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Wartime Heritage
ASSOCIATION
Remembering World War I
Yarmouth Connections
Ivan Vernon Higby
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Ivan Vernon Higby
Corporal
101st Infantry Regiment, 26th Division, US Army
November 4, 1895
Yarmouth, NS
1917
Massachusetts
Boston, Mass. US
22 (estimated)
fair
light brown
light blue
Single
unknown
Baptist
unknown
October 27, 1918
23
Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial
Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France
G Row 5 Grave 24
Listed on the Yarmouth War Memorial
Corporal Ivan Vernon Higby was the son of Samuel Ernest Higby and Adorah M (Crowell) Higby of
Chegoggin, Yarmouth Co., NS. His father was a stove-fitter. Ivan had three brothers and two sisters.
In 1910 he was living with his aunt, Mrs. Leo Sherman in Yarmouth. He left Yarmouth on January
26, 1910 at the age of fourteen travelling with his grandmother, Margaret Higby, to live with his aunt,
Mrs. Clair E. Beveridge, of 45 Saratoga St, East Boston, Mass. Ivan was a student at that time and
intended to live in the United States permanently.
The 26th Infantry Division was formed on July 18, 1917 and activated on August 22, 1917 at
Camp Edwards, MA, consisting of units from the New England area. The division's commander
selected the nickname "Yankee Division" to highlight the division's geographic make-up. Sent to
Europe in World War I as part of the American Expeditionary Forces, the division saw extensive
combat in France.
The division was part of the offensive at St. Mihiel, during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel (1918) and
the division then moved in position for the last major offensive of the war, at Meuse-Argonne.