History of the American Negro in the Great World War Part 28

As already gleaned from the reports of generals, regimental officers and the testimony of the chaplain of the 351st, the artillery boys created a good impression and left behind them a clean record everywhere. It has remained for the officers of the 349th regiment to preserve this in additional doc.u.mentary form in the shape of regimental orders and letters from the mayors of French towns in which the regiment stopped or was billeted. The following are some of the bulletins and letters: Headquarters 349th Field Artillery, American Expeditionary Forces, France, A.P.O. 722, September 6, 1918.

The following letter having been received, is published for the information of the regiment, and will be read at retreat Sat.u.r.day, September 7, 1918. By order of COLONEL MOORE.

JOSEPH H. McNALLY, Captain and Adjutant.

FRENCH REPUBLIC Town Hall of Montmorillion (Vienne) Montmorillion, August 12, 1918.

Dear Colonel: At the occasion of your departure permit me to express to you my regrets and those of the whole population.

From the very day of its arrival your regiment, by its behavior and its military appearance, it excited the admiration of all of us.

Of the sojourn of yourself and your colored soldiers among us we will keep the best memory and remember your regiment as a picked one.

From the beginning a real brotherhood was established between your soldiers and our people, who were glad to welcome the gallant allies of France.

Having learned to know them, the whole population holds them in great esteem, and we all join in saying the best of them.

I hope that the white troops replacing your regiment will give us equal satisfaction; but whatever their att.i.tude may be, they cannot surpa.s.s your 349th Field Artillery.

Please accept the a.s.surance of my best and most distinguished feelings.

G. DE FONT-REAULX, a.s.sistant Mayor.

Headquarters 349th Field Artillery, American Expeditionary Forces, France, A.P.O. 766, January 25, 1919.

The following letter having been received is published for the information of the regiment. By order of COLONEL O'NEIL.

GEORGE B. COMPTON, Captain and Adjutant.

MAIRIE DE DOMFRONT (Orne) Domfront, January 22, 1919.

The mayor of the town of Domfront has the very great pleasure to state and declare that the 349th regiment of the 167th Field Artillery Brigade, has been billeted at Domfront from the 28th of December, 1918, to the 22nd of January, 1919, and that during this period the officers as well as the men have won the esteem and sympathy of all the population.

The black officers as well as the white officers have made here many friends, and go away leaving behind them the best remembrances. As to the private soldiers, their behavior during the whole time has been above all praise.

It is the duty of the mayor of Domfront to bid the general, officers and men a last farewell, and to express to all his thanks and grat.i.tude for their friendly intercourse with the civilian population.

F. BERLIN, Mayor.

After such testimony who can doubt the Christianlike behavior and soldierly qualities of the black man? It has been noted that the artillerymen were in education considerably above the average of the Negro force abroad, but no severe criticism has been heard concerning the conduct of any of the Negro troops in any part of France. The att.i.tude of the French people had much to do with this. The unfailing courtesy and consideration with which they treated the Negroes awoke an answering sentiment in the natures of the latter. To be treated as Men, in the highest sense of the term, argued that they must return that treatment, and it is not of record that they failed to give adequate return. Indeed the record tends to show that they added a little for good measure, although it is hard to outdo a Frenchman in courtesy and the common amenities of life.

This showing of Negro conduct in France takes on increased merit when it is considered that the bulk of their forces over there were selectives; men of all kinds and conditions; many of them from an environment not likely to breed gentleness, self restraint or any of the finer virtues. But the leaders and the best element seem to have had no difficulty in impressing upon the others that the occasion was a sort of a trial of their race; that they were up for view and being scrutinized very carefully. They made remarkably few false steps.

CHAPTER XXIII.

NOR STORIED URN, NOR MOUNTING SHAFT.

