LAURENCE SOULE LYNCH 
 
f EX LIBKG UNIVERSI1Y OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 JOHN HENRY NASH LIBRARY 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 PRESENTED TO THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 ROBERT GORDON SPROUL. PRESIDENT. 
 
 MR.ANDMRS.MILTON S.RAY 
 CECILY, VIRGINIAANDROSALYN RAY 
 
 RAY OIL BURNER ODMPANY 
 
Injfltaoriant: 
 
 LAURENCE SOULE LYNCH 
 
 First Lieutenant " Q" Company 
 
 36 2 nd Infantry, pi" Division, United States Army 
 
 Born in San Francisco, June g, 1888 
 
 Died in France, October 8, 1 918 
 
 PRIVATELY PRINTED BY 
 
 JOHN HENRY NASH, SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 1919 
 
Reprinted from the COAST BANKER of January, 
 
SOLDIERS OF FREEDOM 
 
 THEY VEILED THEIR SOULS WITH LAUGHTER 
 
 AND MANY A MOCKING POSE, 
 THESE LADS WHO FOLLOW AFTER 
 
 WHEREVER FREEDOM GOES; 
 THESE LADS WE USED TO CENSURE 
 
 FOR LEVITY AND EASE, 
 ON FREEDOM'S HIGH ADVENTURE 
 
 GO SHINING OVERSEAS. 
 
 OUR SPRINGING TEARS ADORE THEM, 
 
 THESE BOYS AT SCHOOL AND PLAY, 
 FAIR-FORTUNED YEARS BEFORE THEM, 
 
 ALAS ! BUT YESTERDAY ; 
 
 DIVINE WITH SUDDEN SPLENDOR 
 OH, HOW OUR EYES WERE BLIND ! 
 
 IN CARELESS SELF-SURRENDER 
 THEY BATTLE FOR MANKIND. 
 
 SOLDIERS OF FREEDOM ! GLEAMING 
 
 AND GOLDEN, THEY DEPART, 
 TRANSFIGURED BY THE DREAMING 
 
 OF BOYHOOD'S HIDDEN HEART. 
 HER LOVERS THEY CONFESS THEM 
 
 AND, RUSHING ON HER FOES, 
 TOSS HER THEIR YOUTH GOD BLESS THEM ! - 
 
 AS LIGHTLY AS A ROSE. 
 
 KATHERINE LEE BATES. 
 
LAURENCE SOULE' LYNCH 
 
 C'ENANT LYNCH was born in San Francisco, but 
 his parents moved to Alameda while he was 
 a small child, so in that city he received his 
 schooling. He was graduated from the high 
 school, and matriculated in the University of California 
 with the class of 1910, where he became a member of 
 the Chi Phi fraternity, and demonstrated his talent for 
 making friends, a faculty which never forsook him. 
 
 A considerable part of his boyhood was spent in the 
 country, as were nearly all his vacations, so that he 
 learned to ride and acquired as well the things which 
 only the out-of-doors can teach. The Alameda shore 
 made him a good swimmer and diver, and he was equal 
 ly at home in a boat or a motor car. He had a taste 
 for athletics, and came out of the university well de 
 veloped up to his seventy-four inches of height. 
 
 At the end of the first half of the junior year, he left 
 college and went to work with E. H. Rollins and Sons, 
 Investment Bankers, in whose service he remained 
 until war was declared against the German Empire. 
 
LAURENCE SOULfi LYNCH 
 
 While with Rollins and Sons, he went through the 
 usual office training ; then travelled the southern and 
 central parts of California as salesman. Later he was 
 made City Salesman, and, for some years, called regu 
 larly on the San Francisco banks, thus making a wide 
 acquaintance among the California bankers. 
 
 Always he was distinguished by a quickness of mind 
 and an intuitive perception of the essential core of 
 things, while a keen sense of humor, and a gift for the 
 unexpected, helped to smooth for him the rough edges 
 of life. 
 
 On April 23 rd , 1913, he was married to Constance 
 Van Brunt, and a son, Ransom Van Brunt Lynch, now 
 three years past, was born to them. 
 
 So far, he was just an average young man who took 
 life easily and happily, giving not too much thought to 
 the morrow. 
 
