World War I
William Kile was another Osmond veteran who was somewhat of a mystery. I did not remember seeing this name in all the years of reading the old Osmond Republican newspapers, there was no Kile family history in the Osmond centennial book, and no record of a Kile buried in any of the local cemeteries.
When I searched for a William Kile on Ancestry.com, it came up with William Halsey Kile and Donald William Kile. So which one was the veteran I was looking for? I couldn’t assume that it was the former. I found a military registration for Donald, who served in WWII, which confirmed that he was a veteran, and also found that he was the son of William H. Kile.
I then found a WWII registration card for William, and with the birth date information from that record I was able to find William on the Find A Grave website, which not only told me that he was buried at Plainview, but it also showed a veteran’s stake next to his headstone in the picture on the website, which confirmed that he was the veteran I was looking for. From there I found more information about his service, although not as much as I would have liked.
William was one of 10 children born to Dr. William T. Kile (another William) and Amy Kile. Amy’s maiden name was Halsey, which is how the younger William got his middle name. I noticed that was also the middle name of the three other Kile boys, Paul, Kenneth and Dwight. Paul died at birth, and Dwight had a severe illness when a year old and died at age 6. Kenneth Kile, like his brother, served in the military. Of his six sisters, two died as young children and one as a young mother. The others lived long lives.
William was born July 12, 1898, in Plainview, and he is shown there in the 1900 census at age 1, and was also there in 1910 and 1920. In the 1930 and 1940 censuses, he is shown as living in Logan Precinct, which would put him somewhere southeast of Osmond. His WWII registration card also lists his residence as Osmond.
As far as his military service, I couldn't find a WWI registration card or anything showing when he signed up. In the few records I could find, it shows him on an Army transport ship arriving from Brest, France June 3, 1919, on the ship “Troy.” It also shows his residence place as Plainview, but the U.S. Veterans Administration Master Index, which shows a military date of June 13, 1919 — probably when he was released — shows his residence place as Foster.
William is listed on the transport ship as being a Private First Class with Company D, 305th Regiment Engineers. According to Wikipedia, the 305th was first organized at Camp Upton, N.Y., in WWI as part of the 77th Infantry Division, and participated in the following campaigns: Oise-Aisne, Meuse-Argonne, Champagne and Lorraine.
In the census reports and on his World War II registration, William is listed as a farmer. He married his wife, Grace, around 1921, and the couple had three children, Donald, Evelyn and Thomas.
His youngest son, Thomas, was killed in a truck accident when he was only 22 years old. Thomas was also a veteran, having enlisted in the Marine Corps at Omaha at age 18. He served from July 1943 to November 1945. According to his obituary, he lived all his life in the Osmond community, but I did not find him in the list of Osmond veterans with his father.
William's listing on Find A Grave only shows Donald and Thomas as his
children, so I was curious to find out what happened to Evelyn. After a little digging, I found a service record for her as well. She served in the United States Cadet Nurse Corps, which fulfilled an urgent need for nurses during World War II.
William’s family is full of those who served their country, who should all be honored: himself, his brother Kenneth, his sons Donald and Thomas, and daughter Evelyn. If I do a little digging, I might even find out that his father was in the military.
I did actually find that his grandfather, Ransom “Rant” Kile, was a Civil War veteran and when he died in 1933, he was the last Civil War veteran (in the county?). When the Civil War broke out in 1860, he had enlisted and served 10 months. He then contracted typhoid fever and was sent home to die but recovered and re-enlisted, serving until the end of the war! That’s quite a family legacy!
William is buried in Pleasant View Cemetery at Plainview, as are other members of the Kile family, while some are buried at Plainview Memorial Park Cemetery, including Grandpa Ransom.
