Alexander McClintock

Born on October 19, 1893, Alexander McClintock was a Kentucky native who graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1913. Before the United States entered World War I, he served with the 87th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and saw heavy action in France.

Accounts of his service describe extraordinary bravery under fire. He was severely wounded and gassed, and he received the Distinguished Conduct Medal for gallantry after a trench raid in 1916. Later, after the U.S. joined the war, he returned to military service as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

McClintock also wrote about what he had lived through, and that firsthand voice is what makes his work stand out. He died in New York City on June 28, 1918, at just 24 years old, leaving behind the record of a life shaped by war, courage, and its lasting costs.