve in? Army Unit What unit or ship did this individual serve in or on? Company I, 318th Infantry, 80th Division Additional Notes Vice President of the Freshmen class in 1917 (?) Member of the Augusta Military Academy Club at VPI Contributing Researchers Grace Barth Hometown Staunton, Virginia County and/or State Augusta County, Virginia Birth Date Apr. 1895 Birthplace Virginia Spouse(s) single Graduated Yes or no, did this individual graduate from VPI? No, died of wounds in 1918 in France Military Events What significant military events occurred in this individual's life? On July 27, 1918 Clemmer and his unit were attached to front line battalions of British units of the 17th British Division along the Ancre River between Martinsart and Bouzincourt until August 12th. During that time the troops of the 318th attached in support of the British witnessed extremely heavy bombardment by German artillery. During that time 2nd Lieutenant Jay F. Clemmer Jr. was mortally wounded on August 1 while conducting his platoon into the line. The following day he died in a Canadian Hospital in Doullens on August 2, the first officer of the entire 318th Regiment to lose their life in World War I. Bibliography <ul> <li>Ancestry.com</li> <li>1918 VPI Bugle, Virginia Tech Special Collections</li> <li>United States Federal Census U.S.</li> <li>World War I Draft Registration Cards</li> <li>1917-18 Augusta County</li> <li>Virginia Births 1886-96</li> <li>History of the Eighteith Division AEF in World War I: The Blue Ridge Division, compiled by Russell L. Stultz and edited by Lee S. Anthony, Walters Printing and Mfg. Co., Inc, 2004, pg. 244.</li> <li>History of the 318th Infantry Regiment of the 80th Division, 1917-1918, William Byrd Press, 1920.</li> <li>Staunton News Leader, 10 May 2019, <a href="https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/history/2019/05/10/stauntons-american-legion-post-celebrates-centennial/1165269001/">https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/history/2019/05/10/stauntons-american-legion-post-celebrates-centennial/1165269001/</a></li> </ul> Biographical Text <h3 class="presto-h3">Jay Frank Clemmer</h3> One of the young men occupying the lethal area around the Somme River basin in August 1918 was 23-year-old 2nd Lt. Jay Frank Clemmer Jr. of Augusta County. Clemmer was the youngest son of a prominent local family that lived near Middlebrook in a home known as “Silverbrook.” Clemmer, a bright, well-liked young man, attended Staunton Military Academy and Washington and Lee University before graduating from Virginia Tech. It was there that he attended a training school for Army officers. When the United States entered the Great War, Clemmer said goodbye to his family and boarded a train bound for basic training at Fort Myer, Va. He would be shipped overseas with the 318th Infantry Regiment, never to see his family again. In war-torn France, as Gen. John J. Pershing moved his army east from the Somme, action broke out near Cambria in the Second Battle of the Somme. During fighting along this sector, Clemmer was struck by a piece of shrapnel and died three days later. A friend and fellow soldier later reported that Clemmer “was a soldier to the end—completing his given task before he collapsed.” Clemmer was solemnly buried in a temporary grave. His body was flag-draped and a simple service was concluded with the playing of “Taps.” “I really can not realize he is gone,” his best friend, W.A. Huggins, wrote in a letter to Clemmer’s mother. “He was loved by every man in the company and every officer in the regiment. He had more friends than any man I ever knew, and if he had any enemies I never knew of them.” A memorial service was held at his former home, “Silverbrook,” on Sept. 27. After the war, Clemmer was re-interred at the Somme American Cemetery at Bony, France. There is some confusion about the date he was killed. The cemetery lists it as Aug. 2. His friend Huggins’ letter is dated Aug. 4, which would support the Aug. 2 date—but all official reports that came in after Clemmer’s death gave the date as Aug. 12. Whatever the date, Clemmer is regarded as the first Augusta County resident killed during the Great War. Text from the Staunton News Leader, 10 May 2019, <a href="https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/history/2019/05/10/stauntons-american-legion-post-celebrates-centennial/1165269001/">https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/history/2019/05/10/stauntons-american-legion-post-celebrates-centennial/1165269001/</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Clemmer, Jay Frank died in service