France, July 14th, 1918
Dear Friend Ed:
I received your letter of May 14th yesterday. It certainly was a long time getting here. Hope you had a nice time on your vacation, suppose you visited Ford's factory while you were in Detroit.
Our Company celebrated the Fourth in great style. They went over the top and I guess they would be going yet, if they had not been stopped. They certainly did clean up the Fritzs' and captured quite a number of them. I saw a lot of the wounded Germans and some were in bad shape. I was not in it as I was held in reserve but I lost several good friends through it, one was killed just a half hour before the company left the trenches, he was one of the best fellows I have ever known. Believe me there was some noise while the fighting was going on. Hundreds of guns, large and small, were firing at the same time.
Some of the fellows had some narrow escapes. One was passing a woods and was walking with his body bent way over and a machine gun cut the haversack off his pack and some of the bullets cut his coat. Some fellows had shells drop right at their feet , but they failed to explode.
The fellows did great, considering that it was the first time they were in battle. One fellow came upon a machine gun before they could fire, he jumped on the gun and tried to knock it over, but when he saw he could not do it, he jumped back and threw a bomb at the gun crew and killed the Captain and all the men, he was shot through the leg himself. Some of the fellows were thrown up in the air by the explosion of shells and they would find themselves in a large shell hole, without a scratch. The boys will never forget this Fourth as long as they live.
Say, Ed. if our mothers could see the way we are living, thy would have a fit. We are living in our pup tents and we have dug into the ground, about 18 inches. It has been raining for about a week and every thing is wet and damp. When we get up in the morning we are as stiff as boards. We are not gettin as good eats as we did in the States. I have a lot more to tell you but cannot write about it here.
Every time I hear from Johnson, he always mentions how busy he is. How is it he is so busy when the rest of the plant is so slack?
What is the matter with the Sox this year? I see they are in sixth place now. The Cubs seem to be doing pretty well without Alexander. I wish I could see a good ball game as I have not seen one since we left Camp Logan.
Well, Ed. it is getting dark, so I will call this enough. Give my best wishes to your folks.
Your friend.
Theo
Notes from TLT
Theo is describing the Battle of Hamel. On the 4th of July 1918 two companies of the 131st Infantry Regiment took part in an attack on the village of Hamel, east of Amiens. They were under the leadership of Australian officers. Theo’s company, Company A, 132nd Regiment, was attached and held in reserve. This was the first time that any Americans fought alongside British or Australians. (Actually this was an unauthorized use of American troops. Pershing considered them not fully trained and authorized their use in defensive, but not offensive, operations. British commander-in-chief, Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig subsequently apologized and assured Pershing that the British would not use American troops without permission again. {Anne Cipriano, Editor, The United States in the First World War – An Encyclopedia, New York: Garland Publishing Company, 1995, pp 648, 649})
Theo wrote about this action to his friend, Ed. (This letter is typewritten. Since it is unlikely that Theo had access to a typewriter I speculate that Anna borrowed the letter from Ed and transcribed it. Incidentally, Ed is a family friend and brother in law of Henry Ford. Thus the reference to the visit to the Ford plant)
The incident about the soldier wiping out a machine gun nest is described in American Armies and Battlefields in Europe, p408. The soldier is identified as Corporal Thomas A. Pope. “His company was advancing when it was halted by hostile machine gun fire. Going forward alone he rushed the machine-gun nest, killed several of the crew with his bayonet, and, standing astride the gun, held off other members of the crew until reinforcements arrived and captured them. For this action Corporal Pope was awarded the Medal of Honor."
The British and French had been confident of the fighting abilities of the American regulars but they had no proof of the efficiency of other American troops, such as the National Guard divisions. But
“Hamel exercised an incalculable influence because it demonstrated in all American troops the British and French possessed allies upon whom they could depend, no matter how difficult the operation.” (Chicago Daily News, The Story of the Thirty Third Division Chicago: Reprinted from the Chicago Daily News.)
Finally, note that Theo was a lifelong Cub fan.
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