Walter Raymond Wood
The
entire Cross Road community was shocked Saturday eve when the word went over the
line "Raymond Wood is dead." The cablegram read, "Private
Raymond Wood, of 339th Field Artillery, Battery F, died of broncal
pneumonia on Oct. 27, 1918, Somewhere in France." He was a wireless
operator and had been in France since the latter part of August. On the
3rd of August, 1918, at Des Moines, Iowa, he was married to Miss Gladys
Williams of Vandalia, Mo. It is a great comfort to his mother and sisters
that they visited him while in camp and that he had one furlough home. His
mother, two brothers, and four sisters are left beside his young wife. Words
cannot express the sympathy we all feel for these bereaved ones; to his mother,
especially, in this sad time, as she is in the hospital in St. Louis, recovering
from an operation for Gall stones.
Raymond was the youngest child of Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Wood,
having passed his 24th birthday last July 3rd. He was of a sunny, cheerful
disposition and a great comfort to his mother and sisters after the death of his
father. He was a favorite amongst the young folks of the community and was
a boy who was not afraid to say "No" to anything he believed was wrong
and when the call was given by his country he was willing to give up a good
position as a telegraph operator, and was sent May 29, 1918 to Fort Doge, Ia.
for training. His ability was at once recognized and he was put in
training for wireless operator. And while his work was not in the
trenches, his was just as supreme a sacrifice for his country and for our peace
as though he had been in the front line. And we can only say; "God's
will be done." And to the bereaved ones a loving memory of a heroic death
is great consolation at this time. Photo and information contributed by g
grandnephew, Robert Hall.