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Copyright. 1919 
 
 ROBERT W. BODFISH 
 
 PALMER, MASS. 
 
 Printed and Designed by 
 
 THE STOBBS PRESS 
 
 WORCESTER, MASS. 
 
 ©CI.A561023 
 
 OEC 17/919 
 
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 6^-7, touh to eayisre&6 ou-r ^heart-felt My/mfiathty to you, 
 iox the ton of your beloved 6cm 
 
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 <t trisect xx^nd true xxxnvraxLe. 
 
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 ou*t~ lodd id ^fecorva onlu to ycurd. 
 
 
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PREFACE 
 
 ELLOW MEMBERS OF 647:— 
 
 You commissioned me to write and publish a history of our 
 section. I have done the best that I could for you. There a:e those 
 among you who will not be entirely satisfied with my effort. It 
 would indeed be surprising if most of your criticisms are not good 
 ones. I have simply written as I thought the subject could be best 
 presented in a fairly readable manner. I have been forced to leave 
 out many little incidents which might have enlivened a part of the 
 story. I felt that there was a danger that too many isolated anec- 
 dotes might prevent the working out of a smooth, connected history. I have tried to 
 balance the different portions of our work so as to give each its right proportion of 
 space. I have intended to tell the truth about our life. I believe that I have told nothing 
 to embarrass any of you- We lived the life of natural men, did our work as we saw 
 it, and ought not to be ashamed of our good times. If I have succeeded in giving 
 you a true portrayal, you, alone, can judge. 
 
 Let me thank all of you for your co-operation. I, especially, wish to thank those 
 who contributed little favors to assist me, as Luykx, Anderson, and Wilder. Everything 
 helped out. 
 
 If it is the proper place, and I believe it is, permit me, in the name of the sec- 
 tion, to thank Lieutenant Smith for the tact and loyalty which he showed in his duties 
 as our commanding officer. It is rare, even in our service, that a body of men have a 
 superior officer who is able to respond so closely to the requirements of a position as 
 did our Lieutenant. His name will be always linked with the best days of Section 647. 
 
 It is in place also that I thank Sergeant Swain in the name of the section for 
 the constant, untiring efforts which he used in our behalf. He did his work well. He 
 more than did his work. He put himself out constantly for the men of the section. He 
 was no Top Sergeant in the ordinary meaning of the word. He was always a friend 
 and helper who was never satisfied until his section received the best that could be found 
 for it. 
 
 I wish that I could go on down the list of the men who were in a position to 
 work for the section as a whole. "Horn" Snader, Andy, and Risley are among those 
 whom I should want to praise were I to thank men particularly for extra attention to 
 the welfare of the section and the men. But I must not assume too great a right to praise. 
 Each member has that as his own, undelegated prerogative. 
 
 To Colonel Percy L. Jones and his subordinate officers who helped to perfect 
 the work of the service, Section 647 sends its greetings. We congratulate them on their 
 work and trust that the United States Army Ambulance Service with the French Army 
 will long live in memory as a tribute to their efficiency. 
 
 Lastly, a closing word to you in the name of the Section. We have created a 
 means by which we may keep in touch with each other now that the war is over. Let 
 us make an effort to remember our friendship together, and let us try to meet again at 
 some future time. As a practical suggestion I may say that there ought to be a slight 
 
 [7] 
 
surplus from the printing of this book. That can always be used for the printing of 
 cards to inform members of a proposed reunion. I shall be more than glad to have 
 such cards printed so that any man desiring to promote a reunion may know who will 
 be able to attend. 
 
 We had a good section. We grow more and more proud of it each day as we 
 remember our life and work together. It ought to remain a living thing, not just a dead 
 memory. This history, I hope, will help. Each one of us, alone, can make such life a 
 certainty. 
 
 ROBERT W. BODFISH. 
 
 Palmer, Massachusetts, July 14, 1919. 
 
 rsi 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 T is perhaps necessary for the complete understanding of this His- 
 tory of Section 647 by readers not of the section that we insert a 
 short foreword explaining the origin and nature of the service of 
 which the section was a part. 
 
 The outbreak of the war in 1914 was followed rather close- 
 ly by the efforts of Americans in and about Paris to help the French 
 in whatever way seemed the most practical. Aid in the work of 
 caring for the wounded appeared to be the most practical service. 
 A partially finished school in Neuilly-sur-Seine, just outside the 
 gates of Paris, was fitted up by an American Committee as a hospital, and hastily 
 equipped ambulances were used to transport wounded about Paris and in the battle zone 
 itself. This organization, thus begun, rapidly developed under the name of the Amer- 
 ican Ambulance and established a rear and front ambulance and hospital service. In 
 1916 the front work of the organization was separated from the hospital work and 
 carried on independently under the name of the American Field Service. A. Piatt An- 
 drew acted as the head of this service up to the advent of the American Army. 
 
 The work of the American Ambulance was paralleled during the early days 
 very closely by Mr. H. H. Harjes and Mr. Richord Norton who operated two ambul- 
 ance services under the British and American Red Cross respectively. In 1915 these 
 were united under the American Red Cross with the official title, Motor Ambulance 
 Sections of the American Red Cross. This service is familiarly known to us as the 
 Norton-Harjes Ambulance Service. 
 
 All of these organizations secured their personnel through the enrollment of 
 Americans already in France who desired to be of some immediate service, and through 
 the enlistment of young men in America who were eager to contribute something to- 
 wards assisting the heroic sufferers of Europe. Many of these men gave heavily to 
 maintain the sections composing the different ambulance services. Other funds were 
 raised by campaigns conducted throughout the United States. By both means and by 
 the particular interest of a few wealthy Americans the services were able to work val- 
 iantly for the French Armies. 
 
 After the American declaration of war plans were formulated for the organ- 
 ization of an Army Ambulance Service to take the place of the volunteer services al- 
 ready at work. It is said that this program was initiated largely at the request of 
 Marshal Joffre to the Surgeon-General of the United States Army. At all events, vol- 
 unteers were sought for the launching of the United States Army Ambulance Service 
 with the French Army, as the new organization came to be known. Colleges sent units 
 and volunteers were trained for several months at Allentown, Pennsylvania, to take up 
 the work. The first ten sections left for France in August, 1917. 
 
 Meanwhile the American Ambulance had been consolidated with the American 
 Red Cross and then had been absorbed by the American Army. The American Field 
 Service and the Norton-Harjes Service were also to be superseded by the Army Service 
 as soon as it could be brought to France. Many of the volunteer drivers enlisted with 
 the new service and several sections were left intact to continue their work. Where 
 not enough men in a section enlisted to permit the section being left, the volunteers kept 
 
 [9] 
 
up the work until an Allentown unit was ready to take their place. Then the men who 
 had enlisted reported at the Service Headquarters for reassignment and were sent as 
 casuals to be formed into sections at a later period. Our own section, 647, was made 
 up in this manner. 
 
 The United States Army Ambulance Service with the French Army has very 
 efficiently continued the splendid work of the volunteer service. It has had the com- 
 mand of larger financial resources than the other and the results obtained have been 
 correspondingly greater. Most of the sections have been detailed for duty with French 
 Divisions. A few have been assigned to work with American Divisions as an aid to 
 their Sanitary Trains. In each case the sections have done the front evacuation of 
 wounded. Competent critics, without reserve, have spoken very highly of their loyalty 
 and efficiency. No small amount of this credit must be given to Colonel Percy L. Jones, 
 the Chief of Service, who has labored zealously to build up the organization of the sec- 
 tions and automobile parks so as to contribute best in unified service. With his must 
 be grouped the names of his immediate subordinates, as well as those of the Lieuten- 
 ants who have commanded the various sections. 
 
 Sections in this service, apparently, have been exceptions among army units 
 in that so great a degree of freedom has been granted them. They have not abused 
 that privilege, but have used it, rather, to perfect the task in hand. Our section, every 
 section in the Service, has no reason to be other than tremendously proud of its share 
 in the war. The personnel of the Service was largely made up of college men. Every 
 man sought to contribute individually to the efficiency of the sections. Each section 
 was left sufficiently independent so that it could adjust its methods to meet the local 
 situation. Each section seemed to be noticeably successful. 
 
 Frankly speaking, it would be difficult to find any man who is not satisfied 
 with his section and with the Service of which it was a part. Their work has been 
 worthwhile. Many citations and decorations from French and American Armies tell the 
 opinion of others. We, as members, are proud of our comrades, the high grade of men 
 who worked with us. We are proud of the freedom allowed us and glad for the ac- 
 quaintance with France which that permitted. We know that that acquaintance has 
 left us a distinct task and we welcome such an opportunity to interpret our French 
 cousin in his proper light of hero, soldier, and friend. 
 
 [10] 
 
CHAPTER I 
 SANDRICOURT 
 
 E came to Sandricourt expecting to become members of a new section 
 and be sent to the front immediately. We remained at Sandicourt 
 for four months. 
 
 The men who later became a part of section 647 were from 
 various sections of the Norton-Harjes Volunteer Ambulance Service 
 and from the American Ambulance Service. Most of the men had 
 come in directly from the front and, with others who had not yet 
 been to the front, were eager to join the proposed section. These 
 men responded loyally when the United States recruiting officer had urged them to enlist 
 in the United States Army Ambulance Service. Surely their experience warranted their 
 speedy assignment to duty. Rumor had it that the Allentown units were to take over 
 new fields of work. The old volunteers would certainly have a place. 
 
 The new section was formed in a month. It left for the front in four months. 
 It reached the front in April. This was October. 
 
 If we could have waited patiently at Sandricourt until we were sent out we 
 might look back at it with a better feeling. For Sandricourt was not such a poor place. 
 We associate the name with our camp. There was a town of Sandricourt nearby but we 
 paid little attention to it. 
 
 Our Sandricourt which we built and kept in running order, much of the time 
 only for ourselves, consisted of a group of farm buildings about an inside court, an 
 abundance of land outside, later three barracks and a Y. M. C. A. tent, 'Genie's and 
 Suzanne's. These latter were cafes situated about a mile and a half from the camp in 
 the little town of Courcelles. They were the rendezvous of the members on those later 
 winter evenings when the section spirit was at its lowest ebb. 
 
 But we didn't branch out into the barracks and Suzanne's at first. The early 
 days were spent under strict military discipline. Allentown sections came, remained a 
 few days, and went out, with clocklike regularity. We performed our duties faithfully; 
 stood guard, seeing no prowlers night after night; stood at retreat, fearful lest some 
 command should leave us stranded ; built barracks which we hoped never to live in ; and 
 went to bed at six P. M. because it was cold and we had nothing better to do. 
 
 So we existed, feeling more and more useless 
 every day. A month brought a little change. Lieut. • 
 Harry E. Anderson, who had been the chief of old 
 section 21, came from Paris to organize a new sec- 
 tion from the old volunteer casuals. Section Sani- 
 taire 647 came into existence officially on November 
 12, and most of the members were added within a 
 week. We were living now in one of the barracks 
 which we had put up. Section 9 kept open house 
 next to us. On the other side was an empty barrack 
 used occasionally by transients. The Y. M. C. A. 
 tent completed the row of official dwellings. We 
 are not at all partial to the Y. M. C. A., less now 
 than then, yet we found the tables for writing and 
 the occasional entertainments worth enjoying. 
 
 [11] 
 
The Barracks 
 
 We became the mas- 
 ters of the camp. We 
 were, in fact, almost 
 the only members. The 
 All en town sections 
 came through rarely 
 and we settled down 
 for the winter, dis- 
 contented but helpless, 
 and so inclined to 
 make the most of our 
 lot. We became ac- 
 quainted with each- 
 other, found that the 
 other man was a pretty 
 good sort and of a con- 
 genial type. Most of 
 
 the section were college men, or men of similar training, and, while there were wide 
 differences of temperament, each man had that understanding of his fellow and of the 
 group which has been the secret of 647. The men got along with each other. Occasional 
 differences left no rancour. Every man meant to be a good follew. Every man saw far 
 
 enough beyond his own horizon to be worth cultiv- 
 ating. The winter at Sandricourt really made the 
 section the body it now is. We became brothers be- 
 fore the trials of the front came to test all bands of 
 fellowship. 
 
 The camp officials, led by Major Hall, were fine 
 men and we recall with pleasure our relations with 
 them, particularly with Major Chaudron and Major 
 Whitney. The latter has never forgotten us and has 
 always remained our true friend. 
 
 The work at Sandricourt was not so severe that 
 there was no time for recreation. We refused to let 
 even our "de- 
 tails" lapse in- 
 to the realm of 
 just work. 
 There was hu- 
 mor to most 
 everything. 
 For a while at 
 least we declin- 
 ed to permit K. P. itself to get on our nerves. Several 
 attempts to drive Ford cars brought grief. Andy, 
 Jess, and Woody found that they could start the thing 
 but that outside assistance was necessary to stop it. 
 A stone wall, a pool, and a post bore the brunt of the 
 consequences. Dr. DuPurtis, the staid Y. M. C. A. 
 secretary wasn't immune and lost his temper to the 
 extent of uttering: "They're contrary things, aren't 
 they?" when he left the "straight and narrow path" 
 while trying to get through the main gate. 
 
 
 m 
 
 o 
 
 W ^1 
 
 I / li 
 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 Inside the Court Yard 
 
 [12] 
 
Barbed wire defenses 
 
 Reserve trenches at Sandricourt 
 
 A covered trench at Sandricourt 
 
The first Bar-le-Duc trip 
 
 Retreat brought our motley numbers out in most unmilitary fashion, clad in 
 our old volunteer uniforms, to salute the colors of the camp. Then came supper, then 
 recourse to the barrack where we discussed quite intelligently questions of the day, or 
 lined up the "hounds" for games of "Red Dog" or poker. "Red Dog" brought the most 
 confirmed anti-gambler as an audience on pay day nights when hands worth watching 
 were staked. Taps sent most of us between the blankets, unless we were on guard when 
 we very conscientiously kept "the home fires burning" in the garage and barracks. If 
 
 we did "hit" our bunks we listened to the 
 friendly greetings hurled from cot to cot in the 
 neighboring barrack or heard the wit of the 
 day rehashed with a little original "stuff" in 
 our own. 
 
 The longer evenings and the slackening 
 work sent many of the section tramping the 
 long road to Suzanne's where goodly hours were 
 spent in comradely fashion over the "cups." 
 "Pinkie" always led the vanguard going and 
 brought up the rear on the return. Yet it was 
 rare that a man failed to "navigate" properly 
 when he reached the barrack. Some were a bit loquacious but inspired good temper is 
 easily forgiven. 
 
 The longer evenings also brought plans for other entertainment. Dr. DuPurtis 
 used the Y. M. C. A. to obtain entertainers from without the camp and furnished a rather 
 good program on each attempt. Still our real fun in this line came from the boxing con- 
 tests staged in the Y. M. tent. There was a rather mysterious abandoning of these con- 
 tests but they were "topnotchers" while they lasted. It is a matter of record that one 
 Micky Kernan substituted at the last moment for Eddie Durkin against a young French- 
 man named Hartwell. What Micky expected may only be surmised from his exclama- 
 tion : "You told me he was sick" after the fight. Micky stood up to his medicine like an 
 Irishman, however, and asked his opponent if he wanted to "mix it up" just before his 
 final knockdown. But the best contest of all was the "grudge" bout between Sergeant 
 Major Gordon and Sergeant First Class Arner. We say "grudge" bout because only 
 that could have kept Sergeant Gordon plunging into Sergeant Arner's right jab as he did. 
 There were other bouts but these two stand out 
 particularly. 
 
 Thanksgiving gave us a general hilarity f est. 
 There was a Y. M. entertainment but we re- 
 member primarily our round of "joy" in the 
 barrack, and the miraculous painting of a cabi- 
 net in the empty barrack which Andy couldn't 
 explain the next day. 
 
 So time slipped away and we had our first 
 convoy as a section. We were ordered to drive 
 Fords from Sandricourt to supply a section 
 beyond Noyon. It was about the first attempt 
 at Ford driving by some of the boys. We 
 
 started with a delay over one car and then reached "top form" which we held until the 
 bulk of the convoy had passed through Persan-Beaumont. Here "Horn" Snader broke 
 up a funeral procession by most inconsiderately hitting the hearse. The corpse failed to 
 respond but the funeral director did in a tirade which left "Horn" speechless. "Horn" 
 is a good listener in several languages. The Lieutenant broke up the "conversation" by 
 hustling the cars along in his usual fashion. We did good work on the trip, reaching 
 Noyon before dark, despite our inexperience and flat tires. The sight of the bare towns 
 
 A Gift from Borne 
 
 [14] 
 
C0NV0YTR1P: 
 
 5AINT NAZAIRE-5ANDRimURT. * 
 
 • Peronnc 
 
 OAMIENS , , "H 
 SfCJuentlMO 
 
 CONVOYTRIPS f-SANDRICOURT* PARIS". 
 
 N0Y0N,BARLEDUC, 
 NEUFCHATEAU. 
 
 
 Towns . 
 Riwars. 
 
 Qpprommate front lint. 
 Route followed bv 
 -SSXJ: 647. 
 
 [15] 
 
Trying to keep warm 
 
 along the route served to bring back the feeling 
 of homesickness for the front. We wanted to do 
 something real again. But we could only take our 
 spite out in Paris that night and return dutifully 
 to Sandricourt the next day. 
 
 A word at this point about the section organ- 
 ization may be well. Lieutenant Anderson, on 
 assuming command, named Philip Klein as top 
 sergeant, Jack B. Kendrick as second sergeant, 
 Robert W. Byerly as third sergeant, and John B. 
 Carey as corporal. All but Sergeant Kendrick 
 were from his old section, 21. He was from sec- 
 tion 11. Sergeant Klein left the section early to 
 attend an officers' school at Meaux. Sergeant 
 Kendrick acted as top sergeant during most of the 
 period at Sandricourt. Possessed of a wonderful 
 ability to make friends and handle the section, he 
 showed none of the proverbial traits of the top 
 sergeant but won a place in the section's esteem 
 and confidence which he has never lost. 
 
 The section remained only a week in camp 
 when it was ordered to drive cars from the sea- 
 port at St. Nazaire to Sandricourt. We left for 
 Paris on December 15th. Here we struck some 
 delays and spent the night and the next day in 
 making the most of the city. The night train 
 brought us into St. Nazaire and we headed im- 
 mediately for the nearest cafe and breakfast. 
 
 The poor woman in charge worried a bit over her 
 
 pay but all we lost was Mark Kerr, who, of course, 
 
 rejoined ua. Whatever St. Nazaire is in summer, 
 
 it is cold to the freezing point in winter. We 
 
 spent the day in getting the cars into running 
 
 condition. We drove them up to the barracks 
 
 which had been allotted us for the night, barracks 
 
 set up on a plain swept by winds that may easily 
 
 have originated in Alaska. A guard was posted 
 
 that night and we patriotically froze in our 
 
 country's service. The next morning we were hit 
 
 by a snow storm which left the roads slippery and 
 
 dangerous for fast travel. However we reached 
 
 Angers. The next day we made a long run up to 
 
 10 p. m., when we arrived at Chartres where we 
 
 proceeded to get split up while hunting for our 
 
 billet in the town. Harris managed to bend an 
 
 axle by skidding clear around a tree that day, 
 
 but with no serious consequences. We reached 
 
 our destination at five o'clock on the afternoon of 
 
 the 20th, cold but in good spirits, especially as a 
 
 pile of Christmas mail was waiting. 
 
 Our real Christmas celebration was a spon- 
 taneous affair on Christmas Eve. We planned 
 
 eggnog for Christmas morning but were a little 0ur fi rst home at sandricourt 
 
 [16] 
 
previous with it. There was plenty of Christmas joy in the barrack that night. There 
 are no casualties on record although a little first aid was found necessary to lead a few 
 erring youths to their downy couches. One man traveled in state on a table, in lieu of 
 a better conveyance. Others found arm assistance alone necessary. Christmas Day 
 saw us a bit laxy and indisposed. We brightened up on eggnog in the middle of the 
 morning, however, and had keen appetites for a good dinner at noon. In the afternoon 
 we had an impromptu soccer game which we topped off with a Y. M. C. A. entertainment 
 and more eggnog in the evening. 
 
 Our third and easily our best convoy came immediately after Christmas. On 
 the afternoon of December 26th we left for Paris where we were ordered to get some 
 old Field Service Fords and drive them to Bar-le-Duc. We slept, most of us, in the dry 
 but cold barrack at 21 rue Raynouard. The cars did not respond to our efforts very 
 well, several "freezing" on us, so that we fell fifty kilometres behind our schedule. More 
 sleet at night left the roads very icy and only luck and handy cafes kept us from a 
 general physical and moral breakup. As it was, Fraser miraculously escaped injury 
 when his car skidded off the road and turned over. We stopped at La Ferte Gaucher, 
 about twenty kilometres from Bar-le-Duc. Here we slept in a loft, but had the best 
 supper the town afforded. After leaving our cars at the automobile park in Bar-le-Duc 
 we plowed, pushed, and dug the truck carrying us through the snow on the hilly road 
 leading to town from the park. The truck was a big French camion and the day one 
 of the coldest of a cold winter. Though we disputed the road with another French truck we 
 managed to reach the station before train time, only to find the train to be several hours 
 late. So we headed for a neighboring British canteen and made for the lunch counter. 
 A kind English lady soon picked us out of the crowd of French, asked us if we were 
 British, if we had any "clackers," and what we wanted. Her "Don't call me Mother," 
 left us a bit at sea but we did justice to the "eggs with." With little adventure further, 
 at least for us, we reached Paris, spent the night there in true 647 fashion, and arrived at 
 Sandricourt at 8.30, Sunday night, the 30th. 
 
 The next day we spent in a little recuperation and preparation because we were 
 planning a good old-fashioned celebration for New Year's Eve. The Y. M. C. A. broke 
 into our party plans, however, by sending a hurry call for everyone to head for the Y. 
 M. tent as entertainers had turned up unexpectedly from Paris. Most of us marched to 
 the tent, expecting one of the usual "affairs." What we got brought us to our feet with 
 a "yell." M'lle Gondret of the Paris Opera House struck just the right response in the 
 boys and everyone went completely off his balance, at her quaint, catchy songs, her rare 
 voice, and winning manner. We were so keyed up after the entertainers had gone that 
 no one can blame our seeing the New Year in with songs and general hilarity. It was 
 to be a great year if our way of introducing it signified anything. 
 
 The usual reaction came after our recreation and we were set at work in earnest, 
 preparing for the arrival of 300 Allentown men. We dug ditches, built walks, and 
 "juggled" beds for the new men in more rain and mud than Sandricourt had seen in 
 weeks. The trips for cinders to Bornel had "refreshing" features but it was generally 
 pretty difficult to get out of the lethargy of the past month. However we didn't "pass 
 out" but found time to stage as unusual a contest as the army has seen. 
 
 Not the least of our "details" at Sandricourt was that of Kitchen Police. While 
 K. P. was disagreeable work for most of us, some found it worthwhile. One "Bread- 
 broken," a casual living in our barrack, and one "Serg" of our own number were said 
 to have such appetites that their presence on K. P. became a menace to the camp. The 
 fame of these men spread until a dispute arose as to the relative merits of the two. 
 "Serg" seldom missed the head of the mess line, and "Breadbroken" frequented the 
 kitchen at all hours. The barrack split into rival camps, each champion had a manager 
 selected for him, and the bets came so thick and fast that the candidates for the office 
 of camp Vitellius had no doubts regarding the seriousness of the contest. The men went 
 
 [17] 
 
into training. A liquid diet, long country runs, and empty stomachs kept the proper 
 condition. The contest was listed for a Friday night and even the potatoes and hard 
 tack were provided. But the camp mess officer necessarily interfered as he failed to see 
 why two "athletes" should gorge themselves with food when the civilians of the region 
 had scarcely the necessities of life. While we adjourned the tournament quickly and got 
 "all set" for a second trip to Bar-le-Duc, the disappointed rivals forgot all enmity and 
 joined hands over a nineteen egg omelette at Suzanne's. 
 
