Person Page 637

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE - Amsterdam Evening Recorder, Friday October 11, 1918, page 3

A son was born this morning to Mr. and Mrs. David DeVault of Syracuse. Mrs. DeVault was formerly Miss Esther Waldron of this city.

GRAVE MARKER

DAVID S. DeVAULT JR.
U S MARINE CORPS WW II
1918 - 1980.

GRAVE MARKER

KATHRYN E. DeVAULT
BELOVED WIFE & MOTHER
1921 - 1997.

DEATH NOTICE - The Morning Olympian, Olympia, Washington, Sunday, October 1, 1950, Page 2

Olympian Dies In Korea Fight
Mrs. Gayle Walsh DeVault of Olympia has received word from the Defense Department that her husband, First Lieutenant Milton H. DeVault, was killed in action in Korea.
Lieutenant DeVault was with the 72nd Heavy Tank Battalion which was stationed at Fort Lewis prior to moving to the Orient.
He and Mrs. DeVault, daughter of Mrs. Frank Walsh, were married in Olympia twelve days before he sailed for the Port of Pusan, Korea, early in August. He was a native of Amsterdam, New York, the son of Mr. and Mrs. David S. DeVault, Amsterdam, New York. He was graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1945, receiving a commission in the United States Army at that time. Besides his wife and parents, Lieutenant DeVault is survived by a brother in Yakima and a sister, Joan DeVault, in Amsterdam.

Note from the WWI, WWII and Korean War Casualty Listing
USMA Class of 1945, First Lieutenant De Vault was a veteran of World War II. In Korea, he was a member of Company C, 72nd Medium Tank Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was Killed in Action while defending his position along the Naktong River near Yongsan, South Korea on September 6, 1950. First Lieutenant De Vault was awarded the Purple Heart, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.

