On April 6, 1917, the United States Congress formally declared war on Germany, marking America’s entrance into World War I. At 2:00 PM on April 6, 2024, the 107th anniversary of this momentous occasion, Elmwood Cemetery is proud to host Service and Sacrifice: World War I Remembered, a walking tour highlighting the contributions of local individuals who held the war effort, in civilian and military roles alike. Today’s blog post features the story of one of their individuals featured on the tour.
Joyce Kilmer is the prime example of a hometown hero. He was born on December 6th, 1886 in New Brunswick, where he would grow up. Although he was born Alfred Joyce Kilmer, he would, throughout his life, go by his middle name instead of his given name. He was the fourth and youngest child of his parents, Frederick Barnett Kilmer and his wife Annie. The family lived in a two and a half story frame house at 17 Codwise Avenue.
His father, Frederick, was the first Chief Scientist at Johnson and Johnson and was the inventor of baby powder. Frederick had come to New Brunswick after having practiced Pharmacology in Binghamton, New York, Plymouth, Pennsylvania, and Morristown, New Jersey. While he initially ran a pharmacy in the city, in 1889 he would become employed by Johnson and Johnson as the Director of Scientific Affairs, a position he would continue to hold until the year of his death in 1934.
The Kilmer family was well respected in New Brunswick and it is of little surprise that Joyce Kilmer would be held to high standards growing up. He would attend Rutgers Preparatory school from the time he was seven until he was seventeen. He would begin to develop an aptitude for writing and public speaking during his time at school, which he would continue to hone. After graduating from Rutgers Prep he would attend Rutgers College enrolling in the fall of 1904. The Kilmer Family had, at that point, moved to 147 College Avenue, only a block from Rutgers.
During his time at Rutgers he would be a reporter and later the associate editor for the school newspaper, the Daily Targum, and would contribute some pieces to Red Cross Notes and the Red Cross Messenger, publications of Johnson and Johnson. He would transfer to Columbia University after his sophomore year, as Kilmer struggled with math classes at Rutgers.
At Columbia, Kilmer would serve as associate editor for the Spectator, Columbia’s college newspaper. He would become a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity and the Philolexian Society. He was also the recipient of many academic achievements, including a medal in public speaking. He would graduate in June of 1908 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Also in June of 1908, Joyce would marry Aline Murray. The two had both been classmates at Rutgers Preparatory School and both were gifted poets; Aline would continue to publish poetry even after her husband’s passing.
In the fall of 1908 Kilmer would begin teaching English and Latin courses at Morristown High School. During the 1908-1909 academic year he would continue to write and had works published in magazines during that time. At the end of the school year Kilmer left Morristown to take a position at Charles Scribner’s book store in New York City, and would follow that up by helping prepare the Standard Dictionary at Funk & Wagnalls Publishing Company. He would work there until September of 1912 when he would take a job as the editor of The Churchman, an Episcopal Church publication.
Half a year later he would take a job at the New York Times, working on the Sunday magazine and publishing book reviews. He and his wife and children would live in Mahwah, New Jersey, and he would commute by taking the train into the city. He would return to teaching in the winter term of 1916-1917, giving a course in the Department of Journalism at New York University. He would publish poetry throughout the 1910s, including his most famous work Trees. Trees is among the most quoted poems in America,often recited on Arbor Day by school children.
In April of 1917 America would enter the Great War, which had been occuring in Europe since 1914. Kilmer had been part of the New York National Guard and would enlist in the regular Army in August of 1917, being assigned to the 69th Infantry regiment, otherwise known as the “Fighting 69th.” During the war it would be re-designated as the 165th Infantry, part of the 42nd “Rainbow Division.”
He would return to New Brunswick just one more time after the war began, in September of 1917 to bury his five-year-old daughter. His daughter, Rose Kilburn Kilmer, had been stricken with polio less than a year after she was born and had lived her short life in poor health. After she was laid to rest, Kilmer would then head to Camp Mills on Long Island for training.
Kilmer would be shipped overseas on October 29, 1917, departing Hoboken enroute to France. Kilmer’s main role was as an intelligence officer, collecting data on the enemy. By the beginning of March, 1918, he had received the rank of Corporal. On March 7, while in the Rouge Bouquet section of Parroy Forest, the regiment would be struck by a devastating bombardment by the Germans. Many soldiers were killed in the attack, including nineteen in one dugout.
