USA > New York > The first hundred years : records and reminiscences of a century of Company I, Seventh Regiment, N.G.N.Y., 1838-1938 > Part 31
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If the President had permitted me to raise the four divisions, I am certain that they would have equalled this record, only on a hundredfold larger scale. They would have all been on the firing line before or shortly after the draft army had begun to assemble, and moreover they could have been indefinitely reinforced, so that they would have grown continually stronger and more efficient.
I regret from the standpoint of the country that your services were not utilized. But the country has every reason to be proud of the zeal, patriotism and businesslike efficiency with which you came forward.
With all good wishes,
Faithfully yours,
( Received June 22, 1917)
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
NEW CAPTAIN FOR SIXTH COMPANY
George P. Nichols, formerly First Lieutenant in Company I, has been ap- pointed to the Captaincy of Company F to fill the office which has been held by Captain Covell for a long time.
Captain Nichols has rendered long, faithful and efficient service in the Regi- ment for the past fifteen years. He enlisted in Company I on January 2, 1902; promoted Corporal November 2, 1906; Sergeant, May 21, 1909; First Sergeant, May 22, 1912, and was commissioned First Lieutenant of Company I on October 29, 1914.
Captain Nichols served with his former Company on the Border. Early in the present year and upon the completion of fifteen years' service in the Regi- ment, he tendered his resignation which was accepted. This course was followed with reluctance and because of pressure of business affairs only.
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Upon the outbreak of the present war, Captain Nichols felt impelled to offer his services, in any capacity, to the country. Colonel Fiske was so apprised, and the return to the Regiment of this popular and efficient officer was promptly effected.
-Gazette, August 1917 NOTE: On September 28, 1918, while Company F was in position in Thistle Trench in advance of the town of Ronssoy, Captain Nichols was severely wounded by a machine gun bullet which passed through his neck. His life hung in the balance for many days, but he finally recovered and returned to his Company after the Armistice. He was cited in orders, 27th Division. No veteran of the Ninth Company has been more active or worked harder than George Nichols to keep the spirit of old Toujours Pret alive and flour- ishing.
CALLED OUT CAMP WADSWORTH By Major C. Harold Floyd
War was declared in April 1917, but it was July before the country was ready to use the National Guard. In the meantime, we of the Guard had worked incessantly to bring our organizations up to war strength and train the large
Off for the Sunny South, September 1917
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THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS OF COMPANY I
number of new men who joined. In the 7th Regiment of New York, as in most of the other regiments, the old, experienced men were dropping out every day to go to the Officers' Training Camp at Plattsburg. Sergeants, Corporals and Privates went away, to come back in three months and visit us as commissioned officers, thereby making those who had not gone, somewhat dissatisfied with their lot.
As First Sergeant of Company I of the old 7th Regiment of New York, I spent practically the whole time in the Armory in New York City getting out the paper work, interviewing applicants for enlistment and filling out the blanks for those accepted.
Then came the President's Call on July 15, 1917, and we were mustered into Federal service. Less than a month later, on August 5, the whole National Guard of the country was drafted and we became Federal soldiers without State affiliations.
Everyone worked with a will to get recruits to fill the few remaining va- cancies and, at last, we were at full war strength, an old regiment, extremely proud of itself, proud of its record and anxious to add a new and glorious chapter to its long history. Then came an order to send six hundred men to the 69th Regiment to fill them to a new war strength. It was hard to part with those men. Many were in tears as they marched out of the Armory for the last time, leaving the Regiment that some had served in for years, and all honestly believed to be the finest organization in any army. And this in spite of the great admiration we all had for the 69th.
Recruiting was much harder after that, but we redoubled our efforts and finally filled the gaps. The men reported early every day, drilled in the morn- ing and afternoon in Central Park and in the evening, except for a small guard, were excused and allowed to go home.
In the meantime, the up-State regiments had moved to the city and gone into Camp at Van Cortlandt Park. One day, the whole New York Division marched down Fifth Avenue in a great farewell parade, through a long line of cheering relatives and friends. We had only two officers with us at the time and I, therefore, commanded the second half company and found it very tiresome with the frequent necessity for halting or marking time, due to delays ahead. Nevertheless, it was a very impressive and inspiring event and made you feel, if you never did before, that serving your country in war time was the most really worthwhile thing a man could do. A short distance back of us was the Sanitary Detachment with doctors and stretcher bearers. "Ah, here comes the sad part," said one sympathetic lady on the curb as she saw this detachment approaching. The sad ones were a bit uncertain whether they had · been complimented or insulted.
