USA > California > Alameda County > History of Alameda County, California. Volume I > Part 41
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Soon the great news arrived which set the world rejoicing-the war was over!
Had the war continued, Belgium would have been cleared of every German within a month. The importance of the service rendered in the Ypres-Lys offensive by the Ninety-first and Thirty-seventh Divi- sions, the only two American divisions that were honored by being sent into Belgium, is stated succinctly in the following "General Order" issued on December 11, 1918, by Major General De Goutte, command- ing the Sixth French Army in Flanders :
"In addressing the divisions of the United States Army who covered themselves with glory in the Château-Thierry offensive, I said that orders given by the commanding officers were always accomplished ir- respective of the difficulties arising thereby or the sacrifices to be made.
"I have found the same spirit of duty and discipline freely given in the Thirty-seventh and Ninety-first Division, U. S. A., which brings about valiant soldiers and victorious armies.
"On the heights between Lys and the Escaut (Scheldt) the enemy was to hold 'to the death.' The American troops belonging to these divisions, acting with the French Divisions of the Flanders Army
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Group, smashed them in October 31, 1918, and after hard fighting threw them back upon the Escaut.
"Then, in an operation of extraordinary daring, the American units crossed the flooded Escaut under the enemy fire and maintained them- selves on the opposite bank, notwithstanding counter-attacks.
"Glory to such troops and to such commanders. They have bravely contributed to the liberation of a part of Belgian territory and to the final victory.
"The great nation to which they belong can be proud of them."
The task was finished and Alameda County men scattered through- out the "Wild West Division" had kept faith with the folks at home. They and their fellows from other Western States had taken "the mes- sage of America" to which Mayor Davie of Oakland referred in his farewell to the first contingent, had carried it "to the van of the battle- fields," and were truly coming back "with the crown of victory."
The rest of November and the months of December and January was a period of anxious expectancy on the part of every officer and man for the arrival of the order that would send the division back to the States for demobilization. They had "paid the debt to France" and they had "set the Belgians free." As they sang,
"We want to go Home, We want to go Home, We don't want to parade any more, What's the use when there ain't any war; Take us over the sea, To the land of the brave and the free; Oh dear, why are we here? We want to go Home !"
Gradually the division made its way to the coast preparatory for em- barkation. The last stop was in the La Ferte Bernard area, where the troops were given their last inspection before departure for Saint Naz- aire. The Ninety-first sailed from Saint Nazaire as rapidly as trans- ports became available during the days between March 19 and April 6, 1919.
This time the trans-Atlantic voyage was without the U-boat peril. When, through the morning mist, the Western boys once more sighted "Miss Liberty" slightly to port, as one of them wrote, they realized that " 'The End of the Trail' was close, for the Lady at whose bidding
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they had journeyed to the 'far, fair land of France,' to maintain whose honor they had toiled, marched, starved and suffered, and whose favor they had flaunted in the Argonne Hell and through the cold dark watches of the Lys Scheldt, stood silently off the port bow and proudly welcomed them to 'God's country' and home."
Upon arrival in New York harbor the various units of the Ninety- first Division were sent either to Camp Merritt, N. J., Camp Mills or Camp Upton, New York. The personnel at that time included men from nearly every state in the union. War Department orders directed that the men be transferred to camps nearest the localities from which they had enlisted or been inducted into the service. Veterans were there- fore mustered out of the service from Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming ; Camp Lewis, Washington; Camp Kearny, California, or Presidio of San Francisco. Most of the Alameda County boys were discharged at the Presidio of San Francisco.
The following verses, written by Ad Schuster, a member of the staff of the Oakland Tribune, were published in that paper upon the day of the signing of the armistice :
"THE GOOSE-STEP FOUR
Down the scarred road that leads to Guise, Past the craters and blackened trees, Up to Foch and his army corps, Goose-stepping gravely, marched the four.
Through the files of the Yanks and French,
Past the Tommies' and Anzacs' trench,
Goose-stepping gravely, double-quick,
White flag nailed on a nine-foot stick.
Prince, I would give my good right eye, My house, my dog, or my love of pie,
To have seen that goose-step bunch go by, To have heard the shout that reached the sky.
Four fat Huns with a little white flag, Robbed of bluster, bereft of brag,
Marched toward Paris to good French tunes,
Their first advance in a score of moons.
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With this goose-step four and their glum parade The dreams of a kaiser are dead and laid; But they can't shake off the sin and crime And the shame that will last till the end of time.
Prince, I would give my Sunday pants, My hopes and my love of gay romance Could I have seen that solemn prance Of the goose-step four in Northern France."
The first two weeks in May, 1919, were days of constant welcom- ing of veterans of the Ninety-first Division who returned in small detachments and were greeted by the Oakland Red Cross and other or- ganizations before they took the ferry trip to San Francisco.
On May 1st the Red Cross canteen served a warm breakfast to a large number of the "Fighting First" Battalion of the Three Hundred and Sixteenth Engineers, men who penetrated farther than any others of the "Wild West Division" into the Argonne Forest. Officers and men had thrilling tales to relate of encounters with Germans in the depths of this great wood. .
These were days of great happiness for mothers, wives, and other relatives who eagerly awaited the arrival of their heroes to greet them with a hurried embrace before they proceeded to the Presidio where all local units were demobilized. The various organizations of the Ninety-first which were mustered out of the service at the Presidio, with the dates of their demobilization, were as follows:
363rd Infantry. May 2, 1919
348th Machine Gun Battalion May 3, 1919
Headquarters Troop and Detachment. May 5, 1919
316th T. H. and M. P. May 5, 1919
316th Engineers. May 6, 1919
316th Supply Trains. May 13, 1919
316th Ammunition Trains. May 14, 1919
In the Three Hundred and Sixteenth Engineers, Lynn A. Schloss of Berkeley and C. H. Prouty of Oakland were among those who came back wearing the Belgian Croix de Guerre for gallantry under fire. Walter Bruns of Oakland received the French Croix de Guerre for bravery at Verdun.
On May 6 East Bay relatives and friends welcomed the returning veterans of the San Francisco Masonic Ambulance Corps, commanded
MRS. G. H. MORRISON, AMERICAN RED CROSS. WELCOMING A RETURNING SOLDIER
OAKLAND RED CROSS WORKERS IN FRONT OF THE CANTEEN Mayor Davie in center. Mrs. Wallace M. Alexander, chairman of canteen service, stands second from the Mayor in the front row on the right, attired in dark uniform
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by Captain Raymond A. Babcock, M. C., of Oakland. In all, twenty- nine Alameda County men had served with this organization, the only volunteer unit in the Ninety-first Division, which had gone to France early in the war. Survivors of the Three Hundred and Sixteenth San- itary Train, in charge of Lieutenant-Colonel Stanley F. Berry, M. C., of Oakland also returned at this time.
Gradually veterans filtered through from the Eighth and other divisions, for men from Alameda County were scattered far and wide. By June 25, 1919, it was estimated that the county had given 16,902 men to the American forces, according to figures compiled by the State Committee on Readjustment. In the size of its contribution the county stood next to San Francisco, which was credited with 23,141. Los Angeles County led the state with 23,464.
THE 143RD FIELD ARTILLERY, U. S. A.
(First Field Artillery, C. N. G. Originally First Separate Battalion, C. N. G.)
Alameda County made another substantial contribution of men to the Fortieth Division of the National Army in the First Field Artillery, California National Guard, later designated as the One Hundred and Forty-third Field Artillery, U. S. A. When this organization entered the federal service in 1917, seven out of twelve of its units came from the East Bay. Like the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Infantry, it failed to see service as a unit at the front, and several of its batteries were among the first discharged troops to return to the East Bay upon the termination of the war, arriving shortly after New Year's day, 1919.
The One Hundred and Forty-third Field Artillery started as the First Separate Battalion, Field Artillery, California National Guard. As soon as the state militia started mobilizing, efforts were made to bring the battalion up to war strength. The organization was inducted into the service of the United States on June 23, 1917, taking station at the Presidio of San Francisco. There it was detailed for the instruc- tion with its personnel, material, and animals, of the field artillery sec- tions of the Officers' Training Camp. At this time the Battalion was composed of the following units, with Major Ralph J. Faneuf of Oak- land in command : Headquarters Detachment, Captain, F. W. Petersen, commanding; and Battery B, under command of Captain Harry F. Huber of Oakland. The non-East Bay units were Battery A, com- manded by Captain Jesse McComas of Los Angeles; Battery C, Cap- tain Edward Van Vranken of Stockton commanding, and the Sanitary
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Detachment, with Captain Edouard S. Loizeaux of Stockton in com- mand.
While detailed for duty at the Officers Training Camp both officers and men of the battalion underwent a rigorous training to fit them for active foreign service.
Upon intimation from the War Department that the quota of Field Artillery for the State of California should be two regiments, orders came from Sacramento directing that the First Separate Battalion be expanded into a regiment and that three additional batteries, a head- quarters company, and a supply company be created, and at the same time the sanitary detachment be enlarged. The three additional bat- teries were organized and were mustered and drafted into the federal service on August 5, 1917. The personnel of the headquarters com- pany and suppy company as well as of an augmented sanitary detach- ment having been provided, as well as the three new batteries, there was then created the First Regiment of Field Artillery, National Guard of California, under date of August 3, 1917.
The new regiment had the following commanding officers: Regi- mental Commander, Colonel Ralph J. Faneuf, Oakland; First Bat- talion, Major Harry F. Huber, Oakland; Second Battalion, Major Edward Van Vranken, Stockton; Headquarters Company, Captain Walter Luer, Los Angeles; Supply Company, Captain Edward E. Vicary, Oakland; Battery A, Captain Jesse McComas, Los Angeles; Battery B, Captain Howard W. Enefer, Oakland; Battery C, Cap- tain Otto E. Sandman, Stockton; Battery D, Captain J. Carl Schindler, San Diego; Battery E, Captain Walter J. Petersen, Oakland; Battery F, Captain Harry L. Powell, Los Angeles; and Sanitary Detachment, Major Edouard S. Loizeaux, Sacramento.
Orders were issued in September by the War Department changing the designation of the regiment from the First California to the One Hundred and Forty-third Regiment, United States Field Artillery. Early in October, 1917, the regiment concentrated at Camp Kearney with the Fortieth Division to begin intensive training preparatory to going overseas. It was assigned to the Sixty-fifth Field Artillery Brig. ade, under command of Brigadier General Leroy S. Lyons.
At Camp Kearney the One Hundred and Forty-third was the first regiment to be equipped with five batteries of three-inch material, to- gether with sufficient fire control equipment for this number of bat- teries and the proper number of animals for transportation. From the start both officers and men exhibited spirit and vigor in the intensive
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training to which they were subjected, and aside from participating in drill necessary for their own efficiency, they were of material assist- ance, because of their trained personnel and animals, in preparing the two other regiments of the brigade for service in the field. In May, 1918, the regiment was able to demonstrate the excellent condition of both personnel and animals by successfully making a march to Los Angeles and return, covering a distance of 389 miles in twelve days. They were actively engaged in training up to a few days before August 1, 1918, when the Fortieth Division entrained at Camp Kearney for the port of embarkation.
At Camp Mills, Long Island, where the One Hundred and Forty- third arrived on August 8th, officers and men were issued overseas equipment with the rest of the Fortieth. By the 16th, the regiment was ready to leave and on that date officers and men boarded the steamship Armagh for the trans-Atlantic passage. The transport crossed the submarine zone in safety, although there were several alarms. Colonel Faneuf, on his return to Oakland in 1919, described the conduct of the men on these occasions and in France in the following words:
"That many of us were not killed is remarkable. The only cas- ualties we had were six men injured, and their hurts were slight. Go- ing across we ran into our first submarine. It was shortly after mid- night. When the alarm was given, I got on deck as quickly as I could, after getting dressed.
"What struck me as remarkable was the morale of my men. As they piled up from below, there wasn't a murmur from them. They were calm, cool-as undismayed at the prospect of meeting death a few moments later as they are at this table. (The reference was to the banquet spread for the men on their return in the winter of 1919 at the Hotel Oakland). One of them started a rollicking little song. It wasn't a hymn. It wasn't a song about his past life. It was just one of those popular, slangy, lilting melodies that is infectious. Out on the deck in the cold hours of morning, with their life-preservers about them and a big moon overhead, they sang one song after another, while the gun crews frightened the U-boat away. It was a wonderful example of American morale to me. It showed that these boys, out on the lonely waters, far from home, could go to their death with a smile on their lips as easily as they could write that they'd soon be home.
