Europe had been fighting a war for years before the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. Walter Joseph Keefe of Fargo enlisted in Company B of the North Dakota National Guard on July 17, 1917. He was only seventeen and needed his parents’ permission to enlist.
A letter arrived at the modest Fargo home one day in August 1918. It was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Keefe. There must have been a surge of joy when it came. It was from France, where young Walter was serving as an infantryman with the United States Army. But the letter held no joy. It carried the worst possible news, the kind of news that households across the country were receiving daily. Walter had been wounded at Chateau Thierry and was sent to a hospital in Nantes where American Red Cross nurses cared for him.
One of the nurses became very fond of Walter and visited him even after he was moved to a different ward. He was unable to write to his parents, so she took on that task. She wrote that their son had been badly wounded in both legs and in one hand during the fighting. One of the leg wounds became infected.
One morning, she started her shift and saw that Walter’s condition was deteriorating. On this date in 1918, she asked if he wanted her to write to his parents. He said to tell them he wasn’t up to writing, but he would write later and they shouldn’t worry about him.
Sadly, the purpose of the letter changed as she was writing it. Instead of passing along his thoughts and his promise to write, the nurse had to inform them that Walter died on July 30, 1918, his eighteenth birthday.
She told his parents, “He was a very dear boy, and the nurses were all very fond of him.”
Walter Keefe was one of over four million Americans who served in World War I, and one of the 474 North Dakotans who were killed. His body was finally returned to his parents in 1921. He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Fargo.
Dakota Datebook written by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- North Dakota Veterans Affairs. “Walter Joseph Keefe.” https://www.veterans.nd.gov/heroes/walter-j-keefe Accessed 6/18/2025.
- Inforum. “A Very Dear Boy.” https://www.inforum.com/newsmd/a-very-dear-boy-from-fargo-among-millions-who-fought-wwi-a-century-ago Accessed 6/18/2025.
