Tag: Flogny-la-Chapelle

“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.

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.