Lewis Franklin Foltz

Thank you to Rogier Van de Hoef for providing much of the information on Brother Foltz.

Somerset Lodge No. 713

Lewis was born on 10 February, 1898, in Rebuck, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. Son of George A. and Susan (Reitz) Foltz.

He enlisted in the Regular Army on 17 (21) December, 1917, at Johnstown, Pennsylvania.  Sent to Columbus Barracks, Ohio.  Provisional Guard Company #2, Camp Greenleaf, Georgia, to 28 January, 1918.  Medical Department (attached to 1st Battalion), 16th Field Artillery, 4th Division, until his discharge.

Lewis departed Hoboken, NJ, on 10 May, 1918, as part of the “Medical Detachment 16th Field Artillery” en route to France.

Sergeant Medical Department, June 3rd, 1918. Aisne-Marne, Vesle Sector, St. Mihiel, Toulon Sector, Meuse-Argonne, Army of Occupation, Germany.

Departed Brest, France aboard the U.S.S. Zeppelin on 29 July, 1919, arriving in Hoboken, NJ on 2 July, 1919.

Honorably discharged on 14 August, 1919, at Camp Dix, New Jersey.

Spouse: Edna Pearl Goff Foltz (1900 - December 21st, 1977).

Served as clergyman. He was pastor of the Lyons-Bernville Lutheran Parish from 1925 to 1930. Chaplain of the Veterans Administration Hospital in Philadelphia for 16 years until retiring in 1986.  He was ordained in 1925 by the former Susquehanna Synod of Central Pennsylvania, United Lutheran Church in America, now the Lutheran Church in America.

An Army veteran of World War I, Foltz returned to the Army as a chaplain in World War II, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

A member and chaplain for many years of Sunbury Lodge No. 713, F & AM, Foltz was also a member and director of the Somerset American Legion and a director of the Somerset County Chapter American Red Cross. Executive committee member and secretary of the former Allegheny Synod, he was former pastoral adviser of the Johnstown District Lutheran League and former instructor and dean of leadership schools.

Brother Foltz entered into rest on 1 July, 1980, in Topton Lutheran Home, Topton, Berks County, Pennsylvania.

He now rests in the Philadelphia National Cemetery, Section R Site 6, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.

The Project has recently acquired Bro. Foltz’s copy of “The Fourth Division: Its Services and Achievements in The Great War”. It will now be preserved in our archives.

“Soft and safe, my Brother, be thy resting place.  Bright and glorious, be thy rising from it.”

Lest we forget…