Osborn, Paul Gannett

Born June 24, 1894, in Rochester, New York. Son of Albert S. and Elizabeth Dunbar Osborn. Home, Montclair, New Jersey. Educated Montclair High School and Dartmouth College, Class of 1917. Joined American Field Service, May 5, 1917; attached Section Twenty-eight. Wounded near Village Gascon, Champagne, June 21. Died of wounds, June 26, 1917, at Hôpital Farman. Croix de Guerre. Buried Hôpital Farman, near Mourmelon-le-Grand, Champagne.

"Youth must give up youth itself, and give
Even its life --- that the ideals of youth
May thus be cherished and forever live."

IT was on his first night of service at the front, with the American Field Service, that Paul Gannett Osborn was called upon to make his sacrifice. His little span of service was brief, but "the swift, clear glow of sacrificial youth" flamed high, before it died, illuminating all it touched, and leaving the radiance of his memory to burn through the years. To him falls the sad distinction of being the first American killed after our entrance into the war.

Paul Osborn and his brother together joined the American Field Service with the Dartmouth unit, in May, 1917. Section Twenty-eight, of which Paul was a member, received its baptism of fire on the night of June 21st. Driving over a muddy road, near Village Gascon, Champagne, Paul came upon a comrade's machine stuck in a shell hole, and stopped to help, despite a heavy German barrage. Before the car could be extricated Paul was hit, and mortally wounded. He was hurried to the Farman hospital, near Mourmelon-le-Grand, where every effort was made to save his life, but gangrene set in and he died a few days later. Stanley Hill, a fellow member of that section, who himself died of wounds a year later, wrote of Osborn's courage and consideration in those last days: "Paul was wounded on Thursday night but fought death until Tuesday morning. If anything happens to me, I pray God that I may be as noble, as courageous, and as thoughtful of others as Paul was. One of the first things he did was to ask for cigarettes --- he does not smoke himself--- to give to the blessés and attendants around him. About the last thing he said was, 'I am going to fight this and win out.' Then he went to sleep, became unconscious, and died . . . . . just as if he were going to sleep. He lost the battle of life, but he did 'win out,' for he won a place of honor in eternal life." Paul Osborn was buried with all the honors that a great nation can bestow. The Divisional Surgeon, speaking at the grave, said in part: "Ahead of your armies you came, American volunteers, to submit yourselves to this stern test, and one of you has already sealed with his blood the close fraternity that unites you to the people of France." General Baratier, of Fashoda fame, closed his beautiful tribute with these words: "Soldier Osborn, sleep on among your French comrades, fallen like you, in glory! Sleep on wrapped in the folds of the American flag, in the shadow of the banner of France!" *⁾

From one who knew him well comes the following: "Paul Gannett Osborn was a splendid type of young American manhood. His was a buoyant and irrepressible spirit that enjoyed life to the full. He was electrical with life. College was an unbounded joy and privilege to him. Vibrant with youth, clean and strong in his living, happy in comradeship, there was underneath a seriousness of outlook and purpose."

The Dartmouth Alumni Magazine remarks:

"It is always that great promise of youth, thwarted by the pitiless veto of war, that abides as a never-ending source of grief ; unless the friends and families of these boys find consolation in such philosophy as that of Osborn's father who in a letter writes this brave sentence : 'It is hard to do so, but we try to think that our boy has done more by his death in this noble endeavor than he could do in any other way.' "

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

*⁾ NOTE. General Baratier's complete address appears on page 289, Volume II, of the History of the American Field Service in France.