Trails to the 28th Infantry Division National Shrine

The Brig. Gen. Edward Sigerfoos Memorial stands on the steps below the Shrine to Theodore Davis Boal, which is part of the World War I Officers Memory Wall. PHMC/Photo by Kyle R. Weaver

The year 2018 marks the centennial of the last year of World War I and the 100th anniversary of the Armistice of November 11, 1918, that ended the war’s active combat. (The Treaty of Versailles, which officially ended the war between Germany and the Allies, was signed in June of the following year.) Memorializing those lost in the war was an important step in putting the Great War in the past.

Shortly after the war, Theodore Davis Boal (1867–1938) established what would become the 28th Division National Shrine on his estate in Boalsburg, Centre County. In 1916 Boal had organized a horse-mounted machine-gun unit, providing the bulk of the necessary funds from his own pocket. Most of the troop’s training took place on Boal’s property, dubbed “Camp Boal.” After the “Boal Troop” was deemed fit for National Guard service, it was sent to the Mexican border as the Machine Gun Troop of the 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry. When the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, the troop (then comprising 172 men) became Company A of the 107th Machine Gun Battalion, a unit of the 28th Division.

In March 1918 the officers of the 28th Division, with an eye to their postwar lives, agreed to form an officer’s club at Camp Boal. The division returned from Europe in May 1919. In August, when the first reunion of the 28th Division was held at Boalsburg, a monument was dedicated to the 12 Boal Troop members who were killed in the war. A plaque on the monument noted that it was made from a “simple stone cross, found broken in the debris of an obliterated French village through which our troops passed.”

The officer’s club was relatively short-lived, although activities continued to be held on the grounds. In 1931 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased the land and in 1957 transferred it (including the shrine) to the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission. In 1969 the commission opened the Pennsylvania Military Museum on the site.

Much of the 28th Infantry Division National Shrine is dedicated to the memory of those who died in World War I. The Brig. Gen. Edward Sigerfoos Memorial, dedicated in 1924, commemorates the highest-ranking officer in the American Expeditionary Forces killed in World War I. The iron cross atop the stone monument was a gift from the people of Montblainville, France. It originally stood near the spot where Sigerfoos was fatally wounded.

The 107th Field Artillery Memorial, right, was dedicated in 1948 to honor more than 2,400 men who served in this unit during World War I. To its left, the 109th Infantry Memorial, 1954, commemorates members of the unit serving from its founding in 1822 through World War II.
PHMC/Photo by Don Giles

The tablets on the World War I Officers Memory Wall honoring officers of the 28th Division were set in place between the 1920s and 1930s. The arrangement of the tablets roughly reflects the positions of units during the Battle of the Vesle River. Spring Creek, which runs through the grounds, represents the Vesle. At the center point of the wall, above and behind the Sigerfoos Memorial, is a monument honoring Theodore Davis Boal, who died in 1938. The space had been left open for this purpose as the other tablets were placed. Boal’s memorial was dedicated in 1940 by Gov. Edward Martin.

One of the tablets on the wall is particularly poignant. Capt. Charles Crowe was killed in action in France on November 11, 1918, one hour before the Armistice. Crowe was born in England and moved to Philadelphia with his family around 1902, enlisting in Company G of the 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry in 1904. Still serving when the U.S. entered World War I, Crowe was commissioned 2nd lieutenant in March 1917 and promoted to captain less than a month before his death. PHMC’s collections include two captured German helmets believed to have been sent home by Crowe as souvenirs to his family, as well as the Western Union telegram informing them that Crowe had died of wounds received in action. The telegram and other material are slated to be part of the museum’s new exhibits, currently in development.

The World War II Memory Wall, dedicated in 1997 to all known 28th Division soldiers who were killed in action or who died of combat wounds in the conflict, became a reality after state funding was released in 1995 to renovate the area around the World War I wall. Because the World War II wall was not limited to officers (as the World War I wall was), many more names appear. They are grouped by infantry regiment and listed in alphabetical order.

In recent years, additional memorials have been installed on the grounds to honor the ongoing service and sacrifice of the 28th Division. The Bazooka Boogie Monument, dedicated in 2010, is a replica of a memorial stone placed in Wiltz, Luxembourg, to honor members of the 28th Infantry Division Band, who helped to defend the town in 1944 during World War II. The Korean Call Up Monument, dedicated in 2010, commemorates 28th Infantry Division soldiers who served in Germany during the Korean War as part of NATO’s forces and others deployed in 1951 as part of U.S. forces on the Korean peninsula. The 2nd Brigade Combat Team Monument, dedicated in 2012, honors 82 Marines, soldiers and sailors killed in combat in 2005-06 during the Iraq War. It is modeled after a monument built by soldiers in Iraq and later brought back to Fort Indiantown Gap in Lebanon County. Inside the steel obelisk, dog tags are suspended above a wind chime.

Each year around Memorial Day, the 28th Division’s Celebration of Service is held on the grounds of the shrine and museum. Described as a U.S. Army reunion and memorial service, the event features military helicopters and other equipment, band music, speeches by various state dignitaries, and a colorful array of unit flags. It is by turns a solemn and a celebratory occasion, an opportunity to honor those who are serving or have served, thank their families for ongoing support, and remember those who did not come home.

For detailed information about the shrine and other nearby monuments, as well as related exhibits and events at the Pennsylvania Military Museum, visit pamilmuseum.org.

Each year on the third Sunday in May, the Pennsylvania National Guard holds its Celebration of Service at the 28th Infantry Division National Shrine. Pennsylvania Military Museum

Amy Killpatrick Fox is a museum educator in PHMC’s Bureau of Historic Sites and Museums. She writes a weekly blog also called Trailheads at patrailheads.blogspot.com.