Lieut. William Fitzsimons

William T. Fitzsimons, M.D., born in Burlington on April 18, 1889, spent his childhood there and graduated from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 1912. Shortly after World War I broke out in 1914, he volunteered his services to the Allied cause and spent a year treating casualties in England and Belgium. When the United States officially entered the conflict, he returned to active duty with the Army Medical Reserve Corps. Just a few weeks later, on September 7, 1917, he was killed during a German air attack on his field hospital in France, becoming the first American officer killed in action in World War I. He was buried in France.

Burlington, Kansas · United States