 On Saturday, January 12th, the section finished its series of Sandricourt con- 
 voys. We put in two days of hard riding, enjoying forty-eight hours of very fine weather- 
 At Bar-le-Duc we slept in a French barrack and took our cars to the park early the next 
 morning. The Lieutenant had us scheduled to return by train through Paris to Sandri- 
 court that night. We thought otherwise. So it proved to be marvelously difficult to start 
 the big truck which was to carry us to town, and we only reached the station after train 
 time. But the train was late, and we arrived in Paris in easy time to connect with the 
 Bornel "express". The Lieutenant, himself, failed to make connections for some reason, 
 and so did not witness the fine billard tournament which was played in a cafe while we 
 were waiting for "Cookie" and his truck to enable us to reach camp. We were in no 
 mood to "hike" the distance and "Pinkie" was very sick from overwork on the trip. He 
 recovered in the bracing air on the way home. 
 
 Our four convoys had been replete with hard driving and annoyances yet we 
 enjoyed them. We saw a great deal of France which we might have missed otherwise, 
 and found even the hardships worthwhile. We slept anywhere in towns we happened to 
 be in at the end of the day, usually in some stable loft or in a temporarily abandoned build- 
 ing. Guard on the cold, frosty nights wasn't a pleasure, nor the starting of cars in the 
 early morning. Yet we survived and look back now to name these convoys the biggest 
 feature in our Sandricourt existence. 
 
 Thus our real life as a section at Sandricourt ended. New sections came in and 
 we retired on well-won laurels and watched the others drill and work. Rumors grew 
 incieasingly persistent that we were to leave for the front. The camp was listed as due 
 to move, and we to go before that date. On January 19th the exodus began and part of the 
 section went to Fort de Vanves, on the outskirts of Paris, to commence assembling cars 
 for the section's use. On January 30th more men followed- The spirit was gone from 
 the men who were left and the days were counted till the time we were all to go. Our 
 interest in the camp had disappeared and it took "Lance Corporal" Snader's most invigor- 
 ating "Suzanne Glide" in the early mornings to get up pep sufficient to keep us on the 
 move for the rest of the day. On February 5th, almost exactly four months since the 
 first of us reached Sandricourt, the last of us left. The section was enlarged by the addi- 
 tion of seven men on the day we left. These men have since become as much a part of 
 ourselves as the original number who "wintered" the war in Sandricourt. We hated the 
 name Sandricourt when we left and saw no future that could be as repugnant. Yet now, 
 in retrospect, we see the old base camp in a little clearer light, and realize that the bands 
 forged there might never have been discovered had we spent our first days as a section in 
 another place. 
 
 [18] 
 
CHAPTER II 
 NEUFCHATEAU 
 
 T was a light-hearted section that reunited at Fort de Vanves. The 
 men who had left Sandricourt earlier had practically completed the 
 assembling of our Fords. The work had been done in snappy style 
 and but a few days would be required to finish everything. The 
 time at the Fort had been well spent; on the task in hand during 
 the day, in giving vent to the animal spirit long pent up at Sandri- 
 court in the evening. The boys at different times had been able to 
 spend evenings in Paris. When unable to go there they had had 
 nearly as good a time in cafes near camp. It became the custom 
 for the men to have their supper in these cafes, two particularly supplying our trade. 
 The men became acquainted and most welcome here. The time was spent in playing 
 cards, in music, and in a general relaxation. On one evening they had watched the big- 
 gest air raid of the year on Paris. Although the Fort was beyond the danger zone, the 
 noise of the bombing could be distinctly heard. The cars, even to motors and seat cush- 
 ions in some cases, were painted, and we were "set". 
 
 Time slipped by and orders came to move on February 8th- The destination 
 was to be Neufchateau where we were to be attached to the American Army. This an- 
 nouncement brought a round of groans when it reached the garage. Yet we were full 
 of hope. We wanted to be with the French immediately and enjoy the accompanying 
 independence. Yet we expected to reach them eventually and so could endure the Ameri- 
 can discipline for a while. Major Andrew inspected us and we made ready for an early 
 start. It was the beginning of a new life. We were unable to see ahead, so no dark 
 spots clouded the horizon. 
 
 We were now accustomed to convoys and had no accidents or unwelcome feat- 
 ures during the move. The first night we spent at Fere en Champenoise, the second at 
 Ligny en Barrois. On the third morning we climbed the long hill road that makes a half 
 circle around the valley at Neufchateau. It was a beautiful day — cold but clear. Here 
 on the edge of the town we waited while the Lieutenant secured more definite orders as 
 to our disposal. We ate 
 our army rations in the 
 wind, looking at a pic- 
 ture that was to become 
 very familiar to us be- 
 fore the front was fin- 
 ally reached. The valley 
 stretched far back until it 
 went out of sight behind 
 the hills which formed 
 the background for 
 quaint Domremy, the 
 little village whose name 
 is coupled with that other 
 struggle of France for 
 
 life and liberty. Leaving Fort de Vanves 
 
 [19] 
 
Lieutenant Anderson and our cars at Neufchateau 
 
 Neufchateau itself is a modest little town, of narrow streets and the setting 
 which suggests the 19th as much as the 20th century. The business section is quite 
 compact, and is the center from which roads radiate to Bazoilles, Gondrecourt, and Rimau- 
 court. The base hospital to which we were assigned was situated at easy walking distance 
 from the center of the town- Most of its buildings had been erected by the Germans 
 during their occupation of France after the Franco-Prussian War. It had been nec- 
 essary to add only a few barracks for use as kitchens and a messhall. Several artillery 
 companies lived at one end of the camp while some French soldiers and a French hos- 
 pital were also on the grounds. We saw little of either of these — the hospital when a 
 French band played to the sick and wounded — the artillerymen when we had to pass 
 their guards on the later evenings as we returned from town. 
 
 The quarters given us consisted of a room on the second floor of one of the 
 buildings. Next door to us, with the only entrance through our quarters, the members 
 of Base Hospital 66 lived. We became well acquainted with some of these men. They 
 were not exactly of our own type, yet they were a good sort and we got along peaceably 
 together. Our room suffered from lack of light but was otherwise comfortable, prin- 
 cipally because we made it so. 
 
 This was Neufchateau. We drove our cars into the yard, lined them up in ap- 
 proved fashion, headed for the barrack with our luggage, and so began another period 
 of waiting. Here restlessness, misunderstanding, and internal strife were to bring the 
 section nearer to the loss of many of its members and of the bands of friendship be- 
 gun at Sandricourt than at any other time in its history. 
 
 Our work at the hospital consisted in evacuating cases from neighboring towns 
 to the base hospital and in carrying cases to the 
 larger hospital at Bazoilles. The entire twenty cars 
 also were called upon very often to transport sick 
 and wounded to American hospital trains from the 
 Bazoilles hospital. The trips from calls were al- 
 ways welcome as there was scarcely any other 
 way to break the monotony of a dull life. There 
 is little to record about these trips. The run to 
 Bazoilles was a short one and we did our work 
 with despatch and care. Since, the hospital has 
 become greatly enlarged. Even in that day we 
 could see the plans for the largest military hos- 
 
 Burt on Ins trip for milk 
 
 [20] 
 
In Convoy 
 
 pital in France gradually materializing as we drove down upon the little town from the 
 Neuf chateau road. Usually cars were sent singly on the calls in the direction of Rimau- 
 court. Frequently a car went to Vittel, a watering place not far away. Here officers' 
 dances were the common thing and we furnished taxicabs for them until officially for- 
 bidden. Cars at Gondrecourt were required but seldom. Later, trips became more fre- 
 quent. It was a pretty ride and no difficulty was ever found in securing volunteers for 
 the trips. So much for our official work. I have written little because there was little 
 to write of. 
 
 Our other type of work was the usual curse of the soldier. When we first 
 arrived the Lieutenant was asked to supply a certain number of men for the kitchen. 
 He assigned our two cooks and generously added thn new men as permanent kitchen 
 police. Later this order was rescinded and we each took our turn. We and the Ger- 
 man prisoners very creditably fed the camp. 
 
 Thus the routine became established. Calls came and were answered ; potatoes 
 were peeled and cooked, the camp was cursed and endured. 
 
 But any routine brings 
 the unusual, and we soon 
 began to create novelties 
 lest we go mad over the 
 disappointment and inac- 
 tion of our surroundings. 
 An average soldier, newly 
 arrived at a billet, locates 
 the nearest cafe as soon 
 as possible. Once found, 
 this cafe becomes his club 
 house. Here he forgets 
 the world and the day's 
 misfortune. Every sol- 
 dier craves such a place ; 
 most find it. 
 
 A few of the boys at Neufclwteau 
 
 [21] 
 
The "Cinq Ponts" claimed the members of the section more often than the others. 
 From this and other smaller cafes the nightly pilgrims straggled back to camp, some- 
 times a little after hours when difficulties of entrance had to be met with. Once two 
 members walked by the gate, gesticulating and talking French so well in the darkness as 
 to deceive the American guard. How some other entrances were effected is not recorded. 
 That they were must suffice us. 
 
 The barrack, day and night, except when there were group convoys, was apt to 
 be the scene of a "Red Dog" or poker game. Hour after hour was eased away in this 
 manner. A section library of standard authors was secured and temporarily the men 
 began to read worthwhile books. But the old inertia was too great and the reading of 
 heavier fiction soon lapsed. The old routine slipped into place again. Several devotees 
 of chess and checkers appeared but gained no popular support. 
 
 February became March and the poison began to sap our resistance. Friction 
 was soon the expected occurrence. The apparently well oiled machine of Sandricouit 
 threatened to "freeze" on the job. It was not overwork but inability to do service that 
 brought the dry rot. The letters which the men sent home during this period are the 
 truest indications that all wasn't running smoothly. The homefolks began to appeal for 
 "more about your everyday life". To tell the truth shamed the men- Besides they dared 
 not write freely as an uncertain, undefined censorship left them helpless. Finally most 
 did not write at all. Five of the men attempted to transfer officially. Almost the entire 
 section contemplated a change. It was only the comradeship of each other that held 
 the section unbroken. Looking back, the men are glad that no transfer was effected. 
 But then there were too many stern realities of the future to face to make continuation 
 in the section altogether pleasant. 
 
 Yet we must not permit too despairing a picture. The promise of warmer 
 weather brought outdoor activities to kill the indoor idleness. 
 
 Burt, who had assumed direction of the carrying of milk to the hospital from 
 Rouvre la Chetive, became overwhelmed with appeals for company on the day that he 
 told of the delicious breakfasts and invigorating wine which the French family, supply- 
 ing the milk, were giving him. A considerable number of the members visited the farm- 
 house and found a very pleasant family. One boy was a prisoner in Germany, the other 
 worked at home. The wife was full of energy and the real head of the household. She 
 was very kind to the men who visited there and we shall never forget our impression of 
 the simple French farmhouse where we found such real friendship. 
 
 Our section has always sought acquaintance with French civilians and has striven 
 to understand the French people. We had admired the French soldiers in the volunteer 
 days when we saw them at their best. Now, at Neufchateau, we were particularly dis- 
 gusted when inexperienced Americans, even soldiers of a few days or weeks front ser- 
 vice, lauded America and what she would do to end a war apparently already miscon- 
 ducted too long by France. We have served at the front with Americans since that 
 day. We have found new viewpoints, real appreciation of this people who saved a world 
 in which we were given the privilege to fight for our own liberties- But there at Neufcha- 
 teau we saw only one type, and the vaunted superiority of these inexperienced, conceit- 
 ed men, invincible in their wisdom, was gall to us. We were eager to get out with these 
 same French whom our countrymen had not yet learned to know. 
 
 These trips for milk were really the cause of another episode in our life. 
 Through invitation, a group of the section members with several officers formed a party 
 to hunt wild boors on the hills behind this farmhouse. A dinner was served in true over- 
 whelming French style and a boistrous hunt was shared with the neighbors of the vil- 
 lage. We, who didn't attend, received all the details at night when the hilarious parti- 
 cipants returned. Two names of "gargoyle" survive, given by two usually sober members 
 to each other. 
 
 ' [22] 
 
Perhaps as a sequel to this trip a bottle of old "Nick" found its way into the 
 garage. We weren't all aware of its arrival and so were a bit put out when we ventured 
 into the workshop of our mechanics and found a three ring circus in progress. One 
 mechanic was in the cage. The other had nailed him into the box and was pouring water 
 on him with great delight. Just the point of the situation wasn't clear. Even the mech- 
 anics weren't sure the next day. 
 
 Such events were not the rule. If there seem to be many tales of exceptional hil- 
 arity in this history one must remember that it is the exceptional, not the commonplace, 
 which furnishes interest. 
 
 Early March was fortunately accompanied by warm weather. Baseball facil- 
 ities opened a way to endure with a little more pleasure the remaining days at Neufcha- 
 teau- We were hopeful now that spring would send us to the front. The "feeds" in 
 the barrack at night grew less frequent, and early after supper poker games became the 
 exception when longer afternoons permitted our playing baseball on a field not far from 
 camp. The Base Hospital members also formed a team and we played them several times. 
 The most memorable game was on St. Patrick's Day when the elite of the hospital watch- 
 ed us run away with their idols by a score of 28 to 16. We have not won many of our 
 starts in baseball since, being rather more proud of our exploits at soccer. Yet we still 
 think we can boast a little justifiably of that first game. 
 
 The beauty of the country about Neufchateau has been spoken of. The men 
 took several hikes into the surrounding towns to spots of interest. One, particularly 
 attractive, was a chateau sitting high above the surrounding country behind the town. 
 The other spot of special interest was the birthplace of Joan of Arc. Domremy is eleven 
 kilometres from Neufchateau, a good walk for men who drive cars and do not walk for 
 a living. It was worth the exercise, however, and most of the members made the trip, 
 paying tribute at the birthplace and basilique to the unconquerable spirit of France which 
 at this time was so severely tested. 
 
 For it was at this period that the great German drive at Noyon was beginning. 
 We knew Noyon and yearned to get there and help. But as the military apparently knew 
 no place there for us we stayed on at a base hospital. 
 
 Still a rift was appearing in our cloud and the prospect of real action became a 
 certainty. Gas masks were issued to us and a gas sergeant gave us a trial in a gas 
 chamber. We felt the move to the front pretty close. Yet we could not believe our 
 good fortune imminent. Something would happen. A call for the evacuation of Base 66 
 and of Bazoilles to a hospital train almost convinced us that we were to remain forever. 
 But at last definite orders came. We packed our belongings and pulled out. 
 
 Our departure for Vignot on April 15 was, as that from Sandricourt, made 
 under a ray of hope. This time we reached what we had longed for for over six months, 
 and were plunged into as hot action as we have ever wished to see. There is no good seen 
 in Neufchateau in retrospect as in Sandricourt. It was the worst period of discourage- 
 ment that the section has ever faced. We bade it farewell and rode forward to the dan- 
 gers but greater joys of real service. 
 
 [23] 
 
CHAPTER III 
 THE TOUL SECTOR 
 
 T is quite necessary to digress from our narrative for the moment 
 and note the principal features of the sector to which we were 
 assigned. 
 
 It will be remembered that when the German left wing, at 
 the battle of the Marne, sought to take the city of Nancy, they 
 were repulsed by the French under General Castlenau. The country 
 between Verdun and Nancy is of a nature easy to defend. There 
 is an absence of any continued break in the low ridges which easily 
 command such small valleys as there are. From St. Mihiel to Pont 
 a Mousson a series of low hills, dominated by Mont Sec, gave the Germans a position 
 easy to hold, while similar ridges and hills which formed the Toul defences promised little 
 success for them should they attempt an advance- Neither side could gain without call- 
 ing upon a large fo.ce. That neither could spare. The French Colonials attempted a di- 
 rect assault on Mont Sec in the spring of 1915, but were unable to keep the foothold which 
 they gained after tremendous losses. So each side gave up the idea of an advance and 
 the St. Mihiel salient became a fixture on the battle map. 
 
 The sector was one to which divisions were sent for a rest from the severer 
 fighting of the north. It was here that American divisions were introduced to trench 
 warfare; here also that, in time, Germans broke the rule of the quiet sector, tested the 
 Americans' mettle, and met the rebuff which presaged the ultimate encircling of Mont 
 Sec and the destruction of the salient. 
 
 We are particularly interested for the moment in that portion of the front be- 
 tween St. Mihiel and Pont a Mousson which formed the panorama visible from the hills 
 behind the little town of Lagney. It was the center of tho line and the most active. A 
 fairly level valley stretched for a little over eight miles to the low ridge on whose top lay 
 the highway which turned at Pont a Mousson almost directly north towards Metz. This 
 road sloped into the valley beyond Rambaucourt until at Bouconville it divided, one part, 
 then impassable, leading for St. Mihiel, while the other passed through Broussey and top- 
 ped the ridge at Giron- 
 ville where it descended 
 again into another valley 
 enclosing Vignot and 
 Commercy. 
 
 American batteries 
 about St. Julien and Liou- 
 ville exchanged greetings 
 with the Germans on the 
 ridge opposite- There 
 were only small raids on 
 the trenches beyond here 
 however as the silent 
 guns at Fort Gironville 
 and a marsh between 
 Broussey and the Ger- The W «* ng«ot 
 
 [24] 
 
Beaumont 
 
 mans in the valley prevented serious fighting. It was rather nearer the center that sharp 
 engagements occurred. As has been said a low ridge, crowned by Beaumont and Ram- 
 baucourt, jutted out into this valley at the upper end, only two miles from the foot of 
 Mont Sec itself. The battered villages of Xivray and Seichprey, held by the Americans 
 as practically their front line, lay on the German side of the ridge. On the American 
 side an observer could see the towns of Bernecourt, Noviant, and Minorville on the right, 
 and Mandres and Ansauville just behind and below Beaumont. Menil la Tour and its 
 little offshoot, Royaumeix, were in the foreground. Civilians lived in small numbers in a 
 few of these villages but those literally under the shadow of Mont Sec were quite de- 
 serted. Enemy raids brought shells into these spots from the German stronghold which 
 commanded a clear view of the entire valley and all movements that took place within. 
 Yes, it was a quiet sector but you were always at the mercy of the enemy. Also it was 
 a sector that meant pos- 
 sible disaster on every 
 road when a raid was 
 staged. 
 
 The run from Neuf- 
 chateau was but a short 
 one and early afternoon 
 saw the cars on one of 
 the back roads of Vignot. 
 Here we received an 
 emergency call to send 
 ten cars to Menil la Tour 
 where they were to be put 
 into active service imme- 
 diately- They left at once 
 under the charge of Ser- 
 
 [26] 
 
Beginning a trip at the Commandery 
 
 geant Kendrick. The other cars were lined up on one side of the main street of the town, 
 and just across from our billet, the loft of one of the houses. Our quarters were very 
 dark, hay was still piled high on most of the floor, and room for beds or stretchers was 
 alone possible. Our kitchen trailer was installed in a combination shed and alleyway a 
 few doors down the street. Such a position made a guard necessary. Many a letter was 
 written and book read on this job, for the presence of a watchman was alone required. 
 
 The first night at Vignot was clear and the distant rumbling of guns intro- 
 duced us to the front in a fitting manner. A raid at Apremont, the night previous, had 
 given the 26th Division, to which we were now attached, its first taste of meeting the 
 Boches. On this night rumor insisted on another attempt, but none materialized. 
 
 On Tuesday morning five other cars were sent on post. Three cars reported to 
 a French medical station at a place called Commandery. A very solid dugout had been 
 built in a side hill near what was said to have been a Post of Commandery for an old 
 order of French Knights. Calls took the cars to St. Agnant. They came infrequently 
 as there was little fighting in this vicinity. This and the welcome comradeship of the 
 French made a rest post 
 for the section. Only the 
 falling eclat from the 
 anti-aircraft guns and 
 possibly an occasional 
 shell, dropped harmlessly 
 beyond us, disturbed the 
 boys as they read, cook- 
 ed their own meals with 
 the French, walked about 
 the hillside, or rode the 
 donkeys of the neighbor- 
 ing farm. No one will 
 forget that night when 
 some of the Colonials, 
 stationed nearby, sang 
 
 With our French friends at the Commandery 
 
 [27] 
 
Swimming in the Meuse at Vignot 
 
 and danced in their native fashion, or when a broncardier, once a star with the Paris Opera 
 House, gave us a variety of French war songs. 
 
 Two cars went to Gironville, that town under the guns of Fort Gironville, which 
 lay unharmed by German artillery- From here cars followed the lower slope of the ridge 
 to Liouville and St. Julien. Precaution sent these cars at night; except in an emergency, 
 as the roads were open to enemy view. We had not yet travelled the roads at Beaumont 
 and so were not weightily impressed with the dangers of our new work. The guns thun- 
 dered away from ridge to ridge, lighting up the night sky in a pretty picture of flame. 
 But the men on post slept peacefully in one of the houses of the town, scarcely shaken 
 from their repose at Neufchateau. 
 
 The different story was being enacted by the men sent to Menil la Tour. They 
 had reported to the 102nd Ambulance Company. Half of the cars were sent almost im- 
 mediately to Mandres where a dressing station had been set up in an abandoned house 
 at the Beaumont end of the village. The cars were lined up in the yard and the men 
 utilized the second story of a nearby house for their quarters. Everything seemed very 
 quiet. True, the front trenches were scarcely two miles away, just outside of Seichprey, 
 but Mandres had been shelled only slightly and the sector was known to be quiet. Two 
 cars were sent on to Beaumont as an advanced post. Runs were made along the ridge 
 to Rambaucourt and Bouconville and, after dark, to Seichprey. The road to Seichprey was 
 very narrow and it dipped sharply as it led into the destroyed town. Here the men found 
 shell holes and evidence 
 of war in plenty. In fact 
 they were forced to shut 
 off their motors at the 
 aid station lest the Ger- 
 mans hear them. But 
 such things only gave a 
 thrill to the work. No- 
 thing had happened here 
 for four months- 
 Five days of acclima- 
 tion passed and the men 
 had adjusted themselves 
 to the new situation. A 
 few shells had disturbed 
 their peace of mind on the 
 
 The Kitchen at Vignot 
 
 [28] 
 
"Dead Man's Curve" 
 made where the back 
 road from Mandres to 
 Beaumont makes a sharp 
 turn when it joins the 
 road from Bernecouit 
 and goes up the rise to 
 Beaumont. This curve 
 was in good view of the 
 enemy observers and was 
 so situated that fast time 
 was impossible on either 
 side of the corner. 
 
 It was about three 
 o'clock on the morning of 
 
 April 20th that the Storm French women at the village wash tub in Vignot 
 
 broke and the German attack commenced. The town of Seichprey was literally demolish- 
 ed by shelling and the towns and roads from Beaumont along the back road through 
 Ansauville to its junction with the Bernecourt-Menil la Tour road were heavily bom- 
 barded. Picked German shock troops forced the Americans out of Seichprey, were in 
 turn driven back, and fought in the town itself until middle afternoon when the Ameri- 
 cans, with French assistance on their right, retook all of the ground that had been lost. 
 
 The members of the section had gone to sleep in their quarte s as usual on 
 Friday night. Early the next morning the heavy firing fortunately awoke them. A 
 gas shell exploded in the chamber above and forced them to use their masks. Doing 
 this, they huddled about the room and watched a German aeroplane fly low outside and 
 machine gun the streets, and an immense rat stagger from his hole in the wall and suf- 
 focate. 
 