 Then the war broke out in 1914. 
 
 The horror of that crime against humanity sank 
 deeply into his soul, and, as the obscene Boche poured 
 into Belgium and France, leaving a trail of murder 
 and ruin behind them, the iron in his character chrys- 
 tallized into a stern determination to do his part to 
 ward putting them down. 
 
 He was keenly aware of the defenseless position of 
 his own Country, and humiliated by the indifference of 
 so many of his countrymen. When that singular rabble 
 of Germans and pro-Germans, pacifists and professors, 
 editors and anarchists, began the campaign to turn the 
 
LAURENCE SOULfi LYNCH 
 
 United States, bound hand and foot, over to the Huns, 
 he entered the training camp which was held in July, 
 1916, at Monterey. He came out a firm believer in 
 universal military training as a character builder, as 
 well as a necessity to the continued existence of a de 
 mocracy. 
 
 By April, 1917, events had so developed that the 
 United States was compelled to enter the war as a mat 
 ter of self-defense, and his decision was made at once. 
 While the majority of Americans believed that our 
 mere declaration of war would convince the Huns of 
 the hopelessness of victory and lead them to patch up 
 a truce, he thought and said that many of her young 
 men must be sacrificed before the world could have 
 real peace. 
 
 The following quotation from a letter written to his 
 wife by Colonel Benjamin H. Dibblee, who was man 
 ager of the Rollins office, well states his position : 
 
 Of all the men I knew who have entered the Service, I believe he 
 was quicker to make the great decision, and that he saw his duty more 
 clearly from the outset than any other. With him there was absolutely 
 no hesitation. 
 
 I remember only too well the first and only talk I had with Lau 
 rence about entering the Service. At the time when others were hesi 
 tating and wondering whether we would enter thefrst Training Camp 
 or wait, he came into my office one day and said he wanted to go. . . . 
 I said I did not think married men were needed then, but he replied 
 that he felt every able-bodied man of his age was needed and that he 
 would never be satisfied to live if he did not go that he would rather 
 be killed than live the rest of his life feeling he had not done what he 
 
LAURENCE SOUL& LYNCH 
 
 considered his duty. His attitude was so clear, positive, and brave, that 
 he was an inspiration to me. That talk and his noble death will for 
 ever place him at the top of my personal honor-roll. 
 
 It is to him who takes the lead and gives his life by so doing that 
 the greatest honor is due, and your husband did take the lead God 
 bless him. 
 
 He was admitted to the first Officers' Training Camp 
 at the Presidio of San Francisco, and took up the hard 
 work and concentrated study with all his energy. In 
 spite of the years which had elapsed since he left the 
 university, he greatly enjoyed the training, and re 
 ceived, at the end of the course, a commission as Sec 
 ond Lieutenant. He had chosen the Infantry, because 
 "The Infantry is the Army." He put aside all sugges 
 tions as to staff positions, or to non-combatant lines, 
 as beneath the notice of a man who was young enough 
 and strong enough to fight. 
 
 In August, 1917, he was ordered to Camp Lewis 
 where, with Elam, Robinson, Waybur, Bradbury, 
 Spalding, Evans, Baker, and other gallant boys from 
 around the Bay, the work of training the new Army 
 was begun. There were plenty of officers at first, but no 
 non-coms., and the Lieutenants took up the squad drill. 
 This task brought him close to the enlisted men, and 
 he learned the great lesson that what men want is not 
 special favors so much as fair and impartial treatment 
 and the knowledge that the officers are looking out for 
 them. That he made this lesson practical is evidenced 
 by the following extract from a letter to his mother: 
 
LAURENCE SOULS LYNCH 
 
 / work my men hard perhaps harder than most of the others 
 but I give them definite rests and let them know how long the rest 
 will be. When I have a lecture scheduled to give them, I find a good 
 place under a tree to sit down. When it is time to go in, I work down 
 toward the edge of the parade grounds, so my squad is nearly always 
 first back to the barracks. Thus they get first at the washhouse, and, 
 therefore, first in line to mess. I make them get out on the dot, and 
 we are generally started before the others. After a time, men see that 
 they are being looked after not that they have an easier time, but 
 that their comfort is first in their officers' command. 
 
