Samuel Kornelius Nord

While in his third semester at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, Lieutenant Nord enlisted in the army and was sent to Fort Sheridan for training.

He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and assigned to Camp Custer. In July, 1918, he was sent to Camp Mills where he would be assigned to Company E, 388th Regiment. The regiment was then sent to France but upon arrival, First Lieutenant Nord was assigned to Company K, 128th Infantry, 32nd Division. He and his company saw heavy fighting on the Meuse-Argonne front for forty days. On November 3, 1918, he was promoted to First Lieutenant. Then, on November 10, 1918 (just a day before the Armistice) he was sent out with a group of men with the purpose of finding and engaging with the enemy. While they were originally able to drive back the enemy, the Germans counterattacked and First Lieutenant Nord and his men were overwhelmed resulting in the loss of all officers. Nord, as the last remaining officer, attempted to rally the men and pushed on to confront the 192nd German Division at the Dun sur Meuse bridgehead.

1st Lt. Nord received three bullet wounds from a machine gun and was originally picked up by stretcher bearers. However, they could not carry him and keep up with the retreat. Thus, Nord was reported to have said, “Boys! Drop me and save yourselves!” (Abstracted from pages 189-190 of The History Of Barron County, published in 1922, by H.C. Cooper, Jr. & Co., Minneapolis, Minnesota)