 The first call for an ambulance came in at 6 o'clock. The quarters were aban- 
 doned and the men used the dressing station and its two very good dugouts for the rest 
 of the day. Despite the shelling the cars made trip after trip. They ran into Seichprey 
 where a new aid station had taken the place of the old one whose personnel were all pris- 
 oners. It was on the Seichprey road that the explosion of a shell blew McGuire's car 
 into the ditch. He was temporarily stunned but recovered sufficiently to drag his aide, 
 whose collar bone was broken, into a nearby trench. Assistance came to the men and 
 McGuire took the first opportunity to return to Mandres and his work. His car became 
 the protection for a ma- 
 chine gun and was drill- 
 ed through and through 
 by enemy fire- 
 
 The extra cars from 
 Menil la Tour were 
 brought into the work 
 and five cars were rush- 
 ed from Vignot. The 
 fighting itself slackened 
 when the Germans re- 
 tired from Seichprey but, 
 as if in revenge, the shell- 
 ing of Mandres continued 
 as heavily as ever. The 
 
 Vard of the dressing Sta- Gillett and his first car in the yard at Beaumont 
 
 tion became the apparent target of the enemy and there were narrow escapes from eclat 
 
 [29] 
 

 Quoits at Lagney 
 Boland and his friends 
 
 A day off 
 
 The Mayor's Daughter 
 The Valley from Lagney 
 
while getting out of the yard for calls. One shell narrowly missed several men when 
 it exploded on the top of one of the dugouts. Darkness brought no cessation in the fir- 
 ing and Lieutenant Colby, the 102nd medical officer, decided to abandon the station as 
 unfit to work in. Several cars, with the fresher men, were left to make the calls to 
 Beaumont and beyond while the others pulled back to Rehanne Woods. Sergeant Ken- 
 drick, who had done heroic work all day and who was badly gassed, along with seven 
 others, also gassed, were among those who went back. They were sent to the hospital. 
 Cars ran from Beaumont to Menil la Tour all night. Though the traffic was heavy, good 
 time was made on the roads. It was 4 o'clock in the morning before the pressure re- 
 laxed and the battle of Seichprey could be declared as officially over. 
 
 The sector settled itself into a place of relative quiet after the initial excite- 
 ment of April 20th. A post was established at Ansauville. Relays were made to Beau- 
 mont from which cases were evacuated to the dressing station at Rehanne Woods. We 
 grew to like the work and found that the time slipped away rapidly. McGuire received 
 a Distinguished Service Cross and Kendrick a Croix de Guerre with the gold star of 
 a French army corps for their plucky work at Seichprey. 
 
 On May 21st there was a little readjustment- The section gave up the post 
 near Vignot and the cars were called in from Menil la Tour. A central depot was 
 established at Lagney, a little town on the side of one of the hills overlooking our entire 
 field of operations. New posts were added. One was at Raulecourt, under the nose of 
 Mont Sec but very quiet as the ground was impassable between. Others were at Berne- 
 court and its advanced post, the quarry, very close to the lines but with a fine dugout 
 deep in the hillside. 
 
 The last few days at Vignot had been pleasant, especially since the weather had 
 sent us to the river nearby for cool swims, but it was at Lagney that we began to get the 
 most enjoyment from our days off post. Beginning in Fraser's guardianship of the 
 kitchen on the way from Vignot when he watched Woodell's kindling, coat, and valu- 
 ables burn up in the oven where Tom had put them for safety, we had a royal time. 
 It was May and we lived out of doors every possible moment. Our quarters were in 
 a neat looking house on the edge of the town. There was one garden in the rear and 
 another between us and the village church next door. We lived upstairs in what used 
 to be a stable loft. The house was used by our Lieutenant and some French officers. 
 The kitchen was on one side of the front yard and the garage in the stable below our 
 sleeping quarters. We had little to object to in our surroundings yet found the view 
 and our neighbors the real attraction. I have written of the picture which the valley 
 made from here as it stretched beyond Menil la Tour to Beaumont on the ridge eight 
 miles away. Here little puffs of smoke told us of the enemy activity of the moment. 
 Of the neighbors something must be said. The Mairie and the school were housed to- 
 gether just across the street on our right. Here we found kind friends in the school 
 teacher and his wife, who were always solicitous over our comfort and for any men 
 who were ill. Somewhere behind us, on up the hill, lived little old Roland, a queer, 
 jolly Frenchman, fond of talking with the boys, and comical in his attempts to amuse us. 
 This village had lost few of its people by reason of a fear of the Germans. The enemy 
 had not reached the town in 1914 and failed to molest since. The mayor was the rep- 
 resentative head of the town's best family. There was little question of that. We found 
 him and his family, particularly one daughter, worth cultivating. It was at this time 
 that Signor and Snader formed the yet unbroken habit of doing our camionette service. 
 We exonerate Henry but suspect that Horn found something besides the pleasure of 
 talking to a pleasant young woman to draw him almost daily to the mayor's cafe. 
 
 The front was so quiet during all of May that we found time to continue the 
 baseball begun at Neufchateau. The French game of soccer, played in the old service, 
 
 [31] 
 
Beaumont 
 Ansauville 
 Beaumont 
 
 The Quarry 
 Ansauville 
 
also had many converts and we developed a first class team under the tutelage of Snader 
 and Luykx. We were now a unit. Little causes of friction had been subordinated to our 
 front work. The change had taken place which did more than anything else to weld us 
 into a group capable of using its greatest ability for service. The transfer of Lieuten- 
 ant Anderson to take charge of an automobile park sent us Lieutenant Leroy M. Smith 
 in his place. Lieutenant Smith proved to be the right man to command the section. We 
 were old volunteers and still of the volunteer spirit. While an old army man, Lieuten- 
 ant Smith recognized our individualism and utilized it to obtain more efficient service 
 from the section, given with a better spirit, than ever before. We appreciated the attitude 
 of our new Lieutenant at Lagney, and we appreciate it even more so to-day. Together 
 we have proved that a man may command a section in the military sense and still be a 
 friend and a comrade. 
 
 Sergeant Kendrick, well recovered from his gas attack, was attending the 
 school for sergeants at Meaux. Wallace McCrackin had succeeded Sergeant Byerly as 
 the third sergeant. With these changes we met the second trying period in the Toul sector. 
 On June 12th the Germans made an unsuccessful raid which brought rather 
 stiff shelling during the night. On Sunday, June 16th, the Germans commenced shell- 
 ing the villages of Royaumeix and Boucq as well as the usual points of attack. These places 
 were inhabited by civilians who fled for safety as the bombardment continued. A few 
 
 soldiers and a few more 
 "^5^ civilians were killed or 
 
 wounded. This renewed 
 activity of the Boches of 
 course brought out our 
 leserve cars to aid the 
 men on post. The press- 
 ure on the men and the 
 shelling was particularly 
 heavy at Beaumont 
 where the car driven by 
 Gillette was demolished 
 in the yard of the dress- 
 ing station. Things 
 quieted down for two 
 The car in which Giliett was killed davs and then the activ- 
 
 ity began once more when the Americans sent over a gas attack on the morning of June 
 19th. Of course the Germans replied with a heavy artillery fire. Our cars were once more 
 called upon to do very dangerous service. We responded but it cost us the life of one 
 of our members. 
 
 The Beaumont post again sustained the brunt of the shelling. The yard 
 at Beaumont and particularly the road leading along the ridge by the batteries became 
 almost uninhabitable. Giliett and Swain were on post here. In the midst of some of 
 the heaviest shelling of the day a call came in for Conde. It was agreed that Giliett 
 should start and Swain follow in a short while. Before Swain's turn came a runner 
 rushed in to say that the first car had been wrecked. The aide of Giliett followed, him- 
 self wounded, and reported that Giliett had been instantly killed along with one of his 
 patients when a shell had burst in front of the car. Swain immediately set out for the 
 post. When near it, the shelling became so terrific that he was forced to abandon the car 
 and crawl along the ditch with stretchers to where the first car had been wrecked. A 
 dressing station orderly was with him and helped with unusual pluck. The wounded men 
 were carried to a place of temporary safety and later brought into Beaumont. The 
 body of Giliett was cared for there for us by Lieutenant Comfort, in charge of the station. 
 
 [331 
 
The members of the section were greatly upset by this loss. Gillett had been 
 one of the best liked men in the whole group, and everyone felt personally the gap that 
 had been made in our ranks. This feeling was shared by the 102nd Ambulance Company 
 with whom we were working, and they sent us a note of sympathy that meant much in 
 cementing our already strong friendship for them- 
 
 The funeral was held on the afternoon of June 20th. The section, with the 
 102nd Ambulance Company as the guard of honor, marched at half step while an am- 
 bulance bore the body to the military cemetery at Menil la Tour. The Episcopal ser- 
 vice and the fired salutes were the last visible homage to Tod Gillett. But we have 
 never lost our own memory of him and feel no gathering complete without a silent trib- 
 ute to his name. A Distinguished Service Cross was sent to Gillett's parents a little later 
 as a proof of his bravery and devotion. Swain also was similarly recognized for his cour- 
 age. 
 
 It was very soon after the death of Gillett that the 26th division left the Tou! 
 sector. We were transferred to the incoming 82nd division to carry on our work as be- 
 fore. Several new posts were added and twelve men from the 307th sanitary train were 
 temporarily attached to us. Our new posts took in 
 Noviant and some posts up in the hills on the right 
 of the sector to which winding roads led through 
 ravines and along the base of ridges well protected 
 from the enemy fire- The work here, at St. Jacques 
 and St. Quen, was always very light. 
 
 We missed the boys of the 102nd Ambulance 
 Company but made new friends among the medical 
 corps of the new division. The 26th Division had 
 given us a citation for those men in the work at 
 Seichprey. We appreciated this as evidence of what 
 we already knew, that every one had done his best in 
 a new and trying place and had acted worthy of what 
 we all felt to be the honor of the section. 
 
 We were familiar with our posts and we had 
 come to take our life in a ve y matter of fact way. 
 There were a few men who imagined for a time that 
 a "box barrage" was always prepared for their bene- 
 fit, but most saw things simply as a dictation of chance. 
 To come and go on post was our little job. Once it Thc 9mve at UenU la Tour 
 
 was over and we came in for our repos at Lagney we forgot wounded and shells and 
 threw ourselves into our camp life with a zest that meant lively soccer games and a sur- 
 plus of fun in whatever we undertook. 
 
 Some French troops were stationed for a few weeks at Beaumont. With them 
 we renewed the volunteer days. French also garrisoned the defences behind us which 
 matched the stronghold of Mont Sec. Them and their compatriots we determined to 
 remind of America's great holiday in royal fashion. We armed ourselves with a 
 camionette full of wine and piled into the truck for the trip up the hill to the field on 
 which we had scheduled a soccer game with a French team. The game was a good one. 
 We won by a score of four goals to one and had to hustle every minute to do it. After the 
 game French and Americans drank to the success and happiness of each other's native 
 land and their own continued friendship. Harris led the celebration as usual but was 
 pressed pretty hard for the honors by all. The return down the hill was marred unfor- 
 tunately by an accident- Four of the boys were sitting on the tail gate of the truck when 
 the chain holding it broke as we were making high speed on the down grade. The men 
 
 [34] 
 
i i ilium— wn 
 
 'Make him drink it" 
 
 The Soccer Team 
 The Field Clerk 
 
 The July 4th Celebration 
 
were dropped into the 
 road and cut badly about 
 the head, when they 
 struck. Gaynor and 
 Willard were hurt but 
 slightly while Snader 
 and one of the men at- 
 tached to us were injured 
 so seriously that we took 
 them to the field hospital 
 at Sebastopol, not far 
 from Menil la Tour. 
 Here they recovered easi- 
 ly, Snader in a few days. 
 On July 9th Sergeant 
 Requisitioning Horses Klein left to accept a 
 
 commission in the Ambulance Service as first lieutenant. Sergeant McCrackin assum- 
 ed charge until the leturn of Sergeant Kendrick. 
 
 The Germans had lately formed the habit of trying to bomb Toul. The pass- 
 ing of the planes over Lagney on clear nights necessitated our using more care with 
 our lights than before. Lagney itself escaped from the menace although stray bombs 
 hit in remote spots. 
 
 On the front our work was little varied. The new division was a little slow 
 in breaking in and the drivers found some trouble with overzealous guards. The habit 
 of a guard to challenge from the dark roadside, coupled with the noise of our motors, 
 left us unable to account for ourselves quickly enough. Kerr narrowly escaped death 
 when a guard fired at his car since it failed to stop at the command. But the newness 
 wore off and the division soon rounded into extremely creditable shape. 
 
 Impromptu parties after supper had become the customary thing. Two of the 
 cafes drew most of the section's patronage and were the cause of many odd episodes 
 which lent a touch of humor to our life. The "Vampire's" was an unusual place, equip- 
 ped with a windowless room in the center of the house that hid numerous suspicious gath- 
 erings. The "Louse House," possibly vulgarly, yet well named, was nearer our billet. 
 For a time we took almost personal interest in this family- A little laxity in the clothing 
 line brought a contribution, and some of the boys made brave attempts to overlook 
 other failings. But there proved to be too much to forgive and we brought out a 
 "declaration of war" on the "buzzard" and his whole clan which Cook Woodell ener- 
 getically carried out. 
 
 Little John, a French orphan cared for at the school, was of an entirely differ- 
 ent sort. He was a likeable boy and made a friend of us all. We really missed him when 
 he had to leave to visit relatives. 
 
 Incidental to hot weather and the village, we mustn't forget the fire in the school 
 at Lagney. How the thing started or what caused us to notice it is forgotten, but the 
 firemen of the section turned out quickly to do the blaze up in proper style. They found 
 the Lagney department right on the job. Roland always was a good worker. Together 
 the compatriots soon had the fire under control. The section boys were about to finish 
 up matters. But not for Roland. He wouldn't do a bit more until the occupants of the 
 house refreshed the workers properly. That done, more fire fighting until the last trace 
 of the blaze had disappeared. 
 
 On July 11th we saw a little by-play when the French military authorities re- 
 quisitioned more farm horses for the army. The people brought their horses from the 
 surrounding district to be passed upon. The animals were trotted up and down in front 
 of our billet and then those capable were told off for service. Quite a civilian crowd gath- 
 
 [36] 
 
ered. But we saw the town at better advantage a little later when some French moving 
 pictures were thrown on a screen hung across an alley near the mayor's house- The 
 people, soldiers and civilians, sat on doorsteps, on the ground, or on benches placed even 
 in the street, and were oblivious to their surroundings for over an hour. Such is a touch 
 of France, just behind the front. 
 
 The French Independence Day, July 14th, saw another soccer game with a 
 French team. We won once more, 2 to 1. We had developed some stars and welcomed 
 a match with all comers. In the evening the entire section attended an entertainment 
 in an abandoned Y. M. C. A. hut, just down the hill, by some American entertainers from 
 Toul. Our Lieutenant had arranged this for the section and the few Americans in the 
 vicinity. The singing was very good and a novelty for us at that time. We brought the 
 piano back to the billet after the entertainment and sang and danced in the road well 
 into the night to good old American tunes. The next day we took the piano from the 
 truck and put it into the stable, a corner of which we had cleaned up for a music room. 
 Here McGuire and Gaynor brought their stringed instruments and led the crowd in the 
 old pieces, Rosen acting as impromptu accompanist on the piano. 
 
 We were having a genuine picnic now and tried several original stunts to liven 
 up things. Snader and Harris had returned from the first permission of the section and 
 Willard and Fraser had left for Cannes and Nice in their turn. Snader and Harris 
 came back broke, which is really why they came back earlier than necessary — and we felt 
 natural again. A section paper, only of one sheet and typewritten, but full of clever 
 humor and hits, appeared, placarded on the side of the kitchen trailer- Smith, the sec- 
 tion's versatile clerk, McGuire, and Harris were the sponsors for it. Its extras always 
 brought the boys out in force, especially on the days that Snader and Woodell were rivals 
 for the baseball championship. 
 
 Soccer had given way to baseball when Cook Woodell had praised his pitching 
 arm in the hearing of Horn Snader, a veteran of diamond tactics. Of course two teams 
 were chosen and the feud was settled with bats. Snader obtained the first blood but the 
 shifts on post gave Woodell the desired chance and his team retaliated with victories. 
 The games were featured by much keen playing and less keen umpiring. When Carey 
 umpired the player who shouted the loudest got the decision. With McGuire and Smith 
 we had a judicious adjustment of poor decisions which left both teams well suited. A 
 section team was evolved from these contests which gave a good account of itself in a 
 game played with some American engineers just before we left the sector. We lost the 
 game, 3-2, due particularly to the pitching of Lieutenant Crowell, once with the Philadel- 
 phia Athletics, for the winners. Yet we played better than usual, especially McEnness, 
 who outdid his former efforts in the pitcher's box. 
 
 Our Toul experiences closed with another rush of work occasioned by a Ger- 
 man gas attack launched against the 89th division which had come in to relieve the 
 82nd. We were to move with the 82nd but volunteered to help the 89th in the plight 
 which unexpected casualties and a dearth of ambulances left them. On the morning of 
 August 4th the 82nd made a successful raid against the Germans at Flirey. Our cars 
 put in many trips but handled the work easily. The division gave way to the 89th dur- 
 ing the next few days and only a few of the medical corps were left on the grounds 
 when the Germans retaliated with a heavy gas bombardment on the morning of August 
 8th. The new division suffered about 1000 casualties that morning. We had two mem- 
 bers gassed, Soles and Shusko, who worked splendidly at the quarry post. They had 
 worn their masks from 10 p- m. to 6 a. m., but had been unable to escape the fumes and 
 still carry the wounded. 
 
 Our cars were pressed into service and we brought hundreds of cases from 
 the quarry and Conde. Lieutenant Smith personally installed an emergency aid station for 
 the men on the Conde road near the old Conde post and directed our hurried evacua- 
 tion of the gassed cases. The men were laid on the ground in rows. A heavy mist alone 
 
 [37] 
 
saved many lives as a view of the post, possible on ordinary days, would have made it 
 impossible for the aid station to care for the men. We thought our work at an end when 
 we had taken the patients to the field hospital. However, we were again called upon and 
 helped evacuate the field hospital to the base hospital at Toul. Those who still had lights 
 were able to use them when we reached Menil la Tour on the road towards Toul. We 
 made good time, yet were unable to finish before 5 o'clock on the morning of August 9th. 
 Every man was put on a car. Lights, good for the driver, meant blindness for the man 
 without them. Several accidents were just missed from this cause, on a load full of hur- 
 rying ambulances. Smith, away from a car for some time by reason of his woik as 
 section clerk, essayed a "come back" as a driver, and got along finely until he became 
 stalled by one of the railroad tracks used to bring up military supplies. But he came 
 out of his predicament with the sunender of only one tool box to a dummy engine and 
 brought his load in safely. No other of our ambulances was damaged although several 
 of the G. M. C.'s were wrecked during the night. 
 
 By 2.30 in the afternoon we were on our way to Nancy where we reported to a 
 French Caserne for a billet, to await the destination of the 82nd division. 
 
 We left in a happy frame of mind. We had seen seivice, had found ourselves, 
 and were content with the changes which military transfers had brought the section. 
 Though we mourned the loss of a comrade we knew that we had fared very fortunately 
 in our work. So we left the past and resolutely faced the new fields, yet unknown. 
 
 Moving day at Lagncy 
 
 [38] 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 PONT-A-MOUSSON 
 
 T was very difficult for us to realize that the city of Nancy was only 
 fifteen miles from the front line. Her streets were crowded with 
 prosperous looking people, her cafes were the scenes of afternoon 
 gatherings which challenged the nearness of the German. Even 
 the stores were putting up a brave appearance as if to belie the 
 presence of war. 
 
 The Germans had failed to take Nancy during their great 
 onslaught in September, 1914. This explained the city's apparent 
 prosperity and the size of the population. The one fear was of 
 air raids. A clear night almost invariably brought the vultures from Metz and sent the 
 people into the abris which had become a necessary addition to every house. Spacious 
 abris erected in the center of the city, in that part sure to suffer at every attempt to 
 destroy the railroad station, were the refuge of those found on the streets when danger 
 came with unusual suddenness- 
 
 Our home was in a wooden barrack in one of the Casernes of the city. Nancy 
 had been a mobilization center and could accommodate -30,000 troops easily. The Cas- 
 ernes were similar, each a group of stone barracks with a parade ground in the center. 
 
 The morning after our arrival was util- 
 ized in the washing of the cars. A hose in 
 the French and American Park opposite our 
 own Caserne permitted us to finish this task 
 in short order. A few loafed then, but most 
 of us began a tour of the city. The first stop 
 was, quite naturally, at the convenient swim- 
 ming pool in that end of the city where warm 
 sulphur shower baths and a pool of good 
 proportions could be found. Some of us vis- 
 ited this building daily during our stay in 
 Nancy. It filled a need which life at the front 
 poorly provided for. 
 
 In the Park at Nancy 
 
 The work of a bomb 
 
 [39] 
 
it MARBACH- 
 - SECTOR. 
 
 J : Kilometers. 
 
The cafes, stores, and the parks, especially about the Place Stanislas, helped to 
 make the time pass quickly. The section was given freedom to go and come and took 
 no advantage of the liberty. It became the custom for the men to have supper at some 
 restaurant in the city, but nearly everyone was at the barrack in time to stage the motley 
 procession across the yard to the cellar of one of the stone barracks which we used as an 
 abri. Sometimes the Germans were late and we had to roll out of our blankets to seek 
 shelter. This proved to be a strain on our good humor, but we reinforced it with music 
 and jokes to the accompaniment of dropping bombs in near and distant parts of the 
 city. Often a few stragglers shared a downtown abri with its owner and found com- 
 fort, almost luxury, in many of these cellars. 
 
 Whether there were raids or not every day saw the section on the job, enjoying 
 a good repos. Several baseball games on the parade ground limbered us up and furnish- 
 ed keen rivalry. A first and second team battled for honors, led by Swain and Snader. 
 The first team always won- This always made the second team play the harder and kept 
 us in good shape, in lieu of any active work. 
 
 We were ready for the worst, sup- 
 posedly a place in the drive, when we 
 received orders to follow the 82nd Divi- 
 sion. We brought up at Pont a Mousson. 
 While this was a disappointment for the 
 time being, events made it work out 
 satisfactorily. 
 
 On August 16th we left for Millery, 
 a little town half way between Nancy 
 and the lines. Here we made our head- 
 quarters. At first we were assigned to 
 an old barrack, barely off the dusty main 
 road, which was used as a motion pic- 
 ture theatre. We played the host our- 
 selves on our third night there and en- 
 tertained our fellow Americans on beds 
 and stretchers while flickering pictures 
 jumped across the screen. 
 
 Three days in this barrack sent us 
 into another, on the hillside just outside 
 of the town. Here we carefully cleaned 
 the straw and dirt from the floor and 
 the double-decked beds and remained settled for five days. But another unit needed our 
 home and we were given two garret rooms in a house to live in. Our view gave us the 
 Moselle river, hills stretching towards the old Toul sector, and at our feet a pretty flower 
 garden which had been cultivated carefully by the pleasant French family whose house we 
 shared. The other view was the courtyard, of which our home formed one side A man- 
 ure pile was the chief ornament, with a sufficiency of mud and slime always under foot 
 But we had a suitable parking place for the cars, behind the barns and enclosed by a 
 wall, and plenty of running water to wash in. A shed near the cars furnished shelter 
 for a garage on the ground floor and an open air sleeping apartment above. There was 
 consequently, little excuse for a kick. So we set up our beds and settled into another 
 routine. 
 
 Troops from the 82nd Division filled all available billets, the 307th sanitary 
 train being our neighbors just across the front yard. They supplied the personnel for 
 the aid stations and for the rear evacuation work. We, of course, confined ourselves 
 
 [41] 
 
A camouflaged road near Pont a Mousson 
 
 to the front line and brought the sick and wounded to two field hospitals, one on the edge 
 of Millery, the other at Dieulouard, just across and further up the river. Larger cars 
 took the cases to the rear. 
 
 The posts in this sector were a treat compared to the ones we had just left. Pont 
 a Mousson, the town nearest to the line, lay on either side of the Moselle river and had only 
 been vacated recently by civilians for a drive expected at St. Mihiel. Our first men on post 
 found plenty of fruit and vegetables in the gardens which the thrifty French had cared 
 for religiously despite the nearness of the trenches. Only a few houses on the right hand 
 side of the river had been damaged by shelling. Many were the beautiful houses of 
 wealthy French citizens and seemed to be in good condition. The business part of the 
 city was apparently on the left side of the river. Here there had been more destruction, 
 particularly about a chateau which we used as quarters for the car on post. A bridge, 
 supposedly mined, connected the two parts of the city. 
 
