Memorial Day is the day set aside to honor the men and women who have died in all wars.

One of those military members who gave his life for this country was William G. Carroll, a member of the North Dakota National Guard’s Company D of the 164th Infantry.

Carroll, who lost his life in World War I, shortly before he reached his 21st birthday, died of wounds in an Army hospital in France. His body was returned in August 1921 for burial in Rosehill Memorial Park in Minot.

Carroll’s name lives on in Minot with Post No. 26 of the American Legion, organized and chartered Aug. 30, 1919, and named in honor of the Minot World War I soldier.

Richard Reuer, chaplain for William G. Carroll Post No. 26, said he was told that Carroll was the first military member from Minot who was killed in World War I.

According to the files of The Minot Daily News:

William Glenn Carroll, born Aug. 23, 1897, at Minot, was better known as “Tom” to his friends and acquaintances in Minot.

He joined Company D, First Infantry, North Dakota National Guard at Minot and saw service in 1916 in Mexican border campaign before he went overseas after the United States entered World War I.

He was not of draft age when he entered the service.

Records of servicemen in World War I, authorized by the 1927 Legislative Assembly and compiled in the “Official Roster of North Dakota Soldiers, Sailors and Marines,” does not show what rank Carroll held.

The Guard unit was called into federal service on July 15, 1917, and Carroll went overseas to France with the 164th in December of that year. There he took part in several battles.

His luck ran out at Cantiguy, also called Picardy. He died in an Army hospital in France on July 20, 1918, of wounds received in action, slightly more than a month before he would have turned 21.

Carroll was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action.