Memorials › Andrew Walter "Andy" Horn

Andrew Walter "Andy" Horn

6 May 1892 – 23 Oct 1979

Birth	6 May 1892
Death	23 Oct 1979
Cemetery	Grace Hill Cemetery Perry , Noble County , Oklahoma , USA
Added by	Andrea Thompson Bevernitz on 09 Feb 2023
FaG	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36845322

Bio

Andrew Horn, born May 6, 1892 was the fifth child born to John Michael and Johanna Horn in Wahoo, Nebraska. Andrew's grandparents had come to the United States from the Austro Hungarian empire, separately, in the 1860's, with their children. Both families had settled in Saunders County which had rich farmland and a large population of Czech and German immigrants. Andrew parents married in Nebraska in 1875 and lived in a small one room unpainted wood house with a loft for the children's bedroom and a purple glass door knob. The family moved to Noble County, Oklahoma around 1895, bought a farm and made their livelihood there. His father died (pneumonia) when Andrew was 9 and his mother and her children continued to live and work on the farm. Andrew started school at Pleasant Valley but he left school to take on responsibilities for raising wheat and other crops to support the family. He was, according to family stories, the brother who took responsibility for his mother and young siblings. In the early 1900's he attended, for a short time, Valparaiso University in Indiana. It was one of the major disappointments in his life that he could not continue at the University; he was needed by his mother and siblings on the farm. He returned home in June 1913, just in time to thresh the wheat. In 1917 when he was enlisted in the Army, he received his middle name, Walter. He had not had a middle name at birth. Apparently there were other Andrew Horns in the military. In October 1917, he and 19 other local boys left for training at Camp Travis in San Antonio where they joined or were eventually joined by 250 Noble County recruits, making up Company D of the 357th U. S. Infantry Andy trained hard there in bayonet use along with all the other soldiers in training. At least, for fun, he played on and managed the Company baseball team. His brother Joe and sister Rose took the train from Oklahoma to New York so they could wave him off when he left for the War. He wrote regularly to his family from France. His letter dated November 28th just after the armistice was signed described some of the action he had seen in the war. "My dear sister, Received yours and Joe's letter of November 8th this evening and was very glad to hear from you. We are billeted in a small village called Woinville about four miles from St. Mihiel. There aren't many civilians here yet altho they are beginning to come in now. Our division was under shell fire something over a hundred days. We went into action about July 4th and helped the French check the big drive the Germans made toward Paris. This was a few miles to the right of Chateau Thierry or at St. Aganan. The Huns were still very strong at that time and therefore gave us a pretty warm welcome. After driving the Germans back here we went into the lines above Chateau Thierry at Belleau Woods. After the Huns were driven back there we again entered the lines quite a distance to the right. Later on we went in the lines at the Argonne Woods of which we came over this way and were in a big battle northwest of Verdun, the town the Germans tried to take during the first part of the war but were unsuccessful. This Division being in the lines about fifteen days in this sector when the Armistice was signed. In all we went into the lines at about six different places. We were used as shock troops so whenever there was a strong point to be taken, we were called upon the perform the task." In The Regimental History of the 357th Infantry, available on-line at http://www.90thdivisionassoc.org/90thDivisionFolders/357thbook/357hist.pdf "the armistice ended 75 days, except 7 for the changing of sectors, that the Regiment was under fire. With the exception of 48 hours, the Regiment was in the front line this entire time. It advanced farther and was in more engagements than any other Regiment in the Division. It had never failed to attain its objective or fulfill its mission." In 1919 upon discharge from the military, he returned to his home and to farming the land where his mother and siblings lived. Within two or three years he began courting Amelia Sykora. He was eight years older than she and they had grown up eight miles distant from each other but upon his return from the war they met and found they had relatives and friends and more in common. On May 5, 1924, they married. In February 1925 their first child, Marcella Jean, was born. In August 1926, their second and last child, Marjorie Loraine, was born. Andy was a playful and attentive father. He sometimes took the girls into the fields so they could play while he worked. He drove the girls in the wagon to and from school when they began attending Pleasant Valley School, the same school he'd attended as a boy and later bought them a pony they could ride, doubled up, to and from school together. Andy was a self-taught man. He knew how to successfully grow a many different grains and how to raise a variety of farm animals. Farming became his lifelong profession. Other interests he developed over the years were photography, film making and metal working; he was very skilled at all. When the weather allowed for crops to grow, he was in the fields from dawn til dusk. When the weather was cold or otherwise unwelcoming, he was in his metal-working shop or cleaning the grains in the barns. On winter evenings, you could find him inside the house, sitting at his wood burning cast iron pot belly stove with his knife , slicing, toasting and eating potatoes. When he had free time, he loved playing baseball with the Noble County team. He had a reputation as an excellent pitcher. In 1961 he and Amelia bought a house in the town of Perry. They continued to rent the land in the Ceres area; he was not ready to retire from farming and all the other activities he enjoyed on the farm. He and Amelia had sisters and brothers who lived nearby and they maintained active friendships. Towards the end of his life, Andy suffered with memory problems and began to experience some mobility issues as well. In 1979 he became ill and was hospitalized in Perry Memorial Hospital where he was diagnosed with bladder cancer. He died October 23, 1979 leaving some real sadness and feelings of loss for his survivors: his wife Amelia, daughter Marcella Thompson, six grandchildren and brothers Pete, Joe, Frank and sister Jennie. His daughter Marjorie Loraine Grasser preceded him in death in 1970.

Inscription

PFC US Army World War I. Married May. 5, 1924

Photos

Family

Parents

Spouse

Amelia Narcissa Sykora Horn 1900–1995

Siblings

Children

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