"The same thing happened in the Irish channel, when we encoun- tered our second U-boat, which was also driven off. It was morale of this sort that won for the men in this brigade the compliment from the
BOYS OF THE 143D FIELD ARTILLERY RETURNING TO THE EAST BAY
31V1
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general commanding the field artillery over there. It was morale of that kind that put the finishing touches on our training."
The port of Liverpool was finally reached without mishap on Au- gust 28, 1918, and the regiment entrained there for Southampton on August 30. Another water trip across the English Channel and Sep- tember 1, 1918, found the San Francisco Bay boys at Le Havre. At this port they entrained for Poitiers, where they remained ten days, preparatory to leaving for the famous artillery training center in the Gironde, Camp le Souge, near Bordeaux. There, under simulated battle conditions, the men of the One Hundred and Forty-third familiarized themselves with the workings of the French 75-millimeter gun which wrought such havoc in the German ranks. The regiment completed its six weeks' course of training with great credit.
Shortly after orders had been received assigning the regiment to the First Army as Army Artillery, hopes of active service were dis- pelled by the signing of the armistice. The One Hundred and Forty- third was destined to leave the training area for home instead of for the front. The regiment began to embark at Bordeaux on December 8, 1918, in separate detachments as transport space became available, and upon arrival in the United States entrained for the Presidio of San Francisco.
WELCOME OF THE 143RD FIELD ARTILLERY
When Batteries A and B and the Headquarters Company of the One Hundred and Forty-third Field Artillery returned from overseas to the Bay region on January 3, 1919, two cities vied to do them honor. Indeed, during the entire period of happy home-comings, the East Bay enjoyed the advantage derived from the location of transcontinental railway terminals in Oakland. The "City that knows how" always had the first opportunity to welcome returning troops who came by land.
Colonel Ralph Faneuf, in command of the detachment, was the first to step from one of the two Western Pacific specials which brought the troops to First and Broadway, where a great crowd was assembled to meet them. The Colonel had scarcely alighted when three pairs of arms were about his neck, those of his wife, his daughter, Miss Lorraine Faneuf, and his mother, Mrs. N. E. Maddock. The same joyous greet- ings were being exchanged elsewhere as officers and men left the coaches and the Oakland Red Cross began serving them a hot break-
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fast. Mayor Davie tried to make a speech, but the noise was too great. He waited until the troops had paraded to the City Hall.
There, after the address of welcome by the Mayor, Mary Pickford, honorary colonel of the One Hundred and Forty-third regiment, a jaunty figure in her "O. D." uniform, greeted the men. She promised them all jobs as her leading men at Hollywood if they should experience difficulty in getting their former positions back.
Amid the plaudits of the crowd, the returned boys paraded past Mayor Davie and Miss Pickford, who used the mayor's automobile as a reviewing stand. They continued to the Hotel Oakland, where they were served a luncheon as guests of the City. H. C. Capwell, president of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, and Mrs. Thomas Potter of the Defenders' Club, made brief speeches of welcome. Colonel Faneuf, in responding for the regiment, paid high tribute to the courage and loyalty of his men.
After lunch the men marched to the Clay Street wharf and to a government tug, which conveyed them to San Francisco where they received an enthusiastic welcome by civic officials and the populace be- fore proceeding to the Presidio. Mayor Davie, Colonel Faneuf, Major Loizeaux, Captain Hawley, and Miss Pickford, her mother, Mrs. Char- lotte Pickford; Ben Zeidman and L. B. Williams of the War Camp Community Service rode across the Bay on a Creek route ferry, ar- riving a little in advance of the batteries.
On the San Francisco side the crowd was so dense that the recep- tion committee, headed by Supervisor Ralph McLeran, became sep- arated by the crowd and finally had to abandon all attempts at a formal greeting of the returning heroes. After a parade up Market Street led by the Colonel and Miss Pickford, the batteries were reviewed by the Mayor and Supervisors of San Francisco as they marched past the Civic Center on their way to the Presidio.
Detachments of the One Hundred and Forty-third continued to arrive until January 28, when the last contingent was demobilized. The official credit for service in the World war of this regiment is "Partici- pation in France from September 2, 1918, to November 11, 1918."
