Joseph Quesenberry: First Aggie to give his life for his country

Joseph Quesenberry was the golden boy of his Las Cruces community. He was born on Sept. 17, 1894, one of eight children in a well-established farming family. His father, James S. Quesenberry, and his mother, Elizabeth owned a large, productive farm just northwest of the city, near what is now Picacho Hills, on what is still Quesenberry Lane. James was a regent of The New Mexico College of Agricultural and Mechanical Arts, (later New Mexico State University) between 1917 and 1922.

Las Cruces did not yet have a high school (not until 1918), but the college had a Preparatory Department where students could get the equivalent of a secondary education. Joe enrolled in 1910. A popular student, also tall, robust, handsome, he served as the football captain for three years (his specialty was blocking punts) and leader of the ROTC Cadet Battalion as a sophomore.

He graduated from the prep program in 1914 and began the college program that autumn, majoring in agriculture. This was the same year that World War I began in Europe. While in college Joe became engaged to another, slightly younger, student, Era Rentfrow, nicknamed Pud. According to the 1918 yearbook her life’s goal was to marry a soldier.

Joe graduated from NMCAMA, with honors, in 1916. He immediately transferred to Dawd Preparatory School, in Washington, D. C., to study for an examination that would allow him to be accepted in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant. Upon winning his commission, he spent another three months training at the Army School at Fort Leavenworth, finishing early in 1917. In April of that year, after Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, America entered the war.

On May 31, 1917, Joe was transferred to Company K, 18th Infantry Regiment, First Division, known as the Big Red 1 for the large number on their shoulder patches. The division was attached to General John J. Pershing’s American Expeditionary Force, joined the convoy sailing to France in June, and arrived on July 12. After weeks of still more training, they were finally, in October, moved into the war sector.

On Mar. 11, 1918, Joe, who had by now been promoted to captain, (had grown a mustache) and was Company K Commander, led a raid in which they captured the first example of a German machine gun. On Mar. 15 he led a second raid which resulted in the capture of the first German prisoners of war taken by U.S. forces. Joe and his 187 men received a commendation for their action and a congratulatory telegram from Pershing himself. Joe was in line for and recommended for promotion to major.

On Mar. 21 Germany opened its Spring Offensive, hoping to crack open the stalemate on the Western Front and establish a victory before the American forces were fully deployed. Initially Germany seemed to be nearing its goal, but on Apr. 28 Pershing opened the first major American offensive of the war. Supported by French artillery and aircover, the U.S. 28th Infantry and two companies of the 18th, including Joe’s Company K, were sent to capture the French town of Cantigny.

It would take only 30 minutes for the Allies to take the town, but while the American soldiers were still forcing their way through the surrounding forest, and with German artillery shells exploding all around them, Joe suddenly fell wounded. He was taken to the basement of a nearby church which had been commandeered as a field hospital.

He is reported to have said, “Don’t touch me until all my men are treated.” Either that same day or the next, accounts vary, Joe Quesenberry died.

Joe was temporarily laid to rest in an American military cemetery at Bonvillers, France. In 1921 his father was granted permission to bring him home and reinter him in the Las Cruces Masonic Cemetery.

Posthumously awarded the World War I Victory Medal and the Purple Heart, he was the first Aggie to give his life for his country. In 1936 the NMSU athletic field was dedicated as Joseph Quesenberry Field and held that name until 1950. The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3242 in Las Cruces still carries his name.

Joe’s fiancé, Era Rentfrow, became the university registrar, serving 39 years, from 1922 to 1961. The first women’s gymnasium, built in 1958, was named after her, as was a city street located near campus. After World War II she collected memoirs, oral histories, and photographs of veterans who were alumni of NMSU; the photographs were exhibited in the Memorial Tower. She lived to be 93 years old. She never married.