GLORY NOT ALL SPECTACULAR-BRAVE FORCES BEHIND THE LINES-325TH FIELD SIGNAL BATTALION-COMPOSED OF YOUNG NEGROES-SEE REAL FIGHTING-SUFFER CASUALTIES-AN EXCITING INCIDENT-COLORED SIGNAL BATTALION A SUCCESS-RALPH TYLER'S STORIES-BURIAL OF NEGRO SOLDIER AT SEA-MORE INCIDENTS OF NEGRO VALOR-A WORD FROM CHARLES M. SCHWAB.

Out of the glamor and spectacular settings of combat comes most of the glory of war. The raids, the forays, the charges; the pitting of cold steel against cold steel, the hand to hand encounters in trenches, the steadfast manning of machine guns and field pieces against deadly a.s.sault, these and kindred phases of battle are what find themselves into print. Because they lend themselves so readily to the word painter or to the artist's brush, these lurid features are played to the almost complete exclusion of others, only slightly less important.

There are brave forces behind the lines, sometimes in front of the lines, about which little is written or pictured. Of these the most efficient and indispensable is the Signal Corps. While this branch of the service was not obliged to occupy front line trenches; make raids for prisoners, or march in battle formation into big engagements, it must not be supposed that it did not have a very dangerous duty to perform.

One of the colored units that made good most decisively was the 325th Field Signal Battalion of the 92nd Division. The men of this battalion had to string the wires for telegraphic and telephonic connections at times when the enemy guns were trained upon them. Therefore, in many respects, their duty took them into situations fully as dangerous as those of the combatant units.

This battalion was composed entirely of young Negroes excepting the Lieutenant Colonel, Major and two or three white line officers. With few exceptions, they were all college or high school boys, quite a number of them experts in radio or electric engineering. Those who were not experts when the battalion was formed, became so through the training which they received.

Major Spencer, who was responsible for the formation of the battalion, the only Negro signal unit in the American Army, was firm in the belief that Negroes could make good, and he remained with it long enough to see his belief become a realization.

After arriving at Brest, June 19, 1918, the battalion proceeded to Vitrey, and from that town began a four-day hike to Bourbonne les Baines. From that point it proceeded after a few days to Visey, where the boys got their first taste of what was to be, later, their daily duties. Here the radio (wireless telegraphy) company received its quota of the latest type of French instruments, a battery plant was established and a full supply of wire and other equipment issued to Companies B and C. Here, too, the Infantry Signal platoons of the battalion joined the outfit and shared in the training.

A courage test and their first introduction into real fighting in addition to stringing wires and sending and receiving radio messages, came on the afternoon of September 27th. A party including the Colonel, Lieutenant Herbert, the latter a Negro, and some French liaison officers, advanced beyond the battalion post and soon found themselves outside the lines and directly in front of a German machine gun nest.

The colonel divided his men into small groups and advanced on the enemy's position. The sortie resulted in the Signal boys capturing eight prisoners and two machine guns, but it cost the loss of Corporal Charles E. Boykin, who did not return. Two days later during a general advance, Sergeant Henry E. Moody was mortally wounded while at his post. Boykin was killed outright, while Sergeant Moody died in the hospital, these being the first two of the Signal Battalion to make the supreme sacrifice.

On the 10th of October the 92nd Division, having taken over the Marbache sector and relieved the 167th French Division, the 325th Field Signal Battalion took over all existing lines of communication. In the days following they installed new lines and made connections between the various units of the division. This was no small duty, when it is remembered that an army sector extends over a wide area of many square miles, including in it from 50 to 100 cities and towns.

The Marbache sector was an active front and time and time again the boys went ahead repairing lines and establis.h.i.+ng new communications under sh.e.l.l fire, with no heed to personal danger-inspired only by that ideal of the Signal Corps man-get communication through at any cost, but get it through.

On the morning of November 10th, when the Second Army launched its attack on the famous Hindenburg line before Metz, the 92nd Division held the line of Vandieres-St. Michel, Xon and Norry. The engagement lasted for twenty-eight hours continuously, during which time the Signal Corps functioned splendidly and as one man, keeping up communications, installing new lines and repairing those sh.e.l.led out.

