Lee Raber


The following profile was researched and compiled by Candice L. Buchanan and Glenn J. R. T. Toothman III, for www.RainDayBoys.com.


Birth: 7 September 1897 Harrison County, West Virginia

Parents: Harrison Raber and Alice Efaw

Residence at time of enlistment: Blacksville, Wayne Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania

Physical description: Medium height, medium build, blue eyes, light brown hair

Death: Influenza epidemic, 16 October 1918 aboard Empress of Britain, which was transporting his unit from the United States to Europe.

Age at death: 21 years old

Last resting place: Buried at sea. Tablets of the Missing, Suresnes American Cemetery, Suresnes, Île-de-France, France

Military rank: Serial No. 4442690. Private. Exceptional Medical Replacement Unit 50.

Additional information:

Lee Raber worked for the Blacksville Railroad Company before going to war. When the Empress of Britain left port in New York on 6 October 1918, bound for Europe, carrying Lee's unit and others off to war, the influenza epidemic came too. The Excerpt Narrative Report filed to document the ship's voyage noted 15 deaths, the first 10 of these were buried at sea. Lee was number 8. He is remembered on the Tablets of the Missing at Suresnes American Cemetery just outside Paris.



SOURCES:

  • Suresnes American Cemetery (Suresnes, Île-de-France, France), Lee Raber inscription, Tablets of the Missing; personally read and photographed by Candice Buchanan and Glenn Toothman, 2018.
  • "United States, Army Transport Service Passenger Lists 1910-1939," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=61174 : accessed 30 June 2018), Lee Raber entry, line 187, page 11 (typed)/27 (stamped), Empress of Britain, box 432; citing Lists of Outgoing Passengers, 1917-1938. Textual records. 255 Boxes. NAI: 6234477. Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985. Record Group Number 92. National Archives, College Park, Maryland.
  • "United States, Army Transport Service Passenger Lists 1910-1939," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=61174 : accessed 30 June 2018), Lee Raber entry (Deaths during voyage), Excerpt Narrative Report Voyage No. 2, H. M. T. Empress of Britain, box 93; citing Lists of Outgoing Passengers, 1917-1938. Textual records. 255 Boxes. NAI: 6234477. Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985. Record Group Number 92. National Archives, College Park, Maryland.
  • "United States, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=6482 : accessed 30 June 2018), Lee Raber draft card, serial no. 47, Local Draft Board, Waynesburg, Greene County, Pennsylvania; citing National Archives microfilm publication M1509, FHL roll 1892940.
  • "WWI Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917-1919, 1934-1948," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=60884 : accessed 30 June 2018), Mrs. Alice Efaw Raber, mother of Lee Raber - application no. 317200; citing World War I Veterans Service and Compensation File, 1934–1948 (RG 19, Series 19.91), Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.