OBIT: Cloyd Kocher DAVIS, 1918, Petersburg, Huntingdon County, PA

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CLOYD K. DAVIS OF PETERSBURG COUNTRY'S HERO
Well Known Young Man, Nephew of Altoona Attorney, Makes Supreme 
Sacrifice for World Liberty, On French Battlefield

  Cloyd Kocher Davis, oldest son of Elmer M. and Ella Kocher Davis, 
residing near Petersburg, and a nephew of Attorney H. A. Davis, has 
made the supreme sacrifice while fighting gloriously for country and 
country's cause.  One week ago his father received a message from 
Washington that Cloyd was "missing in action," on October 4th, last 
Wednesday, his parents received his Bible accompanied by the following 
letter from a Y.M.C.A. man in Paris:
  "Mr. and Mrs. Davis, Petersburg, Pa.
  "If the enclosed Bible reaches you you will either recognize it as 
your son's or know that it is intended for another Mr. and Mrs. Davis 
in your place.  Perhaps in that event, you may aid in getting it to the 
parents of the boy whose name is stamped on the cover.
  "The sergeant of young Davis' brigade found him lying at the base of 
a tree on the grass, some distance from the hole of the shell which had 
evidently killed him.  He evidently had crawled to the tree and then 
taken this Bible out of his pocket, for the Sergeant said he held it in 
his hands clasped across his chest.
  "He wanted to be sure the book reached you, so he took it and 
requested me, a "Y" man, to send it.  I know that you have had the news 
of your son's glorious death before this and I am sorry it was not my 
privilege to know your son personally, but we know his brigade never 
turned back, and this tree, where he fell, was on top of ____ mountain, 
which had been desperately battled for four days, but which these boys 
had taken in a few hours, and carried for their old division - their 
general's characterization of this as one of its most glorious 
victories.
  "So you have entered into that high fellowship of those who are 
privileged with the deepest understanding and appreciation of what our 
cause of Justice and Liberty means to men, by having made the supreme 
sacrifice for its triumph.
  "Very sincerely,
    "L. R. Lewis,
      12 Rue d'Agensseau,
        Paris, France."
  In the Bible is the following memorandum: "Found dead.  Schrap.  
Blaue Mt., Oct. 10.  Segt. Trent Morton, 74 Co., 6 Marines."

LIKELY KILLED OCT. 4

  The two messages indicate that the battle in which he was fatally 
wounded occurred on October 4, while the body was not found until 
October 10th.  How long he lived is not revealed, but the family is 
asking for all possible information from his comrades.
  Cloyd K. Davis was born December 30, 1893, and grew to manhood in 
West Township, Huntingdon county.  He graduated from Petersburg high 
school in 1914, taught public school one term and graduated from 
Juniata College in the class of 1917.  On June 29, 1917, he enlisted in 
Altoona, as a volunteer in the U.S. Marine corps, choosing the most 
dangerous branch of service.  The splendid record of the Marines 
appealed to [him] as distinctly worth while.
  He knew that only the Marines have no bugle call to sound a retreat.  
He received training at League Island navy yard and at Quantico, 
qualifying as one of the expert riflemen of his company, which held the 
highest record for marksmanship in the 8th regiment.  In the latter 
part of October, 1917, his regiment was transferred to Camp Crockett, 
near Galveston, where he remained eight months, returning to Quantico.

REGIMENT DIVIDED

  His regiment was divided: he was placed in the 67th Company, Fifth 
Regiment, and sailed for France, August 12th.  He remained in rest 
billet only a few days before going into action.  In his last letter, 
dated September 22, he seemed most hopeful of the outcome of the war 
and early return home.  He wrote: "We will have Heine whipped to a 
frazzle before Christmas.  We now have him guessing whether he will eat 
his Christmas dinner in Berlin or in one of the prison camps."
  He leaves two brothers, Elmer Earl and Earnest Thompson, besides his 
parents.  He has been a most faithful and consistent member of Bethel 
Presbyterian church from childhood, was a high type of Christian 
manhood and a good soldier.  He "fought a good fight" and "kept the 
faith."  He did not choose the weaker or safer part.  Joyfully he 
offered himself for real service and sacrifice, on land or sea, for 
country and mankind.
  When he had done his utmost, while his comrades swept on in hot 
pursuit of the enemy, unattended by surgeon or nurse, without physical 
aid or relief, alone but unafraid, his sacred gift from loved ones, 
stained by his own blood, clasped in his hands, comforted by its holy 
promises, sustained by an unfaltering trust in God, Cloyd's spirit 
slipped away from that mountain top in France to his eternal Home "Over 
There."
  Great, Patriotic America is thanking God today for all her boys who, 
like Cloyd Davis, have given the "last full measure of devotion."  Her 
heart goes out in loving sympathy to the parents who reared such sons, 
while they "sit in silent sorrow beside lonely hearthstones."

Altoona Times, Altoona, Pa., Monday, December 2, 1918