WEST POINT ASSOCIATION OF GRADUATES MEMORIAL

Milton H. De Vault 1945
1945 Class Crest
Cullum No. 14993 • Sep 06, 1950 • Died in Korea
As parents of an always thoughtful and devoted son, we are privileged to write this Memorial in loving tribute to his honor and memory.
Milton was born in Syracuse, N.Y., on November 10, 1921. From early childhood he came to be known to all as “Bud”. Even in his youthful years he manifested qualities of character and leadership which endeared him to all his friends and associates. These characteristics served him admirably in his Boy Scout activities and in the realm of sports of which he was so fond.
Bud graduated from High School in Amsterdam, N.Y., in 1940, and in the fall of that year entered the University of Tennessee. Successful in his qualifying examinations, he received an appointment to West Point in July 1941, and was graduated from the Academy in June 1945.
After brief training at the Tank Destroyer School, Second Lieutenant De Vault was sent to Japan, where he served with the 302nd Reconnaissance Troop, 1st Cavalry Division, in the Occupation Forces. While there he was cited for his “outstanding performance of duty”. He surveyed many air strips and air fields. He escorted ex-President Hoover and Secretary of War Robert Patterson on their visit to Tokyo, and various foreign dignitaries and high American officers and statesmen who visited Japan while he was there. Bud remained in Japan two and one-half years, and was promoted to First Lieutenant during that time. From Japan he was assigned to Fort Lewis, Washington, in the 72nd Heavy Tank Battalion.
Lieutenant DeVault was married to Gayle Duncan, of Olympia, Washington, in July 1950. After United States troops became involved In the war in Korea, he arrived with his Battalion at Pusau on August 15, 1950. His letters were cheerful and hopeful. As to the manner in which he served his Country, we are indebted to First Lieutenant Robert Carper, of C Company, 72nd Heavy Tank Battalion, who wrote us from Korea on December 28, 1950, as follows:
"On September 6, during the time that we held such a precarious position on the Naktong River, the enemy had penetrated our perimeter to such a depth that the entire front was threatened. Since the North Koreans had succeeded in seizing the high ground overlooking our lines, we were under continuous observation and fire from artillery, tanks and small arms. The enemy continued to strengthen his forces and by massed attack advanced to within 300 yards of the Regimental Command post. To prevent collapse of the position, our Commanding General decided to attack at 1100 hours September 6th, 1950.
“We were greatly outnumbered and knew that the attack would be a hazardous gamble. We knew also that unless this action succeeded not only our own forces would be overrun but that units on our flanks and elements to the rear would be thrown back. When the attack order was being prepared Lieutenant DeVault recommended that the tanks lead the attack. He reasoned that infantry troops would suffer heavy losses advancing against strong enemy forces, well entrenched on high ground, and possessing numerous automatic weapons.
"Lieutenant DeVault volunteered to lead the attack personally. To an officer of his experience he knew that the lead tank would be under the most intense enemy fire; because to repel the attack the enemy would concentrate the fire of all available weapons to stop that tank. We attacked and met concentrated enemy fire. Lieutenant DeVault, standing in the turret of his tank, directed the attack down a road swept by fire, through a small village and assaulted the strongest of the enemy positions. By this time the North Koreans, realizing the relentless determination with which the attack was pushing forward, began to fall back.
"Lieutenant DeVault was hit by enemy fire and immediately lost consciousness, I was riding in his tank at that time and he did not appear to be in pain. He never regained consciousness. To the best of my knowledge his body was interred at the U.S. Military Cemetery, Miryang, Korea.
“During the time that Lieutenant DeVault served with our company he earned the respect and friendship of all who met him. Due to his professional knowledge and thorough grasp of military affairs, he was particularly valuable in training those of us less experienced than he. May I take this opportunity to extend the sympathy of officers and men of C Company and of the entire Battalion. Since Lieutenant DeVault had served with us for such a long period of time, his death was a profound personal loss—mourned by all”.
As parents, we shall ever mourn the loss of a good son. However, it is consoling to know that in our intimate knowledge of him the high purposes of righteous living were strictly adhered to by our boy, and, last, but not least, he has given his life to a most noble cause, the preservation of freedom as exemplified by the United States of America.

OBITUARY - Syracuse Herald Journal; Syracuse, New York; August 7, 1951; page 14 (Ancestry.com)

Lt. DeVault, Korea Victim, Is Buried In Amsterdam
FUNERAL SERVICES were conducted to day in Amsterdam for Lt. Milton H. DeVault, a native Syracusan, who was killed in action in Korea near Yonsan Sept. 6, 1950.
Rites were 2 P.M. in the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. David S. DeVault, 20 Northampton rd.
A graduate of U.S. Military Academy at West Point July 5, 1945, Lieutenant DeVault was sent to Manila, Philippines Islands, in October of that year. He later served with the 302d Reconnaissance Troop Mechanized, First Cavalry Division of the Eighth Army, as executive officer and athletic officer.
While there he received a citation for his outstanding performance of duty. He surveyed many air fields and was given the distinction accorded those who escorted various dignitaries of foreign nations and statesmen, among whom were former President Hoover and Secretary of War Robert Patterson.
Lieutenant DeVault was graduated in March, 1950, from the Army Indoctrination School at Alaska and left for Korea in August of that year as an officer of 72d Heavy Tank Battalion, Second Army. When our front was threatened he led his tanks into battle and was killed on the Nakton River, near Yonson.
HE WORE the American Theater Ribbon, Asiastic-Pacific Theater Ribbon, the Occupation Ribbon for Japan and Army Commendation Ribbon. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and a citation from President Trueman.
He was a member of the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church of Amsterdam and a Son of the American Revolution.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Gayle Walsh DeVault; an adopted son, Gregory DeVault; his parents; a brother, David S. DeVault, Jr., of Richland, Wash., and a sister, Joan E. DeVault.

