Tag: 36th Infantry Division

O.K. After the War

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

Otho Farrell likely returned to Amarillo on June 18, 1919; the same day as most of the men of Potter County’s Company G. He had a couple months’ back pay and his sixty-dollar bonus in his pocket. Fortunately for O.K. Farrell, he could return to his old job at the Santa Fe Railroad. When he enlisted, he had been a stenographer in the Superintendent’s office at the Amarillo branch headquarters.

O. K. Farrell on right, 1919

Sooner rather than later, Otho would see his family in Waynoka, OK. His parents and two sisters lived in this small town, over two hundred miles from Amarillo. They had not seen him in over a year. That summer, on July 19, Waynoka had a banquet for its Great War veterans. Otho’s family very much wanted him to make the trip to attend. However Otho seemed ambivalent about attending. Like many veterans, he had experienced life in the military and was now ready to move on. Anyway, the program for that banquet has been kept, so it’s likely he did go.

Victory Medal

In 1920 the War Department began issuing the Victory Medal. The medal was authorized in April 1919 and everyone in uniform from April 1917 to November 1918 was eligible to wear it. 4,412,533 men and women served in the armed forces during this time. However only about half this number served overseas. The Army began issuing their version of the Victory Medal in June 1920. Most soldiers had already left the Army by that time. To get one, a veteran had to fill out an application and have it endorsed by a serving officer before mailing it to the Army. Two and a half million Victory Medals were distributed. Soldiers of the 36th Infantry Division were entitled to wear the “Meuse-Argonne” and “Defensive Sector” battle clasps. (Read more about the battle clasps here)

World War I Victory Medal as worn by the 36th Infantry Division

A courtship

Meanwhile, what about Gladys Loper, that girl Otho wrote home to? During the time Otho was in the army, Gladys graduated high school and attended teacher’s college. She had grown up. Both Otho and Gladys realized that, despite frequent letter-writing, they did not know each other well. A proper courtship, carried over 213 miles’ distance, was begun. It took some time before Otho felt secure enough in his new job at the Treasurer’s office at Santa Fe. But in December 1920, Otho and Gladys were married.

The couple made their home in Amarillo, where they were active at the First Baptist Church. Otho served there as a deacon. He was also a member of the American Legion and its honor society, the “40-and-8s”. Otho served as Chef de Gare (Post President) of the Amarillo chapter of the 40-and-8s and kept up with his Company G buddies for the rest of his life.

Otho and Gladys (left) on their honeymoon in San Francisco, December 1920

Working at the railroad

Otho’s organizational skills, good humor, and hard work characterized him at Santa Fe as it did in the army. In his long career at Santa Fe, he was promoted paymaster and cashier on his way to the top. O.K. Farrell became treasurer and secretary of the executive board at the Amarillo branch in 1962. He had started at the railroad in 1914 as a message boy.

As a Santa Fe executive, he was able to ride the rails for free anywhere in North America. Santa Fe had a club car that executives could attach to its trains so they could travel in extreme comfort. The Farrells used this perk from time to time, but Otho was known for keeping careful watch on expenses. For example, it appears that after Otho returned to Hoboken, NJ with the 142nd Infantry in 1919, he never left the United States again.

He was OK with that.

It’s over, over there

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

Back in the United States after almost one year, men of the 142nd infantry rested for a week at Camp Merritt in New Jersey. All of them would rather have been home instead of on the outskirts of New York. But it was significant as it was the last time the regiment was together. Although most of the soldiers of the 142nd were Texans or Oklahomans, a number from other states had been transferred to it. These men would not be making the journey southwest with the regiment. So, soldiers began to make their farewells during the first week of June at Camp Merritt.

Back in the Southwest

On June 8th, 1919, the 142nd Infantry Regiment entrained at Camp Merritt at 10 a.m. heading west. That night, they reached Cincinnati. The next night they had reached Springfield, Missouri. On June 11, the 142nd was in Enid, Oklahoma, where they marched through the streets to wild acclaim. Family members of soldiers were in the crowd, leaning in to get their first glimpse of a son, a brother, a husband. It was possible for these men to briefly reunite with family and friends, but the train had miles to go.