THE "CALIFORNIA GRIZZLIES" OR THE 144TH U. S. FIELD ARTILLERY
Although the One Hundred and Forty-fourth was not an Ala- meda County organization in the same sense as the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Field Artillery, the career of the "Grizzlies" deserves at
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least a brief mention in this history because several East Bay citizens were enrolled in this volunteer organization. Among them was Peter B. Kyne, short story writer and novelist, who at the time of his enlist- ment was a resident of Berkeley. He held the rank of Captain and commanded Battery A. Stewart Edward White, also a well known writer, was a major, in command of the Second Battalion. He also vol- unteered from Berkeley. A third officer from the college town was Captain Frank J. Solinsky, Jr., who rendered valuable service during the time he had charge of recruiting for the regiment in San Francisco. From Berkeley, also, went Otto Ortland, and from Albany, Peter J. McCullough and Thomas Ryan, and others from the county were found in the ranks.
Two years before the United States entered the war, Thornwell Mullally organized "The San Francisco Troop" as a regiment made up of business and professional men of the Bay region. When the war broke out, Mullally offered his regiment to the United States Govern- ment through Adjutant General J. J. Borree of the California National Guard. When the proffer of Mullally was finally accepted by the War Department but ten days remained in which the regiment had to be re- cruited and mustered in order to be accepted.
Recruiting areas were organized by Mullally throughout the State, and by August 3, 1917, one thousand two hundred select men had been obtained. The regiment entered the service the next day, and was mobilized at Tanforan Park, on the San Francisco peninsula, where training began immediately. The regiment was finally assigned to the Sixty-fifth Field Artillery under Brig .- Gen. Leroy S. Lyon in the For- tieth Division. On October 13, 1917, Thornwell Mullally was made colonel and continued in command. The "Grizzlies" will always be associated with Mullally just as the "Rough Riders" were with Theo- dore Roosevelt. The One Hundred and Forty-fourth was Mullally's own regiment and admired him to a man.
On October 23, 1917 the regiment entrained for Camp Kearney to join the rest of the "Sunshine" division. There, with other artillery outfits the "Grizzlies" drilled for months, familiarizing themselves with the theory and practice of modern gunnery. At last on August 1, 1918, the regiment entrained for the transcontinental journey which was the first leg of the overseas trip. Having arrived at Camp Mills on Long Island, August 8th, eight days later the regiment embarked at Hoboken on the troopship Oxfordshire, one of a convoy of eighteen ships.
The "Grizzlies" landed at Liverpool August 28, marched through
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that eity to the camp at "Knotty Asn," where they remained for two days before marching for Southampton. The boat which took them across the Channel was the Narragansett, a craft that had been built for passenger service on Long Island Sound between New York and Boston. The trip across the Channel was a rough one, but the Cali- fornia boys landed safely at Le Havre on September 1st.
The "Grizzlies" marched across northern France to San Andresse, Belgium's temporary capital, where they were within sound of the fir- ing of heavy guns. Next they went to Poitiers by train, where they arrived September 4th. From there they proceeded to the French town of Migne, five miles distant, where they were billeted. On September 16th they moved by train to Villenave-D'Ornon, near Bordeaux. A detachment was sent to the artillery camp at le Souge for training. On September 23, 1918, the regiment was sent to the training center at Clarmont-Ferrand for heavy artillery drill.
At Clarmont-Ferrand the "Grizzlies" trained under Brig .- Gen. S. M. Foote and became very proficient. They were to go to the front brigaded with his regiment. High records were scored by both officers and men. In the meantime Colonel Mullally, the lieutenant-colonel, the adjutant, and several other officers went to the front for observation and instruction. All was in readiness for the California regiment to go into action as a unit; its place was even assigned in the Argonne sec- tion under command of Gen. Hunter Liggett, when the armistice was signed.
The failure to see actual fighting as a unit was keenly disappointing to both officers and men. Some, however, had already gotten to the front as members of other organizations; some had been killed, and some wounded. In this respect the history of the "Grizzlies" was simi- lar to that of the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Infantry and the One Hundred and Forty-third Field Artillery. Nothing now remained save to await impatiently the orders to go home. They came within a little more than two weeks after the announcement of the armistice, and on November 29th the regiment entrained for Bordeaux. On December 22nd the "Grizzlies" looked their last upon France as the Matsonia steamed out of Bordeaux, bearing them and other troops to the States. The Matsonia docked at Hoboken on January 3, 1919.
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