A Tribute To Your Great Grandfather; Herbert F. Gledhill - For Veterans Day~

A New's Release from the Richfield Reaper~

Herbert F. Gledhill Sevier County's First Offering On The Altar Of Liberty~

News of His Death While Facing the Foe is Sent by Adjutant General McCain to the Hero's Mother at Sigurd, Bringing the Great Struggle Home to Our Doors.

"Private Herbert F. Gledhill, Company M, 26th Infantry, killed in action in France, 

June 14th."

Such is Sevier county's first offering on the altar of liberty in the great struggle in Europe, and such is the announcement of the heroic and noble death of one of Sevier county's sons that Adjutant General McCain of the war department sent to Mrs. Thomas Gledhill on Wednesday. 

The message came as a bolt from the sky, and to Dr. T.R. Gledhill fell the task of conveying this startling message to his mother. The task is not a pleasant one at best, and while Dr. Gledhill in his capacity as physician has faced many a crisis it is questionable if he ever shrank from a task as he did from this one. 

He drove to Sigurd on receipt of the message from the Adjutant General and broke the sad news to his mother, who, gallant and worthy mother of such a hero as Herbert F. Gledhill, bowed to the will of the Creator and rejoiced that she had had a son whose life was yielded up in such a noble cause. 

Herbert F. Gledhill was born and reared in Sevier County. When he was called to the colors last fall the citizens of Vermilion and Sigurd vied with each other in their efforts to do him honor on the eve of his departure. So great was the respect and love toward him that every family in the community attended the reception given in his honor ere he departed for Camp Lewis. 

He had known much sorrow and suffering in his life, and he viewed the call to the colors as an avenue for surcease from his sorrow. He had married Miss McMillan, daughter of John McMillan, well known cattle man of Sigurd. From this union was born two sons, but the cruel hand of death had settled on the eldest, Max, and snatched him from his parents. 

Shortly after the birth of the second child Mrs. Gledhill was stricken with acute Bright's disease following an attack of pneumonia while on a visit to Salt Lake with her husband in February, 1917. She was rushed to the L.D.S. hospital where she died in a few hours. From this blow Herbert Gledhill never fully recovered. 

When war was declared he was bent on enlisting in the army, but his mother prevailed upon him to wait a few months for his son's sake. He did this, but when the call came from the selective draft he went to Camp Lewis. He was kept there but a few days when he was sent to New York and attached to the 26th infantry. He was transferred to New Jersey and then hurried across to England.

Arriving there the regiment was joined up with an English regiment and sent to France where he was given intensive training and then sent to the front. For seven months he has endured the hell of the trenches, and was through the terrific fighting in the Picardy and Flanders campaigns of the great German offensive. 

In a recent letter describing the conditions in the front line trenches he said the field reminded him very much of a terrible thunder and lightening storm in the mountains around Fish Lake intensified a thousand fold. His letters were always cheerful and full of hope for the future. 

He is survived by his infant son, his mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Gledhill; four brothers, Dr. T.R. Gledhill, of Richfield; Lafayette, Alden, and Fred Gledhill, of Sigurd, and two sisters, Mrs. Randall Christensen, of Moroni, and Mrs. Ernest Nebeker of Richfield. 

A sad, but glorious death came to Herbert Gledhill. To die facing the foe, fighting for the liberty of mankind is the most glorious fate any man can aspire to. He gave his life for his fellow man and greater love hath no man than this. 

The sympathy of the entire community goes out to Mr. and Mrs. Gledhill, but the community also is proud that Sevier county has sons to lay on the alter for the liberty of mankind. 

In the death of Herbert F. Gledhill, killed in action in France, June 14, Sevier county has the great European war brought close to home. He is the first Sevier county man to die the heroic death of the soldier in the great struggle for human liberty, with is face to the foe. 

The Reaper extends sympathy and condolence to the bereaved family yet we congratulate the family for having a son and brother die so gloriously. In the very nature of things it was to be expected that Sevier county blood was to be spilled and many anxious fathers and mothers will constantly scan the casualty lists for names they would rather not see among those who had fallen. 

Herbert F. Gledhill has given his life for a great cause, the cause that the immortal Lincoln stated so well when he said, "that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth."

Hero's Body Returned To Richfield~

Remains of Herbert F. Gledhill arrive in Hoboken Friday Morning

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Gledhill received a wire Friday stating that the body of their son, Herbert F., has arrived in Hoboken and will be transported to any point the parents of the fallen hero wish. According to the instructions given by the parents, the remains will be brought to Richfield and funeral services will be held upon arrival, after which the body will be taken to Sigurd for interment in the same place where the dead soldier's wife and baby are sleeping the sleep from which there is no awakening. 

Herbert F. Gledhill is one of the American heroes who made the supreme sacrifice for the sake of humanity. He enlisted in the U.S. army November 3, 1917, received his first training in Camp Lewis and Camp Mills, and after a very short time went "over there" with the 26th infantry, going with one of the first divisions sent to the battlefields in France. The young hero was in action since then almost incessantly until a German Shrapnel made his immortal soul part from his mortal body on the 14th day of June, 1918, on the battle field of Chantigny. 

Arrangements for the funeral rites will be made as soon as the body arrives here, and the local post of the American Legion will provide the military honors for their dead comrade.