Sons of Men - Evansville's War Record
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1st Lt. Albert Craig Funkhouser Co. F, 144th Infantry, 36th Division March 23, 1893 - June 15, 1919

  Albert Craig Funkhouser was born March 23, 1893, at Leavenworth,
Indiana. He received his elementary education in this city and
in 1908 he entered the local high school. In 1912 he graduated and
entered De Pauw University where he studied until 1914. While in
college he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, Indiana
Zeta Chapter.  In Indianapolis he was identified with the Columbia
Club, and in Evansville he belonged to the Bayard Park M. E. Church,
and the Country Club. In 1914 he was admitted to the Vanderburgh
County Bar. His popularity in this city gained him a nomination for
representative to the Indiana General Assembly in 1915. He led the
Republican ticket in the election by several hundred votes.

   He applied for admission to the Signal Corps, Aviation School,
Jacksonville, Florida, on April 17, 1917, and to the first Officers'
Training Camp, Ft. Harrison, April 25,1917. On June 2, 1917 he
volunteered as Sergeant Chauffeur, Quartermaster's Corps, at Louisville,
Ky. He was sent to Ft. Harrison September 26, 1917, and was assigned
to Motor Truck Company 134.  Later he was transferred to
Motor Truck Company 352.  He went to Camp Bowie, Ft. Worth, Texas,
October, 1917.

   He was admitted to the Third Officers' Training School at Camp
Bowie, January 5, 1918, and graduated April 19, 1918  Upon the
completion of his training he was assigned to Co. K, 142nd Infantry,
as sergeant. He was commissioned as second lieutenant in the National
Army, May 18,1918, and was assigned to Co. B, 114th Infantry, 36th
Division (Texas and Oklahoma National Guards). He was assigned to
Co. F, 144th Infantry, September 25, 1918.

   At Camp Mills, Long Island, New York, he embarked for France,
July 17, 1918, on the U.S.S. George Washington.  He arrived at
Brest, France, July 29, 1918 and was admitted to the First Corps
Training School at Gondrecourt, France, August 26, 1918. He
graduated September 21, 1918 and rejoined his comrades of Company F,
144th Infantry. On October 27, 1918, he was promoted to the rank
of first lieutenant.

   His division (36th) was brigaded with the Fourth French Army,
(General Gouraud), and was engaged in the great Champagne advance
from October 6 to October 28, 1918.

   Moving from the front the Division reached Conde-en-Barrois
Area on November 3, as a part of the Armies Reserves of the First.
American Army. From this area the Division moved, November 18, to
the sixteenth training area, Tonnerre, Yonne. Company F was located
at Rugny.

   On the eighteenth day of October, 1918, the Division was cited by
General Gaulin (Corps Commander) as follows:
   "The 36th Division of recent formation, and as yet incompletely
organized was ordered on the night of October 6 and 7 to relieve,
under conditions particularly delicate, the Second American Division,
to dislodge the enemy from the crests north of St. Etienne and the
Ames, and throw him back to the Aisne. Although being under fire
for the first time, the young soldiers of General Smith, rivaling in
their combative spirit and tenacity the old and valiant regiments of
General Lejeune, have accomplished their mission in its entirety. All
may be proud of the task they accomplished. To all the General
commanding the army corps is happy to address the most cordial
expression of his recognition and his best wishes. for their future
service. The past is proof of the future."

   Lieutenant Funkhouser was wounded in the right knee and in the
right hand in this engagement, but continued in action. He was
awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French Republic, for gallantry
On the twenty-second of November, 1918, he was appointed Acting
Town Major for Companies E and F, Daillancourt, France.

   On May 25, 1919, he embarked at Brest, France, in charge of
Casual Company 875, and landed at Newport News, VirgInia, June 9
1919.  In addition to the wounds already mentioned he had been
gassed. On his return to America, while his lungs were still weak,
he contracted lobar pneumonia, which finally proved fatal to him
June 15, 1919. Throughout this time he bore his wounds and suffering with
fortitude, never intimating his true condition to his family. To his
college chum, Lynn McCurdy, who knew of his wounds, he wrote,
have only one favor to ask of you, Lynn, don't tell my parents."

   Hundreds of people came to the military funeral June 19, 1919
and paid a tribute to Albert Funkhouser which was worthy of his
noble sacrifice.  He was buried from Bayard Park M. E. Church in
Oak Hill Cemetery.

   The gallant service of his brother, Paul, had excited the
admiration of Evansville.  When the real cause of Albert's death became
known, when it was realized that not only did he acquit himself
honorably on the battlelied but suppressed his pains so as to cause no
anxiety, the American Legion honored the memory of the two brothers
and named the local organization, Funkhouser Post.
_____

Sons of Men: Evansville's War Record,
Compiled by Heiman Blatt,
Published by Abe P. Madison, 1920
pp64-66.

cdmyers@wowway.com
October 25, 1998