On September 11, after weeks of drilling and waiting, we marched down the Avenue again, but this time not to return until the Great War was over. We boarded Pullmans and tourist sleepers at Jersey City and started on the long ride to the training camp in South Carolina. It was a long, tiresome jour- ney, but with so many men together, something amusing was going on every
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Company I-First Platoon, 1917
First Row, left to right-Corp. Charles Schumacher, Corp. Raymond E. Gilson, Supply Sergt. Raymond Allen McMurray, 1st Lieut. Percy M. Hall, Sergt. Washington Irving Clayton, Corp. Charles I. Foster, Bugler Walter W. Downs. Second Row, left to right-Put. Garrett J. Hearns, Put. Paul I. McLeod, Put. Walter F. Volkert, Put. August Hirsch, Put. Gilman W. Williams, Joseph G. Sweeney, John F. Amory, Kenneth R. Pyatt.
Third Row, left to right-Corp. Harrison Benedict McCreary, Put. Prescott Erskine Barker, Pvt. William Ferguson, Put. Nathaniel H. Horner, Pvt. Nicholas Schultes, Put. Henry C. Fischer.
Top Row, left to right-Put. Philip Garey, Put. Charles W. Rowe, Put. Theodore H. Kunst, Douglas M. Grant, Put. Harold Kunkle, Mech. Harley V. De Vol, Put. Arthur L. Calkins.
minute, principally card games and the telling of thrilling tales which began with "When I was on the Border."
For once in my experience as an enlisted man, I was better off than the junior officers, for as senior non-com I took possession of the stateroom in the Company's car, while the Lieutenants occupied uppers in the officers' car. It was a great pleasure to see the envious way in which they looked in the door as they passed by on inspection trips and to listen to their stories of discomforts when they stopped in to chat for a while.
After travelling for two days we came to Spartanburg, S.C., and detrained in a field a few miles beyond the station. The Regiment was formed and we hiked over to what was to be our section of Camp Wadsworth. It was still very hot and the men from the North felt very uncomfortable with their thick clothes and heavy packs, but the fields of cotton, the little cabins and the queer Southern darkies working on the camp construction took all their attention.
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Company I-Second Platoon, 1917
First Row, left to right-Sergt. Frederick Ryerson Morris, Corp. Herbert C. Dillon, Corp. Alexander A. Kin, 1st Lieut. Percy M. Hall, 1st Sergt. Charles Harold Floyd, Mess-Sergt. Gerald N. Stanton, Corp. William T. Thomas, Bugler Lyle C. Ray.
Second Row, left to right-Sergt. Edward Henry Morris, Put. Dorian O. Rovaro, Put. Samuel A. Ritchie, Pet. Robert M. Walsh, Put. Harold T. Bryde, Put. Theodore T. Johnson, Part. Merritt D. Cutler, Put. Frank C. McMillan. Third Row, left to right-Put. Russell J. Pellington, Put. Francis M. Drake, Put. Jesse G. Knipshild, Put. Harry J. Christiansen, Put. John J. McBride, Pot. Benjamin T. McGill.
Top Row, left to right-Corp. Joseph L. Ginniff, Put. Eugene D. Morin, Put. Edward P. Rodenhurst, Put. Andrew Barr, Prt. Charles H. Walsh.
When we reached our section, we found fine large mess shacks at the head of each company street and good shower baths at the foot, but in between was a grove of small trees and underbrush. At least, that was the experience of the companies of the Third Battalion. Some of the other companies were more fortunate and drew open land. Some were less fortunate and drew a hollow, which, in wet weather, became a water course.
We set to work with a will and soon had a place cleared for the tents and the company street, leaving two rows of trees on each side for shade. It made a very attractive little street and we were rather proud of it after we had seen some of the others.
In a very few days we were settled and the regular military routine was running like clockwork. All around us were the other regiments of the 27th Division. At retreat, we could hear a great chorus of bugles fading away into the distance in every direction. So confusing were all these bugles that we frequently obeyed the wrong one. It was very discouraging to roll out of bed
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Company I-Third Platoon, 1917
First Row, left to right-Corp. Frederick H. Brown, Corp. Melvin P. Spalding, Sergt. Harry Oswald Clayberger, 2nd Lieut. Francis L. Gould, Sergt. John C. Freeman, Goulding K. Wight.