MAGAZINE ARTICLE - Ladies Home Journal, February 15, 1951

My Son Died in Korea, by Mrs. David S. DeVault
Even when he was a little boy, Bud was a happy child. Everybody liked Bud. The minister said it when he came in after his death -- Bud always had a twinkle in his eye. He made you feel good.
Isn't it odd -- you'd think it would make me feel bad now to think about him, but it doesn't. I like to think about him.
You've heard about brothers who were friends too. Well, David and Bud were more than that. They were close, always close. "Why couldn't it have been me?" David said when he heard about it. "Everybody liked Bud." That was ridiculous, David is needed just as much as Bud was. But it shows you what Bud meant to him -- what he meant to all of us.
Bud was a towhead with blue eyes and a face full of sunshine. Yet he wasn't just happy-go-lucky. He was good. Not goody-goody -- but good. He liked to get his chores done before he went out to play. He did his homework every night. It's old-fashioned to talk about duty nowadays, but Bud had a sense of duty.
Maybe that's why he wanted to go to West Point. I don't know. You talk to your kids when they are young about the basic things -- like duty, and God. But when they grow up, you can't. You just have to feel your way along once they're grown up. Bud said he wanted to go to West Point because it offered him everything he wanted.
We didn't have much money then. After dad became ill, things weren't easy and Bud knew it. He knew an appointment to West Point would help -- he worked his way through one year at the University of Tennessee, though, before it came through. His competitive exams gave him the rank of second alternate -- two boys had to fail before he could get in. He never believed it would happen. He said if they placed higher on the tests than he did, then, of course, they must be brighter and better prepared and they'd make out. They didn't though. Bud wasn't really what you'd call brilliant, but he had something else. He stuck to things. He worked at them until they came out right.
Let me tell you how he graduated from West Point after those two other boys who had pre-West Point training failed. Bud had never had enough high-school math. And he didn't take any in Tennessee. So he got to West point, and maybe you don't know, but they take mathematics seriously. Bud had to go right into an advanced geometry course -- and sink or swim. Well, he worked on it. He worked so hard that his French suffered. In the middle of the semester it looked like he was gong to flunk both of them, and he called me up. "I'm going to resign," he said. "I thought you ought to know." I couldn't imagine it at first. It didn't seem like Bud. Then I thought about how he hated to fail in anything. So I said, all right, it's your life, but I'm going to come down there and talk to you about it before you do anything. I made him promise he'd wait. I took the next train down to West Point. We found out that two flunks would throw him out of school, but that if he had only one failure, he could get back in -- if he could make up the material he missed and pass tests on it. If he worked on his French now and his math later, he could still make it. There is a place he could go and get nothing but math, a school that specialized in helping West Pointers. It would take three months and $375. Bud, I said, you're a lot like me. If you quit now when you're licked, you'll never get over it. You go take that course, and get back in, and then, if you want to resign, you go ahead and resign.
I had to borrow the money, of course. But Bud tutored at Professor Silverman's, living in his house, for his three months, and then he took his tests and passed them. That summer he went to work to make the $375. The following spring I had to ask him, Bud, do you want to resign Now? "Mother," he said, "you knew me better than I knew myself." And when he got his diploma, do you know what he did? He gave it to me. "Here, you earned it," he said.
I remember when he was in Japan with the occupation. He liked Japan, but then he always liked any place he happened to be. But two years is a long time and he wanted to come home, and he wanted the feel of home. He wrote me that there were three things he wanted: a really beautiful set of golf clubs, a red convertible, and a dog.
Well, I knew I'd better let him get the golf clubs, but I put in for a car. They were hard to get then so I went right down when he wrote that. I even told the man it had to be red, but I didn't care what make it was.
That was about a year before he got home. A month before, I called up. No, he was still way down the list. I told them they just had to get me that car or him. I thought I wasn't going to be able to make it. It was 1948 by then, but they were still hard to get. Just a week before, though, the dealer called and he had a car. Said that it was really for someone else but they could wait. Only thing, it was a gray convertible.
He trusted me for the money and I got the car. Joan and I -- That's our youngest, she's only nineteen -- we went down to the station to meet him. I drove so carefully. When Bud saw the car, he acted like a kid. I'll never forget that ride home. He drove it as if it were a tank, and on the wrong side of the road too the way they do in Japan. The next day we got the dog -- a German shepherd, like one he had when he was a boy.
When he went back west, he drove out in that car, with the dog beside him. It was the last time I ever saw him. He wanted to get back home again, he planned it time and time again, but then there was Hawaii, and Alaska, and then just as he was starting his leave, Korea.
