HISTORY
of
THE 308th INFANTRY
By
L. Wardlaw Miles
Chapter 9
Last Days In France
THE long expected day had arrived. As has
been often told, the moment brought little emotional
response. All was over but the cheering. And there was no
cheering. Doubtless in the hearts of men-inexpressible to
others, and only dimly perceived by themselves was the
sense of profound gratitude for the cessation of weeks of
hunger, wet, and cold, carrying the constant menace of
injury and death. For the moment, the future seemed a
rosy vision with warm billets, plenty of food and rest at
the front of the stage, and at the back an inclined
gangplank, mounting straight to Hoboken and, Home, the
equivalents of Heaven.
On the afternoon of November 11th, the
308th celebrated the occasion with suitable solemnity. It
took its first real bath since the beginning of the
Argonne. True, only one minute was allowed under the
steaming showers, scarcely time to wash off the soap
beneath a tantalizing trickle, and then the cry of
"Into the drying room with, you! Make way for the
next lot!" Scarcely a wash. Certainly only the
hyperbole of enthusiastic exaggeration, could call it a
bath. Still what little water there was certainly
possessed the blessed qualities of warmth and:
wetness-and the War was over!
Next morning the sun rose bright and cheerful on a new
world, a world in which the rumble of guns was of' course
to be forever silenced. In the little towns of Raucourt
and Haraucourt, the soldiers had tumbled out into the
streets for a morning's stretch, and for the enjoyment of
the new life of peace. Then far down the road to the
south an old and familiar sound could be heard, faint at
first but growing louder. Curiously the men were
listening, heads and eyes turned south. What was it? Now
even the quiet little villagers, but lately freed from
four years of German rule, had crept out of their homes
and. stood by their doors, to join the soldiers watching,
and waiting, and listening in the streets.
Now all could hear. It was the strains of martial music.
The thump and roll of drums. The shrill piercing notes of
a clarinet. A band playing! The music grew louder, and
then far down the road, a long brown winding column
rolled into view, with a band playing madly at its head,
and behind a troop of gayly decorated horsemen bearing
the flags and standards of France.
The French Colonials were coming! A
sudden thrill went through the little group of villagers
at the first sight of their own soldiers and countrymen
for whom they had been waiting for so many years. One
little woman began to weep hysterically. Pride and joy
swept over all their faces. "Vive la France!"
they cried and clapped their hands, as the column of
poilus rolled grinning and slouching by. The 77th
Division was being relieved. That morning the 308th
rolled, packs and marched out, headed south by the same
route, which only a few days before had been their
guiding line northward.
By 1 p.m. the column was well on the march. Packs were
heavy and drizzling rain marred a promising day. But who
cared? To be leaving a shell-torn area, a land of
crumbling houses and battered ruins, and for the first
time since their arrival in France to be headed south
towards a country of peace and plenty, was enough to make
hearts light and faces cheery.
Through the little town of La Basece, where a few days
earlier some of the men had drunk German acorn coffee
served by the French women, the road led on ever
southward avoiding the heights of Stonne, where the
explosion of a German mine had torn a gigantic crater in
the road on the 5th, and completely blocked all traffic.
Westward through the woods, the village of La Berliere
came suddenly into sight. From its church tower, the
white flags put up eight days before, when the Germans
had evacuated the town, still waved beseechingly. The
column continued over the intervening slopes, and into
the valley hiding Oches, where at intervals it arrived by
battalions between 4 and 5 P.m. They were met by advance
billeting officers and N. C. O's. who directed them into
the narrow tumble-down buildings and shacks. At rest from
the machine guns and heavy artillery, which had swept the
town a week before, the Regiment slept soundly.
Lieutenant-Colonel Herr, until now with the 305th
Infantry, took command of the Regiment this day.
The 13th of November opened auspiciously with clear sun
and bright sky, but it brought proverbial bad luck. An
order delivered at 2 P.m. directed: "Retrace route
and move to Beaumont." Germany had broken the
Armistice! The Division was once more headed for the
front! At least so ran the rumor. Packs were rolled in
ten minutes: in half an hour the entire Regiment was on
the move. The battalions jumped into harness quickly,
each Major eager to have his men the first out to reach
the best billets. "First come first served,"
the Colonel had announced, with the result of the
quickest move on record: over 3,000 men on the road with
full equipment in 30 minutes-and no previous warning.
It was only an average hike of fourteen and two-third
kilometers, and the prospect of warm billets and hay to
sleep in carried a thrill of general cheer.
