Menu
  • Abous us
  • Search database
  • Resources
  • Donate
  • Faq

McKinlock George Alexander, Jr.

Name:
George Alexander, Jr. McKinlock
Rank:
Second Lieutenant
Serial Number:
Unit:
28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division
Date of Death:
1918-07-21
State:
Illinois
Cemetery:
Lake Forest Cemetery, Lake Forest, Illinois
Plot:
Row:
Grave:
Decoration:
Croix de Guerre with Palm, Distinguished Service Cross
Comments:

Lieutenant George A. McKinlock Jr. preferred to be called, Alexander, accounting for the way his name reads on his gravestone.

According to "St. Mark's School in the War Against Germany [Albert Benson, ed., 1920]," he entered the Fay School in 1903 and St. Mark's [Southborough, MA] two years later. He went to Harvard in 1912. He joined ROTC at Ft. Sheridan in June, 1917; graduated in August of the same year; and rec'd a commission as Second Lieutenant of Cavalry. Selected for service in France, he sailed on the "Kroonland" Sept 12th, and arrived in October. He attended training schools at Gondrecourt and other places; was appointed on the staff of Major Davis, Second Brigade, Third Machine Gun Battalion, First Division, Liaison Officer, in Feb 1918. He was called by General Buck to become a member of his staff as Intelligence Officer about April, 1918. He rec'd no promotions, but had been recommended for a captaincy, and was killed before the recommendation could be acted up, July 21, 1918. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palm; the Distinguished Service Cross; and a recommendation for the latter a second time. His ribbon has two silver stars and two bronze stars." He was always a football player.

The account continues to say that McKinlock was killed by a sniper while walking "under heavy bombardment and severe machine gun fire" with several French officers to verify the position of the front lines in the town of Berzy-le-Sec. The other officers took cover, and later encountered an American chaplain who tried unsuccessfully to locate McKinlock's body. He had been buried "in a small garden in the town and his mother herself much later found the spot, marked by a cross, and an inscription to the "American soldier who had died gloriously for liberty".

His family's 1900 estate, "Brown Gables", was located on the northeast corner of Deerpath and Waukegan Road in Lake Forest. His father, George, founded a utility / electrical supply company. George married his wife, Marion, in December, 1890.

After George, Jr's. death, his father pledged $25,000 in 1921 to buy nine acres on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago for a campus for the professional schools of Northwestern University. Later he added to his gifts, pledging $500,000 to Northwestern and giving $500,000 to Harvard University for a dormitory. The dorm was dedicated in June, 1927 and is still called, McKinlock Hall. It is part of Leverett House at Harvard.

There were memorials created at the Art Institute of Chicago for two soldiers who were killed in World War I, the George Alexander McKinlock, Jr. Memorial Park in 1924, and the Kenneth Sawyer Goodman Theater in 1925. The Onwentsia Club in Lake Forest also has McKinlock's name carved into a mantlepiece.

There is an odd story relating to the friendship between the McKinlocks and Muriel McCormick. McCormick. 29, daughter of Harold Fowler McCormick (harvesters), and granddaughter of John Davison Rockefeller married Elisha Dyer Hubbard, 53, wealthy "farmer" of Middletown. Conn.at Deep Cove, Maine, summer home of Miss McCormick's good friends Mr. & Mrs. George Alexander McKinlock of Chicago, who were the only witnesses. However, a Wisconsin newspaper in Sept 1931 announced their engagement but also reported that Alexander McKinlock was her "spiritual bridegroom", having met him during a seance. [Muriel's mother, Edith Rockefeller McCormick, believed in reincarnation...]

After the Depression and before his death in 1937, the elder McKinlock was unable to meet all his pledges and Northwestern kindly refunded his money. [There is an "Alexander McKinlock Memorial Gate" at the downtown campus.]

Following the founding of the American Legion after World War I, a group of Lake Forest IL Veterans organized the George Alexander McKinlock Jr. Post in 1919. Alexander was believed to be the first Lake Forester killed in action during the First World War. Meeting in the Young Men's Club, the Veterans named the Post after Lt. McKinlock.

According to the Post's website, following the notification of her son's death, the Army, after a 10 month search, could not locate McKinlock's grave. His mother searched grave sites in France for months before finding a grave marked "McKinlow", but his helmet was hanging on a little cross with his correct name inside. A helmet (actual?) adorns his grave.

Harvard University owns an oil painting of Alexander painted by artist Robert Reid (1862-1929).

In 2012, a book, Five Lieutenants: The Heartbreaking Story of Five Harvard Men Who Led America to Victory in WWI" was written by James Carl Nelson.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com