Wiley H. Burford – Second Lieutenant, United States Army

MCPHERSON GRADUATE IS KILLED IN ACTION
Lieutenant Wiley H. Burford, of Ocala, Florida, Reported Slain On February 14

ATLANTA, Georgia, February 19, 1918 – The first reported death of an Army officer who graduated at the first training camp at Fort McPherson has been telegraphed by government officials to the parents of Wiley H. Buford of Ocala, Florida, who had many friends in Atlanta and among the officers at Fort Gordon.

The telegram announcing Lieutenant Buford’s death contained no particulars other than the fact that he was killed in action on the French front on February 14.  At Fort McPherson he was at first in the second company of infantry student officers, and was later transferred to the second battery.  He was later commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Field Artillery and was at once ordered into service in France.

Lieutenant Burford was the second son of Honorable and Mrs. R. A. Burford, prominent in Ocala.  He was a graduate of Princeton University and a graduate in law at the University of Florida.  He is survived by his parents, two sisters and two brothers, Lieutenant R. A. Burford, Jr., and Sam Burford, a student at Georgia Tech.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard