The only soldier in Louisiana to be named to General John J. Pershing's One Hundred Heroes in World War I is buried here at the Ferguson-Dennis Cemetery
next to the Chamber of Commerce on US Hwy. 171 North. As one of the many veterans buried here, Allen was honored with the placement of a flag on Election Day by about 40 students of the Anacoco High School Leo Club. The flags were donated by the Ladies Auxilliary of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3106.
Sgt. Abe Allen, though wounded by a shell explosion which had buried two buddies at the Battle of Cantigny, dug his companions out and carried them to aid, all the while successfully avoiding heavy enemy fire. The battle, which took place north of Paris in late May 1918, was the first U.S. offensive, and victory, of the American Expeditionary Forces against German forces, specifically, the German 82nd Reserve Division. The battle resulted in the Americans taking 200 prisoners and sustaining 1,603 casualties and 199 deaths. But the victory provided a much needed boost in morale for the Allies. The victory also illustrated to the enemy that the Americans were a force to be reckoned with, according to a website which is dedicated to the one hundred heroes (www.www.worldwar1.com/dbc/p100.htm).
"Into the village of Cantigny we go," wrote Sgt. Boleslaw Suchocki, 28th Infantry, 1st Division, of the battle. "There remained nothing but ruins. We passed on through to the other side of the village. Here we encountered barbed wire entanglements but it was our good fortune to get through these without any mishap. But once across I notice that the boys are falling down fast. A shell burst about ten yards in front of me and the dirt from the explosion knocked me flat on my back. I got up again but could not see further than one hundred feet.
"I heard someone yell 'lay down.'
I knelt on one knee and wondered what would come next..." continued Boleslaw, whose account is also available on the web site.
Allen, who received the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal for his actions during World War I, died in 1941.
Pershing's One Hundred was a list of "one hundred individual acts of extraordinary heroism performed by officers and soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces," according to the list itself, which is now available in the National Archives.
The so-called "one hundred best stories of the war" were sent to Secretary of War Newton Baker by Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, who, a hero himself, "had been able to produce an integrated fighting force of two million men in 18 months, and to fight with it himself as field commander in the last few months of the war," according to the web site.
Pershing was appointed Chief of Staff of the United States Army in 1921 and in 1924, at the age of sixty-four, retired from active duty with the title of "General of the Armies" bestowed on him by Congress.
The stories Pershing's staff compiled were to be the basis for newspaper advertisements, movies, and pamplets, according to an article in the New York Times, dated Feb. 1, 1919.
The list, a 24-page cablegram sent only two months after the armistice, is a "semi-alphabetical listing summarizing the deeds of each individual" according to the website where much of the information about the list's members is available.
The listing, according to the website, should not be construed as exhaustive or complete, but rather a sampling of the heroism displayed throughout the war. Indeed, the list, which was produced in the rush of the after war period, does not contain 100 heroes, but 101. Perhaps no one had the time to count. Or, just as likely, no one had the heart to remove the extra hero.