That's why I'm bringing his body home. He did so want to come back again. A West Point friend wanted him buried at the Academy, but I asked David and I asked Gayle -- that's Bud's wife . . . or bride, I Guess -- and they both said, "No, Bud wanted to come home."
Gayle will come with him when he comes. They got married just before he shipped out. I've never met her, but it was she who broke the news to me, not the Army. Someone at the post in Fort Lewis -- that's in Washington -- told her. She called me right away. She tried to tell me gently, but you can't tell something like that any way but straight out.
I thought it was David's wife calling -- they live in Yakima, near Tacoma, where Bud was. It was midnight here and I'd been asleep. But when she said Bud's name, I knew. Joan was just coming in the door and I was standing there, I couldn't say a word, and then I fainted. Joan picked up the phone, and I guess I came to for I went into dad's room. I shouldn't have -- it doesn't do with heart trouble to break news like that suddenly, but I wasn't thinking. I just put my head down on his bed and cried. Poor dad, he had to take care of me that night.
I don't know what went on that next week. It was like I was in a daze. I got somebody in, or they came in, and ran the nursery school -- I put the school in the house six years ago when I had to get some work, but I couldn't leave home. I remember, though, one morning I realized I had to go on living -- that Bud would have wanted me to. Something he said once came back to me suddenly. It was when my sister died. It sounded almost hardhearted to me at the time. He told me not to worry: "A thing that's over with is in the past," he said, "don't look back. Go on."
I took over the nursery that morning, but I didn't last the morning. There's a little prayer we say, and I got as far as the line "God is good" and it stuck in my throat. I couldn't say it. You can't help but think at a time like that that God has let you down. I pulled myself together that night, though, and thought about things.
There's a prayer the cadets say at West Point that helped me back. It always made my heart turn over when I heard them say it. It wasn't just their country they were trained to fight for, but God too. "Encourage us in our endeavor to live above the common level of life," they said. "Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong and never be content with a half truth when the whole can be won."
Bud chose the harder right. He didn't want to go. He didn't want to leave Gayle. He didn't want to ship out -- he wanted to drive east, and home. But he went, and he went willingly and ready to do his best. He said it when he was on the ship.
He called it a fast scribble. They were going to land at Pusan the next day and he wanted me to know where he was. Wait. I'll read it to you.
"I will miss Gayle, " he wrote, "But now we are on our way, I am glad. That sounds like an Army man, doesn't it? But knowing me, you can see why I feel that way -- I like to get things done rather than wait for them to happen."
All his letters were like that. It was only twenty-two days after he left that he was killed. The last letter I got was just before he crossed the Naktong River and went into action at Yongsan. He wrote so clearly about what went on. I could see it all. I followed him on a map. He thought a lot of the men with him, and told me how brave they were. He especially admired the marines there -- "Braver than ordinary people," he said they were.
His last letter made me so happy -- for, of course, I didn't know it was his last. He was still two miles behind the front and it looked like he might be held there awhile, though he was itching to move up. He was very optimistic: "When we get across the river, we'll really roll -- and push these jokers right back to the 38th parallel." He talked about how it would be over soon, how he would come home, where he would be assigned next after the war, and he wound up, just as always, saying, "Don't worry about me."
I wish I knew what happened then. People say I'm wrong to want to know how he died, that I shouldn't think about it. Bud would have told me, though. He'd know I couldn't sleep nights, imagining trying to live it to the end with him.
People ask me if I am bitter or resentful. No, I am neither. I am resigned. It is the part of mothers always to be giving. Sometimes it is a little; other times it is much. Occasionally we are called on to give our most. My consolation for Bud's loss lies in my faith that he is now "home" -- in "the house of many mansions." I feel we shall meet him again there.
We had a flag ceremony in the school. I don't think the youngsters get enough these days about their flag and what it stands for. I was playing The Star-Spangled Banner for them to march to and they were singing it, as best they could, the way children do, when I suddenly thought, "This is for Bud," and my hands started trembling. "He died for his country, and for these children, and millions of other children."
"One of my friends, who knew Bud from the time he was little, wrote me something I'll never forget. It made me feel proud and humble, both.
"Comfort yourself," she said, "with the knowledge that with all his fine abilities and his good record, he was ours."
Yes, God was good to me, I thought, I had a fine son.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE - Morning Olympian (Olympia, Washington); Tuesday, July 24, 1951; Page: 1 ; (GenealogyBank.com):

