USA > Illinois > Fayette County > Fayette County in the World War > Part 11
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Among the women's organizations of the county it would have been useless to search for one that was not in some way, as an organization, furthering the work of the country in war. By furthering the work of the Red Cross, the Library Association, War Saving Stamps and Liberty Loan drives and, in fact in practically every war activity where the hand of woman could add in any way to the comfort of our boys in the service or further the country's cause at home, there the women's clubs, lodges and other organizations were to be found working with a will.
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CHAPTER XI.
THE EPIDEMIC OF SPANISH INFLUENZA
While the whole world was suffering from the awful scourge of war, and when the carnage was at its height; as if this were not enough to try the whole courage of mankind, a world-wide epidemic of a dis- ease known as Spanish Influenza added to the suffer- ings of humanity. With modern methods of sanitation and with the advanced knowledge in medicine it was believed that war could never again produce a great epidemic of any deadly disease.
Smallpox, typhoid fever, typhus and the other great dreaded diseases of war had been conquered. But it was found to the dismay of inhabitants of all parts of the world that disease in all its forms had not been conquered. With a mortality much greater than that of the war, great as that was, Spanish Influenza swept over the whole world. The rate of death was highest in the period beginning October 1918, and end- ing May 1919.
Although the death rate ran high in almost every community in America, it was highest in the army train camps. The records of the surgeon general's of- fice show that from September 1918 to July 1919, there were 350,981 cases of influenza reported among troops in the United States. The strength of command during the period of epdemic was in April one million five hun- dred thousand men. During the same period there were reported 1,191 deaths from influenza, 22,256 deaths from pneumonia and 156 deaths from enpyema. Nearly all the deaths resulted from influenza or pneu- monia, which so frequently accompanied it. It cannot be stated just what part of the total number of deaths reported from pneumonia and enpyema were due pri- marily to influenza. In the same period there were reported among troops in France 11,519 deaths from pneumona, 203 deaths from influenza, 108 deaths from enpyema. Here again the greater part of the deaths charged to pneumonia were due primarily to influenza ; the average strength of the American Expeditionary
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Forces during this period being little less than one and one-half million men.
While accurate statistics are not at hand showing the loss in Fayette County we may approximate the loss by observing conditions in other places and in the partial statistics that are to be had locally. In the worst period in the epidemic there were 3,206 deaths in St. Louis, 12,400 in Chicago and 27,362 in New York. The epidemic reached its height in Vandalia the lat- ter part of November 1918. In the city of Vandalia alone there were but 21 cases reported to Mayor Brooks prior to October 21st. After that date the num- ber of cases increased almost daily until November 17th, when 23 new cases were reported. If the same ratio of cases as to population existed throughout the county it would indicate that there were 3000 cases at this time in the county.
Some of the country districts in the county suf- fered more severely than did the towns, and often- times there were scarcely enough well in a community to care for the sick and to bury the dead. More sol- diers from Fayette County died from influenza and pneumonia than from wounds received in battle.
The following autumn the disease again broke out in a severe form and continued with more or less se- verity throughout the winter; those communities in the county which had escaped with but few cases the prev- ious winter suffered most and the death rate was high- est in these. .
During the epidemic's worst stage, October and November 1918, it was necessary to cancel several draft calls as the conditions at the training camps were such that new contingents could not be received. It was not an uncommon thing for one of Fayette Coun- ty's boys who had left home in perfect health to fall a victim to influenza within a few days after reaching camp.
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CHAPTER XII.
SOLDIER LETTERS AND WAR EXPERIENCES
A Voice From the Furnace of Fire.
Letter to Judge Wm. M. Farmer from Major J. J. Bullngton, printed in Vandalia Union, September 12, 1918.
France, July 27, 1918.
Dear Judge :-
I have been intending to write to you for some time but the necessity of giving attention to other things has prevented the fulfillment of my promise. Today being Sunday, and church services having been con- cluded, I have a few minutes at my disposal.
