Solomon Lerma (1902 - 1918)

Born 1902 in Zacatecas, Mexico

Ancestors

Died 1 Feb 1918 at about age 16 in Gondrecourt-le-Chateau, Departement de la Meuse, Lorraine, France

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Biography

This profile was written by Allan Thomas

In the American National cemetery at Romange, France, lies the body of Solomon Lerma, a Mexican boy, a native of the state of Zacatecas, a derelict from the Villista army, which attacked Matamoros, a hero who risked his life to save that of an American friend, and who died in February, 1918, in a hospital in France after being twice wounded and gassed. He was 15 years of age at the time of his death. ^[1]

This may be Solomon in the photo.

March 27th of 1915 Solomon was one of Poncho Villa's boy soldiers serving in General Pedro Lopez's Calvary. They charged the earthworks at Matamoros, Mexico which was defended by machine guns in the hands of foreign gunners, for the most part. German, English and Italian defenders of foreign interest, under the Carrancista flag, against the Villista's. General Lopez (at the time about 19 himself) charged the earthworks with his Boy Calvary and was repulsed. The gunners were merciful, they aimed for the horses only wounding the Boy Soldiers in the lower body and legs. Young Solomon, severely wounded, was found among the dead and wounded and taken across the Rio Grande River to Brownsville, Texas where locals were taxiing the wounded from the river to two makeshift hospitals. One located in the Bestiero Building, the other in the Washington Theater. Little Solomon was treated by Dr. Renfro of the Red Cross.^[2][3]

Also treated was Solomon's compadre, 12-year-old Juan Pernales, AKA the “Rabbit Soldier” His story was told on the front page of the Brownsville Herald April 5th 1915. “Wounded Child Soldier Cries for A Rabbit.” It was Easter day. Juan died later in the week.

12 year old Solomon was cared for then discharged to wander out into the brush country east of San Benito where he found work as a goat herder on a small goat “ranchito”.

In the summer of 1915 Solomon made the acquaintance of Sam Robertson who at that time was building an “automobile road” from San Benito to the Laguna Madre (which separates Cameron County, Texas from Padre Island and the Gulf of Mexico) . Mr. Sammy and little Solomon became great friends. Sam gained the little Mexican soldiers love.

One afternoon, while driving through the brush county with his old Ford Model T, five bandits attacked Sam Robertson. He took refuge in a clump of ebony bushes and held his attackers at bay with his pistol and rifle fire. Little Solomon, herding goats nearby, heard the gunfire and crawled thru the jungle to investigate. He saw his friend's “vieja”, Sam's old Ford, and took in the situation at a glance realizing Mr. Sammy's greatest need would be water and bullets. Crawling out of the brush, little Solomon went to his employer's “jacal”, got a canteen of water and forty to fifty cartridges, and gliding like a snake thru the jungle returned to his friend. With plenty of water and cartridges, they were able to hold out until dark.

Mr. Sammy was headed from San Benito to Buena Vista Ranch near the Laguna Madre and after Sam was overdue and nothing heard from him, an investigation ensued. On the telephone line that Sam had run between the bay and town they had a phone at the Buena Vista Ranch house, and soon Harold Jeffords (Jefferds?), the ranch foreman, and U.S. Deputy Mars and six cow hands started a search along the trail. About the same time Captain Lincoln Kilbourne, E Company, 26th U.S. Infantry, started by auto from San Benito with a small detachment of soldiers and three or four civilian guides. Both were rescued.

Concerned for Little Solomon's well being, and fearing retribution from his old nemesis, Villanista General de la Rosa and his bandits, Mr. Sammy, and wife Adele adopted little Solomon Lerma and moved the lad into town.

The soldiers of E Company were so pleased with little Solomon's qualities, as a soldier, and resourcefulness, that they adopted him as their mascot. Little Solomon made himself useful around the camp. He stayed with the E Company, the 26th, Colonel Bullard's famous regiment, until they went to France with the First Division in 1917, at which time Solomon was 15 years old.

Solomon followed the Company to New Jersey. Mess Sargent, Joe Hoefley, who retired in San Benito, Texas after the war, encouraged by some of the officers of the Company and Solomon, nailed little Solomon Lerma up in a box and carried him on the transport when the 26th Infantry was embarking at Hoboken, New Jersey. When the transport arrived in France he was again nailed into a crate and smuggled off the transport.

Solomon Lerma stayed with Company E until they went into trenches near the Toul Sector. From the trench location of the Company mess, little Solomon carried hot Irish stew and coffee to his dear friends and was wounded while in the trenches. He contracted pneumonia while in hospital.

"No American regiment saw harder fighting than the 26th Infantry. It was one of the first American organizations to enter the trenches, and its record is replete with individual and organized acts of heroism which have never been equaled. Through all the fighting in which the regiment engaged, Solomon Lerma took a part which won the respect and friendship of his older comrades. He was the special protégé of Captain Kilbourn of E Company, who since the war has been promoted to colonel, and was formerly inspection officer for the Eighth Corps area with headquarters at San Antonio, but is now stationed at Fort Benning, Ga (1923)"^[4]

"Twice during the fight in which E Company engaged, Solomon Lerma, was wounded, and later was badly gassed. After his recovery Captain Kilbourn, who had also been injured, placed the boy in charge of the mess sergeant of the company, Joe Hoeflin, now jailor at the Cameron County jail. The boy never fully recovered from the effects of the gassing, and contracted pneumonia, dying in a hospital in the Arrencourt sector. Colonel Robertson was building a railroad in that sector at the time, and learning of the death of his old "compadre" prepared the headboard which marked his grave."^[5]

Solomon's Original Marker

This young Mexican hero is now buried, as a civilian, with his American comrades at Romaigne Cemetery, France. So far from his home but at home with his friends he acquired along the pathway of his short life.