142nd Infantry in Enid, OK June 11 1919

The next day, the train stopped in El Reno, Oklahoma City, and Chickasha. Each time, the whole regiment got off the train, looking sharp, and carried their rifles in formation down the main street. They were among the first Oklahoma servicemen to return from the Great War. The greeting they received was tumultuous, but all the soldiers really wanted to do was get home fast.

Camp Bowie

On June 13, the train finally stopped in Fort Worth, which the 142nd had last seen eleven months before. Experienced veterans stepped off the train at the place they had once been green recruits. Once again they marched through the main thoroughfares, but happily returned to the train to get to Camp Bowie. Camp Bowie had been converted to a Demobilization Center in late 1918. Soldiers from overseas had been processing through it since February 1919; so the crowd along the parade route on that day in June was not as boisterous.

Members of the 36th Infantry on parade, June 1919

That is not to say that Texas was not happy to see its warriors come home. However, they were all coming home at the same time. Along with the other units of the 36th Infantry Division, the 90th “Alamo” Division was returning to Texas as well. Camp Bowie was a nest of activity as staff directed units to their tents and soldiers began the process of demobilizing out of the Army.

Demobilization

The process could take a few days, especially now that Camp Bowie was crowded. The 142nd found itself encamped in the area where the 61st Artillery Brigade was located back in 1917. Many, if not all of them, walked over to the area which had been their home at Camp Bowie for ten months. Soldiers turned in their rifles and all their equipment, keeping only their uniforms, shoes, gas mask, and helmet. There was a physical for all the men at the camp hospital. Then soldiers got in line to see the paymaster. Each one received his back pay plus a sixty-dollar bonus awarded to all soldiers returning from France.

142nd Infantry Regiment Band at Camp Bowie, 1917

Soldiers also received a travel allowance that paid for transportation to the location of their enlistment. Train tickets were sold right there in camp. There was an office of the US Employment Bureau for soldiers who wanted to apply for a job. The government also offered one last chance to purchase life or disability insurance before the men left the service.

“Farewell”

The men received their discharge paper from the Army. The moment had arrived; they were no longer working for Uncle Sam. “Oh boy, ain’t it a grand and glorious feeling” one ex-soldier exclaimed after he came out of the last barracks with his discharge. Friends and comrades who’d been through every stage of life in the service together now had to say goodbye. There was a train to catch or family waiting at the camp gate. Time did not allow for all that might have been said. But what they did communicate to each other in those few heady moments said it all.

On June 17, 1919, the 142nd Infantry Regiment stood down.

On June 18th, its parent organization, the 36th Infantry Division, was demobilized.

In the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles Palace, the Treaty of Versailles was signed by Germany on June 28th, ending the European war. The collapse of the Russian, German and Austrian Empires sparked fighting in Eastern Europe for two more years. Because of some of its provisions, especially the one establishing the League of Nations, the United States Senate did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles. A state of war existed between the United States and Germany until August 25, 1921.

The last American soldier left occupied Germany on January 24, 1923.

Remembrance

Ten years after the Armistice of November 11, 1918, the Llano Estacado chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution unveiled a memorial in Amarillo. It was dedicated to “The Panhandle Boys”, young men who went to war in 1917, some of whom would never get to grow old. A local department store published a tribute that day in the Amarillo Daily News,

“The rancors of the struggle have vanished long ago. With our generation will die the distant recollections of undersea destroyers, Liberty Loan parades and ghostly troopships fading down the misty reaches of New York Bay. But the memory of the lad who marched into the east on those long ago mornings shall ever remain sacred in our hearts and those of our children and our children’s children.”

“But westward, look, the land is bright”

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

Two weeks after they had moved to Le Mans, the 36th Infantry Division began to move to port. Soldiers of the 142nd Infantry Regiment, quartered just outside Le Mans in and around the town of Savigné l’Évêque, boarded American trains on May 17, 1919. The American boxcars were much larger than the French 40-and-8s (40 Hommes/8 Chevaux). The rail journey took the men overnight to their port of embarkation, Brest.

