A general statement about the men in this detachment that were killed in this battle on 8 October 1918
One of the most painful aspects of trying to broaden the spotlight that has shone upon this battle to include “The Other Sixteen” has always been the limited information available for the members of this patrol who lost their lives that morning. In a sense, they could be called the “Other Six” of the “Other Sixteen” as so little is known about them. Perhaps so little is known about them because their roads abruptly ended; each cut down before they had a chance to live their lives.
The German soldier had a term for the scope site used on the MG 08/15. Unlike the “crosshairs” that are seen through the site of the modern scope, the German scope from WWI was an image of two converging lines; the term for this frame of reference was translated as the “end of the road”. This term had a double meaning; that of the image itself, as the converging lines resembled the depth of a road heading into the distance, and that of the fate met by any soldier that found themselves on the other end.
For each of the survivors listed in the website, there was life after the war; a continued history, and in many cases, an extension to family tree. Maintaining, collecting and presenting information for the survivors has been challenging, but a greater challenge has been constructing a biography for each of the “Other Six” without the benefit of extended family. We will do our best to honor these men with the ever-present hope of locating additional information or family, but the limited information available for these men serves as poignant example of how each man reached the end of their respective road, and how final that truly is.
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| Muse Argonne American Cemetary |
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