Frank O'Laughlin--switchman, firefighter, doughboy, uncle

Frank O’LAUGHLIN is not one of my direct ancestors. To me, Frank is a great-uncle. He was my mother’s, mother’s brother. Regrettably, we never met.

Officially named Francis O’LAUGHLIN, he was born 26 December 1890. Frank was the second child, and first son, to Patrick O’LAUGHLIN and Mary Ann CALDEN. In 1890, according to the Buffalo City Directory, the O’LAUGHLINs lived at 129 Selkirk Street, and Patrick, Frank’s father (and my great-grandfather) was a Lehigh Valley Railroad fireman.

By 1910, the twenty-year-old Frank was apparently following his father’s footsteps—the census listed Frank as a railroad switchman. However, by 1917, a career change had occurred. Frank’s draft registration card (dated 5 June 1917) shows that he had become a City of Buffalo firefighter. He was attached to Engine 18, on Fillmore Avenue.

{On a side note, Engine 18 was disbanded in 2002. The facility, now know as “Annex 18,” lives on, though. It is currently used by the Buffalo Fire Department Training Bureau.}

Completing the above-mentioned Draft Card was a turning point. Frank was drafted, and became a Private, in Company D, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. The unit’s WWI history is chronicled in From Upton To The Meuse With The Three Hundred And Seventh Infantry A Brief History Of Its Life And Of The Part It Played In The Great War, by W. Kerr Rainsford.

Sadly, on page 288, Rainsford lists “O'Loughlin, Frank” [sic] among the “2,692 major casualties—or deaths from wounds, and wounds judged to be more or less permanently incapacitating for service.”

Page 576 of History of Buffalo and Erie County, 1914-1919 (which I found on Ancestry.com), lists Private Francis S. O’Laughlin was wounded in action (“WA”) on 6 September 1918. Under the heading of “Our Heroic Dead,” an entry on page 503 indicated that Private Francis S. O'loughlin [sic] of Company D., 307th Infantry, died of wounds, in France, 21 October 1918. I cannot explain the variation in surname spelling, but I assume both entries refer to my great-uncle, Frank O’LAUGHLIN.

I have not seen it, but if you are ever in New York City, you can find a Central Park grove dedicated to the 307th Infantry. The Memorial Grove was dedicated in 1921, to the WWI veterans of the 307th Infantry who perished in France. Off Fifth Avenue, near 67th Street, is a two-acre site with a stone monument and fourteen tree-based monuments. There, you should find a plaque for Company D, memorializing Frank O’LAUGHLIN, and his regimental brethren.