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George A. Blair was born on August 12th of 1886 in Wise County, Virginia . George was the second eldest child of Joseph and Nannie B. Blair. Joseph was born in April of 1860 in Virginia and Nannie was born in August of 1867 in Virginia. Both Joseph and Nannie’s parents were also born in the state of Virginia.

On the sixth day of June 1900 the Federal Census was taken in Wise, Virginia and C. Y Chapman recorded that the Joseph Blair family had four children. Stella L. was born in March of 1885; George H. A. born in August of 1886; Mattie E. born in April of 1891 and youngest son Charles L. born in June of 1894. All four children were born in Virginia. Joseph supported the family working as a farmer and they lived in Wise County, Virginia in or near Tacoma, Virginia.

It is not known what date that George Blair joined the Army but it is known that he was with the 3rd Tennessee Infantry, National Guard. Rick Lytle who owns his uniform in a private collection notes that there is a Mexican Boarder campaign medal on his uniform.

In late 1915 Pancho Villa had counted on American support to obtain the presidency of Mexico. Instead the U.S. Government recognized the new government of Venustiano Carranza. An irate Villa swore revenge against the United States and began by murdering Americans in hopes of provoking President Woodrow Wilson’s intervention into Mexico. Villa believed that American intervention would discredit the Carranza government with the people of Mexico and reaffirm Villa’s own popularity. President Wilson called out 15,000 militia and stationed them along the U.S. - Mexico border and among these troops was the 3rd Tennessee Infantry. Wilson also informed President Carranza of Mexico that he intended to send a military expedition into northern Mexico to capture Pancho Villa, and Carranza reluctantly agreed. President Wilson then appointed Brigadier General John J. Pershing to lead 4,800 troops (mostly cavalry), supported by aircraft and motorized military vehicles (the first time either were used in U.S. warfare) on a punitive expedition into Mexico to capture Villa.

The 3rd Tennessee Infantry was called on to support the Punitive Expedition into Mexico and on June 16, 1916 they left Knoxville, TN and for the next nine months patrolled the U.S.-Mexican Border. On March 20, 1917 the 3rd Tennessee was mustered out of Federal Service only to be called back into Federal Service with in several weeks.

While service on the Mexican Border it is not known what George Blair’s duty was or what rank he held at the time. At the time the 3rd Tenn. Infantry was mustered back into Federal Service they were assembled at Knoxville, TN. George Blair made is home at 218 Riverside Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee and an active recruiting campaign was conducted to raise the companies of the 3rd TN Infantry back to full strength. As the officers of the regiment were busy in the recruiting efforts and the 3rd TN Infantry was moved from Knoxville in early September 1917, to Camp Sevier, South Carolina where the 30th Infantry Division was being formed. The old 3rd TN Infantry was re-designated as the 117th Infantry of the 59th Infantry Brigade, 30th Division.

Of the Officers of the 1st Battalion, 117th Infantry, Captain George A. Blair is listed as Company Commander of Company C. The two other officers in Company C with Captain Blair were 1st Lt. Lynn Z. Morris and 2nd Lt. George W. McMillan all three were from Knoxville.

As Company C, under the leadership of Captain Blair entered Camp Seiver they found their first jobs was to clear a pine forest to make room for the newly arriving men. This hard physical work proved excellent for the men, as they hardened into fine condition and most of them gained in weight. After fair grounds had been prepared, a strenuous daily schedule of infantry drill was carried out, discipline stiffened, and during the winter and spring of 1918, instruction was given by English Army officers and noncommissioned officers in trench warfare. During the winter, which was a very severe one, one officer and twenty-nine enlisted men died from disease, principally pneumonia. During the eight months at Camp Sevier, all kinds of schools for officers and non-commissioned officers were held. Many of the officers went to other camps for training in special branches.

