Welton
Ward Woodland was born June 1, 1893, in Arimo,
Bannock County, Idaho. Welton was another of my father's brothers
who worked long and hard to establish the farm and ranch in Marsh Valley
where the family lived from about 1886 to 1915.
An early picture of him shows him dressed in cowboy "chaps" ready to ride a horse after the cattle or sheep.
When World War I came along, his parents accompanied him to Pocatello where he was drafted into the army. Later he was sent to Camp Lewis and then to Camp Kearney, California. He was in France with the 307th Infantry attached to the 77th Division.
He was killed in the last month of that miserable conflict.
After his death, his grieving parents received the following letter from a German soldier: "It was on October 16, 1918. We were lying in the Arogonne, in Grand Pre, facing the American troops. in the morning at about 10 o'clock the American division made an attack towards my division and in this battle your dear son fought bravely. After the attack had been repelled and the Americans forced to go behind their embankments again, your son dared to come over his embankment again towards us, for what reason was unknown to us. In doing so he came under our gunfire and was killed. When it was evening and the American troops were back in their former trenches, your dear son was lying dead very close to our lines. Under the protection of the night, I, with a few of my soldiers, crept over to your son to see if he had any food on his person, because we were very much in need of food. In searching your son we found some chocolate cakes and a piece of white bread and the New Testament. What other things he had on him I do not know, as we were searching only for food. And since I belonged to the Lord Jesus Christ, and am a disciple of him, I could not leave the Testament there to be lost, therefore, I took it with me and I found the name and address. Henrich Sohn"
Welton's body was returned to Willard where full military honors were accorded him.