Second Row, left to right-Pvt. Dean Richmond, Put. Melvin D. Fulcher, Put. Ralph L. Crandell, Put. Charles R. Phillips, Put. James H. McInerny, Corp. Geo. W. Rowe, Put. Henry D. McGown.
Third Row, left to right-Mech. Stephen E. Parker, Put. Robert Beaver, Put. Eugene J. Leonard, Prt. Harry V. Borden, Jr., Put. Albert M. Usher, Put. Henry W. Everett.
Fourth Row, left to right-Put. Martin J. Schron, Put. Henry M. Sharkey, Put. Charles P. Gould, Put. Thomas F. Byrne, Put. Richard F. Wienn, Put. John W. Throckmorton.
at an unearthly hour in the morning and dress in a great rush and then find that you had gotten up with the next regiment whose watches were ten minutes fast.
One night, shortly after midnight, we were startled by fire call. It was the first time many of the men had heard it but by no means the last. Everyone fell in, though most of them did not know exactly what they ought to do and some had to be stopped as they were dashing out of the street in true civilian fire alarm style.
However, we were soon waiting orders in columns of squads at the head of the street, each squad carrying its water bucket and every man in place; but it was a sorry looking crowd, most of the men were half awake and in every conceivable garb from a barefooted private in B.V.D.'s to another fully dressed and with a large part of his equipment on. And then it turned out to
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------
Company I-Fourth Platoon, 1917
First Row, left to right-Sergt. Evan L. M. Holt, Corp. Percy O'Gorman, Corp. Lester J. Odone, Sergt. William M. Sperry, 2nd Lieut. Francis L. Gould, Sergt. Floyd Scott Neely, Jr., Corp. Charles R. Henriques, Corp. Earl Langstroth.
Second Row, left to right-Corp. Cedric E. Hungerford, Put. Arthur S. Davis, Put. Arthur Griffin Smith, Put. Albert H. Corrican, Put. William A. Leonard, Put. Harold W. Simmons.
Third Row, left to right-Pvt. Harold W. Gordon, Corp. Geo. Dexter Sin- sabaugh, Put. Clifford G. Loew, Put. George W. Winslow, Put. Martin Hoff- man Roberts, Put. Rolando L. Riviera, Put. Alvah Kittredge, Cook Harry A. Daniels.
Top Row, left to right-Put. Cassius C. Gross, Put. Edward P. Lyons, Put. Edward G. Hughes, Put. Roy Wiedersen, Put. Charles F. Smith, Put. Harold Carl Maxon, Edwin F. Rice.
be a tent fire in another regiment, so there was nothing to do but crawl back into our blankets.
Camp Wadsworth was about four miles from the small city of Spartanburg and thither the doughboy went whenever he could get off. Wednesday and Saturday afternoons and all of Sunday were holidays, and on those days the camp was deserted and Spartanburg correspondingly filled with soldiers. It was an attractive little city and its inhabitants showed the greatest hospitality to the soldiers from the North. We were immediately welcomed everywhere, in- vited to dine and made to feel at home.
When we were still new and without friends in Spartanburg, it was not at all unusual to be stopped on the street by some lady or gentleman whom we had never seen before and urged to come home for dinner. It never required
Spartanburg, 1917 Company I, 7th Regiment, N.Y. Infantry, before the reorganization
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much urging and friendships thus made continued during the time we were at the Camp. As a result, one of our Sergeants was soon engaged and several other men became objects of suspicion.
The great trouble with Spartanburg was the difficulty in getting there from camp. Many went by the P. & N., a cross between a railroad and a trolley line which came within about a mile and a quarter of camp. Most, however, preferred the taxi, at a quarter a head; and as the crowd at the beginning and end of a holiday was far in excess of the taxi accommodations, it required strength, skill and diplomacy to get a seat and then you could always count on having at least one man on your lap.
Regimental orders allowed us to be away afternoons and evenings of holi- days, but required us to be present at retreat at 4:30 p.m. The result was that just before Retreat a line of taxis would dash up to the head of the street, quickly disgorge as many khaki clad figures as could be squeezed into them, who would rush to their places in line, answer "Here" or more likely "Yeow" and, five minutes later, tumble into the same taxis for the return trip to town.
