Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
DAN OBRADOVICH, of Wakefield, stands next to the grave of Peter Gedda, of Bessemer, who was killed in World War I exactly 100 years ago today.
By RALPH ANSAMI
Bessemer - REQUIESCAIT IN PACE (rest in peace) is engraved in Latin on the bottom of a prominent tombstone in Bessemer's Hillcrest Cemetery, where the city's first recognized war hero lies.
Corp. Peter Gedda, of the U.S. Army's Fourth Infantry Division, 39th Infantry Regiment, Company D, died 100 years ago today in France in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. It turned out to be an extended battle which helped bring an end to World War I for France and the Allied Forces against the Germans.
Although the offensive was carried on for two months, Gedda was killed on the first day he arrived for battle.
Dan Obradovich, of Wakefield, a former instructor at Gogebic Community College and a World War I historian, said Monday, "World War I is sort of a forgotten war, like the Korean War."
He said U.S. soldiers were "totally unprepared for the war," but it did help in preparation for the U.S. involvement in World War II.
World War I began in 1914, after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand set off a rapid series of events, and lasted until 1918. Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the U.S. (the Allied Powers.)
World War I marked the first combat in which machine guns, airplanes, tanks and mustard gas were used extensively.
Gedda, who was born April 16, 1888, was one of the "Three Doughboys" who entered combat from the Gogebic Range, Obradovich said. He was described as a 30-year-old bachelor who worked in the Wakefield mines.
The Bessemer American Legion Gedda-Cychosz Post 27 is named after him and a World War II veteran. U.S. Navy Seaman First Class Francis Cychosz, of Bessemer, died on board the USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
Pictures of Gedda and accounts of his funeral are framed in the Legion post across from the Gogebic County Courthouse parking lot.
The other two area World War I Doughboys were Fritz Frederickson, of Wakefield, and Jack Toomey, from Marenisco, an uncle of Obradovich.
Frederickson survived the battle, but ironically died of influenza on a ship after coming home from the war in April of 1919.
Toomey returned to Marenisco.
Obradovich said of the 53,000 Doughboys who died in the conflict, around 27,000 succumbed to non-combat illnesses.
Gedda laid to rest
The body of Gedda was disinterred from France and shipped to Bessemer in 1921. He was laid to rest in the cemetery in Bessemer with a great deal of fanfare and community pride.
A newspaper account of the funeral noted Gedda was the first soldier from Bessemer to die in a world war. The funeral was conducted at the St. Sebastian Church, with the Rev. Charles Swoboda presiding.
Spanish American War veterans were among the military representatives making up the color guard.
All commerce in Bessemer was halted for an hour during Gedda's funeral.
The Doughboys were so named for a variety of reasons, according to Obradovich. He said it is an old infantry name, possibly derived because of their lumpy backpacks, the fact they were fed a lot of dough before entering combat by the Red Cross or because they had dust on their uniforms.
The Associated Press reported during seven weeks of combat in France, 1.2 million troops led by Gen. John Pershing fought to advance on positions held by about 450,000 Germans. There were numerous simultaneous attacks by the Allied Forces.
Obradovich, who has trekked to the cemetery in France, said the first American Doughboy to die was buried in Iowa, another place he has visited.
The Germans never took Paris, as they planned, and lost 2 million soldiers in World War I. French, British and Russian casualties were also substantial. More than 16 million people, including soldiers and civilians, died in the war.
The Allies won the war, although "the Germans didn't feel like they had lost," Obradovich said.
A young German named Adolph Hitler suffered gas wounds and was incensed that the Germans signed an armistice. Still, the Germans returned home as war heroes, but their government would soon collapse.
