Mass Militaria & Antiques

Gardner F. Merrill was born to parents Thatcher Perley Merrill and Dolly L. “Frances” Bacon Merrill on October 11, 1886, in Bridgeton, Maine. He grew up there with his three siblings and went on to attend Bates College, graduating in 1909, almost a decade before his call to service. At the time, he was residing in Lynn, Massachusetts, and was married to his first wife, Olive Merrill.

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World War I – Induction and Training

On May 31, 1918, Gardner, as a member of Draft Board No. 2, along with 91 other Lynn draftees, lined up at the Lynn train station for the call of the roll, after which they boarded the 9:17 train to Fort Slocum, New York, where they would be trained for service in France. After completing Field Artillery training, Gardner was attached to the 6th Battery / July Automatic Replacement Draft and assigned as a Private in the Field Artillery, 726th Regiment, ready to be reassigned to whatever unit was in need of a field artilleryman upon arrival in France.

Boarding the troop ship USS Archangel on July 22, 1918, Gardner and the other trained replacements set sail for France, arriving in late August 1918.

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World War I – Service Overseas

Upon landing in France, Private Merrill was assigned to Section 5, Battery F, 110th Field Artillery Battalion, 29th Infantry Division. After arrival, he trained for several weeks alongside French artillery units, as the batteries of the 110th used French artillery equipment, before being engaged in combat.

From late August through September, the battery was assigned to sector defense in the Moleville and Rupt sectors. From late September through November, and up to the Armistice, Merrill found himself engaged in the largest American offensive of the war, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

In the early days of the offensive, Private Merrill and the 110th took part in the attack near Malancourt and Montfaucon. For much of October, the 110th was engaged in slow, grinding fighting around Bois de la Grande and Bois d’Ormont. Ammunition was in constant rotation, as supplies needed to be readily available during their continuous barrages to break up German counterattacks. Finally, during the AEF’s final advance toward the Meuse River, the 110th pushed forward, constantly moving their guns as German forces continued to retreat. Private Merrill and Battery F remained engaged in combat until the German surrender on November 11, 1918.

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Postwar Service and Later Life

Following the end of the war, the 110th Field Artillery Battalion was assigned to occupation duty in France, where they were tasked with cleanup and security operations. In May 1919, the unit departed St. Nazaire, France, and returned to the United States, disembarking at Camp Stuart, Virginia, via the transport ship USS Orizaba.

Gardner returned home unscathed and eventually built a career working for the now-closed Putnam, Coffin & Burr Investment Brokers Company in Boston, Massachusetts. At the age of 79, Gardner F. Merrill passed away suddenly on September 9, 1966, leaving behind his wife, the former Margaret McDonald, and a brother.