 The front line was about a mile outside the town. There was a broad No 
 Man's Land and a break in the usual trench system. Machine guns commanded all 
 approaches and left the Germans little ambition to storm the town. A successful at- 
 tempt would have brought them under the guns of the Allies who held the hills behind. 
 The topography of the country is such that steep hills, deep ravines, and forests warranted 
 both armies in keeping the positions unchanged from the early days of the war- So the 
 boys found little to do upon post, lived as kings in deserted houses, and enjoyed life. 
 
 We had other posts. One was at Loisy, a billet town between Millery and Pont 
 a Mousson. The others were in the Bois de Jure which lay to the right of and behind 
 Pont a Mousson. Here there were three aid stations. Woods 3 had a fair dugout but 
 the approaches to it were over poor and indirect roads. Woods 1 had an imperfect 
 dugout while Woods 2 had none at all. The cars posted in these woods made few trips 
 and found the principal danger to be from gas. A few shells screamed over the Woods 3 
 dugout and into hollow, reverberating echoes beyond. Preparations to expel expected 
 raids sent a little excitement on occasion, while Johnny Taylor and Kirkpatrick found 
 
 [42] 
 
One of the Pets 
 
 novelty when they drove their cars under armed 
 escort at early dawn to the edge of the trenches 
 for wounded. 
 
 Our cars made route trips for a time to 
 several of the billet towns that top the hills over- 
 looking the country to the edge of Metz itself. 
 One observation post gave an easy view of Metz 
 to the naked eye. 
 
 This was the routine which we took up. 
 There was little to jar the usual. We dabbled a 
 little in the theory of our work, which theory we 
 could never practice, when Lieutenant David 
 Smith lectured upon the application of first aid. We enjoyed these talks, especially those 
 that permitted Lieutenant Smith to branch out and develop his own personality. He came 
 into close touch with the section and acted as our commander on several occasions when 
 our own Lieutenant Smith was forced to be absent- 
 
 The almost nightly passing of the Germans on the way to bomb Nancy brought 
 uneasiness but usually no physical harm to Millery. August 26th was the one exception. 
 For some unknown reason the Germans let loose upon the town that night. Bombs struck 
 near our second billet just outside the town, and one hit on the edge of a street, tearing 
 out the front of a home and killing or injuring several women. The raid had sent us to 
 the cellar as a wise precaution but the news of the tragedy brought one car immediately 
 to carry the victims to the nearest medical aid. 
 
 On the 30th Sergeant Kendrick returned from the sergeant's school at Meaux 
 and assumed the top sergeantcy of the section. He and Sergeant McCrackin formed an 
 ideal pair that lent the proper efficiency and enthusiasm to get us into shape for the ex- 
 pected American drive at St. Mihiel. 
 
 We were interested in this effort. We knew the country to be fought over and 
 realized that a large force could succeed by a circling movement where a small force 
 would certainly fail in a frontal attack. The French had tried the latter since they had 
 not possessed the men for the former and had lost. The Americans had the men and won 
 easily. 
 
 The American barrage broke loose at 1.10 on the morning of September 12th. 
 The quiet hills awoke from their four year sleep and the German strongholds were bat- 
 tered along the entire St. Mihiel salient. The part to be played by the 82nd division was 
 unknown but we took 
 our cars up to Pont a 
 Mons, nearer to the lines. 
 as a reserve and a pre- 
 cautionary measure. The 
 men on the Pont a Mous- 
 son post e n c o u n t ered 
 heavier shelling than 
 usual on the roads lead- 
 ing out of the town. 
 But the work in general 
 was increased but slight- 
 ly for the first two days 
 of the attack. 
 
 By the 15th the divi- 
 sion had advanced be- Swimming in the Moselle 
 
 [43] 
 
The goat 
 
 yond the town of Norroy on the left bank of the 
 Moselle. A hurry call for assistance to two of our 
 cars already working this post brought the entire 
 section to Norroy during the night. By the early 
 morning of the 16th the wounded had all been 
 evacuated from the town and been taken to an ad- 
 vanced dressing station but a short distance from 
 Pont a Mousson. These were mostly gas cases and 
 the men were in frightful condition. Our own 
 part of the work went very smoothly. Lieuten- 
 ant Smith was on the ground in person and 
 worked the entire night in direction of the evacua- 
 tion. We were forced to use the back road to 
 Norroy since the main road was impassable and 
 under too direct observation. Here we found nar- 
 row temporary bridges over mine craters and 
 scarcely filled in shell holes to contend with dur- 
 ing the night. The old No Man's Land lay silent 
 in the starlight. Trenches and shell holes appeared 
 out of the blackness as grim reminders of the life 
 of the past four years and of the fighting of the few days before. Teams, carrying muni- 
 tions and food, wound their way slowly up the road, only to become stalled under the hill 
 on whose top Norroy stood out, drawn clearly against the sky. As a crater blocked most 
 of the road and only slow progress could be made through a hole which had been knocked 
 in a wall to gain entrance to the town, caisson after caisson was stopped and our cars 
 were held up. So we listened to the crash of the shells in the town ahead of us or to 
 their whine overhead, and waited for the way to be cleared- At first we attempted to 
 bring men from the town by hand, the two dressing station officers, piloted by Astlett, lead- 
 ing. This was slow work and we abandoned it in favor of a little extra persuasion which 
 finally cleared the way and left us fairly free to finish the evacuation of the wounded. 
 Gas masks were put on once or twice but gas gave us no real handicap, and we finished 
 the night without mishap. 
 
 This was our first opportunity for real souvenirs. The relic hunters came out in 
 force and we collected many spoils, chiefly a German goat, over whom Sergeant Kendrick 
 went into ecstasy at the addition of a mascot. Closer acquaintance with the animal un- 
 earthed "dumbness" and other disgusting habits which finally drove her back into the 
 cold world again. 
 
 After the enforced activity of the St. Mihiel drive quiet settled down, almost an 
 oppressive quiet, which left us very little to do. Orders to prepare to move came in very 
 soon, however, and we became busy with the preparation of the cars for a long trip. 
 The duty done, warm weather suggested sports which brought back baseball and swim- 
 ming for the hot afternoons. A swimming hole in the Moselle drew the boys almost every 
 day and baseball games inaugurated the first and second team rivalry which war had 
 temporarily banished. Snader lost to Swain as usual, 9-6, but the "master" gave the 
 first team a tussle, especially in the art of umpire baiting that almost created real feel- 
 ing in the sporting circles. Our inability to become suited with the arbiter whom fate 
 invariably selected, gave a revival to soccer which resulted in a game with a French 
 team, recruited from the French division which had relieved the 82nd. We won, 2-0, 
 and were particularly elated as this same French team had beaten a team from the 328th 
 infantry the previous day. 
 
 On the day after the soccer game, the 24th of September, we moved out of Mil- 
 lery. We were headed for the Argonne and stopped a few days at the park in Bar le 
 Due to do a little necessary repair work on the cars and wait for the division to become 
 
 [44] 
 
settled in its new assignment. Our convoy to Bar le Due was made in easy fashion. 
 We had a picnic lunch on the roadside just outside of Void where some beer, brought 
 hastily from town, served to give a suitable touch to the meal. 
 
 At Bar le Due we utilized the empty barrack at the park for quarters- They 
 were fortunately near our work but were extremely cold in the brisk autumn weather. 
 Again the car routine was gone through. Again we tried baseball and again lost. This 
 time it was section 554 who were successful. The score was 13-9 and the game was full 
 of as many ups and downs as the score suggests. Bar le Due itself gave opportunity 
 for a few dinners and enough recreation to make us hate to leave. On the 26th we 
 continued our way into the Argonne Woods and billeted at Passavant where we stayed 
 until the 82nd Division went into the lines. 
 
 The division was held as an army reserve for some little time and only very 
 gradually worked its way in behind the other forces. It was ready for an emergency. 
 That came, possibly a little sooner than expected, and the 82nd performed its last ser- 
 vice in the war in a manner that would have reflected the highest credit on any division 
 in the United States Army. 
 
 The attack in the Argonne was begun by a 12-hour barrage which commenced 
 at 11 p. m., on September 25th. We knew little of the course of the advance and had 
 only the flashes of the guns to prove the intensity of the fight. 
 
 We lived during the first days of the attack in the lofts of different buildings 
 in Passavant. Part of the men were in the attic room of a house, part in the loft of a 
 barn, and the rest in a shed room over another little room in which we had set up our sec- 
 tion bureau. A few cars went to nearby towns where troops were billeted to carry in 
 any sick. Most of the men had little to do except loaf on K P., and write long, overdue 
 letters. We lost Cecilia, the goat, from our midst while here but shed no tears at her de- 
 parture. She had become too fond of waking us with her bleatings at night to enhance 
 her popularity with the majority. 
 
 There was a very fortunate addition to the section in Sergeant George S. Jack- 
 son, who filled the vacancy caused by the transfer of Sergeant Klein several months be- 
 fore. Sergeant Jackson was an old Norton-Harjes man and was known to several of the 
 men. He was a hard worker and assisted considerably in the difficult task which our 
 Argonne activities necessarily created. 
 
 Noon Meal near Void 
 
 [45] 
 
We received our orders to move forward on the 4th of October. The 92nd Divi- 
 sion succeeded the 82nd in the town billets and we packed up for the new field of work. 
 There was a little difficulty just before we left as the new division appeared about to 
 appropriate our occupied billets. Bloodshed was missed by a little diplomacy and we 
 slept the last night in our home of the past ten days. It was but a short run to our 
 new billet, a tent pitched beyond Neuvilly, in a region which was known only to ad- 
 vanced posts before the advance of the week before. It marked the entrance upon our 
 last front activity. It was to be the toughest proposition we had yet tackled, and we 
 were to come out of the tas-k sure of ourselves and of the strength of our section. 
 
 [46] 
 
CHAPTER V 
 THE ARGONNE 
 
 HE successful issue of the attack at St. Mihiel had stamped the 
 Americans as capable of performing a distinctive part in the new 
 operations of the Allied Armies. To attack on as many fronts as 
 possible at one time was the secret of victory. The British in the 
 north were wearing away the defence at Cambrai, and the French 
 were advancing steadily further south. It was for the Americans 
 to pierce the Argonne Forest on the left of Verdun and, once out 
 of the ravines and woods south of Grandpre, to cut the railroad 
 connections at Mezieres and Sedan. The Argonne Forest had wit- 
 nessed no heavy fighting since the early part of the war. The German advance had se- 
 cured the upper end of these woods. Further progress on either side was held to be 
 well nigh impossible. The country was replete with natural defences whose capture would 
 require the presence of troops never at the disposal of the allied commanders. The forc- 
 ing of the valley of the Aire was thus logically an American task. We were a new army, 
 we had almost unlimited resources, and could well reopen an hitherto closed theater of 
 war. 
 
 Events saw the accomplishment of all that the most sanguine leader desired. 
 The American private soldier, fighting with a courage and perseverance equal to that of 
 any poilu of France, stubbornly battled German machine gunners through thickets and 
 over hills until Grandpre gave the opportunity for an open advance that sent the enemy 
 into rapid retreat behind Sedan. 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 Where the Argonne battle began 
 
 [47] 
 
*TLARGOririE 
 
 1 1 3 M S 
 
 FROHT. 
 
 : Kilometers. 
 
 Ex pi q hat ion: 
 
 Ci .Roads uScd bu 
 SSU: U4 7 . 
 • Ot-her roads. 
 .- River. 
 
 jfafit^ : Qb^>rof..\roi\\\\Y\e. 
 X : First-aid station 
 ■ : fbsts Where cars 
 
 were stationed . 
 O : Po&ts to wKicW 
 wounded urere 
 e vacua-ted . 
 • H : Hospita\s. 
 SecHon-. underlined 
 -Can-ijo in Red. 
 
 ibecourt 
 
 Fute^u 
 
 pQ»»evont >< 
 
 arecourtX 
 
 Fir oidos 
 IP ~^, 
 
 =» / Yjdil-avotp 
 BeauUec^^" Ai*ti«couH 
 
 t«rjs 
 
 £clarr«s< 
 
 - 
 
 iFoucoucoui-f 
 
We are particularly interested in the fighting between Varennes and Grand- 
 pre, along the sides of the Aire valley. Here the 82nd Division operated and the most 
 desperate fighting took place. It was the key to the whole advance. On the left the 
 American line was supported by the French beyond Vienne-le Chateau. On the right 
 the Americans extended their front a little outside of Danvillers. 
 
 The attack may be divided easily into three phases. The first embraces the 
 initial onslaught which uprooted the Germans from their line behind Boureuilles and 
 drove them through Varennes to the sharp slopes and thick woods that commanded 
 the open Aire valley- The second phase meant the tedious, grinding process by which, 
 inch after inch, the enemy fell back from all his natural footholds to the more open 
 country beyond the town of Grandpre. The third phase saw a second great onslaught, 
 almost a rout, that brought the Americans to Sedan where the signing of the armistice 
 ended all fighting. The slow, dogged work of the second phase was the part of the 82nd 
 
 Division. Two of its regiments entered the lines 
 on October 6th. The entire division was involved 
 within two more days. 
 
 EC 
 
 Life in a tent promised novelties that set the 
 men at work with a vim. We were about half a 
 mile beyond Neuvilly and somewhat over a mile 
 from Boureuilles where the Germans had held 
 their old front trenches. There was a broad 
 No Man's Land between these lines and those 
 of the French which had been but a short distance 
 from our camp. The tent was pitched in a little 
 valley through which a railroad was being rapidly 
 built to bring up supplies for transfer to trucks 
 and so to the lines. 
 
 We made elaborate plans to make ourselves 
 comfortable. The truck was the bureau, and 
 tarpaulins were stretched between convenient 
 trees as a covering for the kitchen and as an open 
 air mess hall. But our little picnic ended quickly. 
 The division had bivouacked in the woods back 
 of Varennes, awaiting the order to go into the 
 line. The section sent three cars on duty with 
 these regiments and followed into active service 
 itself on Monday morning, the 7th. Our dwelling 
 A cmter was pulled down and the convoy started over 
 
 the road which led through No Man's Land to the crossroads at Varennes. We went 
 by the little villages of Vauquois and Boureuilles, battered for four years as front line 
 points, and the gigantic crater holes closing the main road and necessitating a small detour 
 to reach our destination. Torn wire barricades, fields plowed by the terrific American 
 barrage, trucks lining the roads, waiting for the word to go on, spelled war in its hide- 
 ous physical aspect on every side. 
 
 In Varennes our tent was pitched on an open lot cornering at a crossroads 
 on the edge of the town. A few days later a field hospital was set up in tents directly 
 opposite. Varennes had been in the German hands for four years and will be remem- 
 bered as the historic town in which Louis XVI was stopped on his attempted escape from 
 Paris. It is built on a hillside and stands at the upper end of the Aire valley. From it 
 the main road leads along the right side of the valley to Grandpre, following the course 
 
 ■■''■$■<-■ " 
 
 [49] 
 
' • " '■*-'-' " B— B—Ml 
 
 •V M" 
 
 4premo«it 
 
 Flcvillr 
 Sommerancc 
 
of the river yet built away from it so that there is a considerable stretch of low land be- 
 tween. On the left of the valley and part way up the hillside a rough and less used road 
 followed several small villages to Chatel Chehery, lying on the crest of a sharp hill and 
 the scene of prolonged and bloody fighting during the advance. 
 
 The 82nd Division had sent its vanguard into the lines when the Americans 
 were fighting desperately to move forward from Apremont to Chatel Chehery. Some of 
 our cars were called out on each side of the river on Monday, the 7th. A post on the left 
 was established at Montblainville, a remnant of a town, about a mile from Verennes. 
 The cars ran on into Apremont, about two miles further, the next day. Apremont strag- 
 gled down the hillside from the level of the road to the riverbank. It was connected 
 with L'Esperance, a group of two or three houses, by a stone bridge which the Germans 
 had partially destroyed and the Americans had rebuilt with wood. The little town was 
 a heap of ruins as a heritage from the 1914 fighting. Two buildings only appeared 
 practically intact. One was the station of the now defunct railroad, and the other was a 
 stone mill on the near side of the town, directly below the road from Montblainville. The 
 latter housed our advanced aid station, and seemed well protected from any direct hits of 
 the enemy. 
 
 The troops had advanced a little more easily up the right of the river- The 
 country on this side also showed hills raising from the lowlands but was comparatively 
 free from wooded growth. Here an aid station was installed at L'Esperance, just a 
 short distance beyond Baulny, another little hillside village. L'Esperance soon chang- 
 ed from an advanced aid station to a dressing station where the wounded from our 
 cars were transferred to the larger G. M. C. ambulances for evacuation to the field hos- 
 pital at Varennes. 
 
 On both sides of the river the work developed rapidly with the intensive fight- 
 ing. Chatel Chehery proved to a town very difficult to capture and hold. The cars on 
 the right of the river were able to run further up the valley than on the left, and the 
 men who drove into La Forge, a cluster of battered buildings about a bridge crossing 
 
 ffPi 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 l^s^^^ 
 
 ^HHBT~ l^Bfc 
 
 est . . 1 ) 
 
 
 V^¥ 
 
 
 ySr 
 
 
 Stfi^jiiy:' 
 
 ^^H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 One of the American tanks disabled in the Argonne 
 [51] 
 
Our home at Apremont 
 Gathering firewood at Apremont T)ie gasoline supply and messhall at Apremont 
 
the river on the way to Chatel Chehery, could see the smoke of the fighting above them 
 on the hills behind that town. No one will ever forget the calls into La Forge. The 
 drive from L'Esperance out of the shelter of a little ravine onto a high plateau and then 
 sharply to the left along an open road down into this hole decided at one stroke a man's 
 grit for front work. The German artillery knocked at the bridge hour after hour 
 but the cars kept up their work though the aid station was very close to the bridge. 
 
 It was just outside of La Forge that Titchener's car was blown into a use- 
 less wreck a few seconds after he had left it to go ahead and make sure of his way. It 
 was here also that a man asked La Fleur for a ride and was killed instantly a moment 
 later by a shell which, miraculously, missed La Fleur with all its eclat except for a 
 sliver that meant only a scratched hand. 
 
 There were two other posts on the right of the river to which we made runs 
 in the first few days of the very heavy fighting. A second road led into La Forge from 
 the main road. It was a better road, about one hundred yards above the first, but it 
 took longer to travel and was therefore little used. On it a roadside ditch gave a little 
 protection for a lieutenant and his helpers who did their best for the wounded able to 
 reach there. This ditch and the high land about it were the targets for German artil- 
 lery fire during the fighting about Chatel Chehery- Every trip meant a series of thrills. 
 The main road and the plateau between it and the river dropped sharply to the lower 
 land beyond this post. On the right the high-land became only a ravine and rose again 
 to shield Fleville, a town which the Americans had sacrificed many men to capture. On 
 the left Pleinchamp Farm, lying on the low land under the edge of the plateau was a 
 third post to which we made trips, though only at night for a while, since the ground 
 about Fleville was not yet sufficiently cleared of the enemy to warrant exposure of the 
 cars. 
 
 One particularly memorable trip was made to this post on the night of October 
 9th. A call came for four cars from L'Esperance. The trip was made without incident, 
 
 The bridge at Apremont, destroyed by the Germans and rebuilt by the 
 American Engineers 
 
 [53] 
 
despite the darkness, until the turn into the Chatel 
 Chehery road was reached. Then gas shells began 
 to hit in the fields on either side. Three cars reach- 
 ed the aid station and the drivers hurried to the dug- 
 out to escape the gas. But the fourth car drove by 
 the turnoff and almost around the curve towards 
 Fleville before the driver discovered his mistake and 
 swung around to the farm and comparative safety. 
 The return trip brought everyone back safely, though 
 a little upset from the gas fumes. 
 
 A similar instance of becoming lost by going 
 by this turnoff was discovered in an unusual way. 
 The men on post were lounging one night at I'Esper- 
 ance waiting for their turn to go out when a German 
 prisoner began to wax confidential. He claimed 
 that while on advanced sentry duty he had seen a 
 Ford ambulance pass him in the dark in the direc- 
 tion of Fleville and then i epass him a moment later. 
 He did not fire. The story may be pure imagination 
 but we give a little credence to it since Burt reported having missed the turn and hav- 
 ing gone well towards Fleville before discovering his mistake. 
 
 All this was a new life to us. We had served at the front but never in an 
 advance of this nature which meant new posts every day, roadside aid stations, and the 
 uncertainty which the constant shifting of lines caused. The roads were torn only in a 
 few spots by bursting shells but the fields and banks on either side were ploughed and 
 furoughed from Varennes to the scene of each day's fighting. Wrecked whippet tanks 
 lay helplessly where a German 77 had found them vulnerable- Broken caissons, disem- 
 boweled horses, and the forms of German and American soldiers lay in quiet groups he e 
 and there over the ground. Near the lines, bursting shells, excitement, and a duty in 
 hand blinded our eyes to the wreckage. Here, where the wake of battle lay so st'll yet 
 so plainly in view, it became a trial for the drivers to go by on the way to post. The 
 imagination was too complete. It was terrible to drive time after time by a silent 
 sentinel of German defeat which lay so long on the muddy roadside near L'Esperance. 
 
 rying IT. 
 
 An observation ballon ready for duty 
 
 [54] 
 
_ „ Guns on Sommerance Hood 
 
 Open Country near Sommerance 
 
 Country beyond Fleville 
 
Death demands its tribute, whatever the uniform, but, oh, how we hated that form. It 
 was an effort to be indifferent to such scenes. But we became so and carried 
 forward the work oblivious to the death about us, only aware of the living whom we 
 could save. 
 
 During all of these first days of the advance the tent at Varennes was our 
 headquarters. Here cars were brought in to have new bands put in and other repairs 
 made. There were a few accidents to the cars, though really a very few considering the 
 stress of the work done. Here the men came in after the relief from post and threw 
 themselves on cots or stretchers for what sleep the little time afforded. Day after day 
 giant French and American trucks lumbered by in a steady stream. Everywhere there 
 was hustle and noise among the ruins of the little town. The battle was being fought 
 far up the valley but here the sinews of war were being hurried on that there might 
 never be a shortage to cause defeat. 
 
 Our own life was rather tame for we were too tired to do much at camp. There 
 was little except an occasional shell to disturb us. These came at noon for several 
 successive days when the Germans tried to break up the detour below the town which 
 enabled the convoys to get around the crater left by the enemy to block the main road. 
 We watched for the shells daily and vacated our quarters regularly until the bombard- 
 ment ceased. We intended to be distinctly not present should an error throw some shell 
 a little short, for we were in the direct 
 line of range. Little damage was done Sf^ j^SfcfoM ; 
 by any of this firing. £?«ip*S^-V7" ■ ■ jj£.**'" 
 
 We moved from Varennes to Apre- ; V : v :^ :sS5? ' 
 
 mont on the 11th. The advance had 
 progressed so well that it was necessary 
 to have our quarters nearer the dress- 
 ing stations. The mill, on the edge of 
 Apremont, no longer needed as a dress- 
 ing station, was our home. The cars ' * "■* '■*- ""*' *^" 
 were parked in the yard and the kitchen 
 
 was hauled under the paitial protection ^ - , - ^ 
 
 afforded by what was left of the roof ^"^S^ fT^ , \ x -^fc^i^ 
 of another building, probably once part 
 of the mill plant. The river ran back 
 
 of the mill and a dynamo had been installed and used by the Germans to furnish elec- 
 tricity for their quarters within a large radius. Later the Americans repaired the sys- 
 tem and utilized it similarly. 
 
 We slept in two reinforced cellars of the mill, in a dugout under the ruins of 
 the adjacent building, or in the mill itself. Those who were good sleepers and liked fresh 
 air chose the latter place. The walls of the mill were quite perfect and two good rooms 
 were found for use by the Lieutenant and our Bureau. Fireplaces gave heat enough and 
 we had reason to thank Providence that we had such good quarters to rest in. 
 
 It may have been this feeling which led the section to adopt a French orphan. 
 Pictures showed the lad to be a pleasant little boy, and we are glad to have helped some 
 one. 
 