"Beaumont is a big town; there must be beaucoup
room," said someone and the column burst into song.
The 2nd Battalion in the lead was met at the outskirts of
the village by the advance billeting party, a dejected
little group of two officers and four enlisted men.
"Did you get us good billets, boys? " called
out Captain McMurtry. "Remember the best is none too
good for the 2nd Battalion."
"There are 5,000 men in town already, Captain,"
came the reply. "Orders are that we sleep out
tonight."
Peace hath her S. 0. L. no less than War! It was a weary
crowd of men that executed column right into the field
south of the road. Yet in spite of dashed hopes and the
cold night wind, in which it was necessary to sleep with
only one blanket and a shelter half, there was little
grumbling. Soon fires were lit, and in half an hour the
Regiment gathered around cheerfully crackling piles of
brushwood and timber, which in earlier days would have
brought down a barrage of German shells.
At 7.30 next morning the column moved out once more, on a
straight road towards Mouzon and the Meuse River, where
the Marines of the 2nd Division had gone over the top
during the very last hours of the War, and, with
considerable loss of life, had established their position
on the northern bank of the river. Gradually it became
clear why the 77th Division had moved north again. They
were scheduled to relieve the 2nd and 89th Divisions, who
were to draw back and get fully equipped, preparatory to
moving forward with the Army of Occupation.
It was but a temporary measure and meant
only a few extra days of duty in the forward line. The
1st Battalion took up a position in support at La
Falbourg directly opposite Mouzon, and the 2nd and 3rd
pitched camp and established outposts on the heights
north of the river, at Belle Fontaine and Senegal Farms,
respectively. Regimental Headquarters were located at La
Falbourg. Mouzon, itself, was under guard to be entered
only at the cost of breaking the Armistice terms.
The Intelligence Summaries for the next four days
reported "no signs of the enemy." A few
Russian, British, and American prisoners turned loose by
the Germans on the 11th crossed our lines and were sent
to Headquarters for examination. Except for several raids
on an abandoned German supply dump upon the western banks
of the river, yielding quantities of mirrors, rifles,
Luger magazines, and a few officers' helmets, the
sentries reported all quiet along the Meuse. Only the
Marines' battered tin hats and scattered bits of blood
stained olive clothing and equipment were left as
evidence of the terrific fighting in the War's last
hours.
Until November 18th, the Regiment did little except
maintain a few outposts, collect souvenirs, and speculate
on the possibility of becoming a member of the Army of
Occupation. Rumors flew hard and fast, but early on the
morning of the 18th, arrived an actual move order,
directing that the Regiment proceed to Beaumont, there to
be really housed in billets. At noon the column was on
its way, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions recrossing the river
on the rickety little pontoon bridges and proceeding for
precaution in single file and five feet apart. That
afternoon the Regiment reached its destination, and
occupied the town, comfortably housed and warm. There it
remained the following day and on the 20th arrived at
Buzancy, eighteen kilometers away, after a long hike over
muddy roads.
At this time a persistent rumor, which had started six
days previously in La Falbourg, and had gradually gained
headway, was the sole topic of conversation. This was
nothing less than that the 77th Division was scheduled
for an early trip home. Gradually growing in definiteness
and strength, the rumor brought to many complete
assurance that the Regiment would be home by Christmas.
The thing was settled.
Thus it was with a settled conviction that all was right
with the World and the Army, that the Regiment pulled out
for Chatel Chehery on the 21st. It was a long hike of
twenty-six kilometers, with nothing particularly
luxurious in the line of billets when it was over, but
the thought of a speedy return home did much for lame
backs and sore feet. The 3rd Battalion, a part of the
2nd, and Head-quarters and Machine Gun Companies were
quartered in the town. One whole company occupied the
floor of a ruined church. The rest of the 2nd Battalion
took to the German dugouts outside the village, and the
1st Battalion found shelter beneath the roofs of some
neighboring barns. Next morning the entire Regiment
tramped to Vienne Le Chateau, near La Four de Paris and
La Harazee, where on September 26th, nearly two months
earlier, it had gone over the top at the jump-off of the
Argonne offensive. That night the elaborate system of
dugouts along the roadway was again occupied by American
troops. Regimental and 2nd Battalion Headquarters were
established on the following day at Florent. The 1st
Battalion located at Camp Croix Gentin and the remainder
of the Regiment at Petit Batis, where it remained for
three days, resting tip, cleaning up, and thinking up new
rumors. Here on Sunday, the 24th, was celebrated a Mass
participated in by all the Catholic Churches in France-La
Messe de la Victoire. Many of the Regiment, who were not
Catholics, attended as well.
