Author: Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist
Bynum McCoy Grogan was born on March 10, 1895, in Watauga County, North Carolina, to Abner and Julia Emoline Yarber Grogan. By 1900, the Grogans were living in the town of Cove Creek in Watauga County. Abner Grogan was a farmer in the community, and he and his wife had eight children. By 1917, the family had ended up in the town of Zionville, N.C., where Bynum Grogan was working as a farmer, now being the primary supporter for his parents and a sister. At his draft registration for World War I in 1917, Grogan was documented as having rheumatism and weak eyes.
Bynum Grogan was inducted into military service for WWI on September 18, 1917, in the city of Boone, N.C., from which he was ordered to Camp Jackson in South Carolina. He was assigned to Company A, 317th Machine Gun Battalion, in which he remained until October 16, 1917. On that date, Grogan was transferred to Company M, 120th Infantry, 30th Division, in which unit he served until he was discharged. Grogan earned the rank of private first class on December 1, 1918. He served overseas with the 120th Infantry from May 17, 1918, to April 13, 1919, and was honorably discharged from service on April 17, 1919.
During his time with the 30th Division, Grogan saw action in the battles at Ypres, Belgium; Bellicourt, France; Vaux-Andigny, France; and Bohain, France. At some point in the war, Grogan was gassed, though his physical condition upon being discharged was described by military doctors as “Good.”
Shortly after returning from the war, Bynum Grogan married Clara B. Shell of Sugar Grove, N.C., on June 28, 1919, in Watauga County. By 1930, the Grogans were living in Cove Creek on a farm with their two sons, and Bynum was working as a merchant at a retail grocery store. In the 1930s, Grogan was admitted to several U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers facilities (under the Bureau of National Homes—Southern Home) in Virginia and Tennessee, suffering from physical issues following his military service (it is believed by the author that these issues were connected with his exposure to gas in Europe).
He would join the Old Hickory (30th) Division Association and American Legion by the 1930s. By the 1960s, the Grogans had come to live in Lynchburg, Virginia. Bynum M. Grogan died on November 10, 1968, in Lynchburg, Virginia, and was buried in Beulah Baptist Church in the same city. 
To learn more about Bynum Grogan’s WWI service, check out the Bynum M. Grogan Papers (WWI 26) held in the WWI Papers of the Military Collection at the State Archives of North Carolina in Raleigh, N.C.
This blog post is part of the State Archives of North Carolina’s World War I Social Media Project, an effort to bring original WWI archival materials to the public through the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ (NCDNCR) various social media platforms, in order to increase access to the items during the WWI centennial celebration by the state of North Carolina.
Between February 2017 and June 2019, the State Archives of North Carolina will be posting blog articles, Facebook posts, and Twitter posts, featuring WWI archival materials which are posted on the exact 100th anniversary of their creation during the war. Blog posts will feature interpretations of the content of WWI documents, photographs, diary entries, posters, and other records, including scans of the original archival materials, held by the State Archives of North Carolina, and will be featured in NCDNCR’s WWI centennial blog.