Craig, Harmon Bushnell

Born July 1, 1895, in Boston, Massachusetts. Son of John and Mary Young Craig. Home, Boston, Massachusetts. Educated Brookline High School and Harvard University, Class of 1919 Joined American Field Service, February 19, 1917; attached Section Two. Died July 16, 1917, at Ville-sur-Cousances, of wounds received at Dombasle, Meuse, July 15. Croix de Guerre with gold star. Buried Ville-sur-Cousances, Meuse.

AT the hospital where he had been brought mortally wounded, Harmon Bushnell Craig was told that his leg would have to be amputated. Fully conscious and suffering intensely, he smiled, "Go ahead. I'll only have to buy one shoe then." A few hours later he died ..... And in the diary he had kept faithfully, following the entry of July 15th, there is a blank sheet, for the entries that would have gone on that page are written in red in the biggest Book of all. His citation for work at this time says: " . . . a montré, notamment les 28 et 29 juin, la plus grande énergie en accomplissant son service sur une route découverte et bombardée."

"Ham" was a member of the class of 1919 at Harvard, when, in February, 1917, he left college to enter the American Field Service. On March 2d he landed in France, writing in his diary, "It is wonderful to realize that I am here to help!" and three weeks later he was at the front as a member of Section Two. "Ham" chafed rather at the inactivity of the comparatively quiet sector in the Argonne, but on June 20th he returned from a permission of six days spent with his mother in Paris, to plunge into the work and danger of an attack. For two weeks he toiled almost without rest on the Esnes-Montzéville roads through one of the severest ordeals an ambulance section could experience. The evening of July 15th, as he was loading wounded into his car in the village of Dombasle, near Verdun, Harmon was wounded in the right leg, when a shell struck only a few feet from his car, killing three brancardiers and severely wounding a French lieutenant. "Ham" refused to allow his wounds to be dressed until the Frenchman had been made comfortable, and the delay, with consequent loss of blood, undoubtedly lessened his own chances. He died next morning, at two o'clock, in the hospital at Ville-sur-Cousances.

"Ham's" character was as many-sided as his interests were numerous. In his year and a half at Harvard he won a place on the editorial board of the daily paper and already showed such knowledge and appreciation of the theater that older men predicted a brilliant future as an actor and producer. His diary --- in his five months of service he wrote almost 30,000 words --- is valuable for its literary worth as well as for the intimate, beautiful picture it gives us of his personality. It is written with a charmingly light touch and leavened with humor including little sketches and fragments of versification, as:

Paint, paint, I'm covered with paint ---
There's hardly a part of my clothing that ain't."

No subject was too dreary for the sunny, healthy treatment of his pen, and his observations upon the serious questions of the day are remarkable for their keenness of perception. When noticeable lowering of Allied morale marked the spring of 1917, he prophesied that "the wave of pessimism will recede as it came, leaving hope and determination in its place." He read a great deal at the front, commenting on the books and frequently quoting passages that he particularly liked. Describing the experiences of a night ride when he lost his way in the rain and blackness, he concluded quite simply: "Darkness and loneliness can certainly exaggerate one's difficulties." He loved children and they adored him. One entry begins, "Romped about the fields with Madeleine and René"; and Paris appealed particularly because "it is just made for kids with its big parks and boulevards."

One of the many friends who had known him at Harvard and in the Service describes him as " one of the most beautiful, friendly, open natures I have ever known, -sturdy, upright, and generous," and a friend in his section cried out for all who knew him,

". . . . we never knew
A braver heart,---- a finer man!"

• Tribute from Memorial Volume of the American Field Service, 1921

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He is the brother of John Richard Craig Jr. who also served in Section 2.

Craig was awarded the Légion d'Honneur (Chevalier degree) posthumously on November 11, 2011.