Orders were received on May 2, 1918, to entrain for duty overseas, and on the night of May 10, 1918, the 117th Infantry went on board transports at New York. The First and Second Battalions with 20 officers and 1922 enlisted men climbed up the gangplank and onto the HMS Northumberland, and the Third Battalion consisting of 27 officers and 949 enlisted men went aboard the HMS Anselm. There were nine troopships that sailed on the morning of the 11th of May and Captain Blair on board the HMS Northumberland started his voyage across the Atlantic. The Northumberland was a cargo ship owned by the Federal Steam Navigation Company and had for the most part been on the Australia, New Zealand and South Africa route before the war. She was 11,559 gross tons and built in 1915 and scrapped in 1951. The 1,942 men of the 117th Infantry were the only men on board the Northumberland that trip so there must not have been much space for troops as being that she was a cargo ship accommodations on board were crude as the men were likely bunked out in the holds of the ship. Some ten days later, after an attack by submarines off the Irish Coast, in which the convoy escaped without loss, the HMS Northumberland docked at Liverpool, England, where special trains carried the 117th Infantry straight through London to Folkestone.

The Thirtieth Division was one of seven American divisions, which were concentrated in the British area for training and for use in case the Germans made their threatened drive for the Channel ports. The 117th proceeded from Calais to Norbecourt, where, under British officers and non-commissioned officers, the officers and men of the regiment were trained strenuously for five weeks. About July 1 the Thirtieth Division was ordered to move into Belgium. The 59th Brigade, which crossed the border on July 4, was the first unit of American forces to enter the war-torn little country, which bore the first assault of the German attack in the world war.

The 117th was assigned to Tunneling Camp, where it was given its final training in trench warfare and in attacking strong points. The 117th Infantry was purely on the defensive while they were in Belgium. The Germans knew the location of every trench, and their artillery played upon them day and night. Night bombers also made this a very uncomfortable sector, for they dropped tons of explosives both upon the front and at the rear. There was little concealment on either side, because this part of Belgium was very flat. Artificial camouflage provided what little deception was practiced upon the enemy. The casualties of the 117th in the two months in which it was stationed in the Canal Sector were not heavy. Only a few men were killed, and the number of wounded was less than 100. Captain Blair and Company C now had their first taste of trench warfare. King George of England and Field Marshal Haig, commander of the English armies, honored the regiment with a visit and made an inspection of its companies.

On September 1, 1918 trucks and busses were provided and the 117th Infantry moved through Albert, Bray, and Peronne to near Tincourt, just back of the celebrated Hindenburg Line. The 59th Brigade went into the line first, relieving the Australians on the night of September 26. The 118th Infantry took over the front line, with the 117th Infantry in close support. The casualties of the latter were rather heavy from gas shells in making the relief, one company losing 62 men to the hospital.

The attack upon this part of the line was set for the morning of September 29, 1918. The 27th American Division was on the left, the 46th British on the right of the 30th American Division. The assault of the infantry upon the fortifications of the Hindenburg Line was to be preceded by a bombardment of 72 hours -- with gas shells for 24 hours and with shell and shrapnel from light and heavy artillery for 48 hours.

In the Thirtieth Division sector, the 119th and 120th Infantry were assigned to make the opening attack, with the 117th Infantry following in close support, and prepared to exploit their advance after the canal had been crossed. The 118th Infantry was held in reserve. The 119th Infantry had the left half of the sector, while the 120th, strengthened by Company H, of the 117th, covered the right half.

The plan of battle was that the 117th, following the 120th, should cross the canal between Bellicourt on the left and the entrance to the canal on the right, then turn at right angles, and proceed southeasterly down the main Hindenburg Line trench, mopping up this territory of the enemy for about a mile. Connection was to be made with the British on the right, if they succeeded in crossing the canal. The facts of the case are that this paper plan of battle worked out somewhat differently under battle conditions. Most of the assaulting companies became badly confused in the deep fog and smoke, strayed off somewhat from their objectives, and their attack swung to the left of the sector. The 117th, which followed, went off in the opposite direction fortunately and cleaned out a territory which otherwise would have been left undisturbed. While it caused endless confusion and the temporary intermingling of platoons, companies, and even regiments, this pall of mist and smoke on the morning of the attack undoubtedly contributed to the success of the battle. The Germans did not know how to shoot accurately, for no targets were visible. During the morning hours it was impossible for a man to see his hand more than a few inches in front of him. Men in the combat groups joined hands to avoid being lost from each other. Officers were compelled, in orienting their maps, to lay them on the ground, as it was impossible to read them while standing in the dense cloud of smoke and mist. The atmosphere did not clear up completely until after the canal had been crossed.

