Monday, April 8, 2019

Corporal T.O. McManus Writes Home From Germany, April 8, 1919

From The Monroe Journal, April 8, 1919

Corporal Olin McManus Writes from Germany

Germany
March 7, 1919
Dear Mr. Love:

As it looks now, we are never going to get back to Monroe to tell you of our experiences over here so I am going to give you just a short sketch of our “lives” since leaving Monroe, North Carolina, August 8th, 1918. As you know, the bunch of Union county boys who left when I did were divided; part of them going in Company B 56th Pioneer Infantry and part of them in Company C 56th Pioneer Infantry.

After having the good luck of staying in Monroe until midnight on the night of the 8th, we arrived at Camp Wadsworth, S.C., about 2 o’clock on the 9th, and were “rolled” into trucks and “transported” to the interior of the camp where we were tagged and given a hurried medical examination, and assigned to the two companies—B and C—which up to this time had been the “First Maine Heavy Field Artillery.” We were assigned to tents, and then marched over to the mess hall and given our supper, which we ate with great pleasure. 

The following day we policed the camp, or in fact our Company Street, being quarantined for 14 days, and not being permitted to leave the street. On the following day we were taken over to the Personnel Board, and our history taken, asking us such questions as “Who shall we notify?”—you know, the cheerful stuff. After this we went through a very rigid medical examination, were inoculated, vaccinated, and had our finger prints taken, and numerous other things were done to us. This had to be done three times, and some of we fellows whose records were mislaid, had to go through the miserable stuff five times. After all this we had our psychological examination. All this took about a week of our time, and we were then ready for drilling. After two weeks of intensive drilling we were given orders to move, so on the morning of the 29th, we left Camp Wadsworth, and proceeded to Camp Merritt, N.J., arriving there about 9 p.m. We were equipped at this camp and left there about 2 on the morning of the 3rd of September, and marched about five miles, where we boarded a ferry and were taken over to Hoboken. At Hoboken we boarded our transport, marked the U.S.S. No. 100, although it was really the steamship Maui.

We left Hoboken for overseas on the 4th of September, arriving at St. Nazaire on the 13th. We had very good weather across and to make a long story short, we had a very pleasant, uneventful trip.

We landed at St. Nazaire on September 14th and proceeded to a rest camp (some rest camp, believe me), where we hung around until the 19, when we started on our way for the “Front.” We entrained at St. Nazaire and our first stop was at Archen-Barrois. This was our first experience in riding in box cars, and I think it would be safe to say that three wheels on every car were flat, and as air-brakes are an unknown factor in France, you can imagine our comforts. These box cars are just about large enough to hold 18 men, but they held 40 of we fellows with our rifles and packs, so you can readily judge the sleeping space that we had.

We remained in Arc-en-Barrois until the 30th of September, where we drilled every day, and then entrained for Fleur-sur-Seine. With a one-night stop at this place in “pup-tents,” and the rain coming down in torrents, we started on for the “Front” on foot, having gone as far as possible by rail. We hiked for three days, spending the nights in our pup tents out in the deserted battle grounds, and occasionally hearing a shell drop close by, which of course made us just a little shaky. We arrived at Very, France, on the 3rd of October, at which time, we received our first baptism of fire or warfare.

The German line, at this time, was taking in Charpentry, Very, and Mountcacou. We were practically in the center with the First Engineers (by this time the other Companies of the regiment were scattered all along the line). On the following morning our company went to the left of Charpentry, which was at the time under heavy shell fire by the German artillery, and it was at this place we lost our captain and a number of our men. The German army was moving pretty fast, but only towards the “rear.”

We remained at Very, being continuously under shell fire, until the 4th of November. (I say Very, although we were spread out from Sharpentry to Mont-faucon.) On November 4th, we were shifted over to the Argone to take part in the last great drive; in fact the drive which ended the war. (Just before this date I was sent out on detached service with 29 other men, and we were with the 42nd Division, working on the ration-dumps both in the advanced trenches and in the rear lines.) On the 11th of November the armistice was signed and the regiment or remnants of it assembled at Dombasie, France. From this point we started on our hike towards Germany. We would march by day, and sleep in our shelter tents at night, only to start out on our hike again the next morning as stiff as a board.

We arrived at Athus, Belgium, on the 22nd of November, where we guarded some captured ammunition and guns for a week or so. We spent Thanksgiving in Athus, where we had a dance, the first since leaving the States, although it was more like an American foot-ball game, we enjoyed ourselves very much.

Upon leaving Athus we hiked back to Longway, France, a distance of about eight kilometers, and remained here for about two weeks doing railhead work. It was here that I saw the Bickett Battery.

On the 13th of December we entrained at Longway, the town which held the Germans off for about two weeks at the beginning of the war, and which has very little remaining of it. After riding for a couple of days we arrived at this place, Prum, Germany, where we have been since the 16th of December, 1918, and from the way things look now, we will be here for quite a while.

Well, this is just about as much as I have time to write now, so will tell you everything, going more into the details, when I get home—next August. Hope everything is going well in Monroe and that we Pioneer Infantry fellows will soon be back.

With best regards, I am, faithfully yours.

Corporal T.O. McManus
Co. B 56th Pioneer Infantry
Army of Occupation. A.E.F.

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