Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-31
MOTHER AWAITING
BODY OF HERO SON
Lieut.. Sheehan, Killed in
France, to Rest in ArIing-
ton Cemetery.

In a little apartment at 1882 Fiji
teenth street, a gray-haired mother,
her nine years vigil at an end. spent
long hours alone last night with ten,
der memories of her soldier son, Lieut..
William A. Sheehan. the finding of
whose body in an obscure shell-hole
grave, with those of six of his men,
brings to light a dramatic sequence
of the World War.
With an anxious mothers desire to
claim her lost one, she is awaiting
the word from the War Department
that her sons body is being sent to
Washington for final burial.
Mrs. Eudora Sheehan, the mother,
received the news that her sons body
had been found after nine years
search of the field at Montfaucon,
with happiness, tinged with tears.
Wants 'Her Boy" Back Here.
"Aly son always wanted TO be buried
in Arlington in the event of his death
overseas" she said in explaining the
persistent search. And l want to
carry out his wishes. When he was
at Fort Myer, he used to go fire.
quently to Arlington, and when |
asked him about, it he said: 1 want
to pick out a spot to be buried in
Mrs. Sheehan said yesterday that
she wanted "her boy" brought back
here so that she could visit and care
for his grave. II would feel better
with him here" she added, and l
know he would prefer it,"
Throughout the long years Of fruit
less search that ended only recently
Mrs, Sheehan never once lost hope
that her son would be returned to
her eventually. All these years the
body had been concealed in the dense
woods in the Meuse Argonne. where
Lieut.. Sheehan had fallen fighting
with his platoon of COMPANY r; 3l2th
Infantry, on September %. 1918. his
body and the bodies found with him
evidently had been buried by the
Germans.
Wade II. Ellis. former assistant to
Che Attorney General with wrom
Lieut.. Sheehan was associated before
going overseas, was one of the many
friends of the family who rejoiced
over the finding of the officers body.
Mr.. Ellis had made two vain trips
to France in the hope of finding
some trace of his friend.
Died in Battle.
At the Georgetown University Law
School, where Lieut.. Sheehan gradu-
ated in 1918, members Of the faculty
who knew him in his student days
were happy to learn that his body
Is to be brought back to Washing
ton. Lieut.. Sheehan was a class
mate Of District Commissioner Sid
ney F. Taliaferro and both belonged
to the Delta Chi Fraternity at
Georgetown. His name, with those
of "a other students who died in the
World War, is engraved on me-
mortal plaque erected in the Law
School library, where exercises are
held each Memorial day.
That Lieut.. Sheehan died fighting
bravely at the head Of his men. shot
through the heart by a German bullet,
was made known in a letter received
shortly afterward from Capt. F. II.
McClintock. his company commander.
That letter Is one of the most priced
possessions of the mother, who waited
and searched so long for some trace
of her eldest son.
Mrs. Sheehan's husband died in
June, 1918, at their former home In
Covington, KY, and she came on to
WASHINGTON to be with her son when
he entered the first training camp at
Fort Myer the next month. Lieut..
Sheehan had been associated with Mr..
Ellis when the latter was attorney
general of Ohio and came with him to
Washington. After graduating from
Georgetown, the young man entered
AIR. Ellis law firm.
In the shell hole group were num-
bered the casualties of platoon OF
Company F, S15th Infantry.
Outdistanced Comrades.
: Sheehan and his platoon had driven
on a little beyond the line of the
other platoons in the last attack on
the woods. The young officerl and
six men Of his detachment whose
bodies lay with him had already been
ordered back for reorganization of
the line when they fell. There was no
chance for their comrades to carry
them back or to bury them, for the
ground they left passed at once into
German control.
. That night the regiment was re-
Neved. Not until after the armistice
in November could Sheehan's brother
officers reach the spot again. Three
trips then failed to locate where he
and his men lay. 1t remained for
the tireless vigilance of the Graves
Registration Service, tracking down
every clue to missing comrades. to
find it's way at last to the shell
crater that served these seven war
dead for a tomb.
= Sheehan and the six men, all pri-
Yates, fought and died on that Sep
TENDER morning. The others were
Irving S. Rofis of Brooklyn, n. y;
August H. Rittmiller of Baltimore
and Jesse E. Schall Of Philadelphia,
all Of Sheehan's platoon of f Com
pany; Edward c. Moran of Philadel-
phia and Henry Faller of Pottsyille,
Pa. both Of H Company, Of the 3l5th
and Ellis Eskowitz OF Baltimore, Of
G Company, 3l3th Regiment of the
Sanna division