John Grimes Duvall

John Grimes Duvall

The following profile was researched and compiled by Candice L. Buchanan and Glenn J. R. T. Toothman III, for publication in "The Rain Day Boys: The Greene That Lay Near Grimpettes Woods" (2017). Learn more at RainDayBoys.com.

Birth: 8 January 1897 Greene County, Pennsylvania[i]

Parents: William Knisely and Alice Cassandra Duvall (a/k/a Catherine Alice Duvall)[ii]

Residence at time of enlistment: Waynesburg, Greene County, Pennsylvania[iii]

Physical description: 5 feet 11 inches tall, fair complexion, grey eyes, light brown hair[iv]

Death: Wounded in action 29 July 1918 Cierges, Picardie, France. Died as a result of his wounds 20 August 1918 Base Hospital No. 34, Nantes, France.[v]

Age at death: 21 years old

Last resting place: 11 November 1920 Oakmont Cemetery, Franklin Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania[vi]

Military rank: Serial No. 1241433. Private First Class. Company K, 110th Infantry, 28th Division.

Witness account of death: Statement given by Sgt. Ezra M. Sayers. “I went up after John Duvall when he was hit. He was wounded in the region of the kidneys and I helped carry him back to the first aid. I later learned that he died. He was hit by machine gun or rifle fire. This happened near the Grimpette woods just beyond the Ourcq river and I think it was on July 29th 1918.”[vii]

Additional information:

John was a student in Waynesburg High School when he enlisted 12 April 1917.[viii] Had he not joined the military, he would have graduated with the Class of 1918.

John grew up with the family of his mother Cassandra Alice Duvall. Cassie Alice, as she was generally called, was married to Charles A. McCutcheon on 7 April 1900;[ix] when the Census was taken on 4 June 1900, the newlyweds were residing with her parents. John was there too, listed as a grandchild in the household, under the Duvall name.[x] In 1910, John and his mother are listed in her parents’ household again, though Cassie’s husband is not present.[xi] When Cassie applied for her next marriage license some years later, she told the clerk that Charles had died in 1907. That marriage application was made while John was away at training with Company K. He left Waynesburg 7 September 1917, his mother remarried on 20 September 1917.[xii] Her second husband, Charles Russell McNurlin was born 27 May 1893,[xiii] and served in World War I as well.[xiv] In fact, the day of their wedding was also the day of his enlistment. Cassie welcomed her husband home after the war, but not her son.

It is hard to imagine the feelings of grieving families in November 1918, as the Great War came to an end. The noble cause for which the boys of Company K, and so many other US soldiers, had fought – was won. Some sense of relief and justification must have come with this fact. At the same time, however, the loved ones left behind, had to watch parades and homecomings, while knowing they would have no such celebration. It was in this climate, that an author unnamed, though the language would incline us to think it was John’s mother, Cassie, published a tribute to him in the Waynesburg Republican on 21 November 1918.

In Memoriam.

"There is a reaper whose name is Death,

And with his sickle keen,

He reaps the bearded grain at a breath,

And the flowers that grow between."

'Tis true and the reaper, Death, whose choice is by no means partial, has chosen one of the truest soldiers, finest type of manhood that ever wore a uniform.

John G. Duvall was born Jan. 8, 1897 and died Aug. 20, 1918 from wounds received in battle, died for French soil and American liberty for which he went forth to fight.

"Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend."

We know little of how and where he died, but we know the true fellowship that he held when he lived [newspaper faded here and several words cannot be read] when he gave his life that his comrades, the loved ones and friends left behind, might live in the liberty that he fought and died for.

"Shall I have not that is fair, saith he,

Have not but the golden grain?

Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me

I will give them all back again."

Any words that mouth will utter can not heal the wound that his death has caused but we try to stand in relationship with grief. We mourn with his loved ones, we share the burden of sorrow and live for the day when we shall meet again in the "land where no sin nor sorrow will cast a shadow."

No chance had he of some great deed of valor

Which might the issues of the day decide;

He did but do his duty simply, bravely,

And in the doing died.

No chance had he to win the cross of honor,

No mighty empire echoed with his name;

He did but leave a record kindly, helpful,

A pure untarnished name.

But men were nobler who had lived beside him,

And women truer who had seen his life,

And men and women turned to face more bravely,

Earth's hard and bitter strife.

And through the years his memory still shall linger --

A gallant soldier and a trusted friend,

One in whose heart the will of goodness springing,

Made all life Godward tend.

And we, amid, the grief no words can utter,

Yet feel a mother's thrill of pride and joy,

And turn to him who holds our soldier safely,

And thank God for such a boy.

And thank Him, too, for the life laid down so freely,

Is taken up in larger, fuller strain;

In Heaven above still living, loving, serving,

Till God unites again.[xv]

John was buried in Oakmont Cemetery, on the second anniversary of the Armistice, 11 November 1920, following a funeral at the Christian Church in Waynesburg.[xvi]

In 1934, with her name listed as Catherine A. (Duvall) McNurlin, John’s mother, was granted $10.00 a month for 20 months as part of the Pennsylvania Veteran’s Compensation Act, on behalf of her son.[xvii]