Earl Wayne Burgess

Earl Wayne Burgess was born on January 31,1896, in White, South Dakota. His father, William Adam Burgess (1863) and his mother, Margaret Clara Angeline Fox (1867) already had four children: Norman, John, Florence, and Agnes. Another sibling, Edward, was born in 1899. Earl grew up in White and received his education there while helping out his family in farming.

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On June 5, 1917 Earl registered for the draft into WWI. He sailed on the Tennyson as part of Company D, 341st Machine Gun Battalion, 89th Division on June 4, 1918. He returned on April 4, 1919 as part of the Machine Gun Company for the 104th Infantry. His actual service was with the CL 340th Machine Gun Battalion, 89th Division.

 

He married Mabel Helene Gordon on 20 January 1920, in Watertown, South Dakota. They were the parents of 2 daughters, Betty and Patty. They moved to the Spearfish, SD area where they raised their daughters. He died on 3 January 1943, in Highland Park,  Michigan, at the age of 46 while there on vacation (he died of a heart attack). He was buried in Fairview Cemetery, White, South Dakota.

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89th Infantry Machine Gun Battalion

The 89th Infantry Division in World War I had two machine gun battalions: the 341st Machine Gun Battalion and the 342nd Machine Gun Battalion: 

• 341st Machine Gun Battalion: Part of the 89th Division's order of battle

• 342nd Machine Gun Battalion: Part of the 89th Division's order of battle

The 89th Division was the first American division to move up to the line using American trucks. The division was formed in 1917 and participated in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France. The division was made up of soldiers from Kansas, Missouri, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, and South Dakota.

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