 During the ten months spent in Camp Lewis, he 
 helped drill practically three companies, for twice the 
 best part of "G" Company was drafted into other units. 
 
 Toward the end of 1 9 1 7, he took a detachment of 
 casuals to Washington, and, on his return, received his 
 commission as First Lieutenant, for which he had been 
 recommended originally at the training camp. 
 
 For some months, as ranking First Lieutenant, he 
 commanded the Company (the Captain being on de 
 tached service). He was still in command when his 
 men (about one-third of whom were then raw recruits) 
 entrained for service abroad, and he maintained com 
 mand until ordered to the front for action. 
 
 On June 24 th , 1918, his Company left Camp Lewis, 
 and the long trip across the continent, over the ocean, 
 through England to France was accomplished with 
 out misadventure. "G" Company was billeted at Bon- 
 necourt, in the Haute Marne, and settled down to 
 intensive training. The life of the little commune, its 
 inhabitants (tillers of the soil) who went far afield to 
 
LAURENCE SOULfi LYNCH 
 
 their work; the intimate personal relations between 
 the peasants and the cows; the good man who came 
 home en -permission to harvest the wheat and went back 
 to the trenches for a rest; the old grandmother who 
 thought him a "scream" and cackled shrilly over his 
 French; the mother of the family who mended his 
 clothes and wished to shine his shoes; the children, 
 particularly the little girls all were sources of joy to 
 him. 
 
 A little over six weeks closed this stage (during 
 which he wrote: "This is a very pleasant war"). On 
 September 15 th , the Division started for the front. 
 Letters had to be very carefully worded to meet the 
 requirements of the Board of Censors, and there is 
 much that cannot now be known, but the following in 
 cidents serve to bring him up to the line of battle: 
 
 Sept. i $ : We moved out and came north through some beautiful 
 parts of France. I had a seat on a Packard truck. At our destination 
 (no lights being permitted as we were nearer the front), I was given 
 a dossier, a truck, and a map, and told to go to a nearby town and billet 
 my regiment. Arrived at II p. m., woke the maire; billeted the men, 
 the regiment arriving at 6 p. m. next day. On our next march, we 
 
 started at nine at night and arrived at a wood near V about 
 
 3 a.m., having gone 14. kilometers. George Wong Sing, my striker, gave 
 out, and I carried his pack in addition to my small pack, so was tired. 
 We had lOO^o record for no fall-outs, which no other Company 
 had. . . . We learned we were in reserve for a large offensive. The 
 men were pleased at the thought of getting into it, and did not mind 
 the incessant rain and fast accumulating mud. . . . We heard guns till 
 the infantry got so well advanced firing had to stop. Airplanes by the 
 hundred. Shrapnel shooting at them beyond the hills. . . . We left 
 
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LAURENCE SOULE LYNCH 
 
 the wood to ambush, supposedly to go into the line. An orderly came 
 for me I was made billeting officer, and as such arrived alone at next 
 stop, about midnight, woke the French Major de Cantonment there, 
 told him I would be back; went on to town beyond, woke some officials 
 there, and, without an interpreter, arranged for billeting our j rd Bat 
 talion, my own regiment, and one M. G. Battalion. Learned that large 
 offensive was so successful reserves were not needed* . . . We are 
 again in reserve in a different part of the line. Tomorrow I billet 
 2OO horses and arrange baths for some poo men. This is a great war 
 so far. I enjoy it very much. 
 
 Sept. 21: Regiment left one night at dark and went 18 miles be 
 fore dawn a terrible hike; many men fell out. . . . I finished the 
 paper work for billeting, had the salvage assembled and listed, and 
 that night late got one of a three-truck train out to join the regiment. 
 Truck drivers are always nearly dead for lack of sleep, so mine, who 
 had no assistant, was glad to have me drive for him. It was a very 
 interesting night. Lots of traffic men heavily laden, marching slowly 
 and sitting down in place when they halted. Lots of motor traffic 
 long wagon trains. Many small French towns where the turnings might 
 be missed. I turned in my billet and salvage papers at 3 a.m., had my 
 first meal in 24 hours, and slept on the floor of a house deserted since 
 1914. After a day in that town, we left and had an easy walk to a 
 bois ; the next night, an easy walk to the wood where we now are 
 my Battalion about 600 or 800 yards behind the lines, with the first 
 Battalion up. We are well in artillery range, but are quite safe, as 
 the Boche does not know of our presence, due to much moving at night. 
 This morning we had a warm breakfast cooked before dawn, by a cam 
 ouflaged fire, and each day while, we are here we shall have one warm 
 meal. This is a quiet secJor now. 
 
