LaRue Hamilton Messenger
Nov. 8, 1898-Sept. 12, 1918
Niles Daily Sun (Niles, Berrien Co., MI) Monday, September 30, 1918, page 1, column 3, continued page 2, column 8 (Microfilm Niles District Library)
NILES BOY PAYS THE SUPREME SACRIFICE
LARUE MESSENGER, 6TH INFANTRY, SON OF MRS. SCHUYLER MESSENGER, REPORTED KILLED
ENLISTED MAY 5, 1917
Had Been Overseas Since April 1—His Brother Arthur is Wounded and in a Hospital in France
Larue Messenger, aged 21 years, son of Mrs. Eva Messenger, widow of Schuyler Messenger is the second Niles young man to pay the supreme sacrifice in the great world war. The sad news was received Sunday night a the Messenger home and was conveyed in a dispatch from the war department which reads as follows:
Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Eva Messenger:
Deeply regret to inform you that Private Larue Messenger, infantry, is officially reported as killed in action on Sept. 12.
HARRIS
Acting Adjutant General
The announcement of his death brought sadness to the many friends of the young soldier, who was widely known throughout this community, having been born on the farm southwest of Niles, and had grown to young manhood there, engaging in the pursuit of agriculture after completing his schooling, until the call of his country led him from his home and to death for the cause he held most dear.
Larue enlisted at South Bend on May 5, 1917. He was sent at once to Fort Thomas, Kentucky, and one month later was sent from there to Camp Forest, Chickamauga park, Georgia, where he was stationed for nearly a year. about the first of last April, he was sent overseas.
For two months the family received no word from him until about three weeks when three letters came from him. In one of them he stated that he was on the front lines in a dugout and the letter was in a hopeful, cheerful strain and indicated the brave spirit that has characterized the letters of many of the stalwart young men who have gone forward with high courage and love of democratic principles in answer to their country’s call to arms.
Larue’s brother Arthur is in a base hospital in France suffering with a chest wound, as reported a few days ago and the word of the death of a son and brother in the family’s hour of anxiety concerning Arthur’s condition came as a shock for which they were unprepared and the sympathy of the many friends of the family are extended in their sorrow.
Larue would have been 21 years of age had he lived until the 8th day of next November. He is survived by his mother and by the following brothers and sisters: Misses Anna, Carrie, Genevieve and Eva Helen, Arthur, Charles Simmons and William, all of whom are at home except Arthur.