https://www.uslearning.net/1940-census.html Croak by 60, if you are lucky. (mean average which means half croaked younger.) 28 is just about the middle.
I'll give you that, but even so, I imagine the average 28-year-old rifleman was in pretty good shape. Baker had served with the NYNG from 1935-38, enlisting right after high school, apparently; he then re-enlisted in 1940, presumably being able to see the writing on the wall. It does seem odd he was not promoted to NCO until posthumously, although he may have been one of those soldiers who is content as a rifleman, not a squad leader or above.
O'Brien enlisted in the State Guard (the home defense force) in 1917, and then in the NYNG in 1920, served as an enlisted man until OCS in 1926, and continued as a guardsman until federalization in 1940; he was promoted captain in 1939, so presumably was a platoon and company commander or battalion staff officer in the 105th for more than a decade - kind of the definition of a traditional Guard officer, actually.
From what I can tell, O'Brien and Baker were both mobilized when the 105th was federalized in 1940, which suggests that whatever the issues the 27th's divisional leadership may or may
not have had, the prewar NG officers and men included some good cadre. Likewise, Salomon, who was drafted in 1940 and trained as a rifleman and machine gunner despite being a USC graduate (BS and DDS) and ISTR made it to platoon sergeant before being sent to OCS, makes it equally clear the draftees in 1940-41 included some pretty impressive individuals.
The 27th Division, all in all, was more sinned against than sinner, I'd say... it's challenging to understand exactly who failed who, but in a conflict defined by coalition warfare and joint and combined operations, HM Smith was not exactly sterling, to my mind.
It's worth mentioning that Ralph Smith (born in Nebraska 1893) was as much a regular (commissioned as such in 1916) as HM Smith, (born in Alabama 1882, was commissioned in 1905) and Ralph Smith had seen active service as an infantry officer in Mexico in 1916-17 and in France in 1917-18 with the 1st and 4th divisions, where he
won the Silver Star with OLC and was WIA in the Meuse-Argonne, and then remained in the RA until WW 2. Ralph Smith was
not a Guardsman in 1940, and had not been one since 1916, which given the comments HM Smith makes about "militia-itis" in
Coral and Brass, presumably should be pointed out.
On the other hand, in WW I, HM Smith served as a
staff officer, beginning in the 2nd Division, and
never led troops in combat in France. Not exactly a combat commander.
It's also unclear to me how HM Smith qualified for the Purple Heart, since it doesn't appear, according to
Coral and Brass, he was ever wounded in action; possibly as a recipient for merit, since the DSM - at the time - generally was in recognition of more senior assignments, with much more significant levels of responsibility.
https://www.nationalguard.mil/News/...-soldiers-remember-medal-of-honor-recipients/
and
https://books.google.com/books?id=i... and rensselaer polytechnic institute&f=false
and
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/Coral&Brass/index.html#index