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Saturday
March 20, 2010 Since 1922 |
Sgt. Keene, the modest hero
By Wanda Orton
Contributor Published November 7, 2009 For several years, George Lawson Keene quietly took care of his business on downtown Texas Avenue, a jewelry store within Herring’s Drug Store.
One of Keene’s favorite hobbies was directing plays for a community theater, using the Horace Mann Junior High auditorium stage. This group would be a foreshadowing of the Baytown Little Theater, to come years later.
Few people, except for his closest friends, knew that Keene had served in World War I, ranking right up there with the famous medal winner, Sgt. Alvin York. Although his combat story was every bit as dramatic as Sgt. York’s, most people just didn’t know about it. He never talked about his heroics on the fields of France, and Hollywood never made a movie about him.
And while some historians argue that Keene, instead of York, was the most decorated soldier in WWI, he never made an issue of it. He was a man who lived in the present, never dwelled on the past.
When World War II broke out, however, he tried to re-enlist. Because of his age and his injuries suffered in the previous war, obviously there was no way.
Also, there was no way that the former Army sergeant could sit by and do nothing while his country was at war. He closed his jewelry business and went to work for the local General Tire and Rubber Co. plant where synthetic rubber was being produced for the war effort. In his spare time, he served on the draft board, led civil defense activities, chaired the military affairs committee of the Goose Creek Chamber of Commerce and played a key role in obtaining the local National Guard Armory.
It’s likely that, when he died in 1956 at the age of 58, Lawson Keene was better known as a civic leader and rubber plant foreman than as a member of the Legion of Valor, an old and elite organization of veterans.
To qualify, a member of the Legion of Valor must be the recipient of the Medal of Honor or the Distinguished Service Cross.
No problem. Keene had both.
In addition, Keene had earned the Silver Star with Oak Leaf, Purple Heart plus myriad other medals, including many bestowed by the leaders of France. Copies of the original citations for Keene’s medals have been placed in the Legion of Valor Hall of Fame.
Besides those medals, he received commendations from Gen. John J. Pershing and U.S. Sen. Tom Connally, and letters from Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Texas Govs. Ross S. Sterling, James Allred, Beauford Jester and Allan Shivers, and Congressman Albert Thomas.
Keene always said, however, that his most prized possessions were letters from his Army buddies.
Actually, he received the Medal of Honor in 1940 several years after WWI. The 76th Congress authorized President Roosevelt to award him the nation’s highest military decoration.
Keene was reported to be the first and youngest American combat soldier to set foot on French soil and one of the last to leave. He served on the front lines for nearly 27 months, taking part in five major engagements. He was wounded several times and was gassed in the battle of the Argonne Forest.
In one of the battles, Keene led his men across a creek, through barbed wire on the opposite bank and hurled a grenade into a German machine gun nest. A surviving enemy officer raised his pistol and aimed it at Lawson, but the sergeant knocked the gun to the ground with his rifle butt. (Now, that’s a movie moment.)
The German then surrendered to Keene, who found in the officer’s possession a number of maps useful to the advancing American and French troops.
As the battle continued, Keene dashed through a hail of bullets to a wrecked tank and salvaged the machine gun and ammunition, which he used to cover the advance of another platoon. Keene then returned to the other side of the creek to get more ammunition. The tide of the battle turned and the Germans retreated.
This is the short version of Keene’s war story, but you get the picture. Before there was Audie Murphy of Texas in WWII, there was George Lawson Keene of Texas in WWI.
As they watched the brave warrior repeatedly rushing into harm’s way, German soldiers must have been wondering, (in German), “Who IS this guy?”
Well, he came from Crockett and grew up hearing stories of history and heroes. He was the descendant of soldiers in the Texas Revolution and Civil War, and his mother was a great-niece of Gen. Stonewall Jackson.
Rightfully, Crockett claims Sgt. Keene, but Baytown can share in the pride. He lived here for nearly half his life.
Dr. C.H. Langford of the old Goose Creek Hospital on West Defee was one of Keene’s biggest fans, and he commissioned the painting of his portrait that is on display now in the courthouse in Crockett.