 Sept. 24: The big show begins tomorrow. I would not miss it for 
 
 worlds. 
 
 * This evidently refers to the St. Mihiel drive. 
 
LAURENCE SOULfi LYNCH 
 
 The 9i st Division, young, strong, full of determina 
 tion, was one of those selected to clean the Huns out 
 of the region known as the Argonne Forest, where, 
 after three years of occupancy, they had settled down 
 to a comfortable existence. Well-built shacks, poultry 
 yards, vegetable gardens, concrete-lined trenches, all 
 indicated that they felt at home. Machine guns clev 
 erly concealed, sniper-stations in the trees, hidden ar 
 tillery, made the country almost impregnable; yet the 
 Commanding General said of the 9 I st : "At a time 
 when the divisions on its flanks were faltering and even 
 falling back, the 9 I st Division pushed ahead and stead 
 fastly clung to every yard gained/* 
 
 The losses were necessarily heavy sixty -five per 
 cent casualties is the general estimate of those officers 
 who have written home. The loss among the officers 
 was even greater. 
 
 The Argonne-Meuse offensive was launched at one 
 o'clock in the morning of September 26 th , by prelim 
 inary artillery preparation, the Infantry going over at 
 5:30 just at daybreak. The 91" was a front-line com 
 bat division. It advanced that day about nine or ten 
 kilometers, to a ridge near the villages of Eclisfontaine 
 and Epinonville. Evening of the 26 th found "G" Com 
 pany in a defensive line formed by its Regiment against 
 counter attack, where it lay all night in a pouring rain. 
 At dawn of the 2y th ,it plunged into the Hun-infested 
 woods near Epinonville. Later in the day, while lead 
 ing his platoon through an orchard, Lieutenant Lynch 
 
 8 
 
LAURENCE SOULfi LYNCH 
 
 met severe opposition from machine-gun fire, and sent 
 back for a one-pounder to silence the nests, before ex 
 posing his men. He stood for a few moments looking 
 through his field-glasses toward the concealing thickets 
 on the other side, when he was shot high in the right 
 breast by a bullet from a sniper's rifle. 
 
 He was carried out of the wood by his men, after first 
 aid had been administered, for which he himself di 
 rected the arrangements. Although the wound was 
 serious, his recovery was at first thought probable. He 
 was moved to the evacuation hospital at Froidos, 
 where, in spite of surgical skill, he died on October 
 8 th . He is buried in the cemetery there, on a little hill 
 overlooking the Argonne. 
 
 The following expressions are from letters written 
 by his brother officers: 
 
 // is a terrible thing that such a sterling man should have to be 
 sacrificed, but you can always be proud of the memory of a man who 
 followed his conscience and did not take the easy path which was opened 
 to him. 
 
 I was not far from him at the time he was hit, and I assure you his 
 name will always remain in the memories of his comrades as a daring , 
 conscientious leader , paying the supreme sacrifice rather than taking a 
 course which could have been easily pursued without criticism, but 
 which would not have satisfied his conscience. 
 
 He fought well and bravely in the face of as bitter an enemy as ever 
 men faced, and his men loved him and followed him. 
 
 His spirit was the type of America* s best response to the great task 
 she faced \ and I shall always be glad and proud to have known him 
 
LAURENCE SOULfi LYNCH 
 
 not only for his fine loyalty, but for his eager and responsive person 
 ality. He felt the call of his Country keenly and obeyed it splendidly. 
 
 A Canadian Baptist clergyman who declined a chap 
 laincy to carry a rifle with his men, was being commis 
 erated on the loss of a leg. "I did not lose the leg," 
 he said; "I traded it for a clear conscience." 
 
 Laurence Soule Lynch gave his life for a clear con 
 science. He went to his end with a light heart and a 
 joyous spirit, a "gentleman unafraid." 
 
 10