By: Timothy H. Smith, Historian & Director of Education, Gettysburg History
On June 28, 1914, a Serbian nationalist assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Within weeks, Europe was engulfed in a bloody conflict that would last more than four years and claim some 17 million lives. The United States remained neutral during the early years of the war but declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, entering what became known as the Great War.
A 1921 study revealed that 1,086 Adams County residents served in the armed forces during World War I. Of the 526 who traveled overseas, 342 saw combat on the front lines. Six local men were cited or decorated for gallantry in action. The county also contributed twelve nurses, seven of whom served with the American Expeditionary Forces. In total, thirty-seven men from Adams County lost their lives on foreign soil, while sixteen more died in training before they could deploy. Sixteen were killed in battle, nine died from wounds, twenty-five from disease, and three in accidental deaths. Another fifty-seven returned with battle scars, and thirty-two suffered the effects of poison gas.
Early Life and Service
Albert Jacob Lentz was born near Gettysburg on October 11, 1895, to Israel C. Lentz and Susanna Lovinia Guise. As a young man, he worked at the Eagle Hotel, the Gettysburg
Roller Mill, and Warren & Weikert’s establishment before leaving Gettysburg for Dayton, Ohio, and later Chicago.
Lentz enlisted in the U.S. Army prior to America’s entry into World War I, serving along the Mexican border during the expedition to suppress raids by Pancho Villa. His unit was among the first deployed overseas in the fall of 1917, initially serving in a provisional battalion. He was later assigned to Headquarters Company, 18th Infantry, 1st Division.
The Battle of Cantigny
On April 27, 1918, during intense fighting near Cantigny, France, Lentz was killed in action. His death marked a somber milestone—he was the first Gettysburg native to give his life in World War I.
In November 1919, on the first anniversary of the armistice, the newly formed Gettysburg American Legion Post was named in his honor. Lentz’s remains were returned to Gettysburg in March 1921 and buried with full honors in the Gettysburg National Cemetery. His gravestone bears the inscription:
“The first Gettysburg boy to make the supreme sacrifice in the World War.”
To learn more about Albert J. Lentz and other Gettysburg citizens who served in wartime, visit the award-winning new Beyond the Battle Museum.