Wanda Orton is a retired managing editor of The Baytown Sun.
Contributor Published November 7, 2009 For several years, George Lawson Keene quietly took care of his business on downtown Texas Avenue, a jewelry store within Herring’s Drug Store.
One of Keene’s favorite hobbies was directing plays for a community theater, using the Horace Mann Junior High auditorium stage. This group would be a foreshadowing of the Baytown Little Theater, to come years later.
Few people, except for his closest friends, knew that Keene had served in World War I, ranking right up there with the famous medal winner, Sgt. Alvin York. Although his combat story was every bit as dramatic as Sgt. York’s, most people just didn’t know about it. He never talked about his heroics on the fields of France, and Hollywood never made a movie about him.
And while some historians argue that Keene, instead of York, was the most decorated soldier in WWI, he never made an issue of it. He was a man who lived in the present, never dwelled on the past.
When World War II broke out, however, he tried to re-enlist. Because of his age and his injuries suffered in the previous war, obviously there was no way.
Also, there was no way that the former Army sergeant could sit by and do nothing while his country was at war. He closed his jewelry business and went to work for the local General Tire and Rubber Co. plant where synthetic rubber was being produced for the war effort. In his spare time, he served on the draft board, led civil defense activities, chaired the military affairs committee of the Goose Creek Chamber of Commerce and played a key role in obtaining the local National Guard Armory.
It’s likely that, when he died in 1956 at the age of 58, Lawson Keene was better known as a civic leader and rubber plant foreman than as a member of the Legion of Valor, an old and elite organization of veterans.
To qualify, a member of the Legion of Valor must be the recipient of the Medal of Honor or the Distinguished Service Cross.
No problem. Keene had both.
In addition, Keene had earned the Silver Star with Oak Leaf, Purple Heart plus myriad other medals, including many bestowed by the leaders of France. Copies of the original citations for Keene’s medals have been placed in the Legion of Valor Hall of Fame.
Besides those medals, he received commendations from Gen. John J. Pershing and U.S. Sen. Tom Connally, and letters from Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Texas Govs. Ross S. Sterling, James Allred, Beauford Jester and Allan Shivers, and Congressman Albert Thomas.
Keene always said, however, that his most prized possessions were letters from his Army buddies.
Actually, he received the Medal of Honor in 1940 several years after WWI. The 76th Congress authorized President Roosevelt to award him the nation’s highest military decoration.
Keene was reported to be the first and youngest American combat soldier to set foot on French soil and one of the last to leave. He served on the front lines for nearly 27 months, taking part in five major engagements. He was wounded several times and was gassed in the battle of the Argonne Forest.
In one of the battles, Keene led his men across a creek, through barbed wire on the opposite bank and hurled a grenade into a German machine gun nest. A surviving enemy officer raised his pistol and aimed it at Lawson, but the sergeant knocked the gun to the ground with his rifle butt. (Now, that’s a movie moment.)
The German then surrendered to Keene, who found in the officer’s possession a number of maps useful to the advancing American and French troops.
As the battle continued, Keene dashed through a hail of bullets to a wrecked tank and salvaged the machine gun and ammunition, which he used to cover the advance of another platoon. Keene then returned to the other side of the creek to get more ammunition. The tide of the battle turned and the Germans retreated.
This is the short version of Keene’s war story, but you get the picture. Before there was Audie Murphy of Texas in WWII, there was George Lawson Keene of Texas in WWI.
As they watched the brave warrior repeatedly rushing into harm’s way, German soldiers must have been wondering, (in German), “Who IS this guy?”
Well, he came from Crockett and grew up hearing stories of history and heroes. He was the descendant of soldiers in the Texas Revolution and Civil War, and his mother was a great-niece of Gen. Stonewall Jackson.
Rightfully, Crockett claims Sgt. Keene, but Baytown can share in the pride. He lived here for nearly half his life.
Dr. C.H. Langford of the old Goose Creek Hospital on West Defee was one of Keene’s biggest fans, and he commissioned the painting of his portrait that is on display now in the courthouse in Crockett.
Wanda Orton is a retired managing editor of The Baytown Sun.