CLINTON — On Dec. 28, 1917, Welby Crang died in France, a member of U.S. forces fighting alongside the British and French to defeat the “Triple Alliance” of Germany, Austro-Hungary and Italy.  Crang was the first American soldier to die in WWI.  Clinton American Legion will honor Crang and fellow casualty Artie Bennett, who died later in 1918, for which the Legion post is named.

As the first two local deaths in “The War to End All Wars,” Legion and Legion Auxiliary members will decorate the fallen soldiers’ graves, starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Woodlawn Cemetery.

Growing up, Welby Crang and Artie Bennett lived on the same street, Bennett at 119 S. Grant Street and Crang just about a block away at 221 S. Grant.  In death, they continued to be near one another, buried first in France and later just a few steps apart in Woodlawn Cemetery.  Crang, whose death came 100 years ago in December this year, actually died of pneumonia, while serving in France.

As stunningly horrific as WWI proved to be, a war during which as many as 100,000 troops could die in a single engagement, more soldiers died in the 1918 worldwide influenza epidemic than in battle.  

The Clinton Daily Public reported Crang’s death and later his military burial in Clinton, on Nov. 8, 1920.  The more flowery language of journalism practiced in those days referred to Crang as, “the red-haired lad that used to spread cheer among his many friends and acquaintances in Clinton.”

Crang was a member of the 51st Aero Squadron with the rank of Sergeant 1st class at the time of his death.  Before the war, he was a salesman for the American Radiator Company.  He graduated from Clinton High School in 1909.

Twenty-three squads of former service men, totaling 184 men, participated in Crang’s funeral in Clinton.  His funeral procession was led by a band and extended from the square to Woodlawn Cemetery.

The Legion also will pay special note in 2018 to the 100th anniversary of the death of Artie Bennett, when the organization again decorates the pair’s graves.