"No gamer person ever lived," was the comment of Colonel Robertson. "Solomon proved that when he crept to my automobile to secure cartridges when I was holding off the bandits, and he proved it times without number in France. There was not a member of old E Company who did not shed a tear when he learned that Solomon Lerma had 'gone west.' I am certainly glad to learn that the body of the little Mexican hero has been buried in the American National cemetery in France, and I doubt if there is one in the cemetery who was more loyal to the Stars and Stripes, or who was more loyal to his friends than Solomon Lerma."^[6]

Solomon Lerma Image 9

Mr. Sammy returned to the Rio Grande Valley, South Texas from WW1 as Colonel Sam Robertson. Col. Sam grieved the loss of his adopted son. Adele died shortly thereafter. Several years later he applied for a passport to go to France and Germany. The reasons given were to visit the grave of his son in France and visit the family of his departed wife in Germany. Adele, on her deathbed, had asked her beloved Sam to go to Germany and see if one of her cousin would be a suitable "replacement". She was not. Colonel Sam met his second wife, Maria while on the voyage.

Brownsville Herald, 1923

In 1932 the Editor of the Fort Worth Texas Star wrote Colonel Sam Robertson requesting a biographical sketch of his life. Several months later Maria Seider Robertson wrote back... "As he seems disinclined to answer. I shall do my best to give you the necessary data, but it is not possible to touch upon more than a brief summery of his fifty-eight years of active life in a short space."

Maria's biographical sketch was not printed until 1998, and then, not by the Fort Worth Star, but by Kate Robertson Smith of Dallas Texas, Col Sam's niece, in her private publication The Robertson Family - Pioneers .

The information above regarding Solomon Lerma was partially extracted from Maria Robertson's bio of her husband, Col Sam Robertson.

Quotations from:Oklahoman Newspaper archives in Oklahoma City, OK, dated: 12-23-1923

Mexican Youth Proves He Could Stand Great Test Headboard Erected by Col. Sam Robertson Tells A story of Marvelous Bravery of Fifteen-Year-Old Boy

EDITOR'S NOTE-The following story will interest Oklahoma City overseas men who knew Colonel Sam Robertson. This little document is one of these poignant human stories which grip the heart. It is from The Brownsville, Texas, Herald, and was passed on by General Roy Hoffman

Robert Runyon and Col. Sam Robertson lived parallel lives in the Rio Grand Valley. His photography exemplifies the times:

"Arriving in Brownsville, Texas, in 1909, Robert Runyon entered a world very different from his native Kentucky. With its tropical climate and close proximity to Mexico, the town embraced two cultures and thrived on diversity. Throughout the rest of his life, Runyon took an avid interest in studying and recording this unique area. His photographs of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and Northeastern Mexico both document the region's history and stand as testimony to Runyon's affinity for the land and its people."

Robert Runyon died on March 9, 1968, in Brownsville after a short illness at the age of eighty-seven.

Texas folklorist J. Frank Dobie, an acquaintance of Runyon, best summed up his life: "You have to admire a man like Runyon, who cuts off a little hunk of the world and dedicates a lifetime to its study." ^[7]

Burial

Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Departement de la Meuse, Lorraine, France. ^[8]

CIVILIAN Salman Lerman (1903–1 Feb 1918)

- Find A Grave: Memorial #55955086

Sources

1. ↑ Quotations from : Oklahoman Newspaper archives in Oklahoma City, OK, dated: 12-23-1923.
2. ↑ The Houston Post Houston, Texas 02 May 1915, Sun • Page 21
3. ↑ Brownsville Herald April 5th, 1915. “Wounded Child Soldier Cries for A Rabbit.”
4. ↑ Quotations from:Oklahoman Newspaper archives in Oklahoma City, OK, dated: 12-23-1923
5. ↑ Quotations from : Oklahoman Newspaper archives in Oklahoma City, OK, dated: 12-23-1923
6. ↑ Quotations from : Oklahoman Newspaper archives in Oklahoma City, OK, dated: 12-23-1923
7. ↑ The center for American History, Robert Runyon Photograph Collection, 1907-1968: A Guide. Austin, Texas: The center for American History, 1992.'
8. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/55955086/salman-lerman: accessed 29 Apr 2024 ), memorial page for CIVILIAN Salman Lerman (1903–1 Feb 1918), Find A Grave: Memorial #55955086, citing Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Departement de la Meuse, Lorraine, France; Maintained by (contributor 46846269).

• http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.lerma/118/mb.ashx
• https://www.ancestry.com/boards/localities.northam.mexico.zacatecas/1817/mb.ashx

Acknowledgements

• Photos by Robert Runyon used with permission of The center for American History, Robert Runyon Photograph Collection, University of Texas, Austin according to their guidelines.
• Photo's from Meuse Argonne Cemetery used with permission of Marijke Taffein.'
• And I'd like to acknowledge the contributions to Find A Grave by SoilSister -Marijke Taffein.
• Thank you for the effort you have made, Marijke Taffein, recording the gravesites of Americans at the Meuse Argonne Cemetery.