Leonard A. Lord

First Vermonter killed in action during World War I Born in 1897 in Saint-Sebastien, Quebec, Leonard Lord spent his childhood in Swanton, Vermont. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on May 14, 1917, at Fort Ethan Allen, assigned to Company B of the 103rd Machine Gun Battalion, 26th Infantry “Yankee'' Division. Lord was shipped overseas on October 3, where he engaged the enemy throughout northeastern France near the German border. On April 12, 1918, Lord was killed during heavy artillery bombardment in Bois Brûlé when attempting to reach his machine gun emplacement. He was the first Vermonter killed during the Great War. In 1960, the Swanton Armory was named in his honor. Governor Phil Scott proclaimed April 12, 2018, as Corporal Leonard A. Lord Day.