Veterans' Memorial Project
Curtis G. Redden
Danville, IL
World War I
Lt. Col. Redden served with the 149th Field Artillery, 42nd Division. He entered service in 1898 and served in the Spanish-American War with the National Guard of Illinois; served in Puerto Rico with Battery A from Danville, IL; and served at the Mexican border as Captain of the Danville Battery. He was then promoted to Major and Lieutenant-Colonel and participated in offensives in Europe at Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Sedan. He died of pneumonia at an evacuation hospital at Coblenz and is buried in a little American cemetery near Coblenz. Mr. Redden was a University of Michigan alumnus who played End on their football team during 1900-01-02-03. He graduated from Michigan in 1903. He was on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus as a member of the wartime Army and Navy Student Training Corps. A $500 contribution for the column at Memorial Stadium dedicated to Mr. Redden was donated by legendary Michigan football coach Fielding Yost to match a $500 contribution made by members of Battery F, 149th Field Artillery–Redden’s Army unit. American Legion Post 210 at Danville, IL, was named after Mr. Redden.
– submitted by Mr. Richard C. Strub; Mr. Darryl Burrows; and information from University of Illinois records
