Scroll of Honor – George Lomax McCord
Pendleton Guard
Written by: Kelly Durham
On April Fool’s Day 1907, Clemson’s cadets took part in a legendary prank. Dressed in bathrobes, they decided to take the day off from classes and their cadet duties, march to Pendleton, and spend the day relaxing on the town square. Clemson president Patrick Mell was not amused. He warned the cadets that such behavior would not be tolerated. Boys being boys, the prank was repeated the following April 1, but this time with dire consequences. Professor Walter Merritt Riggs who would soon succeed Mell as president, recalled observing the walk-out from the porch of his home:
…I watched them go by, with yells and laughter, and I thought to myself, what a tragedy for Clemson. I saw them that afternoon as they came silently back, without a song or a cheer, with the impending doom hovering over them…
Three hundred six cadets were expelled. Most of the dismissed cadets would eventually be readmitted to the college. They would be known as “Pendleton Guards” and among their ranks was George Lomax McCord of Abbeville.
McCord was a mischievous cadet according to his senior profile in Taps. It noted that he “frequented the Commandant’s Office with so many stories of his jolly life,” a not-so-veiled suggestion that he was often called to account for his extracurricular antics. Nonetheless, McCord would survive the consequences of the April 1 walk-out and graduate in 1911 with a degree in chemistry and geology.
McCord took his degree to Florida where he became a chemical engineer at a phosphate mine. After the United States declared war on Germany in early April 1917, McCord, perhaps seeking a fresh adventure, attended Army officer training school at Fort Oglethorpe , Georgia. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant on August 15 and assigned to the 82nd “All American” Division at Camp Gordon, Georgia. The 82nd derived its nickname from being composed of men from each of the forty-eight states. The outfit included a young man from Tennessee named Alvin York.
In early April 1918, the division sailed for England, assembling there by mid-May. It then crossed the English Channel and moved into the British-held region of the Somme. From here, the 82nd sent small units forward to gain combat experience. The division moved into the French sector in June and was issued French weapons and equipment. In August, the 82nd came under the command of the newly formed US First Army.
The following month, the division participated in the St. Mihiel offensive advancing to the high ground north of Norroy. After suffering heavy casualties during the battle, the 82nd was withdrawn into reserve . The division then trained for what would become the war’s final major offensive. The Meuse-Argonne offensive was at the time the largest US military operation in history, involving 1.2 million Americans. It was also one of the deadliest.
On October 19, First Lieutenant McCord took command of Company G, 325th Infantry Regiment and moved his troops into positions near Saint Juvin. As the company moved forward on a reconnaissance mission, it came under fire from German machine guns. McCord was killed and eight of his soldiers wounded. As night fell, men from Company G ventured out into No Man’s Land to retrieve McCord’s body. The Company’s history recorded that:
…the men mourned as only a soldier can, the loss of an officer; loved and admired by every member of his company. No words, no tears – just a silence that a man and only a man can understand.
First Lieutenant McCord was awarded the Silver Star and the Purple Heart. After the war, his remains were returned to the United States and buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
For more information about George Lomax McCord see:
https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll/george-lomax-mccord/
For additional information about Clemson University’s Scroll of Honor visit:
https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/