Battle Participation of the 60th Artillery:
(1) St. Mihicl offensive, France.
1st Battalion, 12-l 4 September, 1918.
2d Battalion, 14 September.
3d Battalion, 14 September.
(2) Meuse-Argonne offensive, France.
1st, 2d and 3d Battalions, 26 September-11 November, 1918.

The 60th Artillery was organized in February of 1918 at Fort Monroe, VA. and was moved to Camp Stuart, VA in April of 1918 for preparation before sailing to France. On April 23, 1918 the entire regiment of 71 Officers and 1,649 enlisted men sailed aboard the transport USS Siboney from Port of Embarkation Newport News, VA.

On board the USS Siboney with the 60th Artillery were the following units:

1st Division Motor Supply Train of 16 Officers and 469 enlisted men.
Balloon Detachments 1-8 of 8 Officers and 654 enlisted men.
Casuals consisting of 1 Officer and 25 enlisted men and 66 enlisted men for Quarter Master Stevedores Replacements.

Other ships that sailed on April 23 with the Siboney were the USS Tenadores, USS Mercury and the USS Henry R. Mallory.

In August of 1917 the 8th (I) Company, Coast Defenses of Chesapeake Bay stationed at Fisherman's Island, VA. was formed into the Headquarters Company 60th Artillery. Battery A, 60th Artillery was formed in January of 1918 from the 4th (I) Company, then stationed at Fort DuPont, Coast Defenses of the Delaware. Battery E of the 60th Artillery came from the 6th (I) Company at Ft. Wool, VA, Coast Defenses of Chesapeake Bay and were moved to Ft. Monroe in December of 1917. The other Batteries of the 60th Artillery came from various Companies from the National Guard of Virginia and the district of Columbia.

The 60th Artillery was one of 3 Regiments that made up the 33rd Artillery Brigade. The other two regiments were the 61st and 62d Regiments. Only the 60th saw any action at the front. The 60th Artillery was issued the French 155mm GPF Gun. The 60th Artillery received it's training at O&T Center Number 1 (Operations and Training) at Libourne, France and the firing range was at Camp de Souge near Libourne.

The 60th Artillery was returned to the States after the war ended and on 26 January 1919 the regiment boarded the HMS Cedric at Brest, France to begin its trip across the Atlantic. On 4 February 1919 the Cedric reached New York Harbor and the 60th touch the good old United States soil again and went to Camp Merritt, NJ. On February 24, 1919 the regiment was demobilized at Ft. Washington, Maryland.

Captain Arthur Van Henry: He attended OCS at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana from 27 August 1917-27 November 1917 where he was given his commission as a Captain in the Coast Artillery Corps. Captain Van Henry was assigned to Ft. Monroe, Virginia and then on 12 December 1917 Captain Van Henry sailed to France. There were 4 ships sailing on 12 December; Adriatic, Pocahontas, Susquehanna and the Antigone. The Susquehanna was the only one of the 4 transports to carry any Coast Artillery Corps units. Captain Van Henry may have sailed on the Susquehanna with the 1st Anti-Aircraft Battalion. After the 60th Artillery arrived in France in the first part of May 1918 Captain Van Henry was assigned to them. He served with the 60th Artillery at the St. Mihiel operations and also during the Meuse-Argonne operations. After the armistice Captain Van Henry did not return to the states with the 60th Artillery. It was common practice to have Officers who were regular army transfer out of the Artillery regiments and other officers who were to be discharged return with the regiment to the states. Captain Van Henry stayed in France with other duties until he returned on 5 July 1919. He was discharged from the Army on 26 May 1920.

Major John Izard, Regimental Adjutant: John Izard was born about 1888 in the state of Virginia and graduated from the Roanoke high school in Roanoke, VA with the class of 1906. It is not known what his fathers name was and the first record of John comes from the 1910 Federal Census and shows his family lived in Roanoke, Virginia. His father must have passed away before 1910 as his mother Roberta was listed as the head of the household. Roberta was listed as being widowed and she was 51 years old so she would have been born about 1859 and she was a native Virginian. Roberta Izard gave birth to 5 children and 4 were living in 1910. Roberta and her husband were married for 10 years before she was widowed. Roberta owned free of mortgage the home the family lived in at 1103 Commerce Street in Roanoke. Roberta Izard must have been somewhat well to do as she did not work and employed a 23-year old female cook by the name of Helen Mitchell who lived in the home with the family. When the Census was taken in April 1910 at the Izard household the family consisted of the mother Roberta and eldest son John age 23 years, daughter Alice D. age 22 years, May F. age 17 and youngest son James J. age 15 all of whom were born in Virginia and likely the house they presently lived in.

