Lester Clement Barton was born in Maywood, Illinois, June 27, 1884, son of George Preston and Lucy Nichols Barton. He graduated from Yale University in 1906. He then studied law for one year at the Law School of the University of Chicago, finishing with two years at the Harvard Law School. He entered the service, August 27, 1917, at Ft. Sheridan, 111. He was trained at Camp Sheridan, Montgomery, Ala. On Nov.27, 1917, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant of Field Artillery, and immediately ordered to France. He sailed, December 26, 1917, by way of Halifax and England on the transport Lapland, and reached France, January 2, 1918.

He attended the Artillery School at Saumur, France, and was assigned to Battery B, 101st Field Artillery, 26th Division. He was sent forward as a liaison officer with the Infantry on July 17, 1918, and worked under fire until the afternoon of July 19th when, as he went forward to rescue a wounded soldier, he was hit by an enemy shell and instantly killed. He fell at the north edge of Belleau Wood opposite the Village of Torcy. He was given a citation, posthumously, for "gallant conduct and devotion to duty in the field on July 18th and 19th, 1918, at Bois deBelleau and Torcy, while on daring reconnaissance."
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