From The Daily Ardmoreite newspaper, p. 3, January 24, 1919, Ardmore, Oklahoma:
I wonder how often this occurred among families while serving on the front lines in the two World Wars. Brothers, yes. But fathers and sons meeting up?
The other son mentioned who was also in the Marine Corps? That would be Homer Carlisle Hurley. Here Homer appears with his brother, John, on a Marine Corps Muster Roll dated June 12, 1918:
John was discharged October 30, 1919, and Homer on January 27, 1919.
All three Hurleys made it home safely after The Great War. Homer died 1974 in Oklahoma City. Brother John D, Hurley died 1984 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Their dad, Oscar Lee Hurley, was born 1867 in Salem, North Carolina to James D. Hurley (1842-1922) and Melissa Emaline Gibson Hurley (1827-1904). When Oscar was three, his parents and sisters left North Carolina and moved to Texas. That must have been quite a journey.
Oscar married Lula Mangum in 1893, and they had nine (known) children. All born in Texas. It was after World War I that I next find his family living in Ardmore, Oklahoma. The 1920 Federal Census indicates Oscar was employed as a carpenter "for the circus." I hope his younger children got free tickets to the event.
After Oscar's death outside of Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1942, his widow Lula applied for his military headstone.
Oscar's half-brothers, George and Caswell, had fought in the Civil War. Caswell died of disease near their North Carolina home in 1862. My 2xGGrandfather George was 17 when he and other Confederates were sent to New York Harbor to a Yankee prison.
One hundred years ago, it may not have been uncommon for several in a family to enlist and fight in a foreign land. But to this 21st century descendant, it seems odd--strangely odd, to have had brothers who fought in the Civil War and a younger brother who then fought in Europe some 47+ years later.