I adopted the grave of Joe Carpen : This Profile ID 152744 Name Joe Carpen Casualty Date November 4, 1918 War World War I Service Branch Army Rank Private Unit/Group 37th Division, 145th Infantry Regiment Burial Plot D Row 1 Grave 21, Flanders Field Americ

Hello,

Here are some documents that will, hopefully, provide some additional information for you.

He was born in Russia, married to Mary Carpen, joined the Ohio National Guard in 1917, promoted to Corporal, then busted back to Private (for unknown reason/s), shipped off to Europe in 1918 with Co F 145th INF on the USS Leviathan, and was killed in action in Belgium (I could not find details on this) during the 1918 Ypres-Lys Offensive.

Documents above sourced from FOLD3.

See here for an abridged history of the 145th INF during the WWI period:

https://wiki.wcpl.info/w/History_of_the_145th_Infantry_to_July_27,_1919.#Page_1

I hope this helps.
Dan

U.S., Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940

Name Joseph William Or Joe Karpenski Or Carpen
Record Type Military Service
Birth Date 19 Mar 1889
Residence Place Detroit, Michigan
Death Date 4 Nov 1918

Multiple US newspapers that were reporting the deaths of soldiers at the time listed him with a birth location of "Willhonio, Russia."

thanks very much

thanks, very much

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

We suggest that you request a copy of his Official Military Personnel File (OMPF). OMPFs and individual medical reports for enlisted men of the U.S. Army who were separated from the service after October 1912 are in the custody of NARA's National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis. In many cases where personnel records were destroyed in the 1973 fire, proof of service can be provided from other records such as morning reports, payrolls, and military orders, and a certificate of military service will be issued. Please complete a GSA Standard Form 180 and mail it to NARA's National Personnel Records Center, (Military Personnel Records), 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO  63138-1002. If there is any information requested by the form that you do not know, you may omit it or provide estimates (such as for dates), but the more information you provide, the easier it will be to locate the correct file if it survived the fire. It is not necessary to provide a social security number as these were not in use during World War I. We recommend that you specify that you wish to order the entire record. For more information see Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Archival Records Requests.

Burial case files for 1915 to 1939 are in the custody of the National Archives at St. Louis (RRPO). For more information about these records, please contact RRPO via email at stl.archives@nara.gov. 

The Muster Rolls and Rosters, 11/1/1912 - 12/31/1943 and  Morning Reports, ca. 1912 - 1946 which may include records of his unit. For more information about these records, please contact the National Archives at St. Louis (RRPO) via email at stl.archives@nara.gov.  Digital images of the Muster Rolls are available on FamilySearch. Some of the Morning Reports have been digitized by Fold3 and may be viewed online at U.S. Morning Reports, 1912-1939. There may be a fee for using Fold3. Instead, please check for access at your local library as many library systems subscribe to these sites, making them free for their patrons.

The National Archives also has  Records of Divisions, 1917 - 1920;  Records of Infantry Brigade, 1917 - 1919; and  Records of the 1st Through 338th and the 559th Infantry Regiment, 1916-1921. For more information about these non-digitized records, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RR2R) via email at archives2reference@nara.gov.

We searched online and located the 37th Division: Summary of Operations in the World War, published by the American Battle Monuments Commission. This book is available online through the HathiTrust Digital Library.

We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your family research!