I only wish I could talk with you as it is impos- sible to write adequately or fully of the situation here or my individual experiences. The rules of censorship forbid the mention of many things that would be of interest to you. Perhaps it will take even longer to give you a clear and broad vision, but having seen some real service and witnessed some actual fighting, I now have an idea of how it has been and probably will be done.
I am close enough to the font to hear the constant boom of the cannons and on frequent occasions I could see the constant flashes of the guns as they were re- flected on the walls of my tent. The enemy's guns could reach or fire beyond me but there is so much in between to occupy his attention that he has not tried it, although shells have fallen frequently within 1500 ยท yards of our stopping place.
My bed is about two feet below the surface of the ground for the purpose of nullifying the effect of side bursts of the shells. One cannot have protection from above as scarcely anything will stop them. Only a deep dugout will suffice and that is impracticable for many. One of the difficulties is the plane. Oftentimes I have lain between my blankets while a Hun plane
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hovered over head and dropped his bombs nearby. Last night was the worst we have had. Fully thirty bombs were dropped within a radius of five hundred yards and this morning the gaping holes in the ground testify to their power. Fortunately not a person was hit al- though fragments went into some of the tents and one piece pierced through a rain coat and cut through an oil can wihin six inches of a man's head. Some would call it miraculous, others would say that it was one of the freaks of fortune, while others still attribute it to Providential watchfulness.
It is certainly an uncanny feeling to lie there and imagine the plane is immediately above you. There is nothing you can do to help your situation as it is more dangerous to get out than to stay. Regardless of where it is you think it is immediately overhead as you begin to make yourself as small as possible. Suddenly you hear a s-w-i-s-s, a dull thud and a boom. It has struck fifty or five hundred yards away and you wonder whom it struck and when and where the next one will follow. Ofttimes the guns get busy, shrapnel is flying every- where, the searchlights are darting here and there in the sky and shortly the hum of the plane grows weaker and weaker and finally you can hear it no more. Then you give a sigh of relief, utter a curse and a prayer and turn over and go to sleep.
I have been in the front lines several times and in No Man's Land occasionally. Last Tuesday I returned from a tour of duty there and am now waiting another turn. I could look over the parapet and see the Boche trenches from two to five hundred yards away. It is not safe to do too much peeping but you just can't resist the temptation to look every so often. The mo- ment of greatest torture to me was when I was out in front and suddenly a flare went up before I could get down. We had been instructed to stand still. I for- got my instructions but I stood still. I could not have moved if I had wanted to. It seemed to me that every Hun was looking at me and was merely prolonging my agony before pulling the trigger; that the machine guns were ready and even the cannons were opening their gaping mouths ready to grind me to pieces, and that darned flare burned on, how long I do not know,
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but it was not less than a score of years. Suddenly, but gradually it went out and down I went. Zip, bang! went the machine gun bullets as they swept over me. But it was no doubt a part of the traverse and perhaps not one had seen me. I felt of myself to see if I had assumed my normal size and sneaked back into our lines. I may forget everything else but I will never forget that incident and yet ever so many go through the same experiences night after night.
Another thrilling experience is the shelling. You can't get used to that. It is so tremendous and power- ful that all you can do is to wait and hope. You can hear them coming, and to a certain extent, gauge them, but the ones that come close are the most difficult to guess. While walking along a trench a few days ago a shell struck about fifty feet in front of me. I heard it coming and crouched against the wall of the trench un- der a small overhead bridge that happened to be near.
