Irvin E Davis

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Obituary- Davis, Irvin

Irvin E. Davis
A soldier son of a Burlingame family has given the "last full measure of sacrifice" on the battle fields of France. Mr. and Mrs. J.C. Davis, residing two miles north of Burlingame, received the following ill-fated message from the war department last Thursday morning: "Deeply regret to inform you that Private Irvin E. Davis is officially reported killed in action, August 10." The Davis family came here from Rossville nine years ago and purchased the Will Randall place. Both Mr. and Mrs. Davis and their family of sons and daughters have become well known in this locality and have many friends who learn with sorrow the death of the splendid young man their son and brother. Irvin Davis lived here but a little more than a year after the family came going from here to California where he was employed as a pumper in the oil fields. He was born at Kansas City, Kansas, August 1, 1889. He was called to the service from Coalinga, Calif., Nov. 3, 1917 and was sent to Camp Lewis, Wash. He was first assigned to the Co. I of the 361st Infantry. Upon being transferred to Camp Greene, S.D., he was placed in Co. E., Machine Gun Co., of the same regiment, and left Camp Mills, Long Island for overseas May 2nd of this year. Numerous letters have been received from Irvin since his arrival "over there," the last one so far received bearing the date of July 22. In this letter he speaks of having learned that his younger brother, Fred, who is a member of the 315th Engineers, 91st Division, was but a mile from where he was located and that he was going to endeavor to find him "as soon as this excitement is over." Other covert references have led the family to suspect that his company had been, or was soon to be in the front line. Nevertheless, the news of his death came as a great shock to his family and friends. his is the first death to be recorded from Burlingame in the great straggle across the water.

The deceased is survived by his parents, four sisters and four brothers: Henry, of Oil Fields, California, Bertha, of Rossville, Mrs. E.E. Vorhies, of Rossville; Charlie, of Coalinga, California; Fred, in services overseas; Nettie Ruth and Clyde, of this place. Irvin was a young man who had always been exceedingly thoughtful of his mother. Among the mementoes she cherishes is a poppy blossom which came in a letter from France - the only gift it was possible to send at the time of her birthday. By a strange coincidence Mrs. Davis received a long letter from another mother with a son in France the day she received the notice of her son's death. This lady, though a stranger, was Mrs. G.W. DeForest of Laramie, Wyoming, the mother of Ernest DeForest, who was a pal of Irvin Davis, a fact she had but recently learned in a letter from Ernest. Had this lady known of the death of the Kansas lad, she could not have written a more comforting message than that contained in this letter from one mother to another. Burlingame's flag, in the public square, floated at half mast last week, in honor of Irvin E. Davis, whose name is enrolled on Liberty's Honor Roll. - Burlingame Enterprise

[Reprinted in The Rossville Reporter, Thursday, September 12, 1918]