He died in France, apparently in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The Army’s plan was to fight its way through the many forests surrounding the city of Brieulles and capture the city. The orders for 12 October were to clean out the last pockets of German resistance in the Bois de Foret. Patrols were sent out to the north side of Hill 299. On 13 October, 4th Division units were relieved by the young soldier’s 4th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Division.* On October 15, 1918, the Army reported the private was killed in action, just four days before his regiment was withdrawn from the front and just 28 days before the Armistice that ended World War I at 11:00, 11 November 1918. He was only a very young 23 years old when he died, at which time news of his death was sent to his sister, Rose, who was living on Main Street in Millburn.
Joseph Martin Bosalavage was born in New Jersey in 1895, to Hipolite and Anna Bosalavage, who immigrated to the US in 1882 and who were living on Millburn Avenue in the 1910 US census. Joseph’s parents and his older brother, Anthony, were born in Poland, but Joseph was born in Millburn, as we assume were his ten-years-older brother, Francis, and his younger sister Rose. The 1900 and 1910 censuses note Joseph’s father and brother Anthony were working at one of Millburn’s paper mills, but no occupation was recorded for 15 year old Joseph in 1910, so he may have been in school at that time.
On May 10, 1917 Joseph enlisted in the Army at Fort Slocum in NY, to which the 1917 emergency mobilization for WWI brought a rapid influx of recruits. From May 23 to June 25 Private Bosalavage served in the medical department at Fort Howard in Maryland, as in 1917 the troops at Fort Howard were doubled due to the concerns of an impending war. Private Bosalavage didn’t stay in one place very long and on October 19, 1917, The Home News local newspaper reported: “Joseph M. Bosalavage spent a few days in the early part of the week at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. Bosalavage, of Main street. The young man is a member of the Fourth United States Infantry Medical Corps in camp at Gettysburg, Pa.” That may have been the last time his parents saw their young son.
On April 6, 1918 Private Bosalavage, Medical Detachment, 4th Infantry, 3rd Division, sailed into The War to End All Wars from Newport News, Va. Just three months later newspapers listed Bosalavage among the Severely Wounded in July 1918 and, apparently in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the 23 year old private was killed in action on October 15, 1918.
The young and brave soldier never made it back to Millburn, as he is interred in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery (plot F, row 26, grave 38), in Romagne, France. His grave marker can be seen on Find-A-Grave, to help us all remember forever another brave young man from Millburn who gave his life to protect others. Thank you for your service Private Joseph Martin Bosalavage!
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Infantry_Division_(United_States)#World_War_I