One day was now allowed each Battalion to take a
much-needed bath, the last before arrival in the
Chau-mont area one month later. From Florent on November
25th, the Regiment marched to Nijour le Clour near Les
Islettes for a Brigade Review held by General Alexander,
which marked the first occasion on which any considerable
part of the Division had been drawn up in one formation
on French soil. On a soggy field, under a rainy sky, with
Colors paraded, and band playing, but with no civilian
spectators, since the scene was still the heart of the
devastated district, the review took place, and while the
troops stood at attention, the first Distinguished
Service Crosses awarded in France were presented to
Captains Cullen, Jenckens, and some others. That evening
the troops returned to quarters, prepared to start next
morning on the long hike to the 9th Training Area in
Chaumont. "Home by Christmas " had gone the way
of a thousand rumors.
The subsequent ten days of grueling march were perhaps
the hardest of the many hard hikes made by the 308th in
France. Tired and worn-down by continuous fighting
without rest in the Argonne and on the advance to the
Meuse, weary and strained by an even one hundred
kilometers of march from Haraucourt to Florent, and
suffering from the inevitable nervous relapse that
follows days of ceaseless endurance in the forward areas,
the Regiment was in poor condition for one hundred
additional kilometers of march. Fifty per cent of the men
had sore feet and lame backs; many were suffering from
dysentery. Nearly everyone had an ailment of some sort or
other, and was in low condition physically. Nevertheless
on the morning of November 26th, the w. k. packs were
slung as promptly as ever before, and the column was
under way.
Probably there were few who did not at some time feel
that one of these days might be his last, and that he
might be obliged to fall out by the wayside. just how the
Regiment did it, no one knows, but it did do it, and late
in the afternoon of December 4th, reached its destination
in the Training Area. To ask just why the march should
have been made in so needlessly severe a manner would, of
course, be beyond the office of the present chronicler.
Dead-beat, the men wearily crawled into the billets of
seven towns, disposed as follows: 1st Battalion-Pont la
Ville and Cirfontaines; 2nd Battalion, Regimental
Headquarters and Supply Company-Orges; 3rd
Battalion-Vaudremont and Braux; Headquarters Company
-Aizanville; Machine Gun Company-Essey les Ponts. The big
hike was over-two hundred kilometers passed and covered,
from the extreme northern point of the Meuse, near the
heights of Sedan, to the heart of the peaceful and quiet
Chaumont in Haute Marne, from a country of bleak
devastated ruins to a land of green grass and herds of
cattle, and every inch covered on foot!
The first order issued from Regimental Headquarters
directed an immediate cleaning up of town, person, and
equipment. For the first time in the history of training,
drill was superseded by soap. Street cleaning departments
were organized at once in each village; inspectors
appointed, and fatigue squads rushed to police up
streets, which had never before felt the disturbing
bristles of a broom. The native civilians looked on
astonished, but one by one the Maires gradually came to
express in glowing terms to the Military Town Commandants
their appreciation of what had been done. Pont la Ville,
occupied by A and D Companies, was adjudged the cleanest
town in the Division area.
But the name Training Area signified something beyond
police details, and very soon there began to descend from
Division Headquarters countless memoranda and bulletins
concerning drill schedules and programs to be followed. A
long and intricate system of terrain exercises and
maneuvers had-been worked up and upon these all kinds of
training were based. Innumerable pamphlets and booklets
were showered on unsuspecting Company Commanders. "I
Have Captured a Boche Machine Gun. What Shall I Do With
It?" "Important Duties of the Gas
Officer." And the already familiar: "Questions
A Platoon Commander Should Ask Himself On Going Into The
Trenches." These and others like them fell
ceaselessly upon officers and N. C. O's. alike. Men who
had fought in Lorraine, on the Vesle, Aisne, Meuse, and
in the Argonne, were instructed by the pamphlets in the
correct way of capturing an imaginary German machine gun
nest, how always to blacken one's face before going out
on a patrol, and how, when the enemy projected a gas
attack, never to forget to use the chemical sprayers in
clearing out the gas! Fired upon by a hostile machine
gun, one should advance; send word back immediately to
the Battalion Commander of the exact coordinates and
location of the enemy emplacement, and instruct him to
send up one pounders and Stokes at once !
