Thomas Francis Enright was one of the first three American soldiers killed in action during World War I. Mr. Enright was born May 8, 1887 in Pittsburgh (Bloomfield), Pennsylvania, the son of Irish immigrants.
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He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1909. He had served in post-Boxer Rebellion China and earned the title expert cavalryman while fighting Moros during the Philippine Insurrection. By 1914, he was serving in Vera Cruz with the 16th Infantry Regiment. In 1916, he was in Mexico again serving under General John J. Pershing, during his expedition to locate and capture Pancho Villa. Sometime after this, he left the army and returned to the Pittsburgh area.
After a short return to Pittsburgh, Enright reenlisted and joined the 16th Infantry at Fort Bliss, Texas. On 26 June 1917, the regiment disembarked in St. Nazaire, France, as part of the 1st Infantry Division. Four months later, Enright's company was moved to the trenches near Artois, France. In the early morning of 3 November 1917, the Imperial German Army attacked. After an hour of fighting, Enright, along with Corporal James Bethel Gresham, and Private Merle Hay were the first three casualties of the American Expeditionary Force.
He, along with Corporal James Bethel Gresham of Evansville, Indiana, and Private Merle David Hay of Glidden, Iowa, all serving in Company F, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division "The Big Red One", were the first Americans to die in combat during the First World War when on November 3, 1917, German troops trench raided their position near the village of Bathelémont les Bauzemont in the Lorraine region of France, east of Nancy. Two days later, Enright, Gresham, and Hay were buried near where they had died. An inscription marked their graves: "Here lie the first soldiers of the illustrious Republic of the United States who fell on French soil for justice and liberty."
Soldiers and Sailors
Memorial Hall and Museum
On July 16, 1921 Enright was reburied in Pittsburgh with military honors. That day began with his casket lying in state at Soldiers and Sailors National Military Museum and Memorial located in Pittsburgh's Oakland section. It then was placed on a gun caisson drawn by six horses and taken to St. Paul Cathedral for a memorial Mass celebrated by Hugh Charles Boyle, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Pittsburgh. From St. Paul's, a procession continued to St. Mary Cemetery in the city's Lawrenceville neighborhood. A wreath from General John J. Pershing was laid upon his grave.
Monument to James B. Gresham, Merle D. Hay and Thomas F. Enright, designed by Louis Majorelle, erected November 1918 in Bathelémont, destroyed by the Germans in October 1940
1st Infantry Division
Big Red One
16th Infantry Regiment
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