War Dead Return
The bodies of two Olympia men who died in Korea are being returned to the United States aboard the Baylor Victory, scheduled to dock at San Francisco today.
They are First lieutenant Milton H. Devault, husband of Mrs. Milton H, Devault, 1608 Jefferson Street, and Sergeant John R. McDuffee, husband of Mrs. Wilma L. McDuffee, Route Eight, Box 384A.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE - Morning Olympian (Olympia, Washington); Thursday, August 9, 1951; Page: 11; (Genealogy Bank.com):

Lieutenant DeVault
A Funeral service for First Lieutenant Milton H. DeVault was held recently in Amsterdam, New York. Lieutenant DeVault who married Gayle Walsh Duncan of Olympia just a year ago, was killed in action in Korea last September.

Previously married to Unknown Duncan. After Bud was killed, Gayle was married to Unknown Brown and Thomas A. Howatt. Gayle seemed to be using the "DeVault" surname at the time of her death.

Dec 1939: Name listed as GAYLE ELAINE WALSH;
Aug 1948: Name listed as GAYLE ELAINE DUNCAN;
Jan 1951: Name listed as GAYLE WALSH DEVAULT;
Jan 1965: Name listed as GAYLE WALSH BROWN;
May 1967: Name listed as GAYLE WALSH HOWATT;
13 May 1983: Name listed as GAYLE WALSH HOWATT.

OBITUARY - Publication RecorderNews.com , April 12, 2013, Page 04122013_Snyder

Joan E. Snyder of Amsterdam passed away peacefully at home on April 11, 2013. Her loving children were by her side.
She was born in New York City on March 6, 1930 the daughter of the late David S. and Esther Waldron DeVault.
Joan was a self-employed, she designed and sewed custom textiles and quilts. She attended Albright School of Art in Buffalo, NY. She enjoyed swimming and taught children at the Theodore Roosevelt Junior High School in Amsterdam. She was also a teacher at a nursery school for many years.
Joan enjoyed tennis, but most of all loved to ski, traveling the United States to various mountains as well as traveling to ski in Argentina.
She married Duane Snyder on January 1, 1955 they shared a beautiful union of over forty five years until his passing in 2002.
Her loving family includes her son, Derek Snyder of Rexford, daughters Gretchen J. Pawling (Peter) of Amsterdam and Becki J. LaGrange (Watson) of Fort Johnson and grandchildren Nicholas Pawling (Amanda), Melissa Klementowski and Anthony Sculco.
A memorial service will be held on Sunday, April 13, 2013 at 3:30 pm at the Betz Rossi & Bellinger Family Funeral Home, 171 Guy Park Ave. Amsterdam NY 12010, with the Rev. Cynthia Leonard will officiating.
Family and friends are invited to visit from 2:00 pm until 3:30pm prior to the service at the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her memory to the Community Hospice of Amsterdam, the American Cancer Society or the Montgomery County SPCA.
Please visit the family's online guestbook at http://www.brbsfuneral.com/.

