Dexter Allen
Dexter Allen was born in Statesboro, GA to lifelong Georgia residents Angeline and Lawson Allen on February 3, 1896. Dexter had five sisters; Ollie, Effie, Ester, Maud, and Ineze, and one older brother, John. Dexter’s father, Lawson, was a farmer and when Dexter registered for the United States WWI Draft on June 5, 1917, he noted that his present trade was farming under the supervision of his dad. That same year Dexter was chosen for the United States Army and drafted at age twenty-one. Dexter was sent to carry out his basic military training in Camp Wheeler, a WWI mobilization and training center in Macon, GA. After completing his training, he was put into the 23rd Infantry, Second Division, Co. D as a Private, as he had no prior military experience.
Dexter and his company were then sent to join the fight in France, where they found themselves around the French compound of Chateau Thierry. The Battle of Chateau Thierry was one of the first uses of American Expeditionary Forces and was many soldiers' first experience at war, just as Dexter Allen. The Battle is regarded as a pivotal moment in the war and the victory is largely credited to the American soldiers due to their ability to finally halt the German’s offensive advancements to Paris, sending them back across the Marne River. It was here, only fifteen days prior to the Battle of Chateau Thierry, that Dexter suffered a fatal wound to the chest brought on by shell shrapnel on July 1, 1918. He succumbed to his wounds two days later and died on July 3, 1918. A sergeant with Dexter when he was fatally injured stated, “Dexter and I were sitting on what they call a fox hole resting, when a shell bursted above our heads, and a piece of shrapnel hit Dexter over the heart, he told me he was hit. I cut his clothes from the wounded place, and bandaged it for him, and then called for the stretcher bearers...He was not unconscious, and faced death like a man, fought like a man, and died like a man.”
Dexter’s family received the news of his death on July 27, 1918, via telegram from Washington D.C., and the Bulloch Times and Statesboro News confirmed his death soon after. Dexter was buried in an American cemetery in France until June 17, 1921 when his body was exhumed and sent home to Bethlehem Cemetery in Bulloch County. Dexter Allen was the first soldier from Bulloch County to die in WWI. The American Legion Auxiliary Unit #90 of Bulloch County was established in 1919 and holds the namesake of Dexter Allen in his honor. The Statesboro Times reported that members of the newly formed American Legion “were present in uniforms and took part in the funeral services.”
Works Cited
Bulloch Times and Statesboro News (1918). Bulloch County Newspapers (Single Issues). 861.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/bulloch-news-issues/861.
Bulloch Times and Statesboro News (1921). Bulloch County Newspapers. July 21, 1921.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/52731086/dexter-allen#view-photo=254943291.
“Camp Wheeler.” Georgia Historical Society. Accessed March 2, 2024.
https://www.georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/camp-wheeler/.
George T. Raach. “American Stand at Chateau-Thierry.” Warfare History Network. December
2012. Accessed March 2, 2024.
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/american-stand-at-chateau-thierry/.
Headstone of Dexter Allen, 1896-1918. Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery,
Statesboro, Georgia. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/52731086/dexter-allen.
Items 3, 5, and 7. Folders 5 and 7. Box 1. American Legion Auxiliary, Dexter Allen Unit no.90,
records, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections
United States World War I Draft Registration Cards including Dexter Allen. 1917-1918.
Information provided by FamilySearch.com.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YY8-ZRS?i=94&cc=1968530&pers
onaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A7WMW-D42M.
World War I Statement of Service Cards including Dexter Allen. 1920-1929. Information
provided by FamilySearch.com.https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP8G-TDZQ.
1900 United States Census including Dexter Allen, Bulloch County, Georgia. Sheet 31B Line 97.
Information provided by FamilySearch.com.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3F5-P5Q.