One of the most exciting incidents was that partic.i.p.ated in by the First Platoon of the Signal Battalion on the first day of the Metz battle. Shortly after the lighter artillery barrage was lifted, the big guns of the enemy began sh.e.l.ling Pont a Mousson. The first sh.e.l.ls. .h.i.t on the edge of the city and then they began peppering the Signal Battalion's station.

Sergeant Rufus B. Atwood of the First Platoon was seated in the cellar near the switchboard; Private Edgar White was operating the switchboard, and Private Clark the buzzerphone. Several officers and men were standing in the "dugout" cellar. Suddenly a sh.e.l.l struck the top, pa.s.sed through the ceiling and wall and exploded, making havoc of the cellar.

OFFICERS OF THE 15TH NEW YORK (369TH INFANTRY), MARCHING IN PARADE PRIOR TO THE WAR. LEFT TO RIGHT-COL. WM. HAYWARD, BERT WILLIAMS. FAMOUS COMEDIAN AND DR. G. McSWEENEY.

AFTER THE WAR. ONE OF THE NUMBER OF AUTOMOBILES BEARING WOUNDED OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS OF THE 15TH NEW YORK (369TH INFANTRY). MAJOR DAVID L. 'ESPERANCE (WITH HELMET) AND MAJOR LORRILARD SPENCER.

A REPRESENTATIVE GROUP OF NEGRO OFFICERS OF "MOSS'S BUFFALOES" (167TH INFANTRY). THE LITTLE LADY WITH THE BOUQUET IS ONE OF THEIR FRENCH ACQUAINTANCES.

CAPTAIN JOHN H. PATTON, REGIMENTAL ADJUTANT, 8TH ILLINOIS INFANTRY. FROM JUNE 26, 1916, TO SEPTEMBER 11, 1918. COMMANDING 2ND BATTALION, 370TH INFANTRY, FROM SEPTEMBER 11, 1918, TO DECEMBER 25, 1918. SAINT MIHIEL SECTOR FROM JUNE 21, 1918, TO JULY 3, 1918. ARGONNE FOREST FROM JULY 6, 1916, TO AUGUST 15, 1918. BATTLES FOR MONT DES SIGNES, FROM SEPTEMBER 16 TO 30, 1918. OISE-AISNE OFFENSIVE, FROM SEPTEMBER 30, 1918. TO NOVEMBER 11, 1918. AWARDED THE FRENCH CROIX DE GUERRE FOR MERITORIOUS SERVICE COVERING PERIOD FROM SEPTEMBER 11 TO NOVEMBER 11, 1918.

EMIL LAURENT, NEGRO CORPORAL OF 8TH ILLINOIS (370TH INFANTRY), A CROIX DE GUERRE WINNER, ENGAGED IN FIELD TELEPHONE SERVICE IN A FRENCH WOOD.

GROUP OF "h.e.l.l FIGHTERS' (369TH INFANTRY) WITH THEIR JEWELRY (CROIX DE GUERRE). FRONT ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT, "EAGLE EYE" EDWARD WILLIAMS, "LAMP LIGHT" HERB TAYLOR, LEON TRAINOR, "KID HAWK" RALPH HAWKINS, BACK ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT, SERGT. M.D. PRIMUS, SERGT. DANIEL STORMS, "KID WONEY" JOE WILLIAMS, "KID BUCK" ALFRED HANLY AND CORP. T.W. TAYLOR.

DR. JOSEPH H. WARD ON TRANSPORT FRANCE. THE ONLY NEGRO ATTAINING THE RANK OF MAJOR IN THE MEDICAL CORPS OF THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES.

CAPTAIN NAPOLEON B. MARSHALL, FAMOUS HARVARD ATHLETE, WHO HELPED ORGANIZE 15TH NEW YORK AND WAS ONE OF ITS ORIGINAL NEGRO OFFICERS. HE WAS SERIOUSLY WOUNDED AT METZ.

BRAVE NEGROES HOMEWARD BOUND FROM WAR. FIRST CALL FOR DINNER.