Month: June 2020

January, 1919

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“Geese…Chickens cackling…Bread wagon horn…Bell at gate…Soldiers cussing…Dog barking…Truck passing on highway…French people talking…Small French kid whistling…Creak of farmer’s wagon…Wooden shoes on hard ground…Cattle mooing…Rooster crooning…Chain on well…Wheelbarrow squeaking.” Ed Sayles of Abilene wrote about French country living while stationed near Flogny, France after the Armistice. As a lieutenant, he commanded the 37mm Gun platoon during the fighting. Captain Sayles was now a company commander in the 142nd Infantry.

The 142nd Infantry Regiment and the rest of the 36th Infantry Division was quartered with two other divisions at the Sixteenth Training Area in the Département of Yonne in northeastern France. The 142nd Infantry Headquarters Company and Medical Detachment were located in the town of Flogny. 1st Battalion Headquarters and Companies A and B were billeted in Percey. Companies C and D were located at La Chapelle-Vieille-Forêt. 2nd Battalion Headquarters and Companies E and F were in Carisey. Companies G and H were billeted in Villiers-Vineux. 3rd Battalion Headquarters, the Machine Gun Company and Companies I, K, and L were located in Lignières. The Supply Company and Company M were billeted at Marolles-sous-Lignières.

Winter sets in

The men of the 36th Infantry Division were beginning a long residence in eastern France in the winter of 1918-1919. Before they began their 130-mile march from the front, the 36th received about 3,600 replacement soldiers. Most of the replacements were in good health and in good spirits. However, the long march did take a toll on the men’s feet. Boots wore out for greenhorn and veteran alike. Many of the men had essentially nothing to walk in by the time they reached their living quarters, so they stayed indoors until new boots arrived.

As it was also winter, some of the new men were beginning to get sick. Close living arrangements with what amounted to a bunch of strangers was toughest on the replacements. The unit hospitals began to fill up. It was around this time that the global influenza pandemic once again reached the 36th Division. It had hit the 36th Division when it was stationed near Bar-sur-Aube in September 1918. Fifteen men from the 142nd died in the hospital that fall from influenza or the pneumonia that came after it. Five men from the 142nd died in hospital in the winter of 1919.

POWs

Ten men from the 142nd Infantry were missing in action in the fighting of October 8-28. In fact, these men were Prisoners of War in Germany. About 2,450 American soldiers, marines and airmen were POWs in Germany. There were also U.S. sailors and merchant marines, making the total 4,120 held captive. When the Armistice was signed, Germany agreed to the immediate release of Allied POWs. (Read more about the American POW experience here.)

The way home from POW camps in Germany was sometimes chaotic and improvised. Most American soldiers, marines and airmen were transferred through Switzerland to France by the International Committee of the Red Cross. American sailors and merchant marines traveled by sea to England. Therefore in early 1919 ten came back to the 142nd, including Privates John Martin and Joseph Krepps and Sergeant Norman Duff of Company A. They had been captured in Saint Étienne on October 8. Also returned was Private Buster L. Stinson of Company C, captured during a daylight patrol on the wrong side of the Aisne on October 21, 1918.

Soldiers playing basketball at YMCA hut in Chaumont, France

Basketball

As much as the 36th Division enjoyed football, it was now basketball season. The division had 68 basketball teams spread across their encampment. In all the competition across the division, no one could beat the top five players in the 142nd Infantry Regiment. The 142nd All-Star team ended up winning the 36th Division crown and went on to beat their neighbors, the 80th Infantry Division. However at the I Corps championships, the 36th Division team lost to the 78th Infantry Division team, 20-28.

“Wouldn’t care if I never went home”

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As 1918 faded into 1919, American commanders were aware of a problem in France. With the fighting over, more than two million American servicemen suddenly had some free time. Although Germany had signed an Armistice on November 11th, it would be a long time before American troops would reach home. There were two reasons why Doughboys would remain in Europe a while longer.

Firstly, a peace treaty was only now being negotiated in Paris. President Woodrow Wilson arrived in France on December 13 to lead the American delegation to the Paris Peace Conference. The Conference itself did not get underway until January 18, 1919. It was a lengthy process. But until a peace treaty was signed, the war was not yet over. American soldiers had to remain in France as a guarantee that Germany would accept the terms of the Conference.

Secondly, there just weren’t enough ships. It had taken eighteen months to bring the American Expeditionary Forces to Europe. Even with a negotiated peace, it would take months to bring them home. Until that time, AEF commander John J. Pershing and his staff would have to keep the men busy making peace instead of war. That task would require all their ingenuity.

