The Hellmann family lived on a farm near Hamel, Illinios that was owned and operated by Mrs. Emma Hellmann, widow and mother of the four sons and one daughter that attended the Lutheran school there and later the Gehlenbeck school. August Hellmann was the second oldest son and was drafted on September 19, 1917 and completed basic training at Camp Taylor, Ky.. He was assigned to Co. A., 333rd Infantry and sent to Camp Pike, Arkansas then again to Fort Niagara, N.Y., on June 7, 1918. On July 10, 1918 he was assigned to Co. A,, 10th Battalion U. S. Guards in New York, N.Y., Pier 58 to be the Mess Sergeant for the troops deploying overseas. While serving in this capacity, Mess Sergeant August H. Hellmann was stricken with Spanish Influenza and was removed to the base hospital at Camp Williamsburg, New York for treatment where he died from complications with pneumonia several days later. Tragically, his brother, Private Heinrich (Henry) W. Hellmann, also perished from Spanish Influenze at Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Michigan on the very same day. The two brothers are buried in the same grave in the Lutheran (New Gehlenbeck) Cemetery near Hamel. Mess Sergeant August H. Hellmann is survived by his mother, Mrs. Emma Hellmann, brothers Adolph, Reinhard, Gustave and Oscar, and a sister, Augusta. His father had died several years earlier.
Mess Sergeant August H. Hellmann was 23 years, 9 months and 2 days of age.
