Roll of Honor

‡ Killed in action† Died of disease* Photo

Colored

Extracts of Appreciation

“The people here are different from any other section of France. Their customs and dress are very peculiar, in fact, reminds me very much of the people of Holland. They wear wooden shoes and have a dialect all their own. French people from the more up-to-date parts of France have difficulty in speaking to and understanding them. The country is flat and marshy, and windmills like those of Holland can be seen. It is very pleasant in summer but in the winter I think it must be very cold, for already it is getting very cold at night and in the morning. I do not think we will be here long, though I do not know where we will go from here. Perhaps where the big guns roar and the bombs drop from the skies. Well, we have been anxious to go up front, and no doubt our chance will come some day. We have been doing some mighty important work back here in the S. O. S. but it is the nature of an American to want to be where the excitement is thickest.”

J. F. H.

October 8, 1918

“This helmet was picked up on the morning of October 16th as we were returning to the rear from a convoy in the heart of the Argonne, near the village of Cheppy. The wearer who had fallen earlier in the day was an old soldier perhaps sixty-five years old and belonged to the 419th Division of the Saxon Bombardiers. More than a hundred German and American Troops lay dead within sight.

“The probable cause of his death was high explosive, as he was torn up very badly.

“In an area of two square miles many hundred of these could have been gathered. I took an interest in this one on account of its high polish for camouflage purposes, something new to us at that time.”

A. C. S.

“We spent quite a different life from this in the English waters where we put in many monotonous months waiting for the Hun to come out. We were sorry he came out the way he did for we were just aching to exchange broadsides with him.

“My ship convoyed one-half million troops through what is called the ‘Submarines’ Graveyard,’ off the coast of Ireland, during the months of September and October.”

W. W.

January 1, 1919

“The boys in the outfit I belong to were the first to cross the Meuse River and were in the first lines when the guns stopped firing at 11 o’clock on the 11th day on the 11th month in the year 1918.”

J. T. W.

December 21, 1918

“I now belong to the Army of Occupation. We are going through what is to my thinking the prettiest country yet. My battery has hiked some four hundred and twenty-five kilometers since we fired our last barrage—and believe me, that was some barrage—‘The Million Dollar One’. It will take a long time before I forget it. I stood on a hill and watched and listened. IT WAS GREAT. I guess about ten or twelve regiments of the American Artillery and I don’t know how many of the French took part. The best of old Heinie’s guns were being used. If he knew the sound of them as well as we did, he knew that we were firing his OWN guns at him. They have a very peculiar and creepy sound, see?”

G. F. K.

December 4, 1918

“I had the pictures struck yesterday. And to show you how much speed there is here in France—for this is an instance of real speed—

“The guy who runs the shop pounded me on the back and said, ‘Bon, bon-apres un mayr photo finie’. Anybody that has to put up with that kind of lingo and fight this war has sure got some job. Well, after tearing out about all of my hair and using three different Franco-American dictionaries I finally managed to get this out of the scraps, ‘Good, good, after one month, picture finished’.

“Remember that was only yesterday.”

C. H.

October 25, 1918

“If this letter reaches you safely you can say it came through from the infernal regions, for if there was ever a ‘Hell’s Half Acre’ this must be it. Put your finger on the biggest forest in France and say I’m there. Six weeks like a rat, three of which is like a whirlwind sweeping through Hades day or night, no rest, but forever watching, waiting, working by candle light deep down in a dug-out, or no light at all. This certainly cannot last much longer. It does us good to know there is one place where everything is like it used to be. I certainly am glad SHAWMUT is still natural and hope someday soon to get back there and take up my work where I left off.”

A. C. S.

“I wish to express my sincere appreciation of the personal letter service which has been rendered me. It is the wonderful and unselfish spirit of the folks back home, which has made the men of the A. E. F. willing and eager to ‘carry on’.”

J. S. D.

December 22, 1918

“I was sitting on my bunk trying to write these few lines, when my bunkie jumped up all at once and said a few words (I can’t tell you what he said). At first I thought that he was shot but I found out what the trouble was, only a ‘cootie bite’.”

D. H. B.

September 23, 1918

“If there is one thing that stands out preeminently in a soldier’s daily schedule across the sea, as to helpfulness it is ‘that letter’ or little bit of news from home (America). If you good people who are carrying on the work of the ‘Home Guards’ could see the eager faces of the Yanks at mail time, as they congregate for mail distributions, I am sure you would agree that time spent in writing to ‘Over There’ boys, is at least appreciated to the fullest.”

J. H. S.

September 22, 1918

“I appreciate having my name on the list at the War Service Station very much. I enjoy the Bulletin from the first to the last and hope I’ll never miss one as long as the war lasts.”

H. A.

October 6, 1918

“I was indeed surprised, a few days since, to receive a letter from you good people of my old home town reminding me that you still remember me and appreciate the effort that we boys are making to do our ‘bit’ for the just and righteous cause in which we are all enlisted.

“Your promise to write us from time to time of the items of interest at home especially gratifying, for local news nowadays, possesses far more interest and diversion for us than does the doings and happenings of the remainder of the ‘great, wide, beautiful, wonderful world’.”

C. T. T.

July 10, 1918

“It makes one feel good to know that he is remembered back home, not only by his parents, but by his friends as well. You don’t know, you can’t know, just how much good you are doing and just how it makes us feel when stationed at a remote camp, where we know no one, to get a letter from friends at home, who are interested in us. It makes us feel as though nothing on earth could prevent us from winning this war—and we shall win.”

R. D. C.

June 21, 1918

“We leave this port the tenth of December and proceed nine hundred miles off this coast and meet President Wilson and his party, who are coming over to the Peace Conference on the George Washington, convoyed by the super-dreadnaught, Pennsylvania, and six destroyers.

“There are nine big dreadnaughts in our fleet lying here who will go out and convoy them to Brest, France.”

W. L. W.

December 8, 1918

WAR SERVICE STATION, Shawmut

WAR SERVICE COMMITTEE, Shawmut
G. C. Wagnon C. A. Singleterry J. T. Hollis Geo. W. Murphy
Mrs. Jack Plaut, ass’t sec’y J. R. Edwards Mrs. Mary M. Bugg, sec’y

RED CROSS WORK ROOM, Shawmut

RECEPTION ROOM, WAR SERVICE STATION, Shawmut

Committees

Committee Report

From Shawmut Red Cross

Junior Red Cross