OBIT: Seth C. HETHERINGTON, 1918, formerly of Blair County, PA

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FORMER LOCAL MAN WAS KILLED SEPTEMBER 28
Lieutenant S. C. Hetherington, One Time Special Apprentice Here, and 
Husband of Sara Petit, Grand-Daughter of S. S. Blair, Loses Life

  Lieutenant Seth Caldwell Hetherington, of Philadelphia, a former 
special apprentice in the Pennsy shops in Altoona, and well known 
throughout this section, was killed in action on Sept. 29, while 
leading a charge in the Argonne, according to word received by his 
father, Albert H. Hetherington, 1939 Chestnut street, Philadelphia.
  The young soldier, while in this city, was very popular among the 
younger social set, and he was married to Miss Sara Petit, a daughter 
of Robert Petit, a former superintendent of the Pittsburgh division of 
the Pennsy, and a granddaughter of Hon. S. S. Blair, of Hollidaysburg, 
former congressman from this district.

OFTEN VISITED HERE.

  Lieutenant Hetherington left this city and went to Philadelphia where 
he continued in the employ of the Pennsy, but often returned to Altoona 
to visit with friends.  Some months previous to his enlistment in the 
army, he spent several days in this vicinity.
  The Philadelphia Public Ledger has the following to say regarding the 
death of this former Altoona man:
  "Albert G. Hetherington, of 1939 Chestnut street, has been officially 
informed by the War department of the death in action of his son, First 
Lieutenant Seth Caldwell Hetherington.  The official notification that 
the young man had made the supreme sacrifice came simultaneously with a 
letter from Lieutenant Gill, one of his colleagues in Company D, 315th 
Regiment infantry.

KILLED AT ARGONNE.

  "Lieutenant Hetherington was killed during the fighting in the 
Argonne while leading his men in a charge.  Lieutenant Gill writes that 
young Hetherington was instantly killed Sept. 28, and that he met his 
end with great bravery.  He told of the grief in the regiment following 
the officer's death and added that the command has suffered an 
"irreplaceable loss."
  "Lieutenant Hetherington was thirty-four years old, a native of 
Philadelphia and was well known as an athlete and a horseman.  He was 
graduated from DeLancey school and the Haverford Grammar school, after 
which he became associated with the motive power department of the 
Pennsylvania railroad.  Leaving the service of the railroad, young 
Hetherington became superintendent of the Medora and Mamora railroad, 
built by an English syndicate in Brazil.  His duties took him 2,000 
miles up the Amazon, where he contracted malarial fever and had to 
return to this country.
  "After a brief connection with the Pennsylvania railroad again at 
Trenton, young Hetherington entered the coal business, in which he 
remained until he went to the officers' training camp at Fort Niagara, 
later to Camp Meade, where he received his commission as first 
lieutenant, and went overseas on July 9, 1918.
  "The Last letter he received from his son, Mr. Hetherington said 
yesterday, the officer wrote from a dugout forty feet underground.  At 
that time, 11 o'clock at night, he and his comrades had worn their gas 
masks almost continuously since 6 p.m.  He declared that he was waiting 
for the signal to "go over the top" at 4:30 the next morning.  In 
almost every letter Lieutenant Hetherington referred to the prospect of 
dying for his country, expressing the belief that it was a glorious way 
to die and declaring that he would meet such a death without 
flinching."

Altoona Times, Altoona, Pa., Wednesday Morning, November 6, 1918