By 1920 Roberta Izard had moved from the house on Commerce Street in Roanoke to another home at 201 Hillsboro Ave. in Roanoke. Roberta was 62 by this time and lived alone in the home, which she also owned.

Eldest son John Izard went to college at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia and on June 12, 1907 University President George Denny presented John Izard with an Endowed Scholarship known as the Young Scholarship. This was one of 8 Endowed Scholarships given to a class of 66 who graduated and so John Izard must have been a very bright young lawyer. Three years later on June 15th John Izard graduated with the 120th session of Washington and Lee University with 113 graduates receiving their degrees. In the Lee Memorial Chapel under the shadow of the great marble statue of General Robert E. Lee, John Izard received his Bachelor of Law degree from George Denny who had given him 3 years previous his Endowed Scholarship. Following an address by former Virginia Governor Swanson a ball was held and John Izard and his date Gladys Heald of Lynchburg opened the ball with 24 other couples.

After John graduated in the spring and as the summer of 1910 began he was among the society elite in the Richmond and Lexington areas. According to the Richmond Society column of the Washington Post from July 31st 1910 a camping party was being held on the North River on the Armentrout Farm near Cedar Grove, Virginia. The party was chaperoned by Mrs. Robert S. Spillman and among the 32 campers were John Izard and Gladys Heald who was John’s date at the graduation ball one month previous.

As John Izard approached his later twenties he may have felt the call to serve his Country in the military. In the book Virginia Military Organizations in the World War, John Izard is named as the Regimental Adjutant of the 60th Artillery, C.A.C. In July of 1917 the War Department issued orders forming the 60th Artillery from Coast Artillery Corps units from the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia forts. The 60th Artillery was to be commanded by Colonel Elmer J. Wallace and Captain John Izard was to be the Regimental Adjutant. This was a position John was well suited for as he was a lawyer in civilian life. Being that John Izard would have been a well-known and respected Richmond area lawyer it is assumed from his appointment by the Governor of Virginia to the rank of Captain in the Virginia Coast Artillery National Guard that Izard was not in the military before the war, but was recruited and appointed to this position to fill the need of an Adjutant for the 60th Artillery. Or he many have already been in the Virginia Coast Artillery National Guard and was with the 8th Company from Fort Monroe, Virginia as the Headquarters Company of the 60th Artillery mostly came from that Company. These men in the 8th Company would have been Regular Army Coast Artillery Men and this Company was originally formed in 1907 at Ft. Monroe.

At an unknown date Captain Izard was advanced to Major while in France. After the war ended the 60th Artillery returned to the States reaching New York Harbor aboard the HMS Cedric on February 4th 1919 and on February 24, 1919 the regiment was demobilized at Ft. Washington, Maryland. Major Izard likely was also demobilized at that time, as he was a Virginia National Guard Officer and not a Regular Army officer.

John Izard returned to his former life as a Lawyer and according to the 1920 Federal Census, taken on January 5th, was a Lawyer in General Practice living with his future wife. Izard was listed as a boarder in the home of Lula Andrews of 177 Park Place in Saranac Lake, New York in Essex County in the picturesque Adirondack Mountains. Lula Andrews was a 61-year old widow and her daughter Elizabeth A. was a single 25-year old woman. Elizabeth and John Izard may have met after his return from France or they may have known each other before the war but one thing is for sure they fell in love and married that same year. Also living in the Andrews home was a 45-year old single female named Mary who was a servant employed by Mrs. Lula Andrews as a cook.

Lula D. Andrews was born in Texas about 1856 and her husbands name was Adolphus Andrews who was born in Georgia about 1838. On the 1900 Federal Census Adolphus and Lula were living in Oak Cliff, Texas in Dallas County. Adolphus occupation was listed as a Capitalist and may have been quite well to do. They employed 2 servants in the home and the family consisted of 3 daughters and 2 sons.

John and Elizabeth moved to several locations on the East Coast and lived in the State of Connecticut in 1962 when Elizabeth was issued her Social Security number. It is not known when John Izard died but Elizabeth at the time of her death in August of 1984 at the age of 90 years was living in Asheville, North Carolina.

According to the 1930 Federal Census John and Elizabeth were living in Biltmore Forest, North Carolina in a home that they owned, which was valued at $35,000. John was working as an Insurance Agent and apparently was doing quite well as $35,000 home in 1930 was quite a lot. John employed 3 servants in the home, 2 maids and one butler. Also living in the home at that time was Elizabeth’s mother Lula Andrews. John and Elizabeth had 2 sons by then, John, jr. age 7 and Robert A. age 5; both boys were born in Connecticut.

An interview with Pvt. Dewey H. Bickel, Battery A, 60th Artillery (WWI)