So said the booklets, and Company Commanders accepted
them with proper seriousness, while Battalion Commanders
worked up innumerable problems. Machine gun after machine
gun was captured with unfailing regularity. Constant
liaison was maintained with either flank, with the rear,
with the artillery, with everybody. Pigeons (there were
no pigeons), semaphore flags (they. had long since been
turned in), T. P. S. and wireless (no one had ever seen
such things), and speeding motorcyclists and mounted
orderlies on dashing steeds (the Regiment's supply
consisted of a few shell-shocked beasts from the
Transport)-all of these were recklessly employed
according to orders. And G. H. Q. expressed its pleasure
at the success of the exercises and mentioned the "
remarkable interest displayed by all concerned." So
what else mattered?
Perhaps the inspectors would have been a trifle puzzled
and perplexed had they read a bit more carefully some of
the battalion attack orders:
Munition Dump and Battalion P. C. will be located at Caf6
du Centre. First Aid Stations at the Butcher Shop and
Cemetery. Especial care will be taken in crossing the
river that Lt. McIlwain is watched; physical restraint
will be offered in case he attempts to jump in.
Or this, sent during the heat of battle by a Company
Commander: "Hostile band of wild women sighted on
horizon to the south. What to do? " To which the
Battalion Commander promptly replied: "Capture and
hold women. Battalion P. C. will be located there!"
And-though this really came somewhat
later, there was the matter of the Regimental Goat. He
started with the 308th early in its career and marched
over Lorraine's red roads, through battered Fismes, up
and down the hills of the Argonne and Ardennes, twice
into the Chaumont area. In these campaigns, Tony Maggi,
Headquarters Company Stable Sergeant, was his particular
pal. Then at Brulon, Tony went on a ten days' leave, and
the goat apparently fell in with Sergeant Childs of E
Company. Rival claims of ownership were advanced. With
all due form Colonel Averill appointed Captain
Popham of the Red Cross as " Regimental Goat
Stabitizer," for the goat had threatened to upset
the equilibrium of the Regiment. Captain Popham in turn
scratched his head and crystallized his profound thought
upon the matter into these two questions:
"Who gets the goat?
"Whose goat does the goat getter get?"
As a brilliant and searching statement of the problem to
be solved, these questions were unsurpassed. As a
solution of the problem they were futile.
The last scene in the goat story is a
dramatic one. Into the center of the entire Regiment,
assembled in hollow square, the goat is reluctantly
induced by Captain Popham.
"Sergeant Childs and Sergeant Maggi,
come here," booms the Colonel. Sergeant Maggi has
been detained at home by other duties, and so Mess
Sergeant Rechen of Headquarters Company represents him.
"In one of these envelopes,"
announces the Colonel, "is a paper which says
'Goat'; in the other is a paper which says 'Nit.' The man
who picks 'Goat' gets him. Take your choice."
"Well, sir," begins Sergeant Childs, "my
company doesn't- "
" Tut, tut, " interrupts the Colonel, "
take one!
Both men grab at once, but Sergeant Childs is the first
to find his paper.
" Come on, goat, " he yells,
" eat this! You're mine!
And the goat, chewing contentedly at the orders, which
had settled his affairs, trots off, behind his owner's
heels after the long column of Company E already starting
westward.
Plans for making Christmas Day, 1918, a real anniversary,
had begun back in November, before the Armistice was
concluded, and while the Division was still fighting its
way forward in the advance to the Meuse. On November 9th,
several thousand miles away from the scene of that
fighting, a letter had been addressed by the President of
the 308th Infantry Association, in its New York office to
the Commanding Officer, 308th Infantry. It contained the
news of a gift to the Regiment by the Association of
$5,000, for the purpose of financing a Christmas
celebration. A check for this amount was forwarded to the
Equitable Trust Company in Paris, placed there at the
disposal of the Regimental Commander. Lieutenant Colonel
Herr immediately appointed a committee of officers, who
started early in December to arrange for the festivities.
Captain Popham, Harry W. Blair of the Y. M. C. A., and
Mr. Zindorff were called into consultation at once. Then
began the plotting of dark schemes, secret missions to
Paris, by representatives of the committee; the raiding
of numerous Y., K. of C., and Red Cross warehouses, as
well as the scouring of the surrounding country. The
results began to be apparent when the shrill notes of a
bugle in seven towns sounded an 8 o'clock breakfast mess
call.