The barrage for the attack went down at 5:50 a.m. The First Battalion, under Major Dyer, jumped off promptly on time, with C Company under command of Captain Blair and D Company in the line, A and B Companies in support. The Second Battalion followed at about 500 yards, while the Third Battalion, with a company of engineers, was held in reserve on the crest of a hill. The tanks, for the most part, became separated from the infantry, but their work was invaluable in plowing through the barbed wire, which had been cut up very little by the barrage. Like nearly everyone else, the tanks lost sense of direction in the smoke and fog cloud, while the majority of them were disabled before noon of the 29th.

Most of the morning was consumed by the 117th in clearing out the area south and west of the tunnel entrance. Some units, mistaking one of the trench systems for the canal, turned southward before actually reaching the genuine canal. They cleaned out thoroughly the Germans, who were in this pocket, but toward 10 o'clock turned northward and began to pass over the tunnel, the left flank skimming Bellicourt and the right crossing near the tunnel entrance. It then turned southward and mopped up the area assigned it.

The First and Second Battalions reached their objectives after vigorous fighting, consolidated the positions they had won, and reorganized their companies, which had been badly scattered and mixed by the morning fog.

The casualties of the 117th on September 29 were 26 officers and 366 men. Seven field pieces, 99 machine guns, 7 anti-tank rifles, many small arms and 592 German prisoners were the trophies of the day. Though the casualties were rather heavy, in view of the machine gun and artillery resistance, which the Germans offered from powerfully held positions; they should be regarded as rather light. With a clear day, without fog or smoke, they would have been double or treble this number.

The 59th Brigade next offensive was launched the following morning, October 8, with the 117th on the left, the 118th on the right and the British were on their flanks. The jumping off line was northeast of Wiancourt, while the objective was slightly beyond Premont. The First Battalion of the 117th launched the attack for the regiment, and the Second Battalion was in close support, while the Third Battalion, which had been cut up badly the day before, was in reserve. The attack got off on time in spite of the difficulties that were encountered the previous night in getting into position under fire and in the dark.

In the face of furious German resistance with all kinds of machine gun nests and an abundance of light artillery, the battalions advanced very rapidly, skillfully knocking out machine guns and maneuvering to the best advantage over the broken ground. The Second Battalion suffered heavy losses during the morning and two companies of the brigade reserve were ordered to its support. Before noon Second Battalion Commander Major Hathaway, announced the capture of Premont and his arrival at the prescribed objective. Positions were consolidated during the afternoon and preparations made for a possible counter-attack.

The casualties of the 117th on October 8 were the heaviest of any day of fighting in which it was engaged on the front. The toll of officers and non-commissioned officers was especially distressing, as it cut down the number of leaders in the coming battles.

It was during the actions on the 8th of October in that advance on Premont that Company C lost their commander, as Captain Blair was severely wounded likely by German machine gunners. Captain Blair would have been taken off the line and sent to an aid station for medical treatment. It is not known what Field Hospital he would have been taken to.

During the night, when all were expecting word of relief after such a strenuous day in which everyone had spent himself to the utmost, orders were received that the brigade would continue the fight at daybreak the next morning. The sector was moved to the right, however, and the front of attack shortened. The drive started before six o'clock in the morning, after the usual barrage, which had been laid down by the artillery. In spite of the fact that this shift was made at night, that the two battalions had to reorganize and gather their men from the attack the day previous, and that the Germans kept up their bombardment by artillery and airplanes, all the companies were on the tape and the attack was launched on the minute.

