Gulielmus Villard Heidt – Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army

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Gulielmus Villard Heidt of Georgia
Served in the Army as Private, Corporal and Sergeant, Battery G, 1st Artillery and 118th Coast Artillery, 30 August 1900 to 26 October 1902
Second Lieutenant, 12th U. S. Infantry, 17 October 1902

NOTE: His brother, James Villard Heidt, Colonel, United States Army, is also buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

GULIELMUS HEIDT GIVEN PROMOTION TO RANK OF MAJOR

ATLANTA, October 31, 1917 – Announcement Tuesday of the promotion of Captain Gullielmus V. Heidt, during the last 19 months recruiting officer of the United States Army for the Atlanta District, to the grade of Major, is a source of gratification to Atlanta friends.  He received notification of his promotion Monday.

Major Heidt has been at the head of the Atlanta Recruiting Station since January 16, and has made a notable success of the work here.  He is a native of this State, having been born in Newton County.  He entered the United States Army as an enlisted man August 30, 1900 at Fort McPherson, and was assigned to the Coast Artillery Branch.  In 1902 he was transferred to Fortress Monroe, Virginia, where he qualified for a commission.

Major Heidt has seen active service in the Philippines and at the Panama Canal.  He is a son of the late John W. Heidt, formerly well-known Methodist minister of Atlanta, and an erstwhile member of the North Georgia conference.  Three of Major Heidt’s brothers are officers in the Army – two, Major Grayson B. Heidt and Major James V. Heidt, being stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.  Captain Emanuel V. Heidt is serving in the Cavalry.

Major Heidt is expecting instructions within the next few days transferring him to some other station.  He has been engaged in recruiting work during most of his service as an officer.  It is thought that Captain Charles Fambro, as present assistant in charge of the Atlanta recruiting station, will be named successor to Major Heidt in the event the latter is transferred.

COLONEL HEIDT IS WOUNDED
Officer Well Known in Atlanta Writes Mother

ATLANTA, August 23, 1918 – That Lieutenant Colonel Gullielmus V. Heidt, for nearly three years in charge of Army recruiting in the Atlanta District, and well known in Georgia and elsewhere, has been wounded, is the news contained in a letter writer in his own hand to his Mother on August 5.

It will be a matter of gratification to his many friends to know that his wound was only a light one, a fragment of exploding shell striking him in the calf of his leg.  He was carried to a hospital, where an operation was performed, after which he was able to write.

In an excerpt from his letter he said: “About five or six days ago a shell exploded near me, and I am laid up with a slight wound in the calf of the leg.  It really does not amount to much, only I can’t walk on it.

“I was sent to the hospital for an operation, and now I am doing very well indeed, so much that I hope to be back for duty in about a week or ten days.

“Please keep all of this out of the papers.”

At the time he wrote the above letter he had not been notified of his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel.

Colonel Heidt has risen from the ranks to his present position. While he was stationed in Atlanta and abut a year before he sailed for France he was promoted from Captain to Major.  He was one of the most popular officers ever stationed here.

Ordered to active field service he was assigned to a command at Camp Greene, going with his regiment from there overseas.  Upon his arrival he was put in General Pershing’s line officers training school, from which he graduated with the highest distinction.

When Pershing’s “Crusaders,” pictured overseas, was being show at the Rialto last week, Colonel Heidt’s brother, John V. Heidt, recognized him on the screen as one of General Pershing’s staff.

Colonel Heidt has three other brothers in the Army, one in France, one on the way there and one presumably in Russia.  They are Colonel James V. Heidt, now on the western front; Colonel Grayson V. Heidt, Colonel in Quartermaster Corps, formerly at Newport News, a port of embarkation, but recently transferred to a port of debarkation in France, and Major Emanuel V. Heidt, probably in Russia.

HEIDT, GULIELMUS VILLARD
LIEUT COL U S A INF

  • DATE OF BIRTH: 10/31/1876
  • DATE OF DEATH: 12/19/1958
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 3  SITE 2102
    ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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