Ed Lorenson is remembered today by an American Legion post that bears his name.

Edward Hans Lorenson was born March 13, 1889, in San Francisco, California, and raised in the San Joaquin Valley. Later his family moved to San Jose, California, where he graduated from high school in 1906. Following high school, Lorenson joined the San Jose Mercury as a reporter and continued there until his relocation to Watsonville in 1908, where he became the city editor of the Evening Pajaronian.

Lorenson's work, community activities and marriage helped to cement him to Watsonville. In 1913 Ed married Kate Iverson, a local girl, and the two became popular among the younger set of the period. His career with the newspaper continued to grow and he was active in local baseball and sports.

In 1916 Lorenson helped to form Company L of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the California National Guard in Watsonville. Later in the year the unit was activated and ordered to the Mexican border. Ed Lorenson resigned his position at the Evening Pajaronian to serve as its first sergeant. In early 1917 the company returned home, was mustered out and Lorenson returned to work at the Evening Pajaronian.

Although Ed Lorenson's former military service might have exempted him from the draft he saw it as his obligation to serve. At the time of his draft registration in June 1917 he was described as being tall and "stout" with light colored hair and blue eyes. On September 26 he was inducted into the army in the second draft and sent to Camp Lewis, Washington, for training. Upon arrival he was assigned to the 363rd Infantry Regiment of the 91st Infantry Division, promoted to corporal and placed in charge of new recruits. Throughout his stay at the camp Lorenson wrote articles describing camp life that were printed in the Watsonville Evening Pajaronian.

In June 1918 the 363rd Infantry Regiment left Camp Lewis and traveled cross-country to Camp Merritt, New Jersey, and on July 6, 1918, departed for France. In September they were ordered to the front to participate in the Meuse Argonne offensive. A letter received by Ed's wife, Kate, from the Red Cross detailed the events leading his death.

“Your husband was killed on Sept. 27th, just before dusk probably about 5 o'clock. An account of the circumstances was given me by Captain Frank S. Sever of Company I, who said: We were a few hundred yards from the village of Eclisfontaine on the afternoon of Sept. 27th. About three o'clock that afternoon the company had its first death when Corporal Otto Blau was killed by a sniper. Corporal Lorenson was the second man killed.
Ahead of us were about 300 Germans who were in the act of surrendering as Companies K and M of our battalion had encircled them. We had advanced across a ravine from where Corporal Blau had been killed and as we were receiving the surrender of these Germans in the ravine, a heavy German artillery fire began to descend in front of us and upon Companies K and M. Our own artillery began to fire there, and so we were between two fires. The 300 Germans began to run and we opened up on them with rifles and automatics. Eighty-one of them surrendered, many were killed or wounded, and the rest escaped.
We fell back to the bottom of the ravine to escape the German barrage. The German artillerymen then raised their range and caught us again so we advanced up the slope to our previous position, so as to be ahead of the barrage. Then the barrage ceased, and we halted and took up a posi- tion behind an old German barbed wire entanglement.
It was about five o'clock. The men were told to eat from their reserve rations. As they were eating, the barrage began again, and the company was ordered down a slope toward the ravine. About this time a six-inch German shell struck Corporal Lorenson and killed him instantly.”

Edward Hans Lorenson's body was recovered and is buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in Romagne, France. Following the war, Watsonville's American Legion post was named in his honor.

(CAG; WWIDR; ABMC; WRP, November 2, 1918; WEP, 1918/11/02)