A Soldier's chest and shoulders act as their resume when in dress uniform. Sgt. Keith N. Lacey's resume will be updated on Aug. 5 during a ceremony at Fort Carson, Colorado, for the former 1st Infantry Division Soldier.
Lacey will be awarded 11 citations from his service as a machine gun team member with Company M in the 16th Infantry Regiment of the "Big Red One" from May 1917 through his discharge in July 1919, as well as a Big Red One patch he did not receive upon his discharge. Most notable, Lacey will receive the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his actions from the German Spring Offensive through the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.
According to retired Air Force Lt. Col. Keith N. Lacey II, his father spent 222 active days on the front lines during the five major offensives of the war. In May 1918, Lacey was on the front lines when the Germans launched a gas attack against the U.S. forces in an attempt to break the will of the still relatively new troops. Following the attack, medics diagnosed Lacey not with gas exposure, but with chronic bronchitis. He carried on in a weakened state for 10 months until he was put on temporary duty with the American Expedition Forces University in Beaune Cote D'Or, France, according to his son.
As the war ended, Lacey was not transferred back the 1st Inf. Div. to share in the grand parades thrown for the victors of The Great War, but was ordered to Camp Sherman, Ohio, for his immediate discharge. Lacey arrived back on U.S. soil July 1, 1919, according to his son, and was discharged on July 12.
Lacey's son said he feels Camp Sherman was not prepared to discharge a lone sergeant from the 16th Inf. Regt. In turn, the elder Lacey was given the rank insignia of the 28th Inf. Reg. and no 1st. Inf. Div. patch. He also said his father wanted to get the discharge process over as fast as possible. Because Lacey had no accompanying records with him at the time of his discharge, he was not awarded the medals he earned.
"What is puzzling and very disappointing is that the discharge officer did not sufficiently probe why this 1st Inf. Div. sergeant that had seen more battles than almost all other Soldiers being discharged at Camp Sherman, was by himself," Lacey II said. "Why was this single (noncommissioned officer) with all his combat experience sent home individually instead of returning with the 1st Inf. Div.?
"The real answer was that this NCO was physically unfit for duty. The answer to this question is much more complicated: because medical science of chemical warfare was woefully inadequate and behind the battlefield experience of the United States WWI Soldiers and Marines."
Due to Lacey's discharge process, he rarely wore his uniform, even though he was active in Memorial Day activities in Fountain, Colorado. He was the only veteran who never wore his uniform. At the time, Lacey's son did not fully understand why his father never donned his uniform at military events or ceremonies.
"After the ceremony I went up to daddy and suggested that he should have worn his WWI uniform and helmet," the younger Lacey said about an event when he was 12 years old. "He would have fit into the blouse just fine. Curtly and without further explanation he said, 'No.'
"On that Memorial Day in the 1950s it was rather sad that Sgt. Lacey's courage and sacrifice during WWI was not recognized. His WWI discharge uniform just did not physically display his valor and the enormous pride that this dedicated, gung-ho, NCO doughboy represented and felt for our country, the U.S. Army and the 1st Division."
Lacey's posthumous award ceremony will take place 11 a.m. Aug. 5 at Fort Carson's Elkhorn Conference Center, following requests made by Lacey II to the Army's Awards and Decorations Branch to obtain more information about the medals and ribbons his father earned during World War I.
"It is an honor to issue these awards in recognition of Mr. Keith N. Lacey's faithful and dedicated service to our Nation during a time of great need," wrote Lt. Col. R. Arron Lummer, chief of the Awards and Decorations Branch, in a letter to Lacey II on Oct. 28, 2016.
Lacey died Jan. 22, 1977, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the age of 80.
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