During the centennial period of U.S. involvement in the Great War (April 2017-November 2018), staff at the Office of the County Historian conducted extensive research on the local men who served overseas including the 107th NY Regiment and the 369th NY Regiment, highlighting exhibits and presentations on related topics and cumulating with a trip to Belgium and France to memorialize the battle site where more than 40 Orange County men died on one day at the Battle of St. Quentin Canal.
Centennial Tour: Tracing the 107th NY Infantry Regiment in World War I
On September 29, 1918, the 107th New York Infantry Regiment was ordered to attack the Hindenburg Line in an Allied attempt to pierce through the German’s strongest defenses. They encountered fierce resistance and were engaged in the heaviest fighting on the line. The severe loss of men was compounded by the fact that, as a National Guard regiment, most of the men were from tight-knit communities back home. The impact of the Battle of St. Quentin Canal on Orange County specifically was so devastating, that the over 40 local men who died together that day are still remembered each year in a memorial service at the Orange County Veterans Cemetery in Goshen, NY. For the centennial of this battle, we traveled in the footsteps of the 107th NY Infantry Regiment in Belgium and France and held the annual memorial service on the land where these men died 100 years before.
