Swain County's World War 1 Dead - A Request

Cross at the grave of Private Fred Mathis
Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial
Lorraine, France

Photo Credit: soilsister at Findagrave.com

Dear Readers:
The 100th anniversary of Swain County's active involvement in World War 1 overseas is upon us. Of the 22 Swain County soldiers who died during the "Great War", 14 died between September and November 1918. I think it's important to honor the enormous sacrifice made by these young men and I'd like to put together a couple of blog pieces (for fall publication) about them.

While I have most of the basic information on each of these soldiers (where they were from, date of birth, date and place of death, and cemetery), I do not have much additional information on the majority of them. That's where you and/or people you know come in. I would love to have pictures, letters, personal anecdotes, or any other additional information I can get that would bring them to life on this blog.

The names of Swain County's WW1 dead are as follows:

Barker, William Harvey
Bates, Everett
Cathey, Charles Clyde
Cochran, John Thomas
Franklin, Walter Isaac
Freeman, Caro (There is a good amount of information on Caro on his findagrave.com page as well as in the Swain County Heritage book, but I'd love more.)
Kalonaheskie, Joe
Kincaid, James William
Leatherwood, James L
Mashburn, Earnest Loyd
Mason, William
Mathis, Fred
Moore, Grady C
Queen, James Robert
Shuler, Finley
Shuler, William
Stephenson, William Berry
Styles, Andy
Turner, Floyd C
Wiggins, John W
Winchester, Benjamin Harrison
Youngdeer, Steve

If you or a family member/acquaintance are in possession of any material you'd like to see used to honor these brave soldiers, please get in touch with me in either the comments section (please include your email address), via email at oldeswain@gmail.com, or via the Facebook page. You will be credited as the source of the material when the blog is published.

Thank you for your consideration!

Best,
Wendy