On July 27, 1918, Mrs. Catherine Hoke of Seattle received a telegram from the War Department informing her that her son, Thomas Everett Hoke, was missing in action near Chateau Thierry, France. It would be six long months before the news would come that Everett had been killed in action on July 1st. A member of Company A of the 161st Infantry, Hoke had recently been promoted to the rank of Sergeant. He was buried at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France. (bit.ly/uw_hoke)
Born in Tacoma, Everett was the younger of Michael Hoke and Catherine Jones’ two sons. He had resided in Seattle for several years with his widowed English-born mother and brother following his graduation from Olympia High School. His brother Sergeant Herbert Sumner Hoke served with the 69th Artillery. Everett was employed at the Seattle Hardware Company at the time of his enlistment. He had enrolled as a freshman at the University of Washington in 1914 studying Liberal Arts.