Influenced by this experience, Kilmer would write the poem Rouge Bouquet. It would be read by Chaplain Francis P. Duffy during the funeral for the lost soldiers. Later that March, Kilmer would receive the rank of sergeant. In July of 1918, while scouting the locations of enemy machine guns, Sgt. Joyce Kilmer would by killed by a sniper’s bullet. He would leave behind his wife and four children. For his service he would posthumously receive the Croix de Guerre, awarded to him by the French government
Rouge Bouquet - Joyce Kilmer:
In a wood they call the Rouge Bouquet
There is a new-made grave to-day,
Build by never a spade nor pick
Yet covered with earth ten metres thick.
There lie many fighting men,
Dead in their youthful prime,
Never to laugh nor love again
Nor taste the Summertime.
For Death came flying through the air
And stopped his flight at the dugout stair,
Touched his prey and left them there,
Clay to clay.
He hid their bodies stealthily
In the soil of the land they fought to free
And fled away.
Now over the grave abrupt and clear
Three volleys ring;
And perhaps their brave young spirits hear
The bugle sing:
“Go to sleep!
Go to sleep!
Slumber well where the shell screamed and fell.
Let your rifles rest on the muddy floor,
You will not need them any more.
Danger’s past;
Now at last,
Go to sleep!”
There is on earth no worthier grave
To hold the bodies of the brave
Than this place of pain and pride
Where they nobly fought and nobly died.
Never fear but in the skies
Saints and angels stand
Smiling with their holy eyes
On this new-come band.
St. Michael’s sword darts through the air
And touches the aureole on his hair
As he sees them stand saluting there,
His stalwart sons
And Patrick, Brigid, Columkill
Rejoice that in veins of warriors still
The Gael’s blood runs.
And up to Heaven’s doorway floats,
From the wood called Rouge Bouquet,
A delicate cloud of buglenotes
That softly say:
“Farewell!
Farewell!
Comrades true, born anew, peace to you!
And your memory shine like the morning-star.
Brave and dear,
Shield us here.
Farewell!”
Joyce Kilmer’s name would live on. His parents, particularly his mother, would fight to keep his name in the public’s consciousness. His name ordains many schools and parks and forests throughout the country. In New Brunswick, the street of his birthplace, Codwise Avenue, has since been renamed to Joyce Kilmer Avenue. A local American Legion post named itself after him. Clearly, amongst those local to New Brunswick, he remains a hero.
Sources:
Burgholzer, Paul. “Remembering the Rainbow Division.” The United States World War One Centennial Commission, 2017. https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/2975-remembering-the-rainbow-division.html.
Durnin, Richard G. Joyce Kilmer and New Brunswick, New Jersey. New Brunswick: Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission, 2006.
Grace, Janna. “Open Canon: Aline Murray Kilmer.” Raft Magazine, June 15, 2022. https://www.raft.is/p/aline-murray-kilmer.
Grossman, Iris. “Meet Fred Kilmer: One of Johnson & Johnson’s Earliest Pioneers.” Johnson & Johnson, December 14, 2016. https://www.jnj.com/our-heritage/fred-kilmer-johnson-and-johnson-scientific-pioneer.
James, D. Clayton. The Years of MacArthur: Vol. 1, 1880-1941. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1970.
“Joyce Kilmer.” Poetry Foundation. Accessed March 28, 2024. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/joyce-kilmer.
Keane, James T. “Joyce Kilmer: Soldier, Writer and Lost Voice in the American Catholic Literary Revival.” America Magazine, May 30, 2023. https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2023/05/30/cbc-column-joyce-kilmer-245388.
Kilmer, Alfred Joyce. “Rouge Bouquet.” Poets.org. Accessed March 28, 2024. https://poets.org/poem/rouge-bouquet.
"US, Army WWI Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1917-1938," digital images, Fold3.com, Page 21; citing List of Outgoing Passengers 1917-1938: NARA catalog ID 6234465
Watson, Emmet. “Rouge Bouquet.” Emmett Watson. Accessed March 28, 2024. https://www.emmettwatson.com/ww-i/rouge-bouquet/.
“WWI Army/Navy Cards from the Vault”: digital images, Fold3.com, Joyce Kilmer, serial no. 88537; citing US, WWI New York Army Cards, 1917-1919, New York State Archives.