New Yorkers were among US troops to fall on WWI’s last day

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) — Before the guns fell silent on Europe’s Western Front a century ago, 100 American soldiers died in combat on the last day of fighting in World War I, including several New Yorkers.

Historians at the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs say the U.S. troops killed before the armistice took effect at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918, included three men from New York City: Cpl. Francis Bergen, 2nd Lt. Alfred Fawkner and 2nd Lt. Ernest Holden.

Museum historians say 56 men from New York died on the war’s last day, although not all were killed in action or on the front lines.

Some, like Cpl. Bryan Chamberlain, of Schenectady, died on the war’s last day from wounds suffered in earlier actions. And others died from the 1918 flu epidemic.