But life was not all pleasure by any means. Drills went on day in and day out-close-order drills, bayonet training, the throwing of grenades, gas defense instruction and the various formations evolved during this war. Every day, lines of men stood in the company street and signalled back and forth with semaphore and wigwag flags.
My tent was equipped with a buzzer, connected with the Captain's tent in one direction, and the Third and Fourth Platoon Sergeants' tent in the other. We sometimes found that in trying to say uncomplimentary things to each other we had called up the Captain by mistake. He was a good sport, however, and always signalled back that he was unable to read the message; where- upon, it would be repeated in a very different form.
A NEW NUMERAL
In October, the 27th Division was reorganized. Men were transferred from one regiment to another to bring companies from a maximum of 150 to 250 men and the organizations were renumbered. We became the 107th U.S. In- fantry, and to increase our size to the required strength, nearly all of the men and many of the officers of the 1st New York Infantry were transferred to us. The 1st was a fine old regiment with a long and honorable history, of which its members were extremely proud. To be broken up and transferred to a strange regiment was very discouraging and the men of the 1st came to us with very bitter feelings.
Later, other regiments were broken up and more men came to us until the men of the old 7th were far outnumbered by the new arrivals. Seventh men also began to feel that they were in a strange organization, although in reality it was the same regiment.
Before the transfers took effect, the 7th went out on the drill ground and had a farewell parade and review, the last parade under our old name. Then we prepared to give the new men a rousing welcome. When they arrived, they
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marched by a cheering throng of 7th men and that night we gave them a special dinner. They were a splendid body of men from the large towns of up-State New York and from the country districts, but it was a long time before the different groups were entirely amalgamated and training was delayed in conse- quence.
In the various companies, men of all types and all classes lived together on the most intimate terms and it did them all no end of good. They learned to know and appreciate each other and chum together in a way that would have been impossible in any other place than the Army. One young private of wealthy parents served in the same company with another who had been a gardener in his family.
In place of Captain Hayes who had commanded old "I" Company for sev- eral years in the Armory and on the Border and made it the best drilled com- pany in the Regiment, we now had Captain Egan from the 1st New York. He was a big, good-natured man with an excellent knowledge of the game and, what counted very much with us, a habit of looking after his men's welfare.
We were soon organized as Company I of the 107th Infantry, and then training for France began in deadly earnest. An English Sergeant Major gave instruction in the setting-up exercises used in the British Army; "physical jerks". the men called them, and for strict discipline and quick thinking they were the best training we ever had. In the middle of some exercise, Sergeant Major Tector would snap out the command, "Get off the earth." The whole class would make a wild dash for trees, tents, boxes or anything else that would hold their bodies free of the ground. They fairly tumbled over each other to get there too, because the last man was very likely to be sent running at full speed to the head of the street and back while the others rested. Some man at a distance would laugh at the performance; whereupon, the class would be ordered to go get him. By the time he had been hauled and dragged back by a whole platoon, he was through laughing at the physical jerks forever after. The men enjoyed the work, especially the ready wit of the Sergeant Major and the sarcastic remarks with which he called attention to the slackers and lazy ones.
As a result of this, and of the fear of having to do a special stunt because of being behind in obeying a sudden, unexpected command, the men were keenly alert every second and therefore all got the fullest possible benefit from the exercises. They were a great contrast to the old Regular Army drill in which most of the men were half asleep while they mechanically waved their arms and legs about.
We also had tours of duty in practice trenches, built like those in France. These trenches were very realistic. There was a front line, support line, and reserve line with numerous connecting trenches. Deep dugouts and shallow dugouts, listening posts and gas alarms. We entered at night, walking for what seemed like miles up one trench, down another, winding about until all idea of direction and position was lost to everyone but the guides and officers who had been there before. Nothing in sight but red earth all around and a long
Percy Hall and Frank Gould, Spartanburg, 1917
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narrow streak of dark sky overhead. Each platoon was led to its position and took over from the platoon which had been holding that part of the line.
Then began long hours of watchfulness; inspecting officers were everywhere in the darkness trying to catch a sentry off his guard. One listening post, way out in No Man's land, was surprised and its garrison of two men captured and marched away by the inspectors, without the front line immediately be- hind being any the wiser. Then there were gas officers walking about with real gas bombs which they threw in among any unsuspecting groups found in a trench. These bombs would not kill but they were guaranteed to nauseate any man who took a whiff of the gas. They had the desired effect of teach- ing the men to put on their masks quickly and at a moment's warning.