When I raised up a few minutes later I was cov- ered with dirt and fragments of shell were lying all around. I picked one of them up but let go of it at once as it was scorching hot. So far I have escaped in- jury but have had some close calls. It is the same with everyone near the front. Those in the rear have noth- ing but the plane to fear and that decreases as the dis- tance increases. Only once have I been in a real bar- rage and that was one laid down by our troops preced- ing a raid. It was tremendous and magnificent. I knew it was coming and watched the hands of my watch as they slowly moved to the fatal point. On the tick of the second it seemed that the earth and the heav- ens had met. Cannons boomed, shells shrieked, ma- chine guns cracked, flares went up and on the distant hillside you could see the shells dropping like the edge of an approaching shower when the sun is shining. Slowly it moved up the hillside and behind it went the straight and silent forms of our men as they walked in the rear of the moving shower of steel. With the rifles at high port, the bayonets glistening in the light created by the fury of the onslaught, steadily and firmly the unbroken line moved on. When the trenches were reached you could see them jump into them and across them and then it was that men were transformed into
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demons. With bullet, bayonet and grenade the enemy was driven out and the retreating forms disappeared in the darkness. The unfortunate ones lay strewn on the ground, the "kamerad" ofttimes coming too late. For thirty-five minutes it continued and on they went. The guns from the other side answered. It was interest- ing to hear the shells go over. It was more exciting to hear the shells come back. Soon a rocket in the air glist- ening like a silver star announced that the objective had been reached. Slowly the return was made, the line reforming and returning with the same precision as they went. Wounded friend and foe were gathered up where the faithful stretcher bearer had not had time to go, and soon thereafter the startled and broken voice of the prisoners was giving information that was laying the foundation for another attack swiftly to follow. The next morning the few still bodies lying in the rear, the bandaged arms and limping boys bore testimony of the part they had taken in the struggle for the liberty of humanity. Monuments of barke in the green of peaceful cemeteries proclaim no greater heroes than the little white crosses beneath the broken tree on the hillside. No tongue or pen can pay greater tribute than to say, "He went over the top."
This life is not without its pleasures as well as hardships. It is nerve-racking at times. I do not won- der that many men are not able to stand it long. A philosophy that sustains whatever befalls, is necessary. The element of chance enters largely into your fortune. You can be careful but that does not protect you al- ways. It is no place for the timid or cowardly. Your enthusiasm for your country and the cause makes you forget consequences and you fairly itch to get hold of a Hun. To do that you will endure hunger, fatigue and discomfort. You will stand in muddy trenches if necessary, cut your way through wire entanglements, face every instrument of death that the ingenuity of mankind has been able to invent and perfect, in order to strike the' one blow that is your contribution to the force that is destined to destroy Germanism.
We are going to win. No one doubts it. It may take longer than we think. We may have temporary defeats and temporary successes but the tide has
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turned. Our army is a massive machine requiring all parts to act in harmony and just as soon as it functions properly nothing can stop it. You may lose patience but you must not lose faith. The toll may be heavy but in the end it will be worth the price. Our line of re- inforcements extends back into every community in our land and if each one does his part the conquest will be complete. Failure to contribute is but to prolong the struggle. At some future time I will write you more about myself personally. I am in good health and have not lost a minute from my battalion. The only portions of France I have seen are those over which I have marched and operated. I have lost weight but not enough to cause me to worry. The only vacation I have had was four days in the front lines with other troops, where I had no responsibility but my own safety. I am waiting until this war is over and then will rest for a week.
I trust you will remember me to my friends and tell them I am doing my bit, just like over a million other fellows are doing. I am glad I can do it. If the boys over there knew what the boys over here are doing they would have no hesitancy in coming over to help us finish.
I will be pleased to hear from you and while I know you are busy I will appreciate a line. You know a letter from just anyone will be welcome.
With best wishes to yourself and family, I am Sincerely yours, JOHN J. BULLINGTON.
Extract From Letter of Maj. Bullington Written at La- ter Date to Mrs. Bullington.
Over two weeks ago we came to this section and stopped for a rest in a small village that was quite enjoyable. While there I wrote four letters to Edna, and since I know she cannot keep a letter any better than a secret I presume you know about our stay there. Last week we came here and perhaps we will be here until we move again. That is very definite information but it is all I know and since it will not give aid, information or com- fort to the enemy I feel justified in passing it to you. I am well situated, protected from the enemy so long as I stay inside the
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dug-out, and am also protected from the drizzling rain that has been falling since our coming in two nights ago. Of course there are times when I must go about my duties and then I am more or less exposed but it is not nearly so bad as in former sectors.