O.K. gets a pass

The first tactic in keeping the men occupied was the generous use of leave policy. The AEF was aided in France by nearly thirteen thousand welfare volunteers during World War One. These volunteers came from the United States with organizations such as the American Red Cross, the Knights of Columbus, the Salvation Army and most notably the YMCA. These and other organizations had outposts in the field, sometimes even in areas under German shellfire. After the Armistice, they organized local centers for sports and social events near the troops. They also organized rest areas for American soldiers on leave.

Twelve months after his last leave, Regimental Sergeant Major O.K. Farrell got a ten-day pass. The destination was the Côte d’Azur: Cannes, Nice and Monaco. It was by far his best time in France. He wrote many postcards home to his family and to his girlfriend, Gladys Loper. He toured the sights including Monaco and Menton and even across the Italian border.

Even more than the French Riviera, Paris was a popular destination for soldiers on leave. American servicemen managed to tour England, Ireland, Italy and even Greece during their service in the AEF.

O.K. Farrell is third from left
O.K. Farrell on left, Monte Carlo
O.K. Farrell’s ten-day pass.

T-patchers

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Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1918, saw the first troops of the 36th Infantry Division arrive at their new home. The 16th Training Area in the Departement of Yonne was centered in the town of Tonnerre. There was no fort or army base, just towns and villages, a railroad, and a highway. The American Expeditionary Forces had organized twenty-one training areas behind its front line in the Meuse-Argonne area. Before and after deployment at the front, the AEF stationed its Infantry divisions in a training area nearby.

The training area around Tonnerre was a lot like the other twenty training areas. It was mostly rural, with villages separated by lots of farmland, and with very little for a soldier to do. However, when the 36th Division first arrived at the Sixteenth Training Area, there was much to do. Accommodations were subpar and winter was about to come. The whole division was put to work improving or building from scratch the basic necessities of army camp living.

O.K. Farrell’s billet, office and, um, Best Girl in Flogny-la-Chapelle

Return of the Engineers

Joining the 36th Division at this time was its engineer regiment, the 111th Engineers. The 111th had just earned an enviable record as the I Corps Engineer unit, working nonstop in the only two large American offensive operations of the war. They had been in harm’s way for over sixty days, nearly three times as long as the rest of the 36th division. During that time, they’d been bombed, shelled, strafed by German planes and shot at by German machine gunners.

During combat the 111th Engineers followed closely behind front-line troops to build and repair roads for ammunition, ambulances and supplies to reach the front. In the constant rain and mud of France in autumn, it was backbreaking work. Since the Armistice on November 11th, the 111th Engineers had been marching from the front line to rejoin its division. (Read more about the 111th Engineers here and here.)

U.S. Army Engineers in France, 1918

Unfortunately for the Engineers, their first order of duty was to repair all the local roads. The wet fall season meant roads were rutted and flooded. The engineers spread across the Sixteenth Training Area to restore the roads which brought food and supplies to the division. The onset of winter did not help matters, and soon infantrymen were detailed to go help the engineers. As the season wore on, the engineers opened some rock quarries for paving the roads. Soldiers of the 36th spent time away from their normal duties breaking rocks for building roads.

Home Improvement

Men of the 142nd Infantry were quartered in and around the town of Flogny-la-Chapelle. Facilities available to the soldiers varied a great deal. Living arrangements in Flogny itself were considered “excellent” by AEF standards. But some accommodations nearby were “possibly the worst found during the stay of the American Expeditionary Forces”. Although the Sixteenth Training Area had been in use since the previous spring, facilities were incomplete or missing. There were not enough beds or bathing facilities. Latrines were primitive. Sanitation was a problem. In addition, cooking facilities were outdoors and unsheltered.

Before the 36th division could fully move in, they had to make a home for themselves. Beds were moved off the ground or floor. Mess halls were built. Moreover, kitchens were enclosed or moved into buildings. Sanitation was improved and latrines were built. Most importantly, the soldiers’ beds were separated from each other using curtains or wood panels. These measures reduced the spread of disease.

Arrowhead Patch in WWI configuration

Arrowheads

Around this time the AEF command ordered each division in France to submit a design for shoulder insignia. In the fifteen months of its existence, the 36th Infantry Division was known as the Panther Division, the Lone Star Division, the Tex-oma Division, and others. “Arrowhead” was probably the least associated name, but by December 1918 the Arrowhead insignia was submitted to AEF headquarters.