It was a never-to-be-forgotten day in
the seven quaint, red-roofed, white-walled little peasant
towns. The sedate village fathers had cast aside for once
their huge wooden shoes and corduroy trousers, and
appeared dressed in clothes worn only once or twice a
year on most ceremonious occasions. Village bells tolled
out Christmas carols, Messieurs les Curgs held High Mass,
and the town criers pounded their drums and stentoriously
read off the Maire's proclamation wishing everybody a Merry Christmas, while the doughboys cheered.
In the morning and afternoon the soldiers were
entertained with track and field meets, potato sack and
three legged races, cover games and basket ball contests,
not to mention Charlie Chaplin at his best. Boxing
matches were held between representatives of the
Companies with silver wrist watches from Tiffany's in
Paris as prizes. Entertainers from the Y. M. C. A.,
brought from Chaumont and Paris, performed in the
evening, followed by Company dances in the town halls.
The townspeople enjoyed the opportunity of hearing the
Regimental Band, which visited each town in the area by
truck, and gave a concert in the village squares. The
children of all the seven villages had a royal Christmas,
through the efforts of the committee, who provided real
Christmas trees gayly decorated with swinging lanterns,
paper dolls, puppets, cornucopias full of candy, cakes
and various dainties, and an individual present for each
child.
But naturally the biggest feature of the day was the
Christmas dinner. Apparently a corner on all the turkeys
and geese in that section of France, had been secured by
the committee, with the volunteer help of Major
Roosevelt, and these with innumerable issues of
chocolates, cigars, cigarettes, cakes, fruit-drops, and
candies from Mr. Blair's never-failing store; jam, milk,
bar-chocolate, ham, and fruit from Captain Popham; and
countless packs of chewing gum, sweet milk chocolate, and
other delicacies from Mr. Zindorff, added to what the
limitless ingenuity of fifteen unscrupulous mess
sergeants could devise, resulted in a dinner, which to
4,000 bully-fed-up doughboys was little short of heaven.
Here is a sample menu from one of the companies:
CHRISTMAS, 1918
Menu
BREAKFAST
Stewed Peaches
Oatmeal and Cream
Coffee Bread Butter jam
DINNER
Punch a la Wilson
Celery Mixed Olives Mixed Nuts
Canopie a la Company Commander
Cream of Celery Soup CroAton SouffId
Entrie
Filet of Beef-Cooper Sace with Saute Potatoes
Roast
Turkey with Dressing~Giblet Sauce
Mashed Potatoes-Vegetables in Season
French Endive Salad and Rochefort Dressing
Orges Beer
Dessert
Allied Apple Cake
Coffee with Crearn-Cigars-Cigarettes
Assorted Chocolates
SUPPER
Roast Beef a 1' Alexander
Potatoes a la Foch
Fritters a la Petain
Rice Pudding a la Pershing
Tea Bread Assorted Preserves
Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Herel
5
On Christmas Day a picked provisional company from the
308th, with other units of the 77th Division, was
reviewed by President Wilson and General Pershing at
Langres. Colonel Herr took the company from Orges, and it
was paraded under the command of Captain Allan J.
MacDougall.
On January 4th a Regimental Review by General Alexander
took place on the Orges parade ground, and was the
occasion for the presentation of the Croix de Guerre to
the second platoon Company C, for heroism as a unit in
the Badonviller raid, and of the Distinguished Service
Cross and Croix de Guerre to certain other members of the
Regiment. On the following afternoon, Memorial Services
in honor of the dead were held before the assembled
Regiment. Bishop Brent, Senior Chaplain of the A. E. F.,
and General Alexander delivered short addresses.
The last month in the Chaumont area saw the return of two
of the Regiment's original members, two men who had done
so much to make its spirit and morale in the days of
Upton, Baccarat, and the Vesle: Colonel Averill and
Captain Lindley, formerly Regimental Adjutant. Colonel
Averill returned to the Division straight from the Army
of Occupation, following a special request from Division
Headquarters for his transfer back to the 308th Infantry.
The night of his return was the occasion of a great
celebration and of good cheer, not only for himself but
for all officers and men of the Regiment. His Joy to get
back to his original command was perhaps best expressed
in his speech at the celebration in Orges that evening.
He declared:
When I received the order telling me of my transfer, I
started out for the 9th Training Area at once, and
believe me you could scarcely see me for the dust! It
took me just twenty-four hours to get from the banks of
the River Rhine to this little town of Orges, hundreds of
miles south in the Chaumont area.