Our first tour of the trenches was for twenty-four hours only, but it seemed like a year and made us wonder how a man could live through the long periods of trench life in France. The next tour was for forty-eight hours and was accompanied by a rainstorm which could never be equalled outside of the South. The deep dugouts filled with water and many of the trenches were knee deep with a soft pudding-like mud and Oh! so cold. Everyone was soaked and shivering. I slept most of the night sitting on a fire step with my feet in six inches of water.
Company I never gives up, even in practice, so we stuck it out. At the pre- arranged hour, we marched out, so coated in red mud from head to foot that every regiment, whose camp we passed on the trip home, turned out in force to watch us go by and make humorous remarks on our appearance. But we were proud of ourselves nevertheless, and were soon ready for the next adventure.
On two occasions we marched twenty-four miles to the rifle range at Glassy Rock up in the mountains of South Carolina. In this beautiful little spot, we shot at a long line of targets: first close-up, then at greater and greater dis- tances, until the bulls-eye appeared a mere speck across the field. Some made wonderful scores, some would prefer to have their scores forgotten, but the great majority qualified as marksmen or better. On the last trip to the range, we went over the top following a real barrage sent over by our own artillery. It was a very realistic affair, the possibility, so we thought, of a defective shell falling short and in our midst, lending plenty of excitement.
During the winter, we shovelled snow, suffered from the cold and stole fire- wood. A nearby deserted farmhouse entirely disappeared one night, after which there was less complaining over the wood shortage for a few days.
Christmas was a great occasion. Company funds were drawn on heavily to augment the army rations and Mess Sergeant Jerry Stanton, whose date of first enlistment was beyond the memory of anyone in the Company, worked night and day, with a large force of kitchen police, to prepare the feast. The mess shack was decked in holly and anything else that the woods afforded, as were also most of the tents.
Late in the evening of the night before Christmas, I heard music just out- side my tent. Three Italian members of the Company and one American, with a banjo and mandolin and four good voices, were serenading us with
Camp Wadsworth, Spartanburg, S.C., the winter of 1917-1918
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"Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht." We called them in and for the next hour, sang every song we knew and many that we did not.
Christmas itself was a great success. About half the nien had boxes from home filled with eatables, warm clothing and many things useful and otherwise. The other half shared in everything. Then a course dinner with army food conspicuous by its absence was served.
Many of the men were allowed to go home for Christmas and many more for New Year's. This was a great boon, for ordinarily a furlough for home was only given for exceptional reasons, such as sickness or death in the family or to get married. No one got married more than once, but the mortality in the soldiers' families reached tremendous proportions as the months wore on, until the police up in New York State were requested to investigate some of the cases. A few mothers and sisters were quite shocked to learn that they were desperately ill, when they thought themselves quite well.
During the winter months, some of the men bought lumber and boarded in the sides of their tents to keep out the cold. I constructed a very comfortable little château, having a door with a window in it, a long shelf along one side for a desk and a real stove bought in Spartanburg and paid for by a sub- scription taken up among the three residents of the tent.
Still, the canvas roof let in cold air faster than the stove could take care of it and we had a hard time on the cold nights. The good people of Spartanburg assured us that never before had they seen such cold weather and we answered that we never had either.
The officers built small houses the shape of a tent and laid out paths in front of them, making a very attractive little settlement. Back of the officers' quarters we built an auditorium large enough to hold the whole Regiment, the lumber being given by a friend. For a long time, we were undecided whether to call this the Chapel, the Movie Theatre, or the Entertainment Hall. We finally compromised on Regimental Building, and it became the gathering place for those who liked to read, write love letters or escape details. Movies and other entertainments amused the men in the evenings.
Way back of the Regimental Building over near Division Headquarters was a place where we had to post a sentry on the days when it was our turn to supply the exterior guard. This sentry was instructed to watch over a lumber pile and see that no one took anything from it without proper authority. The sentry, coming off duty, came to me one day and complained that he did not see how he could guard a lumber pile when there was none in sight. I went over to the companies who had had this guard for several days previous and verified the instructions. Also, found that they had not seen the lumber either. Then I complained at the Adjutant's office. It turned out that the lumber had been removed a week or more previously; but as the guard order re- mained the same, a sentry had been on duty night and day, watching over the spot where the boards had lain. The complaint was passed along and in due course the sentry was relieved.
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