Ogle, Roy V. (P1, C3, L5)

Corporal Roy V. Ogle, 22, a native of Bullitt County was living in Valley Station in Louisville when he joined the Kentucky National Guard’s Company G, 1st Kentucky Infantry on 26 June 1916. Accounts after the war also listed his home as West Point in Hardin County. He later served with Battery F of the 138th Field Artillery when on federal active duty. He was promoted to Corporal on 10 July 1917. Ogle listed his civilian occupation on his enlistment papers as a box maker. He was serving with Headquarters of the 138th when he perished in a train wreck in Gael France on 26 October 1918.

See Kentucky Guard Railroad Related Fatalities 1917-18

The wreck occurred at Gael, France on 26 October 1918. His unit was sent to Camp Shelby, Mississippi for training. They left Camp Shelby on 18 September 1918 and set sail from New York on 6 October 1918. They arrived in Liverpool England on 18 October 1918 and in Cherbourg, France on 22 October 1918. Ogle was one of eleven Kentucky National Guard soldiers killed in the crash. Many more were injured.

According to correspondence by Captain J. C. Hobson, Jr. of the 138th - At 8:50 P. M., October 26, 1918, while enroute from Cherbourg, France, to a training camp at Meucon, France, a train carrying the 113th Ammunition Train collided with the 138th Field Artillery, which had just stopped at the station of Gael, France. The 138th train reportedly had had mechanical difficulties in the trip up to that point.   Headquarters Company of the 138th occupied the last six cars of the train - the compartment and three box.  All six cars were completely demolished.  Other accounts report that 14 train cars were “telescoped” in the event. There are many conflicting accounts of the incident published in newspapers at various times with variation in the numbers of injured and dead and even the location of the wreck. The location had also been reported as St. Main / Mein and Mellistroit.

The men who were killed in the wreck were buried October 28th, in the U. S. Government cemetery No. 18 at Camp Coetquidan, France. Many were returned home in the years following the war. Ogle’s remains were returned from France in August 1920 and were buried in the Mount Eden Cemetery, Shepherdsville, Bullitt County.

The other members of the Kentucky National Guard Killed in the incident are: William E. Aubrey; Buford G. Craig; Norbert V. Henry; Charles Lucas; Watkins A. Moss; Walter C. Neagle; Ralph Rose; James N. Tucker and Garland W. Wells.