On February 1st, men and officers of the Regiment
gathered in Orges to witness a regimental drill competition and
transport contest, for which the various companies had been strenuously training. Companies D, E,
and I, representing the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions
respectively, were matched in competitive drill under the
leadership of Captain Knight, 2nd Lieutenant Cecil J.
Smith, and Captain Rennie, in the order named. Each of
these companies had previously eliminated the three other
companies in their respective battalions. The board of
judges, after considerable debate, awarded the prize of
1,000 francs to Company D, with Company E under
Lieutenant Smith running an extremely close second. In
the Transport Contest, the Supply Company carried off
first prize and Headquarters Company second and third.
The Regimental Transport had suffered more during the
four months of active campaign than during an equal
number of years with the British. The good results of the
effort to get it back into shape were apparent when it
was turned in before entraining for the Embarkation
Area.
The period of training in the Chaumont Area now drew to
its end. It had been a time of much drill, of many
maneuvers, and of considerable rain; but its few
hardships were negligible, compared with the preceding
half year of privation, suffering, and death. Warm
billets, good food, and comfortable mess-shacks, town
dances, and various entertainments provided by Company
and Battalion talent and the Y. M. C. A., had left in the
men's hearts a kindly and homelike feeling towards the
seven quaint little villages. Somewhere in minds and
hearts the memory of red roofs, stone walls, manure
piles, town criers, and estaminets will probably always
remain, connected intimately and happily with the two
months of rest spent in north central France, among the
green and gentle valleys of Haute Marne.
Pays, douce et belle, adieu!
On February 12, 1918, the 308th began the last long drive
of its history. Starting from the Chaumont area, it was
henceforth to push steadily westward, with three main
objectives in succession: the Le Mans Area, then the Port
of Embarkation, and finally-Home.
Early dawn of the 12th found the Regiment assembling at
the railhead at Bricon. Between the bare and rolling
hills, columns of men, bent under the weight of full
packs, and sliding and slipping on the icy roads, wound
down the snow-covered valley. Once formed along the
track, the packs were dropped, and to the music of
rattling mess kits, everybody lined up for steaming hot
cocoa and sandwiches. An hour later all were aboard the
familiar "40 Hommes and 8 Chevaux" cars. Once
more the engine whistled its shrill warning, and then
with much groaning and creaking, the Regiment started on
the first lap of its long journey home. That night,
rolled up in blankets and overcoats, the men slept again
as they had first slept ten months before on the straw
covered floors of the "side door Pullmans." Not
luxurious travel, but each rattling kilometer was
bringing them nearer to the coast. For two days they
continued through Nevers, Tours, and other towns, and on
the dawn of the third reached the little station of
Brulon, in the beautiful Loire valley, department of
Mayenne.
That afternoon the villagers saw an American soldier for
the first time, and soon learned his universal passion
for ceufs, vin blanc, and beefsteak with pommes de terre.
Meanwhile there was an extensive schedule to occupy the
long weeks of waiting for final transportation. First in
importance came the bathing and delousing processes.
Before the impatient doughboy could be permitted to
ascend the gangplank, it was necessary for him to part
company with many close companions acquired during the
recent months. Two afternoons week men were marched to
the Infirmary for cootie inspection. Each as he entered
the door, shed his blouse, and advancing in turn, pulled
his shirt over his head, while a keen-eyed medical
officer searched the seams. Any man found in-fected was
segregated from human companions for a few days, which he
devoted to bathing and boiling his clothing.

The symbol of the 77th Division borne
on a caisson.
There was the usual morning schedule
consisting of short hikes and a modified form of close
order work -comparatively easy after the intensive
training in Camp Upton and Flanders. Noon mess was
followed by baseball games and various athletic sports on
the company drill fields. For diversion, entertainments
were organized all over the Regimental area. Some of
these were big shows with elaborate costume and scenery;
others, simply impromptu comedies, but all toured in turn
the several towns in the Area, playing in everything from
the electric lighted municipal opera house to cramped and
leaking barns. The 77th Division, with its metropolitan
origin, possessed a particular wealth of material for
such entertainment. Besides the famous Argonne Players,
each battalion had its own shows containing among them
several Keith Circuit stars.
And at Brulon occurred one happy event which cannot be
left unmentioned in this history, the marriage solemnized
by Father Halligan of Miss Margaret Rowland of the Red
Cross to Captain Delehanty, now Operations Officer. After
the ceremony the bridal couple passed under the customary
arch of bayonets made over their heads by the men of the
Signal Platoon of Headquarters Company.
