Private First Class Edward H Hinterberg
Edward Herman Hinterberg was born on April 30th, 1893 in Fall Creek, Wisconsin to Hermann and Bertha Hinterberg, who immigrated to the United States from Prussia in the 1870’s. Edward would soon be joined by two brothers and two sisters. After graduating Superior Normal School, completing college, and working briefly as a farm hand, he would secure a job as a school principal at the Watertown High School in Wisconsin while World War One consumed the world abroad. When the United States was finally plunged into the war in 1917, Edward signed up for the draft and listed “defective eyesight” as a draft exemption, but nevertheless, he was pressed into service on May 1st, 1918, and after training at Camp Wadsworth, was placed in Ambulance Company 20, 6th Sanitary Train, 6th Infantry Division. Private Hinterberg did not ship out with the bulk of the division in May, but instead left 4 months later with his unit aboard the Darro on July 7th, 1918, meeting up with the division in England before landing in France. The 6th Sanitary Train’s crucial job was to provide medical care for the entire 6th Division as they entered combat, with Pvt Hinterberg’s Ambulance Section tasked with rapidly transporting the wounded from Battalion Aid Stations to the larger and more effective Field Hospitals. After training in the vicinity of Chateauvillain, Pvt Hinterberg and the division left on August 27th, 1918, where they occupied the Mittlach Defensive Line within the Gerardmer sector in the Vosges from September 3rd to October 12th. Shortly after, they were on the move again, this time to support the bloody Meuse Argonne Offensive, arriving on November 1st and commencing their advance towards the enemy the next day. During this time, Pvt Hinterberg and Ambulance Company 20 were busy shuttling the division’s casualties from the offensive until the Armistice was declared on November 11th, 1918. Although the war was officially over, Hinterberg and the 6th Sanitary Train continued to follow the division as they advanced to the front line in Verdun on the 14th until finally being relieved on the 21st. After they retired to Aignay-le-Duc, Hinterberg was promoted to Private First Class and remained in France until debarking from Brest with his unit on June 10th, 1919 and arriving in the United States shortly afterwards. He would be discharged on June 30th, 1919 and return home to his job as a Principal, retiring after 35 years. He would marry Pauline L Kamm and have two sons, eventually passing away in Watertown, Wisconsin on September 13th, 1974.
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