 Meanwhile our aid stations were being pushed rapidly ahead. A dressing sta- 
 tion was installed at Fleville and cars went forward to two ditch posts on the road to 
 St. Juvin, or over the hill road to Sommerance where the medical officers had houses 
 left standing in which to tend the wounded, though little protection from the shelling of 
 the town which slackened only occasionally day and night at this time. 
 
 [56] 
 
'Horn" and the camionette 
 
 The French Mail truck 
 
 [57] 
 
It took real grit for those boys who made the first trips over this country. 
 A mine crater blocked the road about a quarter of a mile from Fleville and necessi- 
 tated the carrying of the wounded to this point by hand. From here the ambulances 
 took them into Fleville and from there to L'Esperance. But this was slow work and 
 the need was pressing. So Kerr and then Signor had their cars lifted around this 
 hole and brought in the wounded for the other cars to relay to Fleville. Kerr stayed 
 on the job for the entire afternoon, making trip after trip to the ditch posts, although 
 the enemy artillery pounded the roads and adjoining fields steadily. Signor drove into 
 Sommerance for the wounded. This road ran up and down over little hills, and, at this 
 time, was for much of the way in good view of enemy observers. The Germans were 
 only a little beyond Sommerance, fighting for St. Juvin. Both Kerr and Signor escaped 
 injury very narrowly. Signor's car was pierced repeatedly, and Rorty, Signor's aide, had 
 the breast pocket of his coat cut by eclat. The three men performed with such noticeable 
 courage that they were rewarded later with an American decoration for their day's 
 work. 
 
 At night engineers bridged the crater and all the cars were able to evacuate 
 directly from the ditch and Sommerance stations. It was in front of the aid station at 
 Sommerance two days later than a spent piece of shell knocked Kirkpatrick unconscious 
 while he was loading his car. He, fortunately, recovered immediately and was able to 
 go on with his work. For his pluck on this occasion and the picking up of several 
 freshly wounded soldiers while under shell fire a little later he was awarded the Ameri- 
 can Distinguished Service Cross. Shelling continued to be frequent on these roads, 
 as the Germans held Grandpre and a commanding view of the valley for some time after 
 they lost St. Juvin. Grandpre fell at last by repeated attacks. But the line was kept 
 only a little beyond it during the preparations for the third phase of the attack which 
 threw the opposition beyond Sedan. However, the fall of Grandpre meant that the Ger- 
 mans were out of the Argonne Woods and that final victory was only a question of fresh 
 troops. 
 
 Hunting relics 
 
 [58] 
 
On the left of the river the towns were all on the hills above the valley. As the 
 advance permitted we worked posts at Chatel Chehery, Cornay, and in the woods, the 
 latter being the last hill post before the terrain dropped to Marcq in the valley again. 
 These roads were about as those on the right though the undulating character of the 
 country gave considerable protection to the cars. The night trips through these woods 
 were the cause of many burned out bands. Hills and the inky blackness forced pretty 
 slow progress mile after mile to the post above Marcq, particularly. Our trips on the 
 left of the river grew infrequent after the division was relieved from its part of the line 
 in that region. Its heroic work had carried the whole American line out of the Ar- 
 gonne woods but had left the division exhausted and so depleted in numbers that it 
 was unable to hold the stretch of front it had had. Yet what was left of the 82nd still 
 held on above St. Juvin, practically by nerves of steel alone, true soldiers to the last, 
 in a way that will ever make those who realized their sacrifice proud to have been attach- 
 ed to them. The brown heaps on the slopes of Chatel Chehery, each machine gun nest 
 with its dead defenders, spelled the reason for our pride. 
 
 Pleinchamp Farm was now the point to which we carried the wounded. Here 
 we transferred our loads to the G. M. C.'s for transportation to the rear. On October 17th 
 Fraser was hit by a glancing piece of eclat in the yard of this dressing station. It was 
 a day of many trips and nanow escapes. He had just brought in his load of wounded 
 when a shell struck close by and a small piece cut him in the throat. The wound was 
 not serious and Fraser returned to the section soon after we pulled back from the front. 
 
 The halting of the advance led to our establishing a post at Fleville for the cars 
 on duty. From here runs were made in turn to the ditch post and to Sommerance. 
 Almost a routine of work was established for a few days and regularity was possible 
 in the shifts on post. This was a little upset, however, on several occasions by calls 
 for cars to assist the 78th Division. They had wounded stranded in St. Juvin with in- 
 adequate transportation to evacuate them. Most of our extra work for this division was 
 on the night of the 15th. Fighting was in fierce progress at Grandpre the next town 
 above, and shells made us uncomfortable repeatedly at uncertain intervals in our work. 
 It seems miraculous that there were no casualties during those few days. 
 
 Fleville was kept as a post for the cars on duty only a little longer. The plac- 
 ing of heavy artillery behind the town drew the German fire and warranted a with- 
 drawal of the post to Pleinchamp Farm, near Chateau Chehery, Divisional Headquarters. 
 This was used as the evacuation post during the rest of our stay in the Argonne. The 
 lines had now become practically stationary. Our work was lighter than before- A sys- 
 tem of route trips was established and we were always in close touch with the pressure 
 of wounded at the aid stations. There was occasional shelling but much less than we 
 had been accustomed to expect. 
 
 As the fighting slackened aeroplane activity increased in the effort of each 
 side to learn the plans of the other. Solitary German planes flew daringly well into 
 the American area. They fearlessly attacked American observation ballons and destroy- 
 ed many of them. These attempts always brought us out as an audience. The most 
 clever feat was over our quarters at Apremont. We were eating supper when atten- 
 tion was called to anti-aircraft activity directed apparently at a plane high up and com- 
 ing directly overhead. When above us the plane dropped as if hit and shot at a terrific 
 speed straight downward. Then, when it seemed as if about to plunge into the ground, 
 in fact, when several of the boys had started for the spot it was sure to hit, the plane 
 righted itself and headed like a bullet for an observation ballon nearby. The observers 
 dropped when the plane was upon them and red hot incendiary bullets ripped through the 
 gas bag. In an instant flames burst out and the blazing mass dropped to the ground, 
 yet not more quickly than the plane circled back towards its own lines. High explosives 
 broke around the aviator but he disappeared in the haze, still flying safely. He was our 
 foe but, somehow, we forgave him for this exhibition. 
 
 [59] 
 
However, the Germans were not always successful. On another evening we 
 watched an American plane drive a German behind the hill back of L'Esperance where 
 the aviator was later captured. One German aviator descended in a parachute from his 
 disabled plane near Sommerance. He was captured immediately and reached Fleville 
 much the worse in the way of clothing because of the American Doughboy's craze for 
 souvenirs. Scouting planes were in the air most of the time- Sometimes a group of 
 fighting planes met and there was a set to. The honors were about even, we judged. 
 We could seldom see the fights near enough to decide accurately. 
 
 It was also in the region of Sommerance that an amusing incident occurred 
 through the installing of heavy artillery between the town and Fleville. The guns did 
 not clear the road in several places and our cars were held up occasionally while the guns 
 were shelling the Germans behind Grandpre. In this instance one car was stopped by 
 the soldiers on guard who told the driver to wait for the barrage. A little thought 
 brought reconsideration apparently and the ambulance was hurried on with the admoni- 
 tion, "The barrage is delayed, I guess. If you hurry you can get by before they fire." 
 The driver did hurry, wondering a little how it would feel to have the top of his car 
 lifted off by an outgoing shell. 
 
 The last days of our front life were easy for the men. Exceptions came once 
 in a while as when Titchener had the body of his car destroyed by chance shelling at the 
 ditch. But the ordinary trips meant few wounded and we soon brought in hardly enough 
 men to justify our time on post. We worked on twenty-four hour shifts at Pleinchamp. 
 Every three or four hours a car would visit every post and collect the wounded, report- 
 ing also the time for the next ambulance to follow. Special calls came once in a while. 
 These usually sent us hunting over the known landscape after the wounded man. It was 
 difficult to get through reliable messages owing to the enforced mixing and shifting of 
 troops. 
 
 The life at Apremont to which we returned after our time on post had a good 
 deal of monotony in it. Cars were washed when the pressure at the front slackened 
 and were put in the hands of the mechanics for repairs- We K. P.'d as our turns came 
 but weren't overworked on any job. Our mill home afforded several pleasant fireplaces 
 and one room, especially, where blankets at window and door enabled the "hounds" to re- 
 vive "Red Dog" and poker. Our section-library was still intact and there was plenty 
 of writing paper to furnish the means for filling idle hours. Enemy planes came over for 
 night raids but did no damage near the mill. Distance shelling, also, hit the hill above 
 us at night but caused no annoyance. 
 
 Lieutenant Stiles, the Red Cross officer for the division, shared our billet and 
 proved a god-send in the way of bringing us papers from the outside world as well as 
 furnishing us with supplies of extra quality. 
 
 This was the time that the Turkish and Austrian appeals for an armistice were 
 under consideration. Finally these armistices came. We were still skeptical about Ger- 
 many but knew that the end was near. Rumor after rumor reported the immediate re- 
 lief of the 82nd Division. It had done its bit in driving the Germans from the Argonne 
 thickets. New men were now coming in to furnish the blow that would reach Mezieres 
 and Sedan. The remnant of the 82nd was at last withdrawn on the 30th and 31st of 
 October, and we were left with only our cooties to bother us for two days. 
 
 The third phase of the advance began with an attack beyond St. Juvin and 
 Grandpre on the morning of November 1st. The initial resistance of the enemy soon 
 gave way and the Americans advanced at a tremendous pace through the open country 
 from Grandpre northward. Our curio hunters were out and followed the advance into 
 the No Man's Land of a few days before. They secured plenty of excitement and good 
 souvenirs for their trouble. 
 
 We loitered about, awaiting the order to move- It came on the 2nd and we 
 pulled back to Les Illettes on the 3rd. The Lieutenant had been absent on special duty and 
 
 [60] 
 
was brought back in the early hours of the morning by all night work on the part of the 
 staff car. 
 
 The stop at Les Illettes was but temporary. Five cars were sent on special 
 duty with the division and the rest of us went to Bar le Due for further work on the 
 cars. The same barrack as before was used as quarters. We celebrated our return 
 from the front by suppers in town and plenty of noise in the evening. The next day 
 Sergeant Kendrick received orders to report in Paris. We felt that to be his last night 
 with us as a commission was thought to be the cause of his summons. So we let loose 
 in a song fest and with hilarity that sent him away the next morning with the keenest 
 regret over leaving us. 
 
 On the 7th we drove to Amanty where we used two barracks deserted by an 
 aviation outfit as quarters. The barracks were so large that we utilized part of one as 
 a mess hall and lived in real style for a few days. The five cars sent out had returned 
 and a few new cars went for duty with the different infirmaries in neighboring villages 
 where troops were quartered. It was but a short ride to Neufchateau and several trips 
 were made to Base Hospital 66 with cases. The town looked familiar and we found a 
 welcome and a hearty meal in the kitchens of the hospital from the men we had worked 
 with the previous spring. We forgot the past and did our duty by the victuals set be- 
 fore us. 
 
 At noon on the day of the signing of the armistice we broke camp for another 
 town south of Neufchateau. En route flags blossomed out as the rumors of the armistice 
 spread. When we reached our destination, Clefmont, the bells on churches and townhalls 
 were pealing a confirmation of the end of the war. Clefmont itself is on a hill and our 
 billet was in a wooden barrack on the upper edge of the town, overlooking the sur- 
 rounding country for miles, even to Mont Blanc, some said- 
 
 We hustled our cars into a line by the barrack and began celebrating. Some 
 of us helped ring the bell, others just rioted with the civilians. At night we danced, 
 drank, and rejoiced in the different cafes. Nothing was too good for us in the opinion 
 of the town. Everyone was happy. Some of the people missed loved ones and were less 
 demonstrative in their joy. Yet their quiet smiles told the true feeling underneath. 
 
 We remained here until the 16th when word came from our service headquar- 
 ters to report at Vaulcourt for orders. This detached us from the 82nd Division and 
 the members of the 307th Sanitary Train who had been attached to us for several months 
 left to go further south with the division. They had done good work and we hated to 
 say goodbye. 
 
 Our Lieutenant was absent in Paris and Lieutenant Wolf, sent specially, took 
 us to Vaulcourt where further orders sent us on to Nancy to report to the Tenth French 
 Army for duty with the Force of Occupation. Lieutenant Wolf left at the return of 
 Lieutenant Smith. Sergeant Jackson also was ordered away to accept a commission in 
 the Service. This transfer, with the absence of Sergeant McCrackin at the Sergeants' 
 School, necessitated the appointment of three acting sergeants to assist the Lieutenant. 
 Swain, Snader and Willard were selected. That they have succeeded remarkably well, 
 despite the lack of a sergeant's warrant, can perhaps be best explained by the volun- 
 teer spirit which has helped solve so many problems in 647. 
 
 Our work at the front was over and we entered an entirely different life which 
 was to bring us eventually to the banks of the Rhine itself. We left the 82nd Division 
 proud of our connection with it. It was a draft division and the men had none of the 
 associations which will make national guard and regular army divisions immortal- They 
 saw their work simply as a task to be done. They claimed no glory, only a recognition of 
 service rendered. Yet they have won undying praise from us who know what they did 
 for their country and the fearful sacrifices they made. 
 
 [61] 
 
For ourselves, we were glad that the war was ended and proud that we had 
 accomplished the part in it assigned to us. We had tried to do our duty and a little 
 more, and were conscious of no regrets but only satifaction for work performed. The 
 Argonne will ever be pleasantly remembered when our war experiences are retold. 
 
 1*2] 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 WITH THE ARMY OF OCCUPATION 
 
 HE city of Nancy proved to be more entrancing than ever in its 
 victory regalia. Quartered in the same park as before, we looked 
 up our friends, visited the places of rendezvous of the previous 
 summer, and investigated every suggestion of entertainment of- 
 fered by the awakened city, and within the reach of our depleted 
 finances. 
 
 It was the period of reaction from the war strain for the 
 people of the city. All who were not too bowed by sorrow gave 
 vent to the great relief which was given by quiet nights, unattend- 
 ed by air raids, the visit of loved ones, to be exposed no more in battle, and the prospect of 
 reconstruction and enlivened business, unhampered by the threat of war. It was also 
 the period when the sacrifices of the French civilians became appreciated. There were 
 the mothers who were yet hoping that a son would miraculously appear among the pris- 
 oners thronging into the city from the camps of Germany. There were the wives, 
 vainly hoping for the return of a husband to hearten them for the rebuilding of their 
 homes. 
 
 Daily, French and English prisoners staggered in from the German borders 
 and were cared for by the American Commissary, the Red Cross, and the Y. M. C. A. 
 Whether the men wore khaki, the red trousers of the French soldiers in 1914, or the 
 horizon blue, there seemed to be the same tale of starvation, abuse, and neglect, which 
 had culminated in the wholesale opening of the prison doors after the armistice and 
 the pathetic attempts of the weakened soldiers to walk through to the nearest French 
 forces. We were glad to help two British soldiers at our billet, and managed to see them 
 safely on the road to Blighty. 
 
 Our own life was as trivial as any repos. We took more baths, were equipped 
 with much needed clothes by the local Quartermaster, cleaned up our cars, and continued 
 to discover new joys in Nancy. 
 
 The soccer team was rejuvenated and played a team formed from several clubs 
 about the city. We won once more, 3-2, and the team was duly noticed in the local paper, 
 much to the satisfaction of some of the soccer enthusiasts. 
 
 We had so little to do about the park where we were quartered that the French 
 Captain in charge solicited our co-operation in making mats for camion radiators. For- 
 tunately we received our moving orders before disgust at the job was given proper 
 opportunity for expression. 
 
 On the 26th of November, two days before Thanksgiving, for which we had 
 planned a sumptuous banquet, we were ordered to proceed with our cars to St. Avoid, 
 in Lorraine. We left early on the morning of the 27th. 
 
 We made very good time until we reached the edge of the old No Man's Land 
 where we ran into the trucks and infantry of the Tenth Army moving forward into 
 the new territory. For awhile our cars passed the slower trucks without difficulty. It was 
 the narrowness and unevenness of the road through No Man's Land itself which brought 
 our first trouble and forced us into the line of the other convoy. Attempts to get out 
 once more were prevented by a block of the trucks and the refusal of the French traf- 
 fic officer to permit our light cars to run ahead. A perhaps natural reaction, with the 
 
 [63] 
 
peace, to American methods of hustling ahead on the road seemed prevalent among our 
 allies. Usually tolerant of such things, we became rather exasperated this time as 
 the sun got lower and we were still far from our goal. However, there was no help 
 for the delay until the convoy reached a fork where we were able to get away from 
 the trucks. 
 
 There was but a little strip of battered country on either side of the lines in 
 this region, and it took but a short while for us to get into the yet pretty and prosper- 
 ous Lorraine which had been the sore spot for French and Germans so long. 
 
 It was 10 P M. when we pulled our cars up to the curb in the public square 
 in St. Avoid. A big receiving stand was still decorated with the flags festooned in 
 honor of the triumphal entry of the French troops a few days before. As it was well 
 towards midnight we saw little of the town itself, and heard only snatches of German 
 conversation to betray the presence of curious civilians. We tarried in the square just 
 long enough to be officially assigned quarters and then drove to a German Caserne 
 where we parked our cars and cleaned up enough of the wreckage in one of the bar- 
 racks to give us room for putting up our cots. 
 
 The next morning we finished cleaning up several other rooms, and began 
 hunting souvenirs. This Caserne had been the scene of a riot of striking Austrian miners 
 not long before. A neigh- 
 boring barrack had been 
 burned and the one we 
 were in was piled high 
 with refuse for similar 
 destruction. The arrival 
 of French troops, sum- 
 moned by the mayor, had 
 alone prevented further ^^^^^^^■^^^^^^■H 
 
 damage to the town. The Caserne at St. Avoid 
 
 As we had brought the provisions with us which we had planned to use in 
 celebration of Thanksgiving in Nancy, Horn Snader did an extra amount of hustling, 
 hired the management of a cafe in town to cook our food and permit the use of their 
 main room for a banquet. Everything connected with the celebration was a success. 
 There was just enough food, all well cooked, and just the proper quality of refreshing 
 beverage. The usually trying period of after dinner speechmaking developed an almost 
 unexpected esprit de corps and enthusiasm for continuing the comradeship of the present 
 in the later years. Each man, from the polished Don to the most halting speaker, did 
 his best to show the genuine feeling of comaraderie which, sometimes alone, had held the 
 section together so long. There were toasts to our Lieutenant, to Lieutenant Kendrick, 
 our old sergeant and now commanding officer of Section 649, who was with us, and a 
 silent tribute to the memory of our deceased comrade, Tod Gillett. There was no trace 
 of the strained suppression or hilarious abandon which some might look for in a gath- 
 ering of private soldiers. We were different and we showed there that this war had 
 created heretofore unconceivable possibilities in the S. S. U- service, which we had 
 learned how to grasp. In the Army, we were not of it. 
 
 On the day after Thanksgiving we received orders to move to Saarbriicken, 
 just over the boundary of Lorraine and in Germany itself. We made the most of pretty 
 St. Avoid that night, visiting especially a fete which the townspeople were giving in 
 honor of the French liberators. As Americans we were necessarily outsiders in this 
 celebration. Yet we managed to make ourselves inconspicuous and enjoyed what proved 
 to be a very picturesque party. 
 
 [65] 
 
In a large hall, with room on one side and in the rear for the tables of those 
 who only drank and looked on, the French soldiers and the young girls and women of the 
 town danced the old folk dances and marches which we judged to have been in vogue in 
 the days before 1870. Everyone was happy. Even those who had had German sym- 
 pathies seemed able to participate with the rest. The Alsatian headdress and costume 
 of some of the women helped particularly to make the evening unforgetable. 
 
 We left for Saarbriicken on November 30th. It was not a long trip yet the 
 change in environment was very noticeable. In St. Avoid, while not everyone by any 
 means was an allied enthusiast, there were enough to give an air of welcome. In the little 
 towns nearer the border French flags and French g eetings were found everywhere and 
 grownups as well as children waved as we rode by. In Saarbriicken all was different. 
 The children still shouted but only because they were children. The older people were 
 curious but reserved and quiet. The only flag was the official French flag on public 
 buildings. Many asked questions, some were talkative, but we were made to feel that we 
 were in a hostile land. From now on we began gradually to search out the German 
 point of view. We have taken it for what it was worth and have not let it interfere 
 with our own, yet have tried to appreciate the why of all the great phenomena which 
 brought these apparently peaceful civilians into war. 
 
 We remained but one night in Saarbriicken, as, except for four cars, we were 
 ordered to Bitche the next day. We made a tour of the town quite thoroughly in that one 
 night. All the civilians seemed glad that the war was over and apparently desired little 
 more than the opportunity to resume their pre-war existence. A Belgian, acting as inter- 
 preter with the French, discovered several of us, eager to buy souvenirs. He proved to 
 be a very valuable guide until he commenced to talk war with an elderly saleswoman 
 in one of the jewelry shops. His resulting tirade, while perhaps well-merited, we were 
 forced to quiet. But generally, the French and any other Allies stationed in town, were 
 quiet and aloof from any bickering which so recent an armistice might well be expected 
 
 The section members awarded the D. S. C. 
 
 to cause in dealings with civilians. Thi oughout our stay in Germany we have found the 
 French behaving everywhere in a most commendatoiy manner although in an admit- 
 tedly trying situation. 
 
 We reached Bitche from Saarbriicken at noon on December 1st. It was a little 
 town that nestled in a deep valley between very steep hills on every side. The descent 
 
 [66] 
 
of the road into town proved a test for our brakes that kept several of the drivers 
 pretty uneasy meanwhile. Bitche was most unattractive and we had little objection to 
 another move which sent us to Zweibriicken on December 3rd- While at Bitche six 
 cars made a trip to Saarbrucken with some sick cases. They found the four cars that 
 had been left there working overtime in evacuating to the city's hospital. The men on 
 the trip remained overnight in Saarbrucken and returned the next day. The four men, 
 Kerr, Kirkpatrick, Signor, and Rorty, lately awarded the D. S. C, left for Paris at this 
 time to be decorated. 
 
 At Zweibriicken where we stayed j ust long enough to prepare for a comfortable 
 existence, we had quite wonderful quarters. The men lived in small rooms, four or five 
 to a room, each room clean and with a tile stove to heat it. This was the nearest to 
 Heaven of any of our quarters so far in France or Germany. It was with much im- 
 potent rage that we moved on to Ottweiler on December 5th. 
 
 Ottweiler was as objectionable as Zweibriicken had been attractive. Our cars 
 were parked in a square in the center of the town. Innumerable meddling children ne- 
 cessitated a guard day and night about the cars. The town itself was so dingy and the 
 people appeared so uncertain that many of the boys, in addition to the guards, went about 
 armed. We were billeted in two separate groups, one in two empty upper rooms over a 
 cafe, the other in a loft over a shed. Our kitchen was located at first near the second 
 billet, but was later in a more sanitary place near our cars. 
 
 We should have been most unhappy had it not been our good fortune to find 
 two cafes where we were hospitably received and given an opportunity to write letters 
 and read, as well as buy drinks. The first cafe was quite near our two billets and was 
 owned by a couple who had lived for some years in America- They were very polite and 
 considerate to us, and we, in turn, respected the freedom allowed us. After we moved 
 the kitchen we no longer ate here, but still continued to make it our headquarters. Some 
 one of the men was almost always either writing or reading in the cafe during the day. 
 In the evening we always looked in to talk with the son and the two young women of 
 the house or dance with the latter when a musician could be found. One of the young 
 women proved to be quite a patriotic little German. Not a Kaiser zealot, she still thought 
 well of her country and its soldiers. Here we got the first touch of that German attitude 
 which hates France and, 
 to the American soldier, 
 loves America, even 
 though it admits the 
 claim that without us 
 France could not have 
 won the war. 
 
