Those who paid the ultimate sacrifice

Five men from Churchill County died as a result of their service during World War I.

George Davis died in the hospital in France from pneumonia on June 29, 1918. The headline from the Churchill County Standard read George Davis makes the supreme sacrifice — Unexpected depth brings grief to host of friends of beloved young man.

A cablegram arrived at the home of C.N. Davis notifying them of their son’s death.

From a paragraph in the Standard: “His death was the result of an attack of pleurisy which developed to pneumonia, and although it was known to h s parents — that he was confined to his bed in the hospital, the news from overseas came as a shock to his home.”

James Hall also died from pneumonia, but it was caused by influenza, on Oct. 12, 1918. He was a soldier in Co. A, 127th Infantry, 91st Division. He is buried at Neviers, France.

From the Standard: Mr. James Hall announced the death of her 22-year-old husband after receiving word from Washington, D.C.

“‘Jimmy’ Hall, as he was familiarly known in and around Fallon, is the second Churchill County boy who yielded up his life, and he is buried in the soil of France. George Davis was the other, who also died as the result of disease contracted after entering service.”

George L. McCall died Feb. 13, 1919, as a result of being struck by a train. The Army sergeant served in Battery E 348 FA and was in postwar France as part of an occupation force, according to the Fallon Eagle.

The soldier was the son of Assemblyman David McCall of Churchill County who received details of his son’s death in a letter from the unit’s first lieutenant, Harold H. Huston.

“We are all grieved to learn to learn of the sergeant’s death, for he has always been a good soldier and a very valuable man in the battery.”

A dated record, though, indicated McCall had died from meningitis in Feb. 13, 1919.

Pvt. Harold Charles McCarthy, who was born in Crockett, Calif., but later moved to Fallon, died from lobar pneumonia following influenza. The 18-year-old soldier had been assigned to Army Trng C University of Nevada until his death.

Pvt. Alexander Silva of Fallon was killed in battle on July 18, 1918, in France. The 20-year-old soldier was born in in Portugal before coming to the United States. He enlisted in the Army in Fallon on Sept. 5, 1917.

During his service, the Army assigned Silva to two different infantry companies after he arrived in Europe on July 18, 1918, the first day of the Aisne-Marne offensive.

News of his death was sent to his brother. According to museum archives, Silva was the only soldier from Churchill County who died in battle. He is buried in the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France.