Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918), the American writer, lecturer, & poet, most famous for the seminal poem "Trees;" he joined New York's "Fighting Sixty-ninth" Infantry Regiment as a sergeant, refusing officer's commissions in different regiments; assigned to safe rear-echelon duties, he volunteered for perilous intelligence missions to the front; he was killed by a German sniper's bullet on 30 July 1918.
Lest we forget.
Commentary: Before being shipped over there, Kilmer accepted a commission to author a book about the war, to be titled Here & There with the Fighting Sixty-ninth, which he did not live to complete. Kilmer's poem "Rouge Bouquet," about the death of his comrades ("Explorers' Club" № DCV), was first published in Stars & Stripes a fortnight after his own death, & was read at his graveside.
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