Service in sector varied widely in character, but included sometimes preparing for the possibility of either side taking the offensive, incessant efforts by each side to discover the intentions of the opponent through trench raids, local attacks and frequent artillery and gas bombardments. The most memorable event associated with Sector Occupation involves the deaths of the AEF's first men killed in action: James Gresham, Merle Hay and Thomas Enright all of Company F, 16th Infantry, 1…showed first 75 words of 393 total…

…showed last 75 words of 393 total…and all of them stunne! d; dragging them back through the gaps in the wire as the open side of the box barrage again was closed with forbidding bursts. Another three minutes and all guns ceased...Three men lay dead in the muddy bottom of the trench. Corporal James B. Gresham, Private Thomas F. Enright, and Private Merle D. Hay. They were buried that afternoon near Bathelemont on a little rise of pasturage... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**