Veterans' Memorial Project

Charles Bowen Busey

Urbana, IL

World War I

Lt. Busey applied for admittance to the Second Officers’ Training Camp at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, and, upon entrance, was assigned to the Nineteenth Company. Receiving his commission he was ordered overseas, sailing on December 27, 1917, as a casual. Upon arrival in France he was ordered to the Infantry Specialists’ School at Langres, Haute-Marne, where he studied and was assigned to duty as an instructor in Minor Tactics. After several visits to different parts of the Allied front for purposes of observation, he finally went to the 310th Infantry, with which regiment he met his death while attempting to storm a machine gun nest near Argonne (Grand Pre), France.
Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army 310th Infantry Regiment, 78th Division, A.E.F. Date of Action: November 1, 1918 Citation: The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Charles Bowen Busey, Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action in the Bois-des-Loges, France, November 1, 1918. While on duty as instructor at the school and Langres, France, Lieutenant Busey was sent to the 78th Division for a week of observation work, where on his own request, he was attached to a front-line battalion; and again, on his own request, was assigned to duty with a company. During the attack on the enemy strong point in the Bois-des-Loges, Lieutenant Busey unhesitatingly and with utmost gallantry led a patrol of four men through a heavy artillery and machine-gun fire toward the position of a machine-gun nest which was holding up the company’s advance, when he was killed by a hostile hand grenade within a few yards of his objective. General Orders No. No. 43, W.D., 1922 Home Town: Urbana, IL

-submitted by Dennis W. Simpson, distant relative, and District Deputy President General-Pacific, General Society of the War of 1812; information also from University of Illinois records and Web sites above

Further information: https://tinyurl.com/2mctn7 https://geocities.com/jabad513/military/dsc_navy_cross/charles_busey.html