Now too entries for an athletic tournament were posted on
the platoon bulletin boards, and elimination contests
took place in each company. A regimental training table
was established where the men who had qualified in the
company try-outs underwent a course of training for the
coming Brigade and Divisional meets.
No less important than entertainment, or drill, or athletics, were the
inspections. It had been said that two things are necessary to get a
soldier aboard a transport-a gangplank and a Service Record. The
experience of the weeks in the Le Mans Area showed an equally necessary
third factor-"full Class C Equipment." Consequently, there were full pack
inspections, by every one from the Platoon Commander to
the Division Commander himself. If the weather permitted
the inspection was held in the fields. If the countryside
happened to be submerged under a foot or so of water and
mud, the inspection took place in the billets. Everything
was laid out on the bunk, each article having its
designated place; an empty space on the blanket,
immediately indicated that something was lacking, Thus
day by day, deficiencies were finally made up, with the
result that when the final inspection by the Embarkation
Officer arrived, everybody was fully equipped with
everything from identification tags to two cans of
dubbing.
At Solesmes, Mayenne, on the memorable morning of
February 24th, the 77th Division was reviewed by General
Pershing. It had been raining the night before, but now a
brisk, cold morning wind was rapidly driving the black
clouds back across the hills, while the sun threw great
scudding shadows along the valleys. Drawn up on the field
compactly in mass formation, in columns of squads,
stretched company after company and battalion after
battalion, the solid mass of khaki relieved by helmets
and fixed bayonets glistening in the morning sun. Looking
down the line of brigades, one could see the different
regimental colors, whipping straight out from their
staffs in the wind, and flanked on the rear end by the
bright red guidons of the artillery,
Suddenly the ranks came to attention, and there was
silence. Then from the other end of the field, sounded a
flourish of trumpets and with a thudding of hoofs on the
soft turf, General Pershing and his personal staff
trotted rapidly down the line. As he reached the left
flank, he turned and rode back to the center of the line,
where the 308th Infantry was posted, then wheeled and
faced the troops. Again sounded the triple flourish of
trumpets, The Division came to present arms, while
General Pershing sat on his horse, motionless with his
hand raised to the salute. As the General's hand dropped
from his cap, a bugle sounded squads right.
An instant later the Division had changed its front to
the right ready for the inspection. The
Commander-in-chief, now on foot, passed quickly down the
front of each company, and thence around the rear,
constantly stopping to speak to the men in the ranks.
" Where were you born, young man? " To another,
" How old are you?
Again, "How did you get wounded? " And passing a
certain company: " Captain, you have a very good-looking personnel here!" So it
went for two hours, the General's keen eyes inspecting
every man on the field. Now the bugle sounded again, and
the Division swung quickly back to its original position.
All the regimental colors were brought up and massed in
the center, while in front of them a small group of
officers and men formed before General Pershing. A bugle
sounded attention. Then the General stepped forward and
pinned the Distinguished Service Cross on the breast of
the first man in line, while one of his staff read a
citation of the particular act of gallantry, for which it
was awarded. On he went down the line, until one hundred
and twenty-six officers and men had been decorated.
As the General stepped back, the massed bands crashed
into a stirring march. Orders were shouted from regiment
to regiment, and then, with colors flying and with
bayonets flashing above the glistening helmets, the whole
Division moved forward en masse. Here at last was that
often described and seldom-found thing, the authentic
"Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious
war."
Toward evening as the red ball of the sun began to slip
behind the hills, it silhouetted long, winding columns of
troops marching down the muddy roads to their respective
billeting areas, after the greatest review of the
Regiment's history.
Less than two months remained of the Regiment's stay in
France. On March 11th, there was a Review of the 154th
Brigade by General Alexander. On March 4th, there were
Battalion athletic meets, and on the 8th a dual track and
field meet with the 307th at Fontenay. And on the 15th, a
Divisional meet at Parce. Finally on the 27th, 28th, and
29th, was held the American Embarkation Center Athletic
and Military Tournament, in which the 308th Infantry
received twenty-five medals. On March 26th, in General
Orders No. 23, from the Division Headquarters, appeared a
letter from General Pershing to General Alexander, which
is published in the Appendix and which it is hoped will
be read with pleasure and pride by all members of the
77th Division for many years to come.
Drill, athletics, and inspection-these three abided to
the end, but the greatest of these was inspection. And at
last, the last of inspections ended on April 9th. General
Order No. 28, signed by Colonel Mitchell declared:
"It is the consensus of all the Inspecting Officers
that this inspection was by far the best and most
satisfactory that we have ever made."