MARRIAGE ANNOUNCEMENT (photo)

Miss DeVault Is Married in New Year's Day Ceremony
Miss Joan E. DeVault, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David S. DeVault of Amsterdam was married New Year's Day to Duane L. Snyder, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Snyder also of Amsterdam.
The candlelight ceremony was held at 4 p.m. in the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church and a reception followed at the home of the bride's parents, 20 Northampton road. Rev. M.C.T. Andreae officiated.
Wears Heirloom Gown
Miss Clara Nelson, organist, played traditional wedding music in the church, decorated with tall standards of white flowers, fir trees and laurel garlanding.
The bride escorted by her brother, David S. DeVault Jr. Benten City, Wash., wore an heirloom silk gown with a pleated skirt and bodice overlaid with chantilly lace and sequins. Her snug sequined cap held a fingertip illusion veil. As a bouquet, she held a cascade of white roses and holly leaves.
The maid of honor was Miss Martha J. Conney and the bridesmaids were Mrs. David Stone and Miss Marilyn Cross, all of Amsterdam. They wore deep red velvet dresses, waltz length, and carried crescents of white poinsettias. The maid of honor had a matching feather headpiece and the bridesmaids wore holly tiaras.
Melvin T. Woodhead Jr. of Scotia was best man and the ushers were George F. McGrath, Bloomfield, NJ, and John F. Ryan Jr. Scotia.
Mrs. DeVault worn an aqua gown with bronze accessories for her daughter's wedding and the bridegroom's mother was attired in a coffee-colored dress with matching hat and gloves.
On Skiing Trip
After the home reception, Mr. and Mrs. Snyder left on a skiing trip to Lake Placid and Canada, the bride wearing a black and white wool dress, black coat and white hat and gloves. They will be home Saturday at 45 Stewart Street, Amsterdam.
Mrs. Snyder, who is employed in the A&OS Department at the General Electric Co., is a graduate of Wilbur H. Lynch High School and attended Buffalo State Teachers College and the Albright Art School.
Her husband, a graduate of the same high school, is with the engineering department of Socony Vacuum Oil Co., Albany.

After Henry's death, Anne (Goodman) DeVault returned to New York with her sister-in-law and family where she remained for a short time. She traveled to Monte Carlo, Monaco and the family lost track of her. The Social Security Death Index shows that she returned to New York City and was living there when she died.

Seattle Passenger and Crew Lists, 1882-1957
Name: Byrne A. Padon, US address: Haskins & Sells, Tulsa, OK.
Male; Age: 31, born Feb. 01, 1892 Saint Louis, MO
Ship Name: President Jackson
Port of Arrival: Seattle, Washington, Mar 06, 1923;
Port of Departure: Shanghai, China Feb 18 1923.

California Passenger and Crew Lists, 1893-1957
Name: Byrne Padon
Arrival Date: 11 Aug 1926
Age: 34
Birth Date: abt 1892
Birthplace: St Louis, Missouri, United States
Gender: Male
Ship Name: President Taft
Port of Arrival: San Francisco, California
Port of Departure: Shanghai, China

GRAVE MARKER

PADON

BYRNE A. EMILY D.
1892 – 1974 1888 – 1963.

Both of Earl's parents died young. He is shown living with his grandparents in the 1900 Census.

GRAVE MARKER

WILLARD DANA BELL
IDAHO
PFC US ARMY
WORLD WAR II
JULY 13 1909 FEB 9 1965.

GRAVE MARKER

SIDNEY BULO SCOTT
MAR. 8, 1848
JUNE 8, 1924.

GRAVE MARKER

MARY W. SCOTT PATTON
WIFE OF
GEORGE E. PATTON
JAN. 14, 1876
MAY 2, 1959.

In the 1940 Census, June and Laura are living apart and Laura is listed as widowed.