I stumbled on this photo while browsing the CT State Library archives on Hartford, CT in WWI. It's labeled "Unidentified Soldier". I found that odd considering his awards. So I set out on a search for his identity, hoping to make a small change to the image title. 1/x

I have returned after a suspenseful break. Lately, I've been deep-diving on personnel in the 89th Division which comprised of soldiers from the Midwest (mostly Kansas) hence the nickname "Middle West" Division. Important to note that it was a National Army division. 2/x

I made a massive assumption to start my search that paid off in the end. Much of the AEF was made up of National Guard and National Army (Reserve) divisions. Knowing this, I assumed this soldier was part of one of those two components. 3/x

I needed to find out what division(s) comprised of CT residents and likely surrounding states. As I did that I looked to his uniform for key evidence.

Looking closely at his left shoulder one can see a unit patch. We can just get a good enough glimpse of the emblem and shape of the patch to get an outline.

Quick note: Another assumption I made was that this picture AND soldier were from Hartford. That doesn't always happen with archival material, even if a collection is for a particular place. Stuff gets mixed in. But I thought it a logical place to start. 6/x

The 26th "Yankee Division" was a Guard unit made up of Guard regiments from CT, MA, RI, & VT. I figured this was a soldier from that division. Looking at the division patch that was authorized for wear in 1918, it appears to be the case. "YD" is set on a triangle background. 7/x

Note that these patches were brand new at the time, so variations existed with material used and the exact look of each patch. They were certainly not uniform. See below for ex. of YD soldier with patch. On divisional patches/insignia: http://roadstothegreatwar-ww1.blogspot.com/2015/10/aef-shoulder-insignia.html 8/x

There are plenty of other key pieces of information to be drawn from the uniform. I needed to develop some sort of frame for his service record. Remember, I don't have a name to work with so I'm sort of going backwards here. 9/x

In addition to the patch, we can easily see the crossed rifles on his collar, his rank (LT tho a bit hard to tell if gold or silver I thought), and his Distinguished Service Cross alongside a Croix de Guerre. 10/x

So far we can determine that this is a junior infantry officer of the 26th Division who has been decorated for valor and is likely from Hartford, CT. That helps quite a bit. The next step is to jump into division records and find some breakdown for each regiment. 11/x

But first we can round out his service record w/the chevrons on his sleeves. The left sleeve carries service chevrons with each indicating six months service at or near the frontline. This would later be changed to service anywhere in theater, even if miles from the front. 12/x

The right sleeve carries wound chevrons that are identical in appearance to those on the left sleeve. Each represents one combat-related wound including from gas. 13/x (See very helpful forum thread explaining chevrons): https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/202900-world-war-i-war-service-chevrons/

Two chevrons on the left sleeve: at least one year at or near the frontline, or in just theater. Either way that's one year of service in Europe. 14/x

The right sleeve was much more challenging. I thought there were four chevrons, but maybe there were three? It was tough to tell, but that number of wounds would be a bit easier to spot in a service record. 15/x

So now we have a pretty complete record just based on the uniform and a checklist to go from once we start running names. Remember the 89th Division being important as a National Army unit? 16/x

Because of time spent with the 89th, I recognized that each regiment would be made up of multiple Guard units from probably more than one state. So I found breakdowns of regiment. 102nd Inf, 103rd FA, 101st MG BTN, 101st Signal, 101st Sanitation train all had CT elements. 17/x

Knowing our LT is infantry, I could focus on 102nd Inf and 101st MG battalion. However, those in MG battalions had "MG" above their crossed rifles on the collar and the number of the batt beneath the rifles. Not the case from what I could see on our officer here. 18/x

Now, with a pretty detailed service record in hand and the likely regiment I could focus in on officers of the 102nd and crosscheck where they were from. This is where things got really tedious. 19/x

I was spoiled with 89th because the entire division has unit histories all the way down to the company level. The division history has a full roster organized by regiment and then by company to include those wounded, killed, died of disease, and awards. It's amazing. 20/x

Even crazier is that each soldiers' address was listed with their name in each history in which their name appeared. That made it too easy to find and crosscheck names. I had no such luck with the 26th. 21/x

The division history had a list of all officers who were part of the division when it originally formed. It was organized alphabetically by last name with company and regiment listed next to each name. No addresses this time :( This had now became a three step process. 22/x

1. Find each LT assigned to the 102nd
2. Check name for DSC citation and hometown
3. Check state records for more detailed information about the name. 23/x

Connecticut produced a three volume set of all residents directly involved with the war effort, each being about 1100-1200 pages. Volume two was what I needed and I scrolled to Hartford and waited. 24/x

DOD has a handy WWI DSC recipient chart that I could use for step two. I would find an LT from the 102nd & copy/paste into the DSC list to check if that person was a recipient. I went through 50+ pages of names & checked dozens of individuals from division list to DSC list. 25/x

If I found a match I would search for a DSC citation to find a hometown and then go to the volume for a description of that soldiers' service records. I went page by page, name by name. I got a couple hits, but none for Hartford. 26/x

And then I came across 1LT William Hepburn, Co. E, 102nd Infantry. I ran his name against the DSC list and got a match. 27/x

Then I found his citation indicating he was from Hartford. Now we were on to something... 28/x
https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/12461 

His citation reads: "With only a handful of men, Lieutenant Hepburn charged a machine-gun nest, killing or wounding the whole crew. He silenced the fire of five different guns, and, in taking the last, he was severely wounded about the head..." 29/x

"He continued, however, until his mission was accomplished and the gun silenced." 30/x

To be continued... life keeps getting in the way of me finishing this thread