Doubtless in proportion as the time of
stay shortened, there grew in intensity the desire to
leave. Four lines, better than any others known to the
present writer, expressed the deepest yearning in the
hearts of the A. E. F.
Sick of the smell of billets-
Sick of the chow-
Wanta leave France and put on long pants!
Wanta go NOWI
And now at last on April 14th, the troops are transported
by motor trucks to Sable, where they entrain at 5 P.M.
for Brest. Now, at noon, April 15th, they reach Brest,
where four nights are spent under tents at Camp
Pontanazen, and final inspections and other details
necessary to embarkation are gone through. Now early in
the misty morning of April 19th, they are marching down
the back roads on their way to the quay, singing
Home, boys, home.
It's home we ought to be.
Home, boys, home
In the Land of Liberty.
They are inspected as they pass down the road.
Embarkation lists are checked up, and men are conveyed to
the S. S. America on lighters. And now-altogether
incredible and yet somehow actual fact!-now, at five
minutes past 6, on the afternoon of April 19th, the
America has weighed her anchor, and together with 3,160
others, each individual on board has really started for
home.
In addition to the 308th Infantry, the America carried
five companies of the 307th, about 150 Casual Officers of
various ranks, as well as some Army nurses, and some sick
and wounded. It is said the trip was
"uneventful," which in the circumstances, seems
a curious word to describe days which brought men hourly
nearer and nearer that which they had so long desired.
Surely it was eventful to arrive off Ambrose Channel
Lightship at midnight of April 28th. Surely it was yet
more eventful to reach New York Harbor at 8 o'clock next
morning, and then-surely most eventful of all-to land at
Hoboken. The troops proceeded by ferryboat to Long Island
City, and then to Camp Mills. Although many received
passes, Camp Mills remained the Regiment's official home
until May 5th, when the Regiment reported at the 8th
Coast Artillery Armory, Kingsbridge Road in the Bronx,
again reporting at 5 A.M. the next day for the parade on
May 6th. On May 7th, the Regiment returned for the last
time to Camp Upton, to be mustered out two days later
where it had begun.
This history started with the statement that one can-not
name the day and hour when the 308th Infantry came into
being. Its final hour as an active unit of the United
States Army is likewise somewhat indefinite. All day and
night, through the 7th and 8th, the examining teams of
Medical Officers worked in relays, and, except for cases
of doubtful physical condition, all men were mustered out
on May 9th. Company musters were held in the morning. Men
were then marched to the Office of the Campaign Master,
there paid off, and then marched to the trains. All of
this took place in the rain, which lasted all day.
Officers were examined that night, and, with the
exception of a few who took a fifteen day leave to look
for a job, were discharged May 12, 1919.
What may perhaps be regarded as the real last day of the
308th Infantry's existence in connection with the Great
War, was that of the parade on May 6th. This day in
contrast to that of the mustering out, was one of
brilliant spring sunshine. Through it up Fifth Avenue
there marched for the last time together the men who had
seen what they had seen, done what they had done, and
shared what they had shared.

The finished product. The final parade of the 308th.
No more fitting ending for this history
can be found than General Order NO. 3, in which Colonel
Averill bade his regiment farewell.
HEADQUARTFRS, 308TH INFANTRY CAMP UPTON, N. Y., May 8,
igig.
General Orders No. 3.
1. Before the 308th Infantry is demobilized and the
officers and enlisted men return to their homes, I desire
to publish in general orders my tribute to their
extraordinary devotion to duty, to their heroic valor in
the field, and to the splendid spirit with which they met
every task which was assigned to them.
2. First of the National Army to sail for France; first
of the National Army to shed blood in inflicting
casualties on the Germans at Badonvillier; first to
demonstrate on the Vesle that the new army of the United
States could withstand, without loss to morale and
effectiveness, all the bewildering blows dealt by the Hun
war machine; first to penetrate the dense woods of the
Argonne Forest in that advance which, because of the
stand made by Whittlesey's command at Charlevaux Mill,
has already become the classic epic of the Great War-such
is the record of the 308th Infantry. And above all, the
regiment has been first in the hearts and minds of those
officers and men who fought to maintain its high
traditions.
3. You have rendered magnificent service. You have earned
the eternal gratitude of your country. You are the finest
body of men that any officer ever commanded. I wish you
all God-speed.
H. K. AVERILL,
Colonel, Commanding.