Brest was the port of embarkation for the entire division. The rest camp at Pontanézen was uphill from the old port town. It was remembered negatively by those soldiers who had passed through it about nine months before. For example, it was primitive and the men had to sleep in a cow pasture. Returning in 1919, the 36th found it much enlarged and improved.

Au revoir

The 142nd Infantry barely got to know Pontanézen as they spent about twenty-four hours in it. They arrived on May 18 at 2 p.m. and, after the ritual delousing exercise, spent the night. By 4 p.m. the next day the whole regiment was on the dock at Brest, waiting to board ship. Most of the regiment boarded the old Navy cruiser, USS Pueblo. The 3rd Battalion boarded the British troopship, RMS Saxonia.

Pueblo and Saxonia left port that day, May 19. It was a bittersweet moment for the men of the 142nd Infantry. Buried in the old battlefield were nearly 200 of their comrades. In addition, the regiment had experienced the rigors of combat and the stresses of post-war deployment far from home. A number of the officers had requested reassignment to Germany in the Army of Occupation. Further, some officers were reassigned from the 36th Division to other Army units in France. These officers had a choice whether to stay or go home, but many stayed. However, only a small number of enlisted men from the 36th Division re-upped for more duty in Europe with the Army.

USS Pueblo

“All engines stop!”

The next day, May 20, the Pueblo was steaming homeward. The sun was out, and many men were on deck relaxing. A rogue wave crashed over the bow, sending men across the deck grasping parts of the ship. There were several injuries. Then two men were seen in the water. Life rings were thrown out to them. The Pueblo stopped. Sailors quickly lowered the lifeboats and rowed out to where the men were last seen. Subsequently they returned with the body of Corporal Harry S. Hovey, of E Company. After searching in rough seas for nearly an hour, the lifeboats returned to the Pueblo.

A roll call of everyone aboard ship revealed that Private Joseph C. Strong of Clarendon, Texas was missing, now lost at sea. Rough seas continued for much of the journey. As a result, hatches remained closed and the men were not allowed on deck until May 25th. The sea becalmed, a memorial service was held on deck on the 25th for Corporal Hovey and Private Strong.

On deck of the USS Pueblo

The Golden Door

By May 30, soldiers on deck of the Pueblo could see a difference in the sky before them. Birds flew overhead; the air smelled different. At dawn on May 31st, USS Pueblo approached New York Harbor. As they sailed past the Statue of Liberty and into the Hudson River, a small craft came alongside with a banner that read “OKLAHOMA”. Congressmen Jim McClintic and E. B. Howard, both of Oklahoma, were on board. McClintic greeted the crowd gathered on deck through a megaphone, “we are darn glad you are here and we will give you a big blowout in Oklahoma City.”

The Pueblo reached Hoboken and docked at 9:15 a.m. on May 31st. The RMS Saxonia had docked there on May 30. After ten and a half months, soldiers of the 142nd were on American soil once more. Most of the 36th Infantry Division disembarked at Hoboken, New Jersey. However, the 143rd Infantry Regiment entered the United States at Newport News, Virginia.

Soldiers at Hoboken, NJ

Once ashore, the 142nd Infantry were transported by ferry up the Hudson River to Alpine Landing and had to march five miles to Camp Merritt, NJ. Greeting them there at Camp Merritt was a long line for the “decootieizer”, the bane of every soldier’s existence. The war against lice finally over, the men of the 142nd Infantry marched to the mess hall and then to bed on their first night back in America.

The 36th gets packing

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

News of the 36th Division’s embarkment order raced through the Sixteenth Training Area in early April 1919. Soldiers of the 36th did not expect to be sent home until July or August. That they were going home this early was completely unexpected. There had even been rumors in the division that they would have to serve a tour of duty in Germany in the Army of Occupation.

All worries of months of extra duty, now that the fighting was over, were swept away by the thought of finally going home. The 36th Infantry Division arrived in France at the end of July 1918. Three and a half months later, the fighting stopped. The division had just entered combat, with twenty-three days in harm’s way when the Armistice was signed on November 11th. Since that time the nearly twenty thousand men of the 36th were stationed in northeast France, waiting. Now the wait was near an end.

