Son of Farmington Clergyman Meets Death From Machine Gun Bullet
Rev. J.F. Van Camp pastor of the Methodist church, received a telegram Wednesday afternoon which brought the sad intelligence that his son, George M., a Sergeant in the Marine Corps, had been killed in action October 4, by a machine gun bullet.
The last letter Mr. Van Camp had received from his son was dated September 17, and in it he said, “Just a note to tell you I came through my first battle O.K. It was a wonderful experience and I shall never forget it. One does a great deal of thinking when men are falling all around you. Am feeling fine but do not get much time to write.
Sergeant Van Camp enlisted the first week in May, 1917, just two months after he had reached his twentieth birthday, and just a month after war had been declared. He joined the Marine Corps and was sent to Norfork, Va. Later he was assigned to the battleship Nebraska and served on it several months. Being anxious to get overseas and in the thick of the fighting he was transferred to a relief Battalion and finally to the 97th Co. 6th Regiment U.S. Marines. Just before going overseas he was made a Sergeant in the Marine Corps. He was united in marriage to Miss Helene MacDonald of Gloucester, Mass., May 17. A notice of the military wedding appeared in the Tribune at the time.