This is perhaps the most historic spot of the war. I wish I might be permitted to describe it to you, but even that would not be satisfactory because words cannot describe what is here. How- ever facile the pen, however fluent the words, however versatile the mind, one cannot make another understand what it is like. One must be a part of the great force and live the life of a soldier for a period to understand it. Even then there are limitations. You must feel it and to do that you must see the barren hills and valleys, the deadened, splintered stumps of trees, the battered villages, the lines of trenches here and there over the hillsides, the wire entanglements, the myriad shell holes and the many little crosses that mark the spot where only a portion of the innumer-" able dead lie beneath the sod, the penalty paid by one army, the sacrifice made by another. Nearby is a ravine, where I am told thirty thousand bodies were gathered and covered up, the harvest of a small sector during a battle that continued many days. The Bloody Angle at Gettysburg pales into insignificance when com- pared with Dead Man's Trench and The Hill of Death. Almost within the range of natural vision it is estimated a million men have been killed.
Looking across the barren hill tops during the day, one can see no signs of life, no indications of either friend or foe, but should the call come, two armies would appear as if by magic, and a struggle would ensue that would perhaps add thousands to the already innumerable dead. Such is war, such is this war at least, and such is this place, where I sit in a sheltered hole and by the dim light of a candle write to you, the stillness of the night broken by the shriek of a shell as it passes over to levy its toll, the darkness of the moonless night broken only by the flare, that slowly ascending, lights up No Man's Land to disclose creeping forms advancing to capture or kill.
Sometimes on a cloudless night I look up at the stars and wonder if they are the same stars that look down upon peaceful, happy and quiet homes in OUR land so far away. When one remembers the carnage, the bloodshed, the agony, the horror of it all, and realizes that the cup is not yet full, he cries out almost in despair, "O God how long must it continue?"
I have no news to write to you. I can't tell you about our neighbors as we are not on speaking terms. I use the word
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"neighbors" advisably as it is self-explanatory of our relations. I haven't seen anyone you know for a month. I can't tell you any war news as you get it as quickly and more promptly than I, only that I can say that I have never yet known the newspapers here to print untruths about the battles. I know that we are licking the stuffin out of them and that is almost news enough. We are doing our best and I know you are proud of us. The people back home are doing their best and you cannot imagine how proud we are of them. Just just keep on over there and we will keep on over here. Sometime it will be over. I hope it will be sooner than all of us expect. I am playing a very small part but am trying to do my duty in every respect.
A Private in Texas Camp.
Camp Logan, Houston, Texas. October 26, 1917.
The Vandalia Union,
Editor Union :---
Two weeks ago today Company I set foot on Texas soil, and ever since we have been going some from first call until retreat. They have started in on us just as though we had never drilled a day in our life before we came here. All drills and movements are given to us just as they did when we first started into drilling on the streets of Vandalia.
We will soon have about 100 of the drafted men from Camp Grant, Rockford, Ill., assigned to this Company, so it will bring us up to the real war strength of 250 men each. Some of them have arrived and have been assigned to Company A.
I see by the Illinois papers that you are having some winter weather at present. We can't feel the effect of it in the least; all the change in the weather that we can notice was a most welcome rain last night and believe me it did rain some too, the dust was so deep though, that about all it could do was to settle it. The sun came out just as hot as ever today, just like an Illinois summer day. Had a Texas sand storm on Thursday. Every time that we had mess we would get away with about a peck of this foreign soil.
Major Bullington's wife and two children, Captain Easter- day's mother and Lieut. Bullington's wife were in camp today for a visit. They also reviewed the Regimental parade of the entire 130th U. S. Infantry.
Several members of Company I have been transferred to other departments of this regiment: Chas. Scott to the Supply
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Company; Fred Pruitt, W. R. Bell and Glen Goodson to Head- quarters Company. Charles Snerly has been appointed Company Clerk. He now ranks as a Corporal.
The ground around here is very level, no hills big enough to speak of, none of them are as big as the one near the new ceme- tery in Vandalia.