 The other cafe was 
 near our cars and was 
 run by a quiet little 
 German who was eager 
 to do us favors and will- 
 ing that we should eat 
 our meals in his place of 
 business. We gave him 
 our kitchen refuse and 
 
 K. P 's about the kitchen 
 
 [67] 
 
thought the bargain a 
 good one. There were 
 other cafes, mostly visit- 
 ed at night by some of 
 the bolder spirits, where 
 the native element was 
 found a little less reserv- 
 ed than elsewhere. Many 
 are the dark tales that 
 aiose and spread around 
 the section from the 
 nightly prowls about the 
 alleys of the little town. 
 It is said that threaten- 
 ed tragedy was twice 
 nas morniluJ narrowlyaverted 
 
 through too attentive work on the part of some to the business on an evening of other 
 section members. Fortunately there was no real tragedy, and only fun has since re- 
 sulted from those episodes. "Joe Garvey" must indeed reckon his prestige from those 
 dark days of Ottweiler. 
 
 Christi 
 
 There was no word of protest on the morning of December 13th when we left 
 for Kreuznach. The powers that were tried out a new road which looked very fine on 
 the map but which proved to be a back road well gouged out by the passage of heavy 
 camions and covered with standing water. But we had our luck with us as usual and 
 plowed safely through the first of the trip, to be rewarded by beautiful cliffs and pic- 
 turesque valleys on the last half. We had reached the Germany of fable and could well 
 appreciate how one might love its beautiful scenery. 
 
 Kreuznach is a city of narrow streets and old fashioned architecture, especi- 
 ally noted for its mud baths- Although billeted on the edge of the town in what had been 
 a mill, we had plenty of opportunity to become acquainted with the city. Its apparent 
 prosperity, the thriving stores that belied the narrow streets, the hustling crowds, and 
 the attractive shops and cafes, proved a Mecca for the boys. Joy was truly kept un- 
 confined during our brief four days stop. 
 
 At noon, on December 17th, we drove to Mainz, the end of our long journey 
 from Nancy. Burt and Snader had gone ahead to pick out quarters for the section so 
 that our arrival found the first floor of one of the barracks in the Caserne Elizabeth all 
 labelled for our occupation. 
 
 The trip from Kreuznach had been through particularly pretty country. It 
 was at Bingen, "Fair Bingen on the Rhine" that we first saw the great river. We had 
 driven along the left bank of the Nahe for some little distance, crossing it on the edge 
 of Bingen near where it becomes merged in the larger stream. The Rhine is especi- 
 ally wonderful at Bingen. Here begins that section of the river known to legend. The 
 terraced hillsides and sharp crags stand out against the sky, making a picture not dup- 
 licated anywhere. The road to Mainz lies nearly parallel to the river for some distance, 
 only gradually working away from the stream. As we rode along it truly seemed the 
 culmination of our work in France when an auspicious rainbow appeared over the right 
 bank of the Rhine as a well interpreted sign of the passage of war and its hardships 
 and the arrival of peace. 
 
 [68] 
 
Bingen 
 Ottweiler 
 
CDMV0YTRIR5 IH 
 
 OCCUPIED 
 
 \ TERRITORY. 
 
 \ ° f ,0 ,s '. Kilometers. 
 
 \ 
 
 Klrberg 
 
 ICam berg 
 
 RHtV 
 
 BingCr 
 
 Jdsteinj 
 
 Niederhaujer 
 
 WlESBADENf^ 
 8«ebe»-»*cW ( 
 
 MAINS 
 
 BretxenHeiwT 
 
 irbetokci'vi 
 Hocfcheim,/ ^^^^ 
 
 Worrsl-adj 
 
 KREUZNACH 
 
 Oppcnhc\» 
 Guntersblur 
 
 Alxe>/ 
 
 FCrr.G-erau! 
 
 Griesheiwie 
 
 *f 
 
 OF?3?nb\ich 
 Breieicfcknbe>< 
 
 °n 
 
 i 
 
 JDARMSTAT>7 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 «#> 
 
 KirchWc'imbolande 
 
 WOWIS! 
 
 Explanation : 
 • OB^ta : To w n j> . 
 
 ■ *. Border between 
 French and NeuCral terr. 
 — • — — : Border between 
 
 Neutral and Crerfnan tarr. 
 ^""» ^— Rout«a taken lou 
 
 ^ S.S.U.647. on convoy trips. 
 
 ;====s : Route taKen bu 
 S.S.U. 647: towards Mainz. 
 P«t.iqig- frowMam-r Moi-ch.mto, 
 
 iFrallken- 
 
 r-rhqif 
 
 / 
 / 
 
 • Zwln^enberg 
 
 V flLbVich 
 \ 
 
 HuvenfeLd 
 
 \ QWeinheim 
 Kafe»-\hal 
 
 - HAFEN 
 
Mainz is a city of fair size and presented many attractions to us after the three 
 weeks of travel from Nancy. It is beautifully situated on the Rhine and, although not as 
 prosperous as several other German cities of our later acquaintance, it is a hustling town 
 possessed of plenty of opportunities for amusement. It had a theatre where Opera could 
 be heard, cafes numerous enough to furnish wide choice, and public buildings of inter- 
 est to be visited if one cared. We considered ourselves extremely fortunate. The quar- 
 ters we occupied were very clean and comfortable and we were attached directly to the 
 Headquarters of the Tenth Army so that we had few small calls for cars, only being 
 called upon when nearly all of the cars were needed and there was real attraction in- 
 cident to the work. 
 
 The first week was 
 spent in making a per- 
 spective of the city and 
 vicinity- After the ini- 
 tial period of getting 
 settled was over, cars 
 were cleaned, and certain 
 formalities of routine es- 
 tablished, we were given 
 a free hand and set out 
 on our explorations. The 
 "fiends" tried out the 
 Opera, another clique 
 made a round of the 
 cafes, others headed out 
 
 The Kurhaus in Wiesbaden f town for Wiesbaden 
 
 and returned full of enthusiasm over its beauties. The whole section soon had the sit- 
 uation well in hand and the men began to enjoy their time in about any way they pleased. 
 The Mainz folk proved to be quite friendly, becoming particularly so in the cafes. 
 The "Americans" were so well treated that the French became a bit jealous of the 
 attention paid us. We used a little tact, however, and refused to permit anything that 
 would cause serious feeling on the part of our Allies. 
 
 Wiesbaden we found to be an exceedingly prosperous city, of much greater 
 architectural beauty than Mainz. Its public buildings, particularly the splendid Royal 
 Theatre and the Kurhaus, were easily the finest most 
 of us had seen since we had left Paris. It was a tourist 
 city and well repaid the many trips which we made 
 there. 
 
 The second day of our stay in Mainz brought 
 back the four men who had gone into Paris to be 
 decorated with the D. S. C. They reported a trip full 
 of amusing incidents, the best of which were built 
 about the sale of the souvenirs which they had taken 
 in with them. The whole section enjoyed the way the 
 "dear" Y. M. C. A- secretaries, eager for a touch of 
 the war, seized upon the Iron Crosses and helmets 
 which we had found so plentiful on all sides. For once 
 some of the men admitted a use for the organization. 
 
 On the 25th our first real work with the Tenth 
 Army began. We made the first of a series of convoys 
 into the neutral zone or into the German held territory 
 after Allied prisoners whom it was necessary to move 
 by car rather than by train. This first trip was but a 
 short one into Darmstadt. We rather enjoyed the a little foraging 
 
 [71] 
 
1 ^ ™- f M 
 
 | 
 
 ,1 » x ? S'| " 
 
 — 1 «•■ . . . > . # '•* 
 
 I * .... ..' 
 
 1 
 ■ 
 
 : 
 
 novelty of being in this 
 city, held by neither 
 army. Darmstadt is a 
 pretty place and was the 
 scene of an outbreak dur- 
 ing the Revolution which 
 might have become seri- 
 ous had it not been for 
 the popularity and good 
 judgment of the Grand 
 Duke of Hesse, who liv- 
 ed in the city, and quick- 
 ly acceeded to the pop- 
 ular wishes, thus adjust- 
 ing the situation. It was 
 The bowling alley English prisoners tout 
 
 we brought in to Mainz. Most had suffered neglect and abuse before the signing of the 
 armistice although, since, they had been well treated in the Darmstadt hospital. All 
 were pretty pleased to get started home at last. We finished our evacuation about four 
 o'clock and then made a quick return as we had prepared for a Christmas Banquet 
 in one of the cafes of the town. 
 
 This dinner was nearly as good as the Thanksgiving celebration in St. Avoid. 
 Our food, as before, was excellent. Place cards, drawn by Mechanic Andy, proved to be 
 clever and well appreciated hits on the boys- Less effort was made in the line of after- 
 dinner speeches than before, but we succeeded in launching an organization to promote 
 continued relationship after our return which we hope may be fruitful of result. Irving 
 B. Snader was selected as President, Robert W. Bodfish as Secretary-Treasurer, and an 
 executive committee was chosen, to consist of these two men with the addition of Jack 
 R. Swain, Grant R. Willard, and Lieutenant Leroy M. Smith. The writing and pub- 
 lishing of the section history by Robert W. Bodfish was also authorized at this meeting. 
 Plans for raising money to defray necessary expenses to be incurred in this work were 
 to be formulated and reported upon later. 
 
 On December 28th we made our second convoy. This time the route led us 
 through Wiesbaden, over hill after hill, much of the way along the edge of heavy for- 
 ests, to Limburg. The roads, very good in dry weather, were covered with a slushy coat- 
 ing of snow that made 
 them very difficult and 
 dangerous to travel. We 
 were held at Limburg it- 
 self through a delay in 
 informing the authorities 
 of our arrival. The Eng- 
 lish prisoners put them- 
 selves out to be hospit- 
 able in this extra time. 
 We were fed and warm- 
 ed in a manner that help- 
 ed out considerably on a 
 cold day. 
 
 Sickinger's 
 Darkness set in soon after we started back and the lack of adequate lights made 
 the going difficult. It seemed only our luck again that prevented an accident with the 
 
 [72] 
 
light cars- As it was, we became lost several times, much to the surprise of the "good 
 Germans" who were dismayed at Americans in that part of Germany, particularly at 
 night. 
 
 On the next day we had our third convoy, one of our best. Under the direc- 
 tion of a Swiss Major we went into Frankfort for some American prisoners whom we 
 were to take to Mannheim. It was but a quick run to Frankfort from Mainz. The city 
 was in the neutral zone and seemed to have kept its prosperity despite the German de- 
 feat. Frankfort was said to be the Socialist stronghold of Germany, but we found no 
 visible trace of any unusual agitation or disturbance. Political sign boards were in evi- 
 dence in the outer portions of the city, appealing for obedience to law. They seemed to 
 have had the desired effect. 
 
 After passing the French outpost on the edge of town we pulled up in front of 
 a hotel in the great square by the railroad station. We were immediately the center of 
 a crowd of curious Germans, with all nature of information to volunteer, particularly 
 about the lack of bread in the city. Whether they lacked bread or not, they seemed 
 to have plenty of other things and were not starved looking. 
 
 The American prisoners were dressed in all manner of makeshift costumes 
 which they had had to pick up in place of their own. Their treatment appeared to have 
 been like that of princes in comparison with that of the British we had carried. There 
 had undoubtedly been a great awakening by the Germans in the last few months, as 
 the end was made certain, and the need of a spokesman for them clear. Several of the 
 prisoners had been ambulance drivers, two being from S. S. U- 502. Their stories of 
 choosing the wrong road or of being cut off within the German lines were easily appre- 
 ciated. 
 
 From Frankfort we made a good run to Mannheim. It was through an exceed- 
 ingly pretty country and, it being Sunday and a pleasant day, we found the younger 
 
 German cannon in the yard at Mains 
 
 [73] 
 
nkmal auf dem Niederwald 
 
 The Monument at Bingen 
 
 before. We were a curiosity which it was difficult 
 for the Germans to understand. We undoubtedly 
 caused comment, though, outwardly, the "stoical" 
 enemy made no sign. 
 
 Giessen, itself, proved to be a town of fair 
 size, well stocked with German troops- We chanc- 
 ed to meet a German guard marching out in full 
 array, machine guns and all, as we entered, and 
 had a good opportunity to view the officer's ele- 
 gance and the soldier's habits at close range. The 
 convoy went through the town to a camp just out- 
 side where the prisoners were kept. It was 
 Frenchmen that we went for this time. Most of 
 the men were so weak and sick from lack of food 
 and the neglect of their wounds that they had to 
 be carried on stretchers. A few Russians loitered 
 pathetically about, literally men without a coun- 
 try. We were thankful to get out on the road 
 again, as the atmosphere of curious, gaping Ger- 
 mans, responsible for the evils we saw, yet shirk- 
 ers of that responsibility, was oppressive. Aside 
 from our frequent halting by guards, and Rorty's 
 endeavor to find an extra "foot" for his verse in a 
 cabbage patch, our return was practically with- 
 out incident. 
 
 generation of Germans in great evidence strolling 
 along the shady roadside, oblivious to Americans, 
 war, or almost everything else. We left Mann- 
 heim after dark, unfortunately, and so missed the 
 scenery between there and Mainz. Worms was 
 but a mass of shadows when we glided through, 
 and town after town meant only another land- 
 mark on the road. We made excellent time and 
 reached Mainz without incident a little after 
 eleven o'clock. 
 
 New Years came and went quietly, with- 
 out the celebration of the year before. Reports 
 were flying around about the demobilization of 
 our service. But there was nothing definite and 
 we dropped the matter that we might get all en- 
 joyment possible out of the present. 
 
 Our fourth convoy, and the one really the 
 most worth remembering, was that to the prison 
 camp at Giessen on January 3rd. Giessen marked 
 our farthest into Germany, and our convoy drove, 
 on a special pass, through the neutral zone, well 
 into the part of Germany still under the control 
 of the armed forces of the enemy. From Frank- 
 fort north, while we were in a new country, we 
 saw few sights different from those we had noted 
 
 [74] 
 
On January 8th a similar trip was made 
 to Wetzlar for more French prisoners. The 
 Wetzlar camp was not far from that at Giessen. 
 Here we found more Russians waiting for the 
 opportunity to go home. Some, one in particular 
 who could speak English, seemed rather friend- 
 ly to the Bolshevik Government and saw labor 
 opportunities could he but get home. Others were 
 not so favorably inclined. 
 
 The Wetzlar trip closed our immediate 
 work. True, we were still on duty with our cars 
 and nearly every day some car went on a short 
 run, usually about the city, but the convoy work 
 was practically over. The boys were now well 
 acquainted in town and killed the monotony as 
 best they could. Certain cafes received most of 
 the patronage and the section soon became more 
 than a name to some of the people of the city. 
 We shall never forget these folk, hiding well war 
 feelings of every sort in their behavior towards 
 us. From Sickinger's to the "Heiliger Geist" cafe 
 we knew our ground- 
 On January 16th the Lieutenant served a 
 birthday spread in one of the rooms of the bar- 
 a good haul rack. It was a good get-together which left the 
 
 boys in rare humor at the end. A few appeared a little too talkative, perhaps, but there 
 
 were no casualties. 
 
 On the 17th the section formally indorsed plans for raising money to print the 
 section history and selected such of the former members of the section as they care"d to 
 be kept informed of plans for reunions. 
 
 On the 19th we moved across the drill yard into another barrack that the French 
 might keep the housing facilities better grouped. Section 635 was on the floor above us 
 and we renewed our formed acquaintance with a few of the members whom we had 
 known in SandricouH. Section 625 was not far away in the little town of Bretzenheim, 
 and Section 649 was also 
 close by in Greisheim. 
 We took especial interest 
 in meeting the boys of 
 649 as we had met them 
 twice during our work 
 at the front, and as our 
 former Top Sergeant 
 was now their Com- 
 manding Officer. H i s 
 visits to us were not in- 
 frequent. 
 
 On January 21st, the 
 day after a second small 
 convoy to Giessen and 
 Wetzlar, five men from 
 
 The Prison Camp at Giessen 
 
 [75] 
 
the section bowled a similar number from 649. It was a close and lively match which it 
 gave us particular satisfaction to win by over forty pins. Sickinger's cafe, the scene 
 of this match and also most of our billard and bowling matches, was the rendezvous of 
 the indoor athletes nearly every afternoon and evening. Herr Sickinger proved to be 
 a most accommodating German and reserved his alleys for us during several nights of 
 the week, securing as well a large English billard table for our exclusive use. The 
 boys became quite proficient at bowling, pool, and billards during the winter. Several 
 English soldiers, stationed temporarily in Mainz with the transport corps, joined us as 
 long as they were in the city, and we had many close matches together. 
 
 We were really only marking time now, waiting for some new work or for 
 orders to leave for France again. Rumors regarding the early demobilization of our 
 service were persistently arising, and we felt very sure that the late spring would find 
 us in the United States. The system of permissions, which had been allowed to lapse 
 while we were in the Argonne, had been revived after the armistice and the permission- 
 aires were taking their customary turns. The arrival of Stender and Savage from a 
 visit at Nice and Mentone found us so hopeless for even a little excitement that we 
 seized with considerable enthusiasm upon a few reported misdemeanors committed by 
 the travellers and proceeded to hale "Jerry" into a mock court for refusing to purchase 
 a drink for a tired Y. M. C. A. entertainer. The defense was helpless before the un- 
 reasoning indignation of the section and not even the defendant's sterling qualities 
 were sufficient protection against the awarding of a fit sentence for the crime. 
 
 The fun enjoyed in this trial was so genuine that several of the boys made 
 rather more elaborate preparations for a second mock court, this time in an effort to 
 bring Jarvis Stender and Don Harris in as the principals. The dark days of Ottweiler, 
 when Stender had an "encounter" with Harris furnished a pretext, and the men were 
 called upon to appear. Bodfish acted as the attorney for Harris while Rorty defended 
 Stender. The feature of the trial, in the midst of many comical incidents, was the bring- 
 ing in of Stender's diary as evidence. The melting, pathetic, nature of the book, used 
 to demonstrate the earnest desire of Stender for friendship with Harris, was so vividly 
 used by Rorty that even the mouth of the supposed writer of the words was agape at 
 the reading. Of course, both men were included in a sentence suitable to the misdemeanor. 
 
 Not to be outdone by the legal lights the section's reportorial staff awoke from 
 a nine months slumber and the "Necturus", the old news sheet of the Lagney days, was 
 issued once more. Although it again had only a short life it served its purpose well. 
 
 The prospect of our being called into Paris soon put us in mind of our very 
 noticeable lack of even the rudiments of military drill- As the Lieutenant was more 
 than willing, we began drilling on the parade ground of the Caserne in the second 
 week of February. Another trip to Paris by the Lieutenant and the transfer of the 
 section's quarters to Bretzenheim, a village just outside of Mainz, prevented much train- 
 ing. We reecived enough, however, to overcome our rustiness, and found little difficulty 
 in our "Army" experience later on. 
 
 Situated as we were, away from the American Quartermaster, and being un- 
 able to secure all needed supplies from the French, we had for some time been making 
 trips to Coblenz to purchase from the Y. M. C. A. or Army Commissary, and secure 
 whatever things the Knights of Columbus or Red Cross would give us. One trip had 
 been to Metz, and the recent departure of the Lieutenant for Paris had been accom- 
 panied by the dispatch of two cars to Nancy for supplies. The trips to Coblenz were 
 the real treats, however, and before we left Germany nearly every man in the section 
 had an opportunity to go at least once with Mess Sergeant "Horn". These trips were 
 so delightful in good weather, and "Horn", with his skilful manipulations of the coun- 
 try folk as well as the officials in Coblenz, became such an institution connected with our 
 mess, that it seems quite permissible to describe one of these journeys. 
 
 "Horn" was an early riser on the days of his trips and the car invariably gov 
 
 [76] 
 
away by seven o'clock. The road from Mainz to Bingen lay back a little distance from 
 the Rhine, but there was always an occasional glimpse of the river whenever the hills 
 dropped to the rolling plain. At Bingen a stop was usually made for refreshments be- 
 fore the second and most delightful part of the trip was undertaken. 
 
 Bingen is a quiet little town with its quaint beauty enhanced by the majestic 
 river and the green, terraced gardens of the opposite bank. Standing high above the 
 right bank is the "National Denkmal" to commemorate the victorious rising of the Ger- 
 man people in 1870. It is a beautiful statue, even from a distance, and suggests, with 
 the surrounding scenery, a wish that the people might have kept the simple, national 
 feeling of that day and not transgressed the equally just realm of other patriots. 
 
 Close to the shore, scarcely a few minutes from Bingen, is the Mouse Tower, fa- 
 mous for its fable of the wicked bishop of Mainz and his starving people- The road fol- 
 lows the river closely for the entire distance. A railroad runs beside it which is crossed 
 many times along the route. Occasionally the road pierces a gigantic cliff which rises 
 too sharply from the water to warrant room for passage at its base. On either side of 
 the river there is little room for the road and railway as the hills and cliffs rise very 
 steeply. There are towns every few miles crowded against the hillside, usually in one 
 single street on the river bank. They are pleasant little villages but their sameness, de- 
 spite "Horn's" ready stories of incidents connected with their history, always made them 
 interest the driver little and threw his attention again to the heights above the river 
 where the ruins of the castles and forts of the olden time stood as grim sentinels of those 
 days when no boat might pass up the stream unchallanged by the barbarous guardians of 
 the Rhine. Such castles topped about every crag large enough to furnish a foundation, 
 and one can easily picture the days of delightful amity which the occupants must have 
 enjoyed with their neighbors, each holding only nominal obedience to a power greater 
 than his own might of arm. 
 
 The steep banks of the Rhine are really the edges of a high plateau in which the 
 river has cut its deep channel through the centuries. We could not distinguish the pla- 
 teau and found the ruins on the rugged heights even more picturesque than had we seen 
 the land behind them. We must not forget to mention the Loreley. This huge cliff car- 
 ries with it a legend nearly as famous as the Rhine itself. The dangerous undercurrent 
 at the base of the rock is still there but the Siren of the rock has passed into that myth- 
 ology where so many heroes and heroines of the past have vanished. 
 
 By ten o'clock the car was invariably on the edge of Coblenz. This was the cen- 
 ter for the American Army of Occupation, and we moved carefully lest the freedom toler- 
 ated at Mainz lead us into trouble with the American supervision of the city. Coblenz ap- 
 peared very beautiful and the troops here had every opportunity to enjoy the material 
 comforts which help to make life endurable- It was a delight to follow "Horn" about 
 as he humored an exasperating Y. M. C. A. secretary, thanked a kind Red Cross official, 
 or induced the authorities at the Army Commissary to sell him needed articles. 
 
 Early afternoon saw us on the return trip. The American flag floating majes- 
 tically over the Ehrenbreitstein, Germany's Rhine barrier, made a lasting picture as we 
 hummed back towards Mainz. Home before dark was usually our rule. 
 
 The transfer of the quarters of the section from Mainz to Bretzenheim altered 
 markedly our mode of living. Most of the men slept in two rooms of an unused school, 
 and the kitchen and cars were parked in an old yard in the rear. However, living here 
 was not compulsory, and quite a number of the men secured rooms in private houses about 
 the town. Rental of such rooms seemed very low, and the housewives were very atten- 
 tive and kind. The only orders were that the men be present at a nine o'clock rollcall. 
 They could do this easily and still spend their nights in Wiesbaden or Mainz as whim 
 might dictate. Such a situation believers in rigid army discipline might find it difficult 
 to condone. Yet, looking back, we saw in it a sensible solution of our necessarily monot- 
 onous life, a solution perhaps not possible for every unit, but assuredly very proper for us. 
 
 [77] 
 
The Moose Tower 
 
 Coolena 
 
 Th* Lortlty 
 
Our assignment to the Tenth Army had added a French clerk to our roster- 
 Our first clerk left us in Mainz, our second, Albert Mounaud, had become an accepted 
 member in good standing in all section activities before we moved to Bretzenheim. He 
 had been a law student before the war, and found it easy and natural to mix with the men. 
 
 On February 19th the Lieutenant returned from Paris, bringing two important 
 changes with him. The first was the appointment of Jack R. Swain as First Sergeant. 
 Swain had been doing the first sergeant's work for some time and with such unusual suc- 
 cess and lack of friction that every man welcomed his promotion. The second change 
 was the transfer of Cook Henry M. Martinson to Base Camp, from which he was to be 
 sent home immediately, and the appointment of Roger J. Williams as the new cook. 
 Marty was a married man and deserved to leave for home early. Williams was popular 
 anyway and did a good job in the kitchen. 
 
