Private James Banholzer
Fighting in the First World War was scheduled to cease at 11 A.M. on 11 November 1918, and all American troops in France hoped to be alive and unwounded when the shooting stopped that morning.
Private James Banholzer was a medic serving with the 128th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division as a final flurry of fighting took place near Ecurey at approximately 0900. Banholzer had remarked to a comrade that morning that:
“If I were to get killed on the last day of the war, I would never get over it.”
As his unit suffered casualties Banholzer never hesitated in leaving cover to go to their aid. He was killed in action while tending the last Americans to be wounded in World War I. He was also the last of 2257 medical corpsmen to be killed in action during that conflict.
Related story: WW1 Vet reflects on lessons: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/11/AR2007111101576_pf.html
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