John Lamar Matthews - Wills Point, TX
N 32° 42.345 W 095° 59.661
15S E 219301 N 3622632
The headstone of John Lamar Matthews, buried in Wills Point's historic White Rose Cemetery, notes that he was "killed in France Oct. 16, 1918."
Waymark Code: WMVP48
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/12/2017
Views: 0
Mr. Matthews's gray, granite headstone features a flag of the United States (which is missing just a few stars, as there were 48 and not 25 states in the Union in 1919) which drapes over its own staff, with this inscription:
John Lamar
Matthews
148th Aero Squadron
Born July 30, 1890
Killed in France, Oct. 16, 1918
He gave his today
for our tomorrow.
A special edition of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas's (today's Texas A & M University) "The Alumni Quarterly" provides some background:
John Lamar Matthews
Mechanic Air Service
Wills Point, Texas.
Born July 30, 1890, at Wills
Point, Texas. Received his early
schooling in the Wills Point, Tex-
as, public schools. Attended A.
and M. from September, 1907, to
June, 1908. Enlisted in the Air
Service in April, 1917, and as-
signed to the 17th Aero Squadron
at Kelly Field, San Antonio, Tex-
as, as a mechanic. During the
summer of 1917, was sent to Can-
ada for training and later trans-
ferred to Barron Field, Ft. Worth,
Texas. Was transferred to the
148th Aero Squadron and sailed
for France in February, 1918. In-
stantly killed in an automobile
accident in Essequenoy, Oise,
France, October 16, 1918. Sister:
Mrs. Louis W. Voiers, Kaufman,
Texas.
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