HAROLD D. MACLACHLAN, MAJ, USMC
Harold Maclachlan '12
Harold Douglas Maclachlan was admitted to the Naval Academy from New Jersey on June 26, 1908 at age 18 years 11 months.
Lucky Bag
Harold Douglas MacLachlan, "Mac," from New Jersey, is listed as "Unaccounted For."
Photographs
"Photo from page titled 'The Field of Honor,' the New York Tribune, 15 December 1918, page 7."
Loss
Harold died on September 27, 1918 in France of disease. (He was listed in the Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps of 1919 under "Disease, Accident, or Other Cause.")
This is contrary to the biography below; he is also not listed in contemporaneous casualty lists nor is he listed on the killed in action panel in the front of Memorial Hall.
Other Information
From Find A Grave:
Maj. Harold D. MacLachlan (q.v. McLachlan), youngest child of Rev. John McLachlan and Harriet Newell Robinson, b. circa July 1889 (1900 census) at Buffalo, NY. He d. Sept. 27, 1918 in a hospital in France of wounds suffered in combat in W.W.I.
In 1914 in a quiet ceremony at Newburgh, NY, Harold's brother Donald J. MacLachlan married his 1st wife: "The bride was attended by Miss MacShane, of Middletown, NY, and the groom by his brother, Second Lieutenant H.D. Maclachlan, U.S. Marine Corps."
The Marines' Bulletin, Vol. I, No. I, November 1918, p. 8, col. 3:
Major Harold D. McLachlan, U.S.M.C., died in a hospital in France on September 27 [1918], according to word received by his uncle, Dr. A.C. McLachlan, principal of the Jamaica (N.Y.) Training School for Teachers. Major McLachlan formerly lived in Binghamton, N.Y.The above notice was repeated in the New York Times with information added regarding a marriage:
Major Harold D. McLachlan, U.S.M.C., died in a hospital in France on September 27 [1918], according to word received by his uncle, Dr. A.C. McLachlan, principal of the Jamaica (N.Y.) Training School for Teachers. Major McLachlan formerly lived in Binghamton, N.Y. About a year ago he married Miss Dorothy Chapin of Richmond Hill, L.I.Dr. A.C. Mclachlan (q.v.) was Harold's youngest paternal uncle, Archibald Charles McLachlan. In addition, at the time of Harold's death in France, his brother, Maj. Donald J. Maclachlan of the US Army, was also in France.
The 13th Regiment did not arrive in France until September 25. "The 13th Regiment soon found itself scattered, and doing guard duty along with the western coast of France…"
He was a Mechanical Engineering major at Purdue with the Class of 1914 for a time; he did not graduate.
From researcher Kathy Franz:
As a sophomore in the X-B class at Binghamton High School in 1905, Harold was a member of the Student Congress.
In September 1906 Harold visited his sister Eleanor (Mrs. Harry F. Kent) in Binghamton and then returned home to South Orange, New Jersey.
In June 1908 Harold entered Naval Academy. Deficient in his Third Class studies, Harold left the Naval Academy on February 10, 1910.
Harold enlisted as an Army private on April 24, 1912, at Fort Slocum, New York. In April 1913 he took a course in special training in Portsmouth, Virginia.
He married Dorothy Chapin on October 4, 1917, in Yokohama, Japan. He was stationed the last two years with the American Legation in Peking. She met Harold when she visited her brother there.
In April 1918 Orson L’H. Britton of the First Presbyterian Church secured photographs of Harold, his brother Donald, and others who were serving in the military. The photographs were displayed on a board in the rear of the church.
Through their mother, Harold and his siblings were descendants of Rev. John Robinson and Edward Fuller who were 1620 Mayflower passengers.
Harold's father John, a reverend, died in 1903. His mother Harriet (Robinson) died in 1923. His siblings were: Eleanor, Harriet, John, Donald, and Henry who died young. Donald was slightly wounded in France in March 1918.
He is buried in France.
Memorial
Harold’s name and four others were inscribed on a Tiffany glass mosaic panel “The Prayer of the Christian Soldier” dedicated at the Binghamton First Presbyterian Church on November, 9, 1919. Louis C. Tiffany supervised the construction by the Tiffany Studios. It had been on display in New York City for some time before being installed.
Memorial Hall Error
Illness is not a criteria for inclusion in Memorial Hall.
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