The Great War and the Longmore Brothers

One can only imagine the heartbreak of Richard Longmore and his wife Cecelia on the loss of their two sons to the Great War in the span of just four months.

James Brook Longmore (1888-1918) of Co. 37, 153rd Depot Brigade, died from influenza at Camp Dix on October 8, and his younger brother Harry Francis Longmore (1891-1919) of Co. M, 348th Infantry, died on February 4, and is listed as having “died of disease” in the three-volume Soldiers of the Great War (Soldiers Record Publishing Co., Washington, D.C., 1920) and of influenza on his casualty card.

James Brook Longmore (left)
and his brother Harry Francis Longmore
New Jersey State Archives

James Longmore is interred behind the family monument in Section L, Lot 10, here at Riverview Cemetery, but the ledger marking his grave is also inscribed with a cenotaph noting that Harry Longmore is “Buried in Carbon-Blanc Cemetery France.”