On the recordJuly 23, 2013
today I rise to honor PFC Walter Herbert Anderson, who has been awarded a posthumous Purple Heart for his service in World War I. He was born in Toquerville, Utah Territory, on February 3, 1895, 1 year before Utah officially became a State. Little did he know that his service would take him around the world and change the rest of his life. PFC Anderson was involved in some of the largest American offensives of the war and served his country with honor. He was part of the famous 91st Division, affectionately referred to as the ``Wild West Division.'' The division consisted of a group of inexperienced young men from several Western States. Although they were shipped to Europe in the eleventh hour of the war, as all Americans were, they fought in some of the most ferocious operations. Private First Class Anderson, a member of the 346th artillery regiment, was part of three major offensives: the Saint Mihiel Offensive, France; the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, France, and the Ypres-Lys Offensive, Belgium. During the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in October 1918, Private First Class Anderson was debilitated by a German gas attack. In World War I, due to the limited knowledge regarding the effects of chemical warfare, gassed soldiers were not counted among the wounded in medical records or morning reports. According to the U.S. Army Medical Department's Office of Medical History, 229 soldiers were gassed from the 91st Division during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.…