The design was a light blue knapped flint arrowhead, representing Oklahoma. Inside the arrowhead was a tan capital “T” for Texas. Native Americans in the 36th didn’t like to wear it because the arrowhead pointed downward, a symbol for defeat in their culture. Nevertheless, the “T-patch” has represented the 36th for one hundred years and counting.

Otho Farrell’s T-patch from WWI

Football comes to the AEF

In December 1918, the Southwesterners were able to spare a little time, at long last, to football. A lot of football was played back in Texas at Camp Bowie. Some road trips were organized for games at other army camps in Texas during 1917-1918. For example, with around two million U.S. servicemen now in France, the opportunities for gridiron action seemed endless. Some games within and between large units were quickly scheduled, and by the end of the month the 36th divisional team was headed to the First Army championships. That game was played in Tonnerre on New Year’s Eve, 1918. The 36th Division eleven won First Army by beating the 80th Division 20-0.

On January 19, 1919, an unofficial game near Paris pitted the 36th Division against Services of Supply-Saint Nazaire football teams. This was considered the match of the two best lines in the AEF. SOS-Saint Nazaire beat the 36th Division 12-0, but football in the AEF was far from over.

The Long March

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Fighting in Europe ended on November 11, 1918 with the signing of an Armistice between Allied and German armies. The Armistice did not end World War I, but it stopped the fighting until a peace agreement could be negotiated. In the meantime, Germany would lose its airplanes, capital ships and heavy weapons. A large part of Germany was about to be occupied by British, French, Belgian, and American troops. The years-long naval blockade of Germany was to continue until the peace treaty was signed.

Sergeant Major Otho Farrell had come through the war unharmed. He worked in the Headquarters of the 142nd Infantry Regiment, but that was no guarantee of safety. The Headquarters followed the fighting men at a reasonable distance. But the HQ was always in reach of German artillery. For example, on two occasions, October 7th and 22nd, German shells found the Headquarters area, resulting in fatalities.

Many of Otho Farrell’s army friends were from his hometown of Amarillo. Most of them were members of the 142nd Infantry’s Company G. This was the company that was first over the top in the first day of fighting, October 8th. Otho was an original member of the Seventh Texas Infantry, Company A, from which Company G was formed. This company lost many men and several friends died in the fighting.

Company D, 144th Infantry Regiment

More training

The 142nd Infantry remained in Louppy-le-Petit for seven days after learning the Armistice was signed. Training for the men continued, practice in attacking machine gun nests, scouting, patrolling and riflery. Soldiers of the 36th Division trained for war, but now that the fighting was over the training became an annoyance. On November 16th the 36th Division was transferred from the Second Army back to the First Army, with orders to withdraw from the front to the 16th Training Area around the town of Tonnerre, France.

The move to Tonnerre was greeted with enthusiasm by the men of the 36th, if for no other reason than that it was closer to home. The other Texas – Oklahoma division, the 90th Infantry, was selected to occupy part of Germany. It was an honor for the ‘Tough ‘Ombres’ of the 90th to be selected, and their résumé of seventy-five days under fire justified it. However, the men of the 36th Division were just as happy they were not wintering in Germany.

Marching orders

Just after two weeks’ stay in Louppy-le-Petit, the 142nd Infantry was on the march again. On November 18th, the regiment reached Brillon-en-Barrois, about thirteen miles away. The next night, they were in Allichamps, another eighteen miles. On November 20th, the 142nd marched to Dommartin-le-Franc, twelve miles. The next night, they were in Blumeray, eight miles. On the 22nd they marched to Arrentières, which was located in the division’s home of seven weeks, the 13th Training Area. Consequently, soldiers from the 36th Division took the night off to look up their French hosts from the previous summer.

That evening, tables were spread with what food was available and wine for a reunion. However, it was a bittersweet occasion, as French friends and neighbors asked about many soldiers only to be told that they had been killed in the war. Otho Farrell wrote home that “the people sure were glad to see us…tried some fine French cooking”. Many of the men in the 36th Division were treated to the same.

On the road again

The next morning the 142nd was on the road again, marching to Champignol-lez-Mondeville, another thirteen miles. On November 24th, they reached Grancey-sur-Ource, about fourteen miles away. Here they stayed an extra day and rested. On the 26th the 142nd reached Ricey-Haut, another fourteen miles.

The 16th Training Area was located between Paris and Dijon in the French countryside. The 36th Division were now very close. Hard marching had worn out the men’s boots, however the men were keeping up. On November 27th, the 142nd Infantry stayed in Chesley after a fourteen-mile march. On the 28th, Thanksgiving Day, the regiment began to arrive at their new home, Flogny-la-Chapelle. In ten days of marching, the 142nd Infantry had covered 130 miles.