Packing for home

The remaining weeks at the Sixteenth Training Area were a blur of activity. Equipment had to be returned to the Army. Bills had to be paid at local businesses. Soldiers were already sending home exotic items such as German helmets, knives, and medals (firearms and ammunition were harder to smuggle). Most of all, there were inspections: Uniforms, personal gear, and the men themselves were inspected thoroughly as the 36th prepared to depart.

The first team from division headquarters left Tonnerre on April 26th for Le Mans, site of the American Embarkation Center. Returning troops stayed in or near Le Mans to undergo inspections and wait for their ship. From Le Mans troops would travel by train to one of three French ports for transport home.

Get the boys home!

That the 36th Infantry Division was going home in May and not months later was the result of an incredible effort of the US Government. America wanted its soldiers home, and elected officials heard about little else from their constituents since the Armistice was signed. The result was a speedier process of transporting the massive American force in Europe. More ships joined the transport fleet. More docking space was added to French ports. In addition, larger American trains were sent over to help the French rail system.

Company F, 111th Engineers in Le Mans in 1919

The 36th Division, when it departed the Sixteenth Training Area, entrained at Tonnerre, Flogny, Tanlay, Ervy and Jeungny. It took sixteen trainloads to move the division. On May 2, 1919, the first troops left the Sixteenth Training Area in the familiar 40-and-8 (40 Hommes et 8 Chevaux) boxcars. This time, Regimental Sergeant Major O.K. Farrell was not among them; NCOs rode in coaches. The thirty-hour trip took them across central France to Le Mans. Soldiers in the 142nd Infantry Regiment detrained in Champagné, a town just east of Le Mans. From there they marched to Savigné-l’Évêque, about five miles to the north.

Life at the Embarkation Center

By May 5th, the 142nd Infantry Regiment reassembled in Savigné-l’Évêque. While there, they learned about the AEF war against lice. Before embarking for America, everyone and everything had to be deloused. The Army set up delousing stations all across the American Embarkation Center; and there were more at each of the ports. Every soldier had to give up all his worldly goods to be sent through a large steel tank. Inside the tank the items were subjected to steam and delousing chemicals. While this was happening, the men were led through a bathhouse where they washed. Clean soldiers emerged to receive their freshly steamed (and still damp) clothes.

Letter from O.K. Farrell to Gladys Loper, 1919

Life in the Embarkation Center was among the less enjoyable tasks for Americans serving overseas. This was because it was filled with record checking and health exams, inspections, and long lines for everything. The freedom of the men to move about and explore was very limited. No one wanted to fall afoul of the AEC staff and possibly delay their passage home. Above all, going home was the mission of these men. One soldier on the 142nd wrote his family, “Believe me, it is good to think about getting back home and among friends, for the people here are strange to me, and when I get back to the states I will take myself back to Rosston faster than the Germans took themselves back to Hun-land when once they started.”

“Yes, we’re still here”

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

“When Old Sol’s face does not appear/ Sometimes for most a half a year/

Go right on and grin and bear it/ When you’re home you can narrate/

How you adore, Old. Sunny. France.”

Private Barney Stacy, of Headquarters Company, 142nd Infantry wrote about conditions in northeast France while stationed near Flogny-la-Chapelle. His poem, “Old Sunny France” appeared in the April 4, 1919 edition of The Arrow Head. Now in their fifth month at the Sixteenth Training Area, men of the 36th Infantry Division were anxious to get home. The climate was not agreeable to the Southwesterners. In addition, the French were ready to get on with their peacetime lives. American soldiers frequently heard “pas comprend” (don’t understand) to routine requests they knew were understood by the French. Another thing that irked the Americans was that the price of things like bread, wine and cognac were higher for them. To top it off, the 78th Division, neighbors to the 36th, had just received orders to go home and were packing.

