Lt. Fitzsimmonms was a graduate of St. Mary's College in St. Marys Kansas. On 10 June 1923, a large memorial arch was dedicated in his honor at the west (main) entrance to the campus. The arch also serves as a memorial to the 18 other St Mary's alumni who served in WWI.
From the EMPORIA GAZETTE June 10, 1923, pg 1 col 2 (
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"Attend Unveiling Ceremony
John Byrnes. Mr. and Mrs. C. McCarthy, Rev. Father Celestine, Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Gafler, Mr. and Mrs. George Bordenkircher and Mrs. C. A. Ballweg were in St. Marys yesterday, where they attended the unveiling of a memorial arch at St. Mary's College. The arch is dedicated to the memory of Lieutenant Fitzsimmons, the first American officer to lose his life in Europe in the world war.
Governor Davis, Colonel Elliott, commander of the American Legion of Missouri, and Major McLean, supreme commander of the Legion in Kansas, were the speakers. In the afternoon the masque "The Mother of Men," a revival of the old medieval morality play, was staged at the college." [end]
From the La Crosse Tribune and Leader Press, September 9, 1917 page 1 col 3 (
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“FIRST US OFFICER KILLED IN SERVICE LONG AT THE FRONT.
Lieut. Fitzsimmons 18 Months In War Before America Entered
Kansas City MO., September 8 – In a quiet apartment in Kansas City's exclusive south side residence district tonight, America's first war mother sat, dry eyed, vainly hoping that the news of the death of her son would prove untrue. She is Mrs. J. I. Fitzsimmons, a widow, whose son Lieut. William T. Fitzsimmons was killed yesterday when German airmen bombed an American hospital on the French coast
Newspaper reporters had already broken the news when United press correspondent call on business Fitzsimmons tonight with copies of the dispatches from William P. Simms, telling the story of German frightfulness.
Mrs. Fitzsimmons bore the shock bravely
Quote I can't believe it's true, in" she said. "There are so many chances for mistakes in the war Department would surely have notified me if anything happened to my son."
And then she told the story of how her boy, 28 years old, and a promising young surgeon, had listened to the call of bleeding France and gone to the war zone 18 months ago. Last spring he returned home on a visit and spoke before several civic meetings urging the cause of France and Belgium. On June 15 he again left for the front arriving in Liverpool August 12. There he wrote his mother a letter which arrived only last week. He was well, he said, and had made the voyage without even seeing a submarine. Soon, he was going to join the Harvard unit on the west front." [end]