Jim Bradshaw: South La. man was among last to die in World War I
We celebrate Veterans Day on or about Nov. 11, because World War I ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.
If it had ended on the 10th day, a young man from south Louisiana would not have died far from home.
Jasper Joseph Neyland, for whom the American Legion post in Washington is named, was one of the last American soldiers killed in that “war to end all wars.”
He died just hours before that fateful deadline.
“St. Landry was among the places of the United States which suffered the loss of one of its noblest fighters in the last hour of battle, the St. Landry Star-Progress reported. “Captain Jasper J. Neyland, 27 years old, of Washington, fell on the field of honor … on Nov. 10th, virtually the last hour of the war that for four long years shook the very foundation of true democracy.”
Jasper was “a splendid young man with a glorious future ahead of him, and a boy who would have held the admiration and esteem of his people here, for he had made good in the army in the truest sense of the word,” according to the newspaper account of his death.
He was a graduate of Washington High School and LSU, and before the war was “a very valuable and trusted employee” of the Union Sulphur Company in Calcasieu Parish.
“For several years he was principal of the Sulphur High School,” according to the Star-Progress story, “and the sulphur company took such a fancy to the splendid young St. Landrian that they offered him a lucrative position.”
He enlisted in the Army when the U.S. entered the war, was sent for officer’s training in Texas, and was commissioned a second lieutenant at the end of 1917.
“It was not very long before young Neyland was promoted and … doing valuable work as a captain,” the Star-Progress reported.
“It is indeed sad that the young man should have fallen in action just on the eve of the war’s ending, and his relatives and friends were looking forward so fondly to his early home coming,” the St. Landry Clarion said in its account. “His death, however, will be remembered as that of another hero who made the supreme sacrifice in order that democracy and peace might not perish.”
“Captain Neyland died a true American soldier, fighting for a cause he knew was right,” the Star-Progress added. “He was unafraid, determined to do his best, and it is sad indeed that such a noble, exemplary young man should be sacrificed at a moment his efforts could avail nothing, as the fight in which he met his fate was the closing chapter of the bloodiest in the history of the world.”
An impressive marble drinking fountain that now stands in front of the American Legion home first stood on the Washington High School campus.
It was dedicated in Jasper’s memory on March 7, 1920, in what the Clarion described as “one of the most impressive services we have ever witnessed.”
March 7 was an unusually cold day, but “in spite of this,” the Clarion said, the event attracted “an extremely large audience, whose silence throughout the services was indeed a tribute of deepest respect.”
Tears ran freely as Jasper’s boyhood friend Manning Wartelle unveiled the fountain and members of the student body sang “Onward Christian Soldiers.”
A collection of Jim Bradshaw’s columns, Cajuns and Other Characters, is available from Pelican Publishing. You can contact him at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.