Letter from O.K. Farrell to Gladys Loper

“Play Ball”

“Now that the spring of the year is almost in flower, the thoughts of young dough-boys turn to the one and only sport – baseball.” The Arrow Head, April 4, 1919

After the loss to the 89th Division in the American Expeditionary Forces Football championships, baseball promised to lift the men’s spirits. The number of baseball teams across the division outnumbered all other sports teams combined. For example, the 142nd Infantry Regiment had 70 teams. The gridiron laid out at Tonnerre was expertly repurposed into a diamond by two landscapers in the division, and a schedule was drawn up.

Not to be left out, the 36th Division as a whole had an All-Star team that was ready for the best in the AEF. Its players came from semi-pro leagues and collegiate programs from the Southwest and boasted a pitcher from the Chicago White Sox organization. The team was managed by Lieutenant Eddy Palmer, formerly of the Texas League, who also played second base.

Although many divisions had already shipped out of France by springtime, the 36th Arrow Heads did play the 6th Infantry Division in Tonnerre on April 16th, 1919 and won, 3-1. More changes in the AEF meant an end to Arrow Heads baseball after just one game, but the team had promise. (More about baseball in the AEF is found here.)

Know the drill

Another avenue to healthy competition in the AEF was in military skills. This was the Army, after all. Turning skills such as military drill, marksmanship, horsemanship, and maneuver into a sport did increase the participation of the soldiers. As a result, men of the 36th entered the arena with gusto. Company A, 142nd Infantry Regiment won the Close-Quarter Drill competition at the I Corps Military Tournament in Tonnerre. 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment advanced to First Army Tournament in the Battalion Maneuver competition and came in second. Private Carl S. Kennedy of the 141st Infantry Regiment placed 10th in the entire AEF in marksmanship with his rifle. A two-man team from the 111th Engineer Regiment took first prize for horsemanship in wagon driving at First Army.

Baseball team of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division in Germany, 1919

Literally old school

The most effective program in the AEF for soldiers waiting to go home was the schools program. It seems unbelievable today, but enlisted Americans in Europe attended Oxford University and the Sorbonne. Classes were established at nearly every level of command. For example, vocational skills such as welding and boilermaking were offered. Languages, literature and history were also popular subjects. Soldiers, sailors and marines attended at campuses from Ireland to Italy. With the added incentive of less work detail for students, schools in the AEF did a great deal to engage the men overseas. Schools also prepared them for the future at home as civilians.

A surprise visit

The most memorable event for men of the 36th Division was on April 9, 1919. The entire division assembled in a field in Melisey with field gear and shiny bayonets to be inspected by General Pershing. The Commander-in-Chief, AEF and his staff gave a characteristically thorough inspection, lasting several hours. A number of the men received their Distinguished Service Cross that day. In addition, the flags of the individual units were festooned with campaign ribbons by the general. The whole event took five hours.

General Pershing decorating a soldier of the 36th Division with the Distinguished Service Cross

While many of the men remembered the April chill and the rain of that afternoon in France, their time was worth the trouble. As with every division inspected, news came down from AEF Headquarters the next day that the 36th Division was to turn in their gear. They had orders to report to Le Mans for embarkation to the United States. The Arrow Heads were going home.

The Game

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

Although the first Super Bowl was played in January 1967, sports historians consider the 1919 AEF Football Championship as rightfully the first national championship game. And it was played in Paris!

American Expeditionary Forces commander John J. Pershing was facing a morale problem at the end of 1918. Germany had signed an Armistice, which had stopped the fighting. But the war was not over. Between the November 11, 1918 Armistice and a formal peace treaty was months of diplomatic back-and-forth between the Allies and Germany. Mostly, it was a back-and-forth among the Allies over which victorious nation would receive what concessions from the defeated nations.

As the peace process went on and the cease-fire was extended month after month, General Pershing knew he had to keep the Americans in Europe busy. What he and his staff envisioned was a schedule of sports and military competitions to keep the men engaged and healthy. The Federal Government pledged one million dollars to a program of recreation and sports for Americans serving in Europe.

The Government’s million-dollar bet paid off. The citizen soldiers of the AEF were better accustomed to sports than military pursuits. When war made such sacrifices necessary, American men made them. Now the fighting was over, their interest in military matters waned. Soldiers and Marines enthusiastically switched gears and took up athletics. In the 36th Division, there were fifty-two football teams spread across the 16th Training Area.

