IN THEIR OWN WORDS ...

We were most anxious to get into battle and have some kind of a record before this armistice was signed.

Maj. James Van Fleet, 17th Machine Gun Battalion
Letter


October 11, 1918
Just think, old Jerry Boche but 500 yards from where I am writing ... We have given Fritz an awful tuning up, and he seems ready to pass off. He has asked for an armistice and he is getting it in the shape of [our shells] which are screeching over our heads and making him duck ...

I hope Wilson grants no armistice, but will demand unconditional surrender, and then talk peace. Otherwise, the only way we want to talk is with our guns.

Lt. Ken Gow, 27th Division
Letter


While up front our kitchen was always a few miles in the rear and grub had to be carried up by a ration detail, early in the morning and after dark, also our water. We always got one hot cooked meal a day, if the ration detail did not get shot up or killed, it was a mean job to carry rations when the "Boche" was shelling the roads with gas and high explosive shells many times we had to wear our masks and carry grub.

Pvt. F. Rueppel. 311th Infantry, 78th Division
Letter


"Hard tack, hard tack in the rain; better than nothing to eat, but not much." was heard along the line.

1Lt Edmund J. Lilly Jr., 17th Machine Gun Battalion
Letter

A LEGENDARY SOLDIER DESCRIBES THE LAST STAGES IN THE ARGONNE

Argonne Forest, France-- Well now, as we went on fighting our way through the thick forest of the Argonne woods, we could hear the cries of our boys who were getting shot, and oh my, we has to sleep by the dead and with the dead. . .

Continued below ...

THE DEATHS OF FOUR OF AMERICA'S SONS

Private Englehardt

Private Oswold Englehardt was killed on the reverse slope of Hill 269 on the afternoon of October 9th by a sniper. Englehardt and I and a couple of sergeants were in front of the company crawling toward the [enemy] ... As I was telling the men to keep off the trail he was shot ... The bullet struck [him] in the rump and went on up into his body. His eyelids fluttered a little and he was dead.

Reported by Major Dickinson


Lt. Pickering

The next we heard was that Lt. