Newspaper clipping obituary: 'Founder of Lost Battalion Dies in Flat Rock' (Samuel G. FitzSimons, WWI aviator, d. by suicide near Flat Rock NC)
Book 1, Page 452 ·1918–c.1937
Transcription
A torn, narrow vertical newsprint clipping. The top portion of the obituary is partly torn away. What can be made out:
[Top fragment of opening paragraphs torn; first surviving lines:]
…Charleston in particular were called upon this week to face the loss of one of their bravest sons when Samuel G. FitzSimons died by his own hand on a roadside near Flat Rock, N. C.
Mr. FitzSimons was thirty-eight years old and until recently had practiced law in his father’s law offices on Broad street until the threatened loss of his sight made it impossible for him to continue to follow his profession. He was educated at the Charleston High School and before beginning to read law spent one year at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
During the World War, Mr. FitzSimons served as a combat aviator, being shot down on several occasions and receiving citations for bravery of the highest degree. When he first went overseas he was attached to the Royal Flying Corps where he received instruction in flying over enemy terrain and in combat tactics. He served in France and Flanders for over eighteen months with the rank of first lieutenant and was wounded on several occasions.
It was as a result of his terrible experiences in the aviation service that his sight began to fail him and he constantly refused both government compensation and hospitalization, giving as his reason that the misfortune of partial blindness had come to him as a result of doing his duty, an excellent example to those ex-soldiers who are constantly clamouring for additional pay for services long since rendered and paid for.
Some time ago he went to Philadelphia at his own expense to have his eyes examined rather than go to Walter Reed Hospital where such service is given free, which in view of the fact that Mr. FitzSimons was [by no] means wealthy makes his ac[tion] the more commendable.
He was the aviator that found the “lost battalion,” a fact which was not popularly known in Charleston since he seldom if ever referred to his experiences during the world conflict.
Friends of Mr. FitzSimons recall when they were serving with him on the Mexican Border in the Charleston Light Dragoons, and any of them were short of a piece of equipment at inspection time, that he would invariably insist upon their taking his in order to avoid punish[ment]…
[Page-fold and headline of the continuation; the second portion of the clipping below:]
[FOU]NDER OF LOST BATTALION DIES IN FLAT ROCK
(Continued from Page 1)
…explaining that he would “get some how.”
[Th]ose who were his friends knew him as one of the noblest characters [seen] in South Carolina. His self-abnegation and willingness to sacrifice himself to duty or honor made him one [of the] outstanding gentlemen in this [com]munity. Highly cultured in every [resp]ect, he was an excellent student [of history with a kno]wledge of the [period and its] ramifications…
AI Notes
A narrow vertical column of newsprint pasted to the page, badly torn at top and along edges. The clipping is a single newspaper obituary (continued from page 1) for Samuel G. FitzSimons of Charleston, who died by his own hand on a roadside near Flat Rock, N.C., at age 38. He had practiced law in his father’s office on Broad Street until threatened loss of sight forced him to stop. Educated at Charleston High School and the U.S. Military Academy (one year); served in WWI as a combat aviator, attached to the Royal Flying Corps, served in France and Flanders for over eighteen months as a first lieutenant, wounded on several occasions, received decorations for bravery. He was the aviator credited (in Charleston) with finding the ‘Lost Battalion’ — a fact rarely referenced by him. He refused government compensation and hospitalization for the partial blindness that resulted from his service. He went to Philadelphia at his own expense for an eye examination rather than use the free Walter Reed service. The page 1 portion (now lost) carried the headline; the surviving fragment is the ‘FOUNDER OF LOST BATTALION DIES IN FLAT ROCK / (Continued from Page 1)’ continuation tail.
Lower fragment torn; only partial readings continue, mentioning “‘I’d like to run a [boat?] some how’” and the funeral arrangements via the Charleston Light Dragoons.
Editorial note: The famous WWI Lost Battalion aviators of the 50th Aero Squadron — 1st Lt. Harold E. Goettler and 2nd Lt. Erwin R. Bleckley — both died in the Oct 1918 supply missions and were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. The article’s claim that Samuel G. FitzSimons “found the Lost Battalion” is a Charleston-local tradition; he was likely one of the many other Allied aviators who flew supply or reconnaissance missions over the Argonne pocket. His own modesty about the incident is noted by the obituarist. His death “by his own hand” — almost certainly suicide brought on by progressive war-related blindness — is significant context for the family record.