Panthers football

The first AEF football season revealed the 36th Infantry Division All-Star team hard to beat. They won every game but the unofficial championships versus Services of Supply-Saint Nazaire. A second, longer season immediately got underway. Captain Wilmot Whitney, who’d played while a student at Harvard, coached the team. In addition Capt. Whitney was also on the field as quarterback. Captain Walter Birge, formerly of the University of Texas Longhorns, was another coach in the 36th All Stars.  This wealth of gridiron talent was common throughout teams in the AEF in 1919.

In the second season, the 36th Division beat its neighbors in the Sixteenth Training Area, the 78th and 80th Divisions to win I Corps. They then defeated the First Army Headquarters team, 3-0. It took the 36th two games to beat the 29th Division (the first game was tied, 0-0). The First Army Championship game was played on March 1 in Bar-sur-Aube in the 13th Training Area, previously the home of the 36th Division. In the rematch with the 29th Infantry, the Panthers won 3-0 to claim First Army.

Bar-sur-Aube in 1919

Road to Victory

Fresh off their victory for the First Army crown, the 36th eleven found themselves in the AEF playoffs. At the quarterfinals, they faced S.O.S.-Le Mans at the Auteuil Velodrome, where the 36th Division won 13-0. On March 21, 1919, the semi-finals pitched the 36th Division against the Second Army champs, the 7th Infantry Division. A mass of 25,000 soldiers gathered at Bar-sur-Aube to view the semi-finals, overwhelming the town of four thousand. King Albert and Queen Elizabeth of Belgium were there. General Pershing was there, and of course the generals commanding First Army and Second Army.

The March weather was raw and drizzly. The two teams duked it out in the mud, taking penalties and picking up fumbles. The game went into the fourth quarter with no score. A late play in 7th Division territory yielded the lone touchdown for the 36th, who kicked for the extra point. The huge crowd, including eight thousand Arrowheads, rushed the field in celebration. Also joining the two teams on the muddy field were their Royal Highnesses, who paused to have their picture taken with the gladiators in green. Crowned heads were treated to a little American cheek while waiting for the photographer to take the picture: a voice called out from the enlisted throng, “Hurry up, kid, it’s cold out here.” Another called out, “I want to go home.” An icy stare from their Commander-in-Chief, Pershing, brought the crowd to order.

The Game

Parc des Princes, a velodrome in Paris, was the site of the first superbowl. Opposing the 36th was the 89th Division, Third Army champions with a perfect record. Nearly four thousand Arrowheads arrived in Paris on March 29, 1919 on leave, and a few thousand without leave, for the game. Generals, a Navy admiral, politicians, and a surprising number of French citizens were also present. In addition, twelve hundred soldiers from the 89th arrived by special train from Germany, where the division was stationed.

Once again in the cold and mud, the titans of the AEF battled for the championship. The 36th Division team dominated in the first half, exploiting a fumble and scoring in the first quarter. Arrowheads in the crowd went wild with an on-field celebration. In the second half, the 89th regained their composure and scored two touchdowns. The Third Army champs won the AEF, 14-6. In conclusion, General Pershing told the two teams, “You have carried out the letter and the spirit of the plan adopted to promote clean sports.”

The Arrow Head

Peter Larsen3 Comments

As winter wore on in northeast France in 1919, men of the 36th Infantry Division prepared themselves for a long stay. As soon as the Armistice was signed, rumors traveled among the 2,057,675 uniformed Americans in Europe about when they were going home. Rumor was about all the average American had to go on because there was no pattern when it came to the units first sent home.

The men of the 36th Division were told by their commander that they would be among the last divisions sent home, though that did not turn out to be true. Soldiers then expected that they would board ship for the States sometime in July 1919. American troops occupying western Germany would have to stay even longer.