 On the 22nd Major Berle from the Service Headquarters inspected the section 
 and pronounced us to be in finer shape than any section he had visited so far. He was 
 then nearly through his route. 
 
 Section 644 arrived in our vicinity and Section 625 started for Base Camp 
 and demobolization at this time. We were not due to leave for a month yet but were "all 
 set" should we receive advance orders. 
 
 A circus in Mainz, attended by several, and a successful baseball game with 
 Park A of Mainz helped to keep life moving. We evacuated a hospital nearby to one at 
 Kreuznach, just to remind us of our official job. Really we were mighty impatient to start 
 for Paris and America 
 
 By the 14th of March Smith, Snader, and McGuire had definitely made up their 
 minds to transfer to the Demobilization Camp at St. Aignan, become discharged, and 
 enlist for six months work in Poland with the American Red Cross. Lieutenant Kendrick 
 of Section 649, and Lieutenant Butkiewicz of Section 523 were to go with them. Upon 
 the return of Lieutenant Smith who had once more been called to Paris on official busi- 
 ness, the Red Cross enthusiasts started for St. Aignan. Their departure marked the be- 
 ginning of the end. We were all to leave so soon that incidental delays became nearly 
 intolerable. The loss of these three men was remedied by Bodfish becoming clerk for 
 the remainder of our period of service, Willard completing the duties of the Mess Ser- 
 geant, and Burt taking McGuire's place as driver of the staff car. 
 
 There is only a little more to write concerning our life in Germany. On March 
 18th a small party, made up principally of the fellows not on any of the Coblenz trips, 
 took an excursion with the French on the Rhine as far as Boppard. It was a beautiful 
 day and the men enjoyed every moment of the voyage. The last few days of our stay in 
 Bretzenheim were marred by the attempt of the French Headquarters in Mainz to send 
 us to Paris by train, cars and all, rather than by road as we wished. Fortunately they 
 could not make up a train at the last moment and we were able to have our Mainz to 
 Paris convoy after all. We left Bretzenheim early on Tuesday morning, the 26th, and 
 said a permanent farewell to the Rhine, Germany, and our war activity, which had brought 
 us so much of hardship, yet also of happiness, during nearly two years life in Europe. 
 
 The first day's trip took us to St. Avoid. It was over country with which we 
 were somewhat familiar and we found little interest to obviate the discomfort which a 
 very rainy day offered. St. Avoid appeared much as we had left it four months before- 
 
 The 27th brought another early start. The day was again rainy and if we had 
 not been on our way through an historic region our disgust would have been complete. 
 We made a short stop just inside the wall at Metz, then passed through the famous bat- 
 tlefields of 1870 to the marks of the late war. The shelling on the district about Verdun 
 had levelled all signs of habitation. Villages were but rock quarries and forests, black- 
 ened, broken stumps. We ate our lunch in Verdun, thus permitting several of the section, 
 who had worked posts nearby in the volunteonne, where the fighting, though intense, had 
 They returned, amazed at the complete upheaval about Fort Douamont, so much more 
 
 [79] 
 
complete than any we had known in the Arger service, to visit their former surroundings, 
 not meant the destruction which prolonged bombardment had wrought here. Of course 
 we wandered about the town, battered and torn by years of shelling. It was but another 
 reminder of the price paid by France in her martyrdom. Again we saluted her. 
 
 The night we spent at St. Menehould, a town not far from Verdun, and familiar 
 to most of the section during the volunteer or Argonne days. The trip took us to the edge 
 of the Argonne and the previous fall came back vividly as we passed almost within sight 
 of Varennes. It was to be an easy jog to Reims and we were able to put in a good sleep 
 in an old hospital in St. Menehould where we were quartered for the night. 
 
 A drizzle early on Friday slackened later in the morning and we had quite good 
 weather. "Hap" Ahlers had the rear end of his car break soon after leaving. The re- 
 sulting efforts to keep him and several men w ith flat tires in touch with the convoy confus- 
 ed us to such an extent that the cars were separated, the two sections waiting for each 
 other on the outskirts of Reims, while Mark Kerr chose a route of his own, his absence 
 causing us considerable anxiety since roads and towns were not the best of landmarks 
 about the city. The main convoy had had to make several changes in direction while 
 en route, on one occasion having considerable difficulty in turning about in the middle of 
 the old No Man's Land, a barren waste, where the roads ran across yet unfilled trenches- 
 
 We were fortunate in reaching the nearly untouched section of the city first, as a 
 sort of introduction to the worst mutilation which most of us had ever seen. For quar- 
 ters we were assigned to a French barrack just outside the city and on heights command- 
 ing a good view of the country. Of course the Caserne, of which this barrack was a part, 
 had been partially destroyed. There was little, scarcely anything, connected with Reims, 
 which had not suffered. 
 
 A rainy night even could not prevent many of the boys from exploring the city. 
 Harris came very near serious harm when he stumbled over some barbed wire in the 
 darkness and opened a deep cut on his hand. It required careful work by his companions 
 and the help of a French medical assistant, next door, to set things right again. Don was 
 pale for some time from loss of blood. 
 
 We lay over in Reims for a full day as a rest for the men and an opportunity 
 to check up on the cars. Saturday afternoon and evening saw every man, unless already 
 satiated with ruins, wandering about the city. 
 
 Reims was the worst specimen of war's destructiveness most of us had seen. 
 This city of nearly one hundred and fifty thousand people, the center of a flourishing 
 countryside, itself the home of factories and prosperous shops and stores, had been bat- 
 tered to a pulp. Street after street, home after home, was only a mere suggestion of 
 what it had been. From the famous Cathedral, the first target of the German cannon, 
 to the outskirts of the city, every building seemed to have been struck. Great mill chim- 
 neys were broken away, machinery was twisted and ruined, walls lay flat, or stood mu- 
 tilated in a vain attempt to mark a house or a store. Some buildings escaped, with but 
 chipped walls to recall the bombardment. These had been considerably utilized as homes 
 and stores by the intrepid folk who were returning to rebuild the city. These sights 
 stirred us even more than did that of the Cathedral, beautiful even under its wounds, 
 as they told the gigantic task which confronted those determined to bring forth from all 
 this debris a new Re ,- ms, as proud and majestic as of old. 
 
 During Sunday, March 30th, we made the trip from Reims to Meaux- It took 
 us through Chateau Thierry, the scene of America's great effort in the German Drive of 
 the previous yea>% and along the edge of the Marne battlefield. At Meaux we had our 
 simple supper served in style in a restaurant as a change from the menu "a la mess kit". 
 We found Section 644 and Section 649 close by, also on their way to Paris and Base Camp. 
 
 Monday noon we drew up at the curb just outside the Porte Pantin in Paris 
 The Lieutenant, who had gone ahead into the city for orders, reappeared quite promptly 
 and we crowded up to hear the latest verdict. The first item was that we were to be rush- 
 
 [81] 
 
The Beims Cathedral 
 
Stopping in Verdun 
 
 ed into Base Camp the next day and hurried to 
 Brest in order to sail by April 5th. Then came an 
 official citation from the 82nd Division for our work 
 with them in the Argonne. Lastly there was a 
 French citation for the Lieutenant, accompanied by 
 a Croix de Guerre. At these announcements our 
 spirits rose as never before. We pulled around the 
 edge of the city into a park for the night, as jubil- 
 ant as could be. 
 
 The men were granted passes until eleven 
 o'clock next morning. We shipped our baggage 
 home through the American Express Company, paid 
 a last farewell to old friends, visited the Opera and 
 other institutions of memory. Before eleven o'clock 
 the men were at the park, ready to set out. Everett 
 H. Smith, Leo F. McGuire, Irving B. Snader, and 
 Robert W. Bryerly, old section members, now pri- 
 vate citizens of the world, were on hand to see us off. 
 We rather suspect that the first three would have 
 gladly forsworn Poland and gone on with us. 
 
 It was only a half afternoon's run to Ferrieres, 
 the Base Camp of the Service. Mess time found us, 
 minus our cars, full fledged soldiers again, started 
 on the last lap towards demobilization. 
 
 [S3] 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 DEMOBILIZATION 
 
 UR chronicle of the section must end officially with the arrival at 
 Base Camp. Our work as we had known it was over and we be- 
 came simply a demobilization unit, a part of the Army, the distinc- 
 tions which we had enjoyed gone. The S. S. U. was dropped and 
 we remained Section 647. Several of the men were transferred 
 to the Casual Squad for discharge at St. Aignan, and Titchener 
 left for an extended permission to visit relatives in England. Thir- 
 teen new men were assigned to us for discharge. Most of them were 
 from Park A in Mainz and had been acquaintances before this 
 time. We found them quite congenial and enjoyed the friendship with them. 
 
 The Base Camp of the Service had been moved from Sandricourt, where we 
 had helped carry it on in the winter of 1917, to Ferrieres soon after we reached Neuf- 
 chateau. It was used as a center for the construction of sections and the disposal of 
 casuals. At this time its work consisted almost wholly of the preparation of the sec- 
 tions of the service for shipment to Base Ports, and then to the United States. 
 
 Plans seemed to point to our immediate departure. We were paid. Our cars 
 were given up, and we assumed our share of the routine work of the camp, guard, kit- 
 chen police, or special duty. On Thursday, April 3rd, we passed through the inspecting and 
 delousing routine, and were assigned a barrack in the Quarantine Area. Titchener, 
 Putnam, Stender, Gaynor, McEnness, and G rover Taylor left us for parts unknown. The 
 boys marched to and from the general mess in Army formation, assumed packs as part of 
 life's burden, and tried to keep cheerful. One contingent of sections had left the Camp 
 soon after we arrived. We expected to follow them to Brest. Our papers were made 
 out according to the Brest regulations, and the eleven sections which were to make up 
 our contingent were organized with Lieutenant Smith as the Commanding Officer. We 
 were ready. 
 
 Just what occurred between this moment and our actual departure, to change 
 our destination from Brest to Saint Nazaire has always been a mystery. It is said that 
 
 The Quarantine Camp at Ferrit 
 
 1 84] 
 
there were rumors of a 
 little difficulty and de- 
 lay encountered by the 
 last contingent at Brest 
 which led the authorities 
 to send us to the less used 
 port. Whatever the rea- 
 son for this transfer we 
 certainly paid the price 
 of someone's error. 
 
 There were two post- 
 ponements of our depart- 
 ure before we left, at last, 
 on Tuesday, April 8th. 
 We were en route from 
 Our billet in Le Douet l a t e forenoon until eight 
 
 o'clock the next afternoon. It was a tiresome ride but one which we did not at all object 
 to, as our spirits were then of the best. On arrival at Nantes we left the boxcars and 
 hiked for some miles outside the city to a little town, Le Douet, Loire Inferriere, where 
 we were ordered to wait until arrangements were completed for our transportation. The 
 various sections were billeted in the lofts over stables or the attic rooms of houses about 
 the town. Part of our section was assigned to the Town Hall which we shared with 
 Section 534- Aided by straw ticks we made ourselves quite comfortable on the floor. 534 
 was of about the same type as our own section and we got along "famously" with them. 
 All of the sections ate at a general mess close by these quarters. We were not particu- 
 larly proud of our menu which varied little day after day. We excuse those in authority, 
 however, as it was probably the best they could do for us. 
 
 It was not a difficult matter for us to become settled, or to seek out a varia- 
 tion from the prescribed routine. We had guard as before and sanitary detail, which fell 
 
 ' Inspection ' 
 
 [85] 
 
■ 
 
 Three little chums at Lc Douet 
 
 The Farewell 
 
 "Forward! March!" 
 
to us on the days, apparently, that some inspection or other was not called for. Each 
 day the section was supposed to drill with packs in the morning and hike without packs 
 in the afternoon. We could not revolt much against this program since it was the cus- 
 tomary thing with all army units. Yet it seemed a pity for us to have to be initiated into 
 the mysteries of army regulation after going through the war so free from other than 
 very necessary detail. There were several clothing and equipment inspections by officers 
 from the Area Headquarters at Nantes. On one occasion we were reviewed, along with 
 a base hospital, by General Pershing. He complimented the Contingent Commandant 
 upon the large number of decorations won by the men- It is said that he ordered the Area 
 Commander to hurry us to Saint Nazaire as soon as possible. This order must have been 
 misinterpreted somewhere as we did not leave right away. The General addressed us 
 after the review and admonished us as to our behavior and comment to the people in 
 America when we arrived. He told of the many good things which were to be said of the 
 American Expeditionary Forces. It was a long march back to our billet and a longer 
 wait before the General's reported order was fulfilled. 
 
 We had been so optimistic over our speedy shipment to Saint Nazaire that we 
 had paid little attention to sources of amusement. The continued delay soon dissipated 
 our courage and we turned aside to the first opportunity at hand for a change. A cafe 
 next door furnished a lounging room for the afternoons when not at work, and for the 
 long evenings. There was a billard table on which the boys brushed up the skill dor- 
 mant since Mainz. The village folk were very pleasant and made a great deal of the 
 men. We, in turn, carried on a thriving business at the cafe, not confining our trade 
 to the articles popularly purchased but buying our meals there on the not infrequent 
 days when our mess was scarcely palatable. In the evenings it was quite the usual thing 
 for the boys to join the neighbors in games or other recreation. This neighborhood 
 entertainment is a custom in the little towns of France which has appealed to all types 
 of American soldiers when billeted among the people. It is a good promoter of under- 
 standing between them. 
 
 Within the Nantes Area there were troops of many organizations concentrated 
 for overseas transportation. In and about the city there were, consequently, numerous 
 places of amusement conducted by the Y. M. C. A-, and Knights of Columbus. We got 
 into the habit, easily, of attending the basket ball games and entertainments found 
 there. Nearly every week some travelling A. E. F. company would put on its show for 
 the benefit of the Nantes troops. These companies were ordinarily made up of clever per- 
 formers and we thoroughly enjoyed the performances. There were, of course, always 
 moving pictures to see. Even these were a relief after the listlessness at Le Douet. 
 
 The few days, ever lengthened, became weeks as we waited for the order which 
 was to take us to Saint Nazaire. The papers of the contingent were remade. Back rec- 
 ords, never used or lost, were hunted up, or invented, and everyone did his utmost to 
 follow the instructions sent from the Headquarters in Nantes which always seemed to 
 ask something unheard of from us. The officers of the contingent seemed completely at 
 ea over the new requirements. We, naturally, were exasperated at the delay and saw 
 very little good in anything that was done, or in anyone that did the doing. We about 
 gave up the idea of ever leaving until the Area was absolutely cleared of troops. The 
 order to move came as an unbelievable surprise on May 15th. We marched to the rail- 
 road station at Nantes and were again marshalled into box cars on the 16th. On reach- 
 ing Saint Nazaire we were marched up to Camp Number 2 for the night- Early on the 
 morning of the 17th we were inspected, our equipment was passed upon and we were 
 again deloused. All this was done in such an expeditious manner that we marched to 
 the dock and were on board ship before dark. No comparison is more staggering than 
 that of the efficiency at Saint Nazaire with the methods employed at other centers where 
 we have been. We were disgusted enough at the delays before we reached Saint Nazaire. 
 Once there, we found only methods to praise. 
 
 [87] 
 
rJ 
 
 En route for St. Nazairc 
 Delousing at Camp Dix Wet Weather. On shipboard 
 
The troop ship to which we were assigned was the U. S. S. Mallory, an old coast- 
 wise vessel refitted for use as a troop ship. The ship was none too large for oversea 
 travel but it was kept quite clean, which fact more than made amends for the tossing 
 which was given by the ocean. The ship left port early on the morning of May 18th. 
 It was within sight of the French shore by six o'clock and we crowded the rails for a last 
 farewell to France. Under other conditions we might have felt sad but we had waited 
 too long for this moment to come for there to be any sadness to blight our joy at going 
 home. 
 
 It was not long after the shore disappeared from sight that the boys began to 
 stagger to the rail, and then reel down two steep flights of stairs to the hold where they 
 flopped on to the bunks for the rest of the day, some, for the rest of the trip nearly. By 
 the end of the first three days most of the men, although perhaps not as chipper as usual, 
 were up and about, making the best of a hard lot. 
 
 The bunks were simply canvas covers on iron bars, making the task of keeping 
 the hold clean and sanitary not a particularly difficult one. Mess was served, theoretic- 
 ally, in certain groups three times a day. Really most of the day was spent lining up for 
 mess and mess kit washing. The mess lines doubled and redoubled about the ship- The 
 food was quite good and, had it not been for the odor of the ship and kitchen, and the 
 tossing of the boat, we might have enjoyed our meals. As it was, the only really enjoy- 
 able place was on deck. On pleasant days nearly every man could be found there. On 
 stormy days the waves broke over the deck and kept us below. On very rare occasions 
 we were allowed the promenade deck but, ordinarily, that was forbidden and we could 
 only choose between being drenched to the skin on the forward or after decks, or being 
 semi-sick below. 
 
 A small ship's library kept us supplied with some reading matter, and a Y. M. 
 C. A. man presumed to watch out for us. Every evening, blood curdling moving pictures 
 were shown on a flickering screen on the after deck. On the Saturday before we docked 
 there were contests and boxing matches on deck to help pass the time away. Pie 
 eaters plastered themselves copiously with mince meat, and coin hunters came out covered 
 with flour and eggs. 
 
 The smallness of the ship and the heavy sea delayed us a little so that we did 
 not reach New York until Wednesday afternoon. It was a beautiful day, in many senses, 
 the most beautiful day we had yet known. After the inspection by the port officials we 
 moved slowly up the bay, greeted everywhere by the welcoming whistle of boats of all 
 description as well as by cheers from the shore. The Mayor's Committee of Welcome for 
 the City of New York steamed out to meet us, bringing friends and relatives of many of 
 the men on board. Their band played and our little band did its best in reply. The nec- 
 essary slow process in docking accomplished, we pushed and crowded our way over the 
 gang plank on to the dock where we lined up as sections for a rollcall, and then ran over 
 to where the Red Cross, Y M. C. A., and Salvation Army were giving out coffee, sand- 
 wiches, and pie, as well as chocolate and other candy. Everywhere that we turned it 
 seemed as if someone pushed some sort of fruit or candy into our hands. 
 
 The contingent, except for LaFleur, who had been taken sick on the last day 
 and was sent to a hospital, went by ferry to the Pennsylvania Station in Jersey City. 
 There we were again waited upon by kind ladies with fruit and coffee. A train, for 
 which we waited impatiently, carried us to Camp Dix, New Jersey, where we marched 
 into the demobilization camp and were assigned our barracks at about two o'clock Thurs- 
 day morning, the 29th. 
 
 There is no particular need for a pause concerning the week's stay at the de- 
 mobilization camp. We were deloused again, soon after our arrival, and were then 
 marched to other quarters to wait until our turn came to be discharged. On Tuesday 
 most of us were passed physically for discharge and were checked up on our papers. 
 All of the men who were to be discharged at Camp Dix were out of the army by June 5th. 
 
 [89] 
 
"Rome of the boys 
 
 Crowded Deck as ship enters New York Harbor 
 
 Entering New York Harbor 
 
 [90 1 
 
Those who had enlisted in the United States and had to be sent to other camps for dis- 
 charge were free very soon after. 
 
 One of the features of our short life at Camp Dix was the visit of some of the 
 friends and relatives of the boys. Also, one of the section members, Rosen, who had 
 been detached from us before the armistice, by reason of illness, came for a final farewell. 
 
 It was fortunate that the section partially broke up in France and that the men 
 were not all discharged at one stroke in Camp Dix. Otherwise it might have been less 
 easy to say goodbye. As it was, it took every bit of the joy over being so near home 
 to tide over the parting. We had lived to-gether, worked together, and played together 
 for so long that we sincerely regretted that the pleasure of becoming civilians again had 
 to be accompanied by a loss, at least temporarily, of so many real friends. We hope that 
 this separation will not be permanent in any case. We hope that very many of the men 
 will be able to accept the invitations extended by every man to visit him if in the near 
 neighborhood of his home- We hope, also, that all of the men may meet again in a body 
 to renew the splendid acquaintances of the years in France. Yet, whether we ever meet 
 again or not, the memory of the past two years will always be kept bright, and the name 
 of 647 will be a reminder of good comrades and faithful friends. 
 
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 [91] 
 
To the Members of S. S. U. 647 : — 
 
 It has been with a sense of direct loss that I have 
 watched our section gradually disintegrate and the 
 men return to civil life. It is pleasant for you to re- 
 sume the various activities which appeal especially to 
 your interest, but it is a pity that we have to separate 
 when we become civilians. 
 
 I like to think of the last few weeks of disappoint- 
 ment as a dream and remember only our days of real 
 enjoyment, those days when we labored at the front, 
 those later days when we found so much of companion- 
 ship in Germany. 
 
 Our separation ought not to be permanent. The 
 sentiments of reunion we expressed in Germany must 
 not be permitted to die. I have not forgotten the in- 
 vitation which I contemplated on the other side and 
 I hope to see you at my home sometime in the future. 
 
 No man more deeply appreciates the honor of be- 
 ing a part of our section than I. I want every man 
 to know that I am deeply grateful for the unselfish 
 assistance each of you gave me. I trust that the com- 
 ing years may reward you with the greatest happi- 
 ness and prosperity. 
 
 Sincerely, 
 
 [»21 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 CITATIONS OF SECTION MEMBERS 
 
 CROIX de GUERRE 
 Le Sergent Jack B. Kendrick, SSU 647, rattache a la 102 Cie d' Ambulances : — 
 
 "A fait preuve d'une grande bravoure en dirigeant l'evacuation des Blesses sous 
 un violent bombardement d'obus de gros calibre et toxiques. S'est volontairement pro- 
 pose comme guide et a du etre evacue, ayant ete lui-meme intoxique." 
 G. Q. G., le 29 Mai, 1918. 
 
 Le General Passaga, Cdt. le 32 C. A. 
 
 DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS 
 
 PRIVATE 1 CL. LEO F. McGUIRE. 
 "Was on duty as driver of ambulance at the advanced post in the 26th Division- 
 al Area on April 19, 1918. During April 19th and 20th he made several trips to and 
 from a dressing station reached by an exposed road, in daylight, for the purpose of 
 bringing back wounded. On one of these trips the ambulance was blown from the road 
 by the explosion of a shell and he was knocked unconscious by the shock- An recovering 
 consciousness he returned on foot. Although suffering from an injury to the back and 
 not yet recovered from the shock, he wished to return to duty the afternoon of the same 
 day; but was not permitted to do so by the medical officer until the afternoon of the fol- 
 lowing day." 
 
 PRIVATE 1 CL. JACK R. SWAIN. 
 "Near Beaumont, France, on June 19th, 1918, he went to the rescue of wounded 
 men, who were exposed to shell fire as the result of an accident to their ambulance, and 
 being only able to approach within three hundred yards of the wrecked car, he took a 
 stretcher and crawled along a ditch on the side of the road, thus succeeding in this mis- 
 sion. He then recovered the body of the third man who had been killed in the accident." 
 
 PRIVATE 1st CLASS TOD F. GILLETT (deceased), S. S. U. 647. 
 
 "On June 19, 1918, near Beaumont, France, he volunteered with his ambulance, 
 under heavy bombardment, to bring wounded men to a place of safety. While returning 
 from this perilous trip, he was killed by a shell." 
 
 PRIVATE 1st CLASS MARK E. KERR. 
 For extraordinary heroism in action near Fleville and St. Juvin, France, 11, 13 Oct. 18- 
 "After thirty-six hours of continuous driving over heavily shelled roads, Private 
 Kerr upon his own initiative was the first to establish liaison with an advanced dressing 
 station which had been isolated by the explosion of a tank trap. To do this he lifted his 
 car across the mine crater with the aid of some infantrymen and for eight hours there- 
 after drove his ambulance through a heavy bombardment of high explosive and gas shells 
 between the mine crater and the dressing station. During this period his car was pierc- 
 ed repeatedly by shell fragments, two of his patients receiving additional wounds. Two 
 days later when the infantry made a further advance his car was again the first to es- 
 tablish liaison with an advanced dressing station on the outskirts of St. Juvin." 
 
