Lawrence Tyson - World War I

World War I

Upon U.S. entry into World War I, Tyson again applied to return to active military duty, and was appointed brigadier general over all Tennessee National Guard troops by Governor Tom C. Rye. This commission was subsequently federalized by President Woodrow Wilson, and Tyson was assigned to the 59th Brigade, 30th Infantry Division, and helped train the brigade at Camp Sevier near Greenville, South Carolina. The 30th embarked for France in May 1918, and were among the first American troops to enter Belgium in July of that year.

In September 1918, the 30th Infantry was ordered to the Somme area in northern France, and positioned opposite the heavily fortified Cambrai-Saint Quentin Canal section of the Hindenburg Line. On the morning of September 29, the 30th attacked German fortifications along this section of the line. Marching in dense fog, the troops pushed across a 3-mile (4.8 km) stretch of "wire entanglements and trench defenses" before crossing the canal and securing the area. According to some reports, the 59th was the first Allied brigade to break through the Hindenburg Line.

In subsequent weeks, the 59th captured the northern French villages of Prémont, Brancourt, and Busigny, and fought its last action on October 20. In the course of the war, 1,879 of the 59th's 8,000 troops were killed or wounded. The brigade received nine Medals of Honor, the most of any single brigade in World War I. Tyson was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

In October 1918, Tyson's son, Charles McGhee Tyson (1889–1918), a Navy pilot, was lost over the North Sea while scouting for mines. After Germany's surrender, Tyson left the front to help search for his son off the coast of Scotland. He located his son's body, and shipped it back to Knoxville for burial. Tyson left active duty for the final time in 1919.