Even though the 36th Division felt resigned to a long residence in France, movement was happening across the American Expeditionary Forces in 1919. This was evident when 115 men returned to the 36th that winter from the 81st Division. They and nearly 2,000 other Arrowheads had been assigned to other divisions such as the 42nd, 90th and 81st in September 1918 during the St. Mihiel and Argonne Offensives.

Tale of the 61st

In February 1919, the 61st Artillery Brigade got its orders to pack for home. The 61st was part of the 36th Infantry Division but was separated from it in August 1918 when the division arrived in France. The 61st Artillery Brigade was formed at Camp Bowie in September 1917 from Texas and Oklahoma National Guard units. This included the 1st Texas Cavalry Regiment, whose B Troop was headquartered in Amarillo.

The first units of the 61st arrived in Brest on August 11, 1918 with the 36th Division. After five days there, they boarded trains for Redon in Brittany. Companies C and D of the 111th Ammunition Train did not go with the 61st Brigade but stayed with the 36th Division the whole time they were in France. After two weeks camped in the vicinity of Redon, the 61st Brigade marched to artillery school at Coëtquidan.

Training begins

The base at Coëtquidan was large enough, at forty square miles, to house and train two brigades at a time. At least ten U.S. Army brigades trained there from the summer of 1917. The reason for the extended training was twofold: First, American artillery units such as those in the 61st had very basic training in the States. Second, very few American cannon were used by the Army in Europe in World War I.

In the interest of transporting as many American troops to Europe as possible, little room on ships was available for American heavy weapons. Most artillery pieces, mortars, and tanks the United States produced remained stateside. Americans fought in French tanks and airplanes, for the most part, and shot French cannon. The French provided excellent pieces, including the Modèle 1897 75mm field gun and the 155mm Schneider howitzer.

American soldiers train with a French 75

With a staff of French instructors, training began at Coëtquidan in September. The American gunners found they had to learn everything from scratch. Compass work, signaling, and learning every part of the new guns was in the curriculum. Their first practice shots on the firing range in late September were disappointing. After four weeks of intensive training, however, even veteran French instructors were satisfied.

61st stands down

The 61st Artillery Brigade was trained and ready for action by the last week of October 1918. They were on schedule to rejoin the 36th Infantry Division in its second deployment to the battlefield when, on November 11th, Germany capitulated. The 61st remained at Coëtquidan uncertain about their future.

On February 18, 1919, the 61st was ordered to break camp. Being stationed in Brittany near the ocean, it made sense to the AEF to send them home earlier than most. The brigade began to leave Coëtquidan on February 21st and three days later all had left camp. The 61st then underwent a series of inspections and medical examinations at the port of embarkation in Saint Nazaire. This period of time was remembered by Americans overseas as the least enjoyable part, besides combat, of their time in France.

The 61st Artillery Brigade boarded a flotilla of ships leaving Saint Nazaire beginning on February 25th. By March 11th, they had all left France. After a stormy transatlantic journey, the Brigade was in Newport News, Virginia and eventually back in Texas. The 61st Artillery Brigade was inactivated on April 10th, 1919.

The Arrow Head, April 11, 1919

The Arrow Head

February 27, 1919 saw the first appearance of the 36th Division’s newspaper, The Arrow Head. Publishing a newspaper did a great deal to bolster the morale of the division during its time in the Sixteenth Training Area. It was written, edited, and published by enlisted men. Its editor-in-chief was a private who previously worked at the Dallas Evening Journal. The Arrow Head was an immediate success among the men, growing to a weekly circulation of ten thousand copies. Ten issues were published between February 27 and May 2, 1919.

The paper took as its model the weekly journal of the AEF, Stars and Stripes. “By and for the soldiers of the A.E.F.”, Stars and Stripes was published in France for seventy-one weeks between February 1918 and June 1919. It was also written and edited by enlisted men and came to represent the voice of the American soldier serving overseas. Read more about the Stars and Stripes here.

As any local paper, The Arrow Head published the news and sports reports everyone in the division wanted to see. Each of the constituent organizations had a column in the paper to report its weekly news. The Arrow Head also published letters from soldiers and creative work including poems and cartoons that caustically lampooned army life.

January, 1919

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

“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”

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

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

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

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.