During the First World War, thousands of young Utah men and hundreds of Washington County residents volunteered to go “Over There” to fight the Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. St. George resident Lester Keate was one of those young men.
On Dec. 12, 1917, a dance at Dixie College—the school was established only six years earlier—was held to honor Keate and five others from Southern Utah. The following day they piled into a relatively new and somewhat unreliable innovation, the automobile, to drive north to enlist in the Marine Corps. A large gathering sent them off enthusiastically, fully expecting them to defeat the "Huns" in Europe and return gloriously to St. George.
This reality would not be as simple or straight forward.
By May of 1918, Keate was part of the 5th Marine Regiment, which included his brother, Ralph, and friend Israel Abbott, as they arrived in France. No doubt nervous about what lay ahead, they were ready for battle.
During World War I, combat conditions were abysmal. The men were constantly in mud, besieged by pestilence and disease, and wary of poisonous gas attacks. If they survived that, they could look forward to charging headlong into high-powered machine guns that tore into the ranks of those ordered into no man’s land.
By Oct. 4, the 5th Marines were engaged in heavy fighting in the Champagne region of France. On that day, two St. George men were wounded in action. Abbott appeared to have suffered the worst of the two—a grievous neck wound.
Weeks later in St. George, Abbott’s parents received word that their son was missing in action. J.C. and Lucy Keate heard the same thing about their son, Lester. Their anxiety can only be imagined.
Yet it was likely they felt much better after reading a letter from their son, Ralph Keate. Part of the same company as Lester, Ralph wrote that he heard that Lester was wounded but at the time of battle was seen walking toward an ambulance.
“I don’t think he was hit very bad,” wrote Ralph.
Abbott, meanwhile, recovered from his wound. It is believed he went on to study agricultural science at Utah State University and lived a long life. Lester was not as fortunate.
On the morning of Jan. 6, 1919, nearly two months after the end of World War I, Mr. and Mrs. Keate received a knock on their door. They learned that their son had died three months earlier, Oct. 4, 1918. Lester was 22 days short of his twenty-third birthday.
Two months later in March 1919, the American Legion was created. In December that year, Post 90 was established in St. George. It was named in honor of Lester Keate, a man who died serving his country.