| Joseph
B. Westnedge: War Hero
1872-1918
Barbed wire. Mustard gas. Machine-gun fire. No man's land. Colonel
Joseph Burchnall Westnedge faced these deadly challenges daily as
he defended our country in the first World War. Born on 16 August
1872 of an old Kalamazoo family, Westnedge first entered military
life when he joined the Michigan National Guard in 1894. He later
attended Kalamazoo College where, as the star halfback, he led the
football team to an undefeated season in 1895. During his subsequent
military career, Westnedge steadily climbed the military hierarchy:
first as a captain during the Spanish-American War in 1898, then
as a lieutenant-colonel during the Jackson prison riot of 1911,
and finally as a colonel after his service on the Mexican border
in 1916.
When the United States declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917,
"Colonel Joe" was a manager at a Kalamazoo paper company.
Answering the nation's call to arms, Westnedge remarked: "We
are going, perhaps never to return, and the parting is hard, but
a call greater than any other summons us away." Westnedge was one of the few National
Guard officers to retain his command in the National Army, a
tribute to
his competence as a commander. Enormously
popular with his troops, Westnedge was always concerned with their
well-being. He commanded the 126th Infantry, an integral part of
the famous 32nd "Red Arrow
Division". One of the earliest
American units to be sent overseas, the 126th spent the end of 1917
training in Waco, Texas, and arrived in France in March 1918. The
126th then participated in a number of key offensives in the summer
and fall of that year. A few days before the armistice was signed,
Colonel Westnedge had been sent to an army hospital in Nantes, France.
He died there of complications of tonsillitis on 29 November 1918,
only eighteen days after the war had ended.
Two years later his body was finally brought home and reburied
at Riverside Cemetery. Local mourning for "Colonel Joe"
was widespread; thousands of people lined the streets for his funeral
procession. West Street was renamed Westnedge Avenue as a tribute
to the city's fallen hero. Cited for the Distinguished Service Cross
and awarded the French Croix-de-Guerre, Joseph B. Westnedge had
honorably served his country and his community.
Written by Kris Rzepczynski, Kalamazoo
Public Library Staff, 1998. Updated 25 June 2005.
|
For further information, we suggest
these sources:
|
| Video 940.4 c |
Colonel Joe and the Red
Arrow Army. Marquette, MI: Forgotten Films, c1999. |
| |
History Room Name File: Westnedge, Joseph B. |
| H 920 M481 |
Meader, Robert Eugene. Historical Directory, vol. 35. |
| |
"By George, the Saga of Kalamazoo's Doughboys," Encore,
November 1995, vol. 23, page 18. |
| |
"Documentary Tells Local Man's Life, Hero's Role in World
War I, " Kalamazoo Gazette, 2 November 1995, page
D3. |
| |
"Westnedge Led Red Arrow Unit," Kalamazoo
Gazette,
15 October 1989, page F3. |
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