Though he’s not physically buried in Centralia, a headstone still stands at Washington Lawn Cemetery honoring U.S. Army First Lieutenant Elmer John Noble, who was killed in action on Sept. 26, 1918, less than seven weeks before the end of World War I.
Noble was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest award in the Army behind the Medal of Honor.
American Legion Grant Hodge Post 17 member Bob Shirer — himself a U.S. Navy veteran who served on the submarine USS Greenfish from 1958 to 1962 during the Vietnam War — was visiting Washington Lawn Cemetery when he noticed Noble’s tombstone was in need of some cleaning.
While cleaning it, he noticed the inscription on the tombstone.
“I noticed it said ‘buried in France,’ and thought, ‘Payton is over in Germany, I should see if she can find his tombstone there,’” Bob said in a phone call with The Chronicle.
Payton is his granddaughter, U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Payton Shirer, who is currently stationed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
There, she works as the base’s Installation Personnel Reliability Assurance Program lead — responsible for ensuring those working with nuclear weapons and systems are mentally and physically fit to do so.
As it turns out, Ramstein Air Base is only about a two-and-a-half hour drive from where Noble is buried in France, the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery.
Payton was able to visit and leave flowers in Noble’s memory.
“Standing around the graves of those who made the ultimate sacrifice, I feel a profound sense of respect and gratitude,” Payton said in an email to The Chronicle. “I think these experiences will stay with me forever, and it reinforced the importance of honoring and remembering those who have served.”
Dedicated in 1937 and covering just over 130 acres in northeast France close to the Belgium border, the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery is the resting place of a total of 14,246 American service members — the majority of whom lost their lives during WWI’s Meuse-Argonne Offensive, according to the American Battle Monuments Commission.
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was one of the last major battles of the war. It began on the day Noble was killed in action and ended on the day WWI came to a close, Nov. 11, 1918, when the armistice was signed.
It is considered one of the battles that ended WWI and was the largest military operation conducted by American Expeditionary Forces during the war, with over a million U.S. service members participating along with many allied French forces.
It is also one of the deadliest military campaigns in U.S. history, with more than 26,000 U.S. service members killed during the battle’s approximately six-week span, in addition to over 120,000 additional casualties, according to the National Archives.
Given the brutal nature of the trench warfare that had already raged in the region since WWI’s start in 1914, Noble had the tough task of trying to inspire the men in his infantry regiment to go into battle as their lieutenant.
On the day the Meuse-Argonne Offensive began, Noble was serving with the 364th Infantry Regiment, 91st Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Bois-de-Cheppy, a small French commune in the northeastern part of the country.
“Lieutenant Noble gallantly led his men under heavy fire in an attack through barbed-wire entanglements on the enemy positions before Bois-de-Cheppy,” read an excerpt from Noble’s Distinguished Service Cross citation. “His conduct had a marked moral effect upon his men and he continued leading the attack until killed by enemy fire."
Having been born on Oct 26, 1892, Noble died at the age of 25, and is now buried approximately 8-and-a-half miles north of Bois-de-Cheppy at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery.
The Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery isn’t the only war cemetery Payton has had the chance to visit while stationed in Germany.
She has visited St. Mihiel American Cemetery, which is the final resting place of U.S. service members who died during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, some 40 miles south of the France-Luxembourg border.
Payton has also visited the Normandy American Cemetery on the French coast of the English Channel, which is dedicated to the U.S. service members who died during Operation Overlord — more commonly known as D-Day, the allied invasion at the beaches of Nazi-occupied Normandy during World War II.
“Visiting any of the WWI and WWII cemeteries is always a moving experience,” Payton wrote.
In Centralia, Noble’s grave is located on the west side of Washington Lawn Cemetery.
For those traveling abroad who wish to visit Noble’s gravesite in France, his final resting place is at Plot H, Row 17, Grave 33, at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery.