The resistance slackened during the day, and with the exception of a short check at a railroad embankment, the advance was steady toward the objective. The First and Second Battalions fought side by side, the Third Battalion was held in reserve and to further recuperate. There was a big decrease in the intensity of the hostile artillery fire during the day and the losses were light compared to the day before. Busigny was captured and all objectives reached early in the afternoon.

During these three days of fighting, October 7, 8, and 9, the regiment lost 34 officers and 1051 men as casualties. A count of the spoils taken included 113 machine guns, 28 field pieces, 907 small arms and about 800 prisoners. The great majority of the latter, 703, were captured on October 8, showing that on the final day the men, enraged by the losses of their comrades the day previous, killed most of the Germans they took. This became not an uncommon practice in the latter days of fighting, especially against the German machine gunners, which would kill or wound from their place of concealment a half platoon or more of men before their gun was located and put out of action. This custom of taking no prisoners was confined to no regiment, but became common practice throughout the division.

The next few days were given the 117th to rest and recuperate, a course it sorely needed after the exhaustion and losses of the last three days of it’s fighting. On the morning of October 16, however, it was called back into the line to relieve the 27th American Division. The First Battalion, less Company C, which was relieved just before the battle on account of ptomaine poisoning, jumped off in a new attack the following morning, October 17. The Second Battalion, which followed it, caught the brunt of the enemy fire. Major Hathaway was wounded early in the morning, and Captain Ware, the remaining captain of the battalion, was sent back a short time later with a serious wound. Lieut. Baker, as senior officer, took command and led it the rest of the day, while non-commissioned officers commanded two companies because there were no officers left. Molaine was captured by the regiment, an advance of more than a mile across the Selle River was made, but heavy machine gun fire held up the advance on Ribeauville, which was protected by a railroad embankment. The British had been checked on the right and so it was thought inadvisable to push the capture of the town immediately by a frontal attack, when it might be taken later from the flank. The regiment was relieved on the night of October 17, with the exception of the Third Battalion.

The 117th remained in this area until October 20, when the whole division started back to the rear for rest, reorganization and a new supply of officers and men to bring it up again to war strength. The area a designated was near Amiens. Expectation was that the whole division would be ordered back into the line about November 15, but the signing of the armistice put an end to any return to the battlefront.

For his actions on the 8th of October while in command of Company C Captain Blair was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. His citation reads as follows:

The younger brother to Captain Blair was Charles L. Blair. Among the names listed of veterans from Knox County, Tennessee, Charles L. Blair is listed. Charles L. Blair was noted as being wounded so it is likely that he may have been in Company C with his brother Captain George Blair.

Charles L. Blair lived in Knoxville, TN with his wife, Alta S. born about 1900 and their son Charles R. born about 1928. Charles L. and Alta were married about 1924 and in April of 1930 Charles L. Blair was a traveling salesman for a drug company.

George Blair recovered from his wounds and was returned to the United States in December of 1918, likely not with units of the 30th Division but with wounded soldiers. Captain Blair was discharged from the Army on November 19, 1919 and was listed as 35 percent disabled in view of his occupation. His home of record during the war years was 218 Riverside Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee.

Before George Blair went in the Army he married Myrtle E. about 1915. Myrtle was born about 1883 in Tennessee. George and Myrtle in April of 1930 lived in Nashville, Tennessee at 2802 Oakland Ave in a rented apartment, which was owned by Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Hitch. The rent that George and Myrtle paid was $50 per month and they did own a radio set in the home. George worked for the Veterans Services as a bookkeeper in 1930.

Not much of the life of George Blair is known after about 1930 and it is not known if he and Myrtle ever had any children. George was at some point a "State President" of some military-related organization such as the American Legion, VFW, World War Vets Assn, 30th Division Vets Assn, etc. The date of death or place of burial of George and Myrtle Blair in not known.

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