Ted Oliver was stung on one of his thumbs by some kind of a Texas flying bug. He was taken to the hospital but soon re- turned to the ranks with the stung member painted with iodine.
Sergt. Schert had a birthday one day this week. He says he received so many cards, that he don't think he will get them all answered before we start for France.
The Southern Pacific Railroad has a soldier special which started last Wednesday night. Leaves Camp Logan at 7:00 P. M. and returns at 11:00 P. M. The fare one way is 10c. The auto- mobiles charge 15c to get to Houston and as much as they can get returning.
Wednesday was Liberty Loan Day in Texas. The soldiers all had a holiday, that is after the big parade in Houston. The 129th, 130th and the 8th Illinois (colored) marched from the Camp into Houston, paraded the main section of the city, re- turning via street cars and the Southern Pacific Railroad.
There is no illness to speak of among the members of Com- pany I. All seem very well contented so far.
Jevous remercie beaucoup, ROBERT L. WADE. Co. I, 130th U. S. Inft.
Dr. Mark Greer Writes From England.
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Chatham, England, Nov. 22, 1917.
Vandalia Union,
Vandalia, Ill.
Dear Sir :-
I am taking the opportunity of giving you a little news from England. I guess you are hearing from all the boys who left Van- dalia and vicinity to enter the service. I hope they are all getting along all right and I would sure enjoy seeing them and having a good evening in getting their side of the game as well as telling them some of the interesting parts of my short career in the army. As yet, the only news I have received from home is an edition of the Vandalia Union printed October 4th. My mail seems to have been lost in some way as I should have received a
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few letters by this time. The fish out in the Atlantic might have gotten some of it. Anyway I enjoyed the Union and hope to get more.
As to how I am getting along at Fort Pitt, I do not have any trouble in getting enough work to do. I have charge of two large wards of twenty-five beds each. Both are surgical wards. Most of the cases we get in are cases of infected wounds.
The gun shot wounds are terribly infectious and rather hard to treat. I have one fellow with about fifty wounds caused by small pieces of shrapnel ranging in size from a pin head to as large as one's hand. He is also minus one leg. In spite of all this he is very cheerful, seems to always have a smile and will undoubtedly get well. His son who has been fighting in France was over to see him, having been given a leave of a few days. They sure were a happy pair. All the wounded boys are a won- derful happy lot and always appreciate any thing you do for them. As soon as they are able to be moved after their operation they are sent out to voluntary aid detachments where they stay until fit to be discharged or returned to light or general service. The beds are always full as they come in as fast as the beds are emp- tied.
Our staff here consists of five American men and ten Eng- lish. Three of our boys are awaiting orders for France, as they have been here two months; as a rule they are being sent over after six weeks training in England. One of the boys soon to go is Lieut. Hayes, of Decatur, Illinois. Most of the English men have seen service. One was a prisoner for a year and a half in Germany, being captured on the Somme front. Another was gassed, one had trench fever, another came home from Gallipoli, with malaria. As soon as they are found fit they will be sent back into active field service. This is pretty warm initiation as the boys wrote back and told us.
I do not know how long we will be with the British army. We are loaned to them. They are very much in need of medical men so we might be kept with them for the duration of the war. I hope to get with the United States boys when they get over. It would be much more satisfactory to all of us.
I hope the people are waking up over there to the fact that we are really in a great and terrible war, that it will mean many sacrifices and that the end is far away. When I left America it seemed to be the general opinion that the war would be over in a few months and that our boys would never see much of the war over here. Unless something miraculous takes place the ones
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in training now and quite a few more will have to come over. The situation in the East looks pretty bad. From our side the battle must be decided on the Western front with the French, English and Americans and only after some very hard fighting.
The living is rather expensive here. Food is rather scarce. A half pound of sugar is the allowance per capita here. Coal is about ten dollars per ton in England and reported seventy dollars in Paris and one hundred dollars per ton in Italy. Wales has plenty of coal but it is hard to get men to mine it. Tea and coffee are very high and good butter is not to be found. Mutton is the cheapest and most favorite meat over here.
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