November 11, 1918. At 5:00 AM, in the Forest of Compiègne, France, at the headquarters of Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, Germany officially surrendered, ending the first World War. Fighting ended at the “Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month”. Unfortunately, Cpl. Raymond Blaine Cutts did not make it to 11:00 AM on that day.
Buster, as Raymond was known by his friends and family, was born September 7, 1891, in Ardmore, Oklahoma. His father, Robert J. Cutts, was a Civil War Veteran who died when Buster was less than a year old. His mother, Elizabeth J. “Lizzy” Hines Cutts, remarried in 1899. Although Lizzy and her husband, Thomas Fenley, remained in the Ardmore area with their children, both had family members living in the Amarillo area. Lizzy and Thomas were married until her untimely death in 1914. After Lizzy’s death, Buster moved to Amarillo to live with his uncle, Fred Hines.
Although the timing is not precisely known, an article in the Ardmore newspaper stated that Raymond had served in the regular Army for four years, indicating he would have enlisted in the same year his mother passed away. He was assigned to the 345th Infantry, 86th Division, Company H. He left New York for France shortly after President Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. By November 1918, Buster had been promoted through the ranks from Private Cutts to Corporal Raymond Cutts.
November 11, 1918. Cpl. Raymond Blaine Cutts died at approximately 10:30 AM in the Ardennes near Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France, thirty minutes before the official end of fighting in World War I. On January 18, 1919, Fred Hines received a telegram that his nephew Buster had been killed in action.
Cpl. Cutts body was originally buried in the Sedan (St. Charles) Cemetery, Letanne, Ardennes, France. His body was repatriated and arrived in Ardmore on April 24, 1921, where he was laid to rest at Rose Hill Cemetery near both of his parents. The inscription of his headstone is moving, giving great honor to this courageous Veteran.
CORP RAYMOND CUTTS
CO H, 354TH INF., U.S.A.
BORN SEPT. 7, 1891
KILLED IN ACTION NOV. 11, 1918
30 min before Armistice was signed.
He died a soldier’s death, fighting
for all that makes life worth living
for a free people.
You gave the body of flesh, O Lord,
For a cause both righteous and just;
But the child of the Spirit still lives on
As he has and always must.