 PRIVATE 1st CLASS HENRY L. SIGNOR 
 For extraordinary heroism in action near Sommerance, France, 11 October, 1918. 
 
 "Following the advance of the infantry, Private Signor caused his car to be 
 
 [08] 
 
lifted across a mine crater by some infantrymen, and proceeding for three kilometres 
 down a road heavily bombarded with gas and high explosive shells, he evacuated wound- 
 ed from a culvert only four hundred yards from the enemy outposts. On the return ti ip 
 his car was struck by splinters from an exploding shell, which pierced the clothing of 
 his aide and caused fresh wounds to one of his patients. After transfering his wounded 
 across the crater to another car he succeeded in driving it over a road almost destroyed 
 by shell fire to a newly established dressing station in Sommerance. He continued to 
 operate his car for twelve hours until he was relieved, having at all times displayed 
 unhesitating courage and devotion to duty." 
 
 PRIVATE 1st CLASS CLIFFORD KIRKPATRICK. 
 For extraordinary heroism in action at Sommerance, France, 13 — 15 October, '18. 
 
 "While he was loading his ambulance at an advanced dressing station, Private 
 Kirkpatrick was struck in the back by a shell fragment and rendered unconscious. Upon 
 recovering he drove his car through heavy shell fire back to the field hospital and made 
 repeated trips until relieved- Two days later Private Kirkpatrick, arriving at a point on 
 the road near an advanced post saw a shell strike in the middle of an infantry detach- 
 ment moving up to the line. He stopped his car and despite continuous and intense shell- 
 ing loaded on three wounded soldiers, carried them back to the nearest aid station, re- 
 turned and continued the work of evacuation until relieved." 
 
 PRIVATE JAMES H. RORTY. 
 "Private Rorty was relieved from duty as a mechanic in order that he might 
 serve as aide on cars during the Argonne offensive. While engaged in evacuating wound- 
 ed from a culvert not far from enemy outposts fragments of shell pierced his clothing, 
 and, although suffering from shock, he repeatedly ran ahead in the dark to guide the 
 car over a road partly destroyed by shells and still under enemy machine-gun fire. Re- 
 turning with relief cars he again served as guide and as stretcher-bearer until the evacua- 
 tion was completed. 
 
 This letter was sent by the Chief of Service to the following men: — Samuel A. 
 Wilder, Allen H. Ahlers, Dirk J. Luykx, John B. Titchener, Eric A. Astlett, Robert W. 
 Bodfish, Arthur W. Burt, Stuart H. Fraser, Charles M. Bashore. 
 
 November 4, 1918. 
 FROM: Acting Chief, U S. A. Ambulance Service with the French Army. 
 TO: 
 SUBJECT: Commendation of personal bravery. 
 
 1. It has been brought to the attention of the Chief of Service that throughout 
 the period of very hard and dangerous work which Section 647 was called upon to per- 
 form during the month of October, you performed your work of rescuing the wounded 
 with such courage, devotion, and complete disregard of personal risk as to win the ad- 
 miration of the officers under whom you served. 
 
 2. Such conduct not only does honor to your section but brings increased re- 
 spect to the whole Ambulance Service of which you are a part. 
 
 A. Piatt Andrew, 
 Lieut. Colonel, U. S. A. A. S. 
 
 CITATIONS RECEIVED AFTER DISBANDING OF SECTION 
 
 PRIVATE 1st CLASS ERIC A. ASTLETT, S. S. U. 647 with French Army. 
 
 For distinguished and exceptional gallantry at Norroy, France, on 15 Sept-, 1918 
 in the operations of the American Expeditionary Forces, in testimony thereof and as an 
 
 [94] 
 
expression of appreciation of his valor, I award him this citation. 
 Awarded on 27 March 1919. 
 
 John J. Pershing, 
 Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 COMMENDATION ON THE APPEARANCE OF THE SECTION. 
 
 France, Feb. 28, 1919. 
 
 1. The following extract from the report of Major Charles K. Berle, M. C, 
 who recently inspected your section is quoted for your information : — 
 
 "The quarters of this section were very neatly kept, the men clean and having 
 a military appearance in every sense. The cars were clean and all capable of rolling, 
 short commutator parts. This was the best section inspected so far this trip." 
 
 2. The Chief of Service directs that you be informed of the pleasure it has 
 afforded him to read this report of the very excellent condition of your section. 
 
 By direction: — William McFarland, 
 
 Major Ambulance Service, U. S. A- 
 Executive Officer. 
 
 CITATIONS OF THE SECTION 
 
 HEADQUARTERS 26th DIVISION 
 American Expeditionary Forces 
 
 France, May 3, 1918. 
 General Order, No. 34 
 
 Early in the morning of April 20th 1918, the enemy launched a sudden and 
 vigorous attack on that part of our front occupied by the 102nd Infantry. Under the 
 protection of a smothering artillery firing shrapnel, gas, and high explosive shells speci- 
 ally trained storm troops supported by infantry greatly outnumbering our own made a 
 bold and determined attempt to gain a permanent foothold in that part of our sector. 
 
 The engagement lasted well into the 21st, when the enemy after a particularly 
 desperate struggle at close quarters was forced to retire without having attained his ob- 
 jective. 
 
 Under such circumstances it was but natural that we suffered some slight losses 
 and I feel deeply for the wives and mothers who will never again see their brave husbands 
 and sons who have died for the cause of liberty and freedom on the battlefields of France. 
 They may well be proud of soldiers like these ... To the great majority; — to those 
 who were more fortunate and who came through the attack unscathed and who are ready 
 and eager to show their spirit again, I desire to convey my congratulations on their suc- 
 cess in turning back the enemy, and my admiration for their splendid courage and brav- 
 ery. I wish to mention specially the valorous conduct of the following organizations 
 which took part in this engagement: — (among others) DETACHMENT SECTION 
 SANITAIRE UNIT NO. 647. 
 
 (Signed) C. R. Edwards, 
 Major General, Commanding. 
 
 The men named in this detachment by a letter from the commanding officer of 
 the 102nd Ambulance Company which whom we were attached were: — 
 Sgt- 1st Class Philip Klein Drivers: — McGuire, McEnness, Gaynor, 
 
 Sgt. Jack B. Kendrick Ahlers, Swain, Dunlap, McCrackin, Signor, 
 
 Corporal Carey Willard, Bodfish, Astlett, Wilder, Harris, 
 
 Mech. Risley, Anderson. Kirkpatrick, Soles, Gillett, Boatman, Tit- 
 
 chener, Putnam. 
 
 [95] 
 
HEADQUARTERS 82nd DIVISION 
 American E. F., France. 
 
 13 January, 1919. 
 General Orders, No. 1 
 
 1. The Commanding General announces to the Command the splendid conduct 
 of the following officers and soldiers in action against the enemy as described after their 
 respective names : 
 
 EXTRACT. 
 Service Sanitaire Unite No. 647 
 This entire outfit performed most efficient service under unusually trying con- 
 ditions during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, October 6 — 31, 1918. The individual mem- 
 bers of this unit in' the execution of their duty of evacuating wounded from battalion 
 aid stations to the dressing stations in the rear were continually under shell fire, how- 
 ever, displayed an utter lack of regard for their personal safety and a high state of 
 devotion to duty, which characterizes the best traditions of the American soldier. * * * 
 
 2. The Commanding General takes particular pride in announcing to the Com- 
 mand these fine examples of courage and self sacrifice. Such deeds are evidence of that 
 spirit of heroism which is innate in the highest type of the American soldier and responds 
 unfailingly to the call of duty, wherever or whenever it may come. 
 
 3- This order will be read to all organizations at the first formation after its 
 
 receipt. 
 
 OFFICIAL By Command of Major General Duncan : 
 
 R. I. Boyd, Gordon Johnston, 
 
 Major, A. G. D., Adjutant. Chief of Staff. 
 
 CASUALTIES 
 
 KILLED. 
 Private First Class Tod Ford Gillett, June 19, 1918, at Beaumont, France. 
 
 WOUNDED. 
 Sergeant Jack B. Kendrick, burned by gas, April 20, 1918, at Beaumont, France. 
 Mechanic Lou R. Risley, gassed, April 29, 1918, at Beaumont, France. 
 Private First Class Devereux G. Dunlap, gassed, April 20, at Beaumont, France. 
 Private First Class Clarence A. Gaynor, gassed, April 20, 1918, at Beaumont, France. 
 Private First Class Wallace McCrackin, gassed, April 20, 1918, at Beaumont, France. 
 Private First Class John J. McEnness, gassed, April 20, 1918, at Beaumont, France. 
 Private First Class Jack R. Swain, gassed, April 20, 1918, at Beaumont, France. 
 Private First Class Grant R. Willard, gassed, April 20, 1918, at Beaumont, France. 
 Private Clifford O. Soles, gassed, August 8, 1918, at Flirey, France. 
 Private Mike A. Shusko, gassed, August 8, 1918, at Flirey, France. 
 Private First Class Stuart H. Fraser, hit by eclat, October 14, 1918, at Pleinchamp 
 Farm, France. 
 
 [•%) 
 
ROSTER OF SECTION 647 
 
 Leroy M. Smith, First Lieutenant, Ehrhardt, South 
 Carolina. Enlisted April 21, 1917. Was in the U. S. A. 
 A. S. at Allentown. Became the Commanding Officer of 
 the Section on June 5, 1918. Awarded Croix de Guerre 
 and American Distinguished Service Cross. 
 
 Jack R. Swain, Sergeant First Class, 2818 Maple Ave- 
 nue, Dallas, Texas. Was in Section 21, Norton-Harjes 
 Ambulance Service. Enlisted October 4, 1917. Joined the 
 section November 8, 1917. Became First Sergeant, Feb- 
 ruary 19, 1919. Has been decorated with the American 
 Distinguished Service Cross. 
 
 Wallace McCrackin, Sergeant, Hamilton, Montana. 
 Was in Section 21, Norton-Harjes Ambulance Service. En- 
 listed October 4, 1917. Joined the section, November 8, 
 1917. 
 
 Henry M. Martinson, Cook, Vanville, North Dakota. 
 Enlisted September 18, 1917. Was with the 307th Sani- 
 tary Train. Officially assigned to the section, November 
 6, 1918. Had been with section since June, 1918. Left, to 
 return to U. S. A. on honorable discharge, February 19, 
 1919. 
 
 Roger J. Williams, Cook, Rusk, North Carolina. En- 
 listed February 22, 1918. Was in the Medical corps as a 
 Casual. Joined the section July 6, 1918. Became a cook 
 on February 19, 1919. 
 
 [97] 
 
Edmund G. E. Anderson, Mechanic, Woodstock, Con- 
 necticut. Was with the American Ambulance, Neuilly-sur- 
 Seine. Enlisted September 12, 1917. Joined the section 
 November 19, 1917. 
 
 Lou R. RiSLEY, Mechanic, 1200 Pierre Street, Man- 
 hattan, Kansas. Enlisted May 16, 1917. Was in the U. S. 
 A. A. S. at Allentown. Joined the section February 4, 
 1918. 
 
 Leo F. McGuire, Meclianic, Box 34, Tulsa, Oklahoma. 
 Was with Section 11, Norton-Harjes Ambulance Service. 
 Enlisted September 12, 1917. Joined the section November 
 8, 1917. Has been decorated with the Croix de Guerre in 
 the Volunteer Service, and the American Distinguished Ser- 
 vice Cross. Left the section in March for work with the 
 American Red Cross in Poland. 
 
 Everett H. Smith, Mechanic, Clerk, 8 West Rock 
 Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut. Was with the Ameri- 
 can Ambulance, Neuilly-sur-Seine. Enlisted September 8, 
 1917. Joined the section November 19, 1917. Left the 
 section in March for work with the American Red Cross 
 in Poland. 
 
 Allen H. Ahlers, Private First Class, 394 Second 
 Avenue, Saint Cloud, Minnesota. Was with Section 61, 
 Norton-Harjes Ambulance Service. Enlisted September 
 26, 1917. Joined the Section November 8, 1917. 
 
 [98] 
 
Eric A. ASTLETT, Private First Class, 117 Pearl Street, 
 New York City. Was with Section 61, Norton-Harjes Am- 
 bulance Service. Enlisted September 26, 1917. Joined 
 the section November 8, 1917. Received citation from Gen- 
 eral Pershing. 
 
 Robert W. Bodfish, Private First Class, Palmer, 
 Massachusetts. Was with the American Ambulance, Neu- 
 illy-sur-Seine. Enlisted September 8, 1917. Joined the 
 section November 19, 1917. Clerk of section from March, 
 1919. 
 
 Arthur W. Burt, Private First Class, Windsor Locks, 
 Connecticut. Was with the American Ambulance, Neuilly- 
 sur-Seine. Enlisted September 12, 1917. Joined the sec- 
 tion November 8, 1917. 
 
 DEVEREUX G. Dunlap, Private First Class, 3908 Gaston 
 Avenue, Dallas, Texas. Was with Section 21, Norton-Har- 
 jes Ambulance Service. Enlisted October 4, 1917. Joined 
 the section November 8, 1917. Received citation from 
 General Pershing. 
 
 Stuart H. Fraser, Private First Class, 609 West 158th 
 Street, New York City. Was with Section 21, Norton- 
 Harjes Ambulance Service. Enlisted September 26, 1917. 
 Joined the section November 8, 1917. 
 
 [99] 
 
n 1 
 
 Clarence A. Gaynor, Private First Class, 151 West 
 88th Street, New York City. Was with Section 7, Norton- 
 Harjes Ambulance Service. Enlisted October 3, 1917. 
 Joined the section on November 8, 1917. 
 
 R. Donnell Harris, Private First Class, 569 Fifth 
 Avenue, New York City. Was with Section 11, Norton- 
 Harjes Ambulance Service. Enlisted September 12, 1917. 
 Joined the section November 8, 1917. Has received the 
 Croix de Guerre in the Volunteer Service. 
 
 Albert LaFleur, Private First Class, 3 Hancock 
 Street, Worcester, Massachusetts. Enlisted June 11, 1917. 
 Was with the U. S. A. A. S. in Allentown. Joined the 
 section February 4, 1918. 
 
 Mark E. Kerr, Private First Class, Fellows, Cali- 
 fornia. Was with Section 21, Noiton-Harjes Ambulance 
 Service. Enlisted October 19, 1917. Joined the section 
 November 19, 1917. Has received the American Distin- 
 guished Service Cross. 
 
 Clifford Kirkpatrick, Private First Class, 856 Main 
 Street, North Leominster, Massachusetts. Was with the 
 American Ambulance, Neuilly-sur-Seine. Enlisted Sep- 
 tember 12, 1917. Joined the section November 19, 1917. 
 Has received the American Distinguished Service Cross. 
 
 [100] 
 
W^jjp «^- 
 
 Dirk J. Luykx, Private First Class, 362 Riverside 
 Drive, New York City. Enlisted October 12, 1917. Joined 
 the section November 8, 1917. 
 
 John J. McEnness, Private First Class, Newport, 
 Rhode Island. Was with Section 7, Norton-Harjes Ambul- 
 ance Service. Enlisted October 3, 1917. Joined the section 
 November 8, 1917. 
 
 William A. Putnam, Private First Class, 70 Willow 
 Street, Brooklyn, New York. Was with the American Am- 
 bulance, Neuilly-sur-Seine. Enlisted September 12, 1917. 
 Joined the section February 4, 1917. 
 
 Henry L. Signor, Private First Class, 15 LaGrange 
 Street, Worcester, Massachusetts. Was with the Ameri- 
 can Ambulance, Neuilly-sur-Seine. Enlisted September 8, 
 1917. Joined the section November 19, 1917. Has received 
 the American Distinguished Service Cross. 
 
 Irving B. Snader, Private First Class, 417 Golden Hill 
 Street, Bridgeport, Connecticut. Was with Section 11, 
 Norton-Harjes Ambulance Service. Enlisted September 12, 
 1917. Joined the section November 8, 1917. Has been 
 Acting Mess Sergeant. 
 
 [101] 
 
E2 
 
 Jarvis Stender, Private First Class, 1214 West 74th 
 Street, Auburn Park, Chicago, Illinois. Was with the 
 American Ambulance, Neuilly-sur-Seine. Was with the 
 American Red Cross, Section 24. Enlisted September 18. 
 Has received the Croix de Guerre in the Volunteer Service. 
 Re-enlisted with the American Red Cross after service with 
 the Army. 
 
 John H. Taylor, Private First Class, Mountain Lakes, 
 New Jersey. Was with Section 61, Norton-Harjes Ambul- 
 ance Service. Enlisted September 26, 1917. Joined the 
 section November 8, 1917. 
 
 John B. Titchener, Private First Class, 223 Thurston 
 Avenue, Ithaca, New York. Was with the American Am- 
 bulance, Neuilly-sur-Seine. Enlisted September 8, 1917. 
 Joined the section November 19, 1917. 
 
 Samuel A. Wilder, Private First Class, 28 Medford 
 Street, Springfield, Massachusetts. Was with the Ameri- 
 can Ambulance, Neuilly-sur-Seine. Enlisted September 8, 
 1917. Joined the section November 19, 1917. 
 
 Grant R. Willard, Private First Class, Mankato, Min- 
 nesota. Was with Section 61, Norton-Harjes Ambulance 
 Service. Enlisted September 26, 1917. Joined the section 
 November 8, 1917. 
 
 1021 
 
Charles M. Bashore, Private, Mifflintown, Pennsyl- 
 vania. Enlisted May 29, 1917. Was with the U. S. A. 
 A. S. at Allentown. Joined the section February 4, 1918. 
 
 James H. Rorty, Private, C/o Philip H. Rorty, Goshen, 
 New York. Enlisted June 9, 1917. Was with the U. S. A. 
 A. S. at Allentown. Joined the section February 4, 1918. 
 Has received the American Distinguished Service Cross. 
 
 Jeremiah J. Savage, Private, 1506 S. Ringgold Street, 
 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Enlisted May 28, 1917. Was 
 with the U. S. A. A. S. at Allentown. Joined the section 
 February 4, 1918. 
 
 Eston Snipes, Private, Monroe, North Carolina, R. F. 
 D. No. 1. Enlisted March 7, 1918. Had been a casual in 
 the Medical Corps. Joined the section July 6, 1918. 
 
 Clifford 0. Soles, Private, Woburn, Massachusetts. 
 Was with the American Field Service. Enlisted October 
 17, 1917. Joined the section November 24, 1917. 
 
 [103] 
 
ii ::SB= % 
 
 wf^'^^^M 
 
 
 ^*L 
 
 ^Bv £ j^^^^ 
 
 i : ' : -^- E: ^ B - u 
 
 GROVER TAYLOR, Private, Bridgeville, Delaware. En- 
 listed March 8, 1918. Had been a casual in the Medical 
 Corps. Joined the section July 6, 1918. 
 
 Lee A. Waldock, Private, South Hayes Avenue, San- 
 dusky, Ohio. Enlisted April 28, 1918. Had been a casual 
 in the Medical Corps. Joined the section July 6, 1918. 
 
 Thomas M. Woodell, Private, New York Laundry, 
 Jacksonville, Florida. Was with Section 60, Norton-Harjes 
 Ambulance Service. Enlisted October 20, 1917. Joined the 
 section November 8, 1917. Has received the French Croix 
 de Guerre in the Volunteer Service. Acted as section cook 
 until April 2, 1919. Reduced at his own request. 
 
 Jfcjf 
 
 ■j^ l*|v^v 
 
 - »^V\ 
 
 
 1 n ^i 
 
 ,* -:r 
 
 TRANSFERRED AFTER THE SECTION LEFT 
 THE FRONT. 
 
 JACK B. Kendrick, Second Lieutenant, Fairfax, Ver- 
 mont, formerly Sergeant First Class. Was with Section 11, 
 Norton-Harjes Ambulance Service. Enlisted September 
 12, 1917. With the section from November 8, 1917, to No- 
 vember 5, 1918. Received Croix de Guerre while with the 
 section. Became Commanding Officer of Section 649, U. S. 
 A. A. S., later, a Red Cross Officer for Service in Poland. 
 
 Robert W. Byerly, Sergeant, later reduced at his own 
 request, 141 Broadway, New York City. Was with Section 
 21, Norton-Harjes Ambulance Service. Enlisted October 4, 
 1917. Was with the section from November 8, 1917, to 
 November 25, 1918. 
 
 [104] 
 
Maurice S. Rosen, Private, 1300 Randolph Street, 
 N. W., Washington, D. C. Enlisted May 15, 1917. Was 
 with the U. S. A. A. S. in Allentown. Was with the sec- 
 tion from February 4, 1918, to November, 1918. 
 
 George S. Jackson, First Lieutenant, formerly Ser- 
 geant. Was with Section 11, Norton-Harjes Ambulance 
 Service. Enlisted September 12, 1917. Was with the sec- 
 tion from September 30, 1918, to November 21, 1918. Re- 
 ceived the Croix de Guerre in the Volunteer Service. 
 
 John B. Carey, Corporal, White Salmon, Washington. 
 Was with Section 21, Norton-Harjes Ambulance Service. 
 Enlisted October 4, 1917. Was with the section from 
 November 8, 1917, to December, 1918. 
 
 Raymond 0. Morton, Private, Winslow, Indiana, R. 
 F. D. 2. Enlisted March 29, 1918. Was a casual in Medical 
 Corps. Was with the section from July 6, 1918, to Novem- 
 ber 25, 1918. 
 
 Stanley J. Porchaska, Private First Class. Enlisted 
 October 18, 1917. Was with the section from November 5, 
 1918, to November 25, 1918. Had been a U. S. A. A. S. 
 casual. 
 
 [105] 
 
Mike A. Shusko, Private. Enlisted March 30, 1918 
 Was a casual in the Medical Corps. Was with the section 
 from July 6, 1918, to November 25, 1918. 
 
 Shela Womack, Private. Enlisted February 9, 1918. 
 Was a casual in the Medical Corps. Was with the section 
 from July 6, 1918, to November 25, 1918. 
 
 FORMER MEMBERS OF THE SECTION. 
 
 Tod Ford Gillett, Private First Class, Crescent Place, 
 Tampa, Florida. Was with Section 21, Norton-Harjes Am- 
 bulance Service. Enlisted October 4, 1917. Joined the sec- 
 tion November 8, 1917. Was killed while on duty with his 
 car at Beaumont, France, June 19, 1918. His parents are 
 the recipients of the American Distinguished Service Cross 
 awarded for his bravery. 
 
 Harry E. Anderson, Captain, formerly First Lieuten- 
 ant, the first Commanding Officer of the Section. Was the 
 former chef of Section 21, Norton-Harjes Ambulance Ser- 
 vice. Was with the section from November 12, 1917, to 
 June 5, 1918. 
 
 Philip Klein, First Lieutenant, formerly Sergeant 
 First Class. Was with Section 21, Norton-Harjes Ambul- 
 ance Service. Enlisted October 4, 1917. Was with the sec- 
 tion from November 8, 1917, to July 9, 1918. 
 
 [106] 
 
Edward W. Keever, Second Lieutenant, formerly Pri- 
 vate First Class, Centreville, Ohio. Enlisted October 4, 
 1917. Was with Section 21, Norton-Harjes Ambulance 
 Service. Was with the section from November 8, 1917, to 
 March 10, 1918. 
 
 Edward Browning, Private First Class. Enlisted 
 October 4, 1917. Was with Section 21, Norton-Harjes Am- 
 bulance Service. Was with the section from November 8, 
 1917, to November 30, 1917. 
 
 Lawrence Boatman, Cook. Enlisted May 15, 1917. 
 Was with the U. S. A. A. S. in Allentown. Was with the 
 section from November 19, 1918, to September 20, 1918. 
 
 Edward Durkin, Mechanic. Enlisted May 25, 1917. 
 Was with the section from November 8, 1917, to November 
 24, 1917. 
 
 Robert H. Wolf, Private. Enlisted October 11, 1917. 
 Was with the U. S. A. A. S. in Allentown. Was with the 
 section from November 19, 1917 to February 4, 1918. 
 
 [1071 
 
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