First Missoula County Soldier Dies in France – William Gilbert
First Missoula County Soldier Dies in France
Missoula county has lost its first soldier on French soil.
Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Gilbert, residents of Orchard Homes, and formerly of Potomac, last evening received a telegram from the war department at Washington, announcing the death of their son. William C. Gilbert, on January 26. Death, the message said, was caused by tuberculosis. The family here did not know of his illness and the news of his passing was a severe shock.
William Gilbert was called to the colors in Missoula with the draft army on October 8. With others taken at that time, he was sent to Camp Lewis. From there he went to an embarkation camp on the Atlantic coast and thence to France. Just how long he had been in Europe is not known definitely.
The deceased was born in Missoula county, up the Blackfoot valley, 30 years ago. At the time of his call to the colors he was running a ranch near Ovando. Shortly after he left for the cantonment at American Lake the family moved from Potomac to Missoula. He is survived by his father and mother, four sisters, Narrie, Hattie, Corie and Bessie, and four brothers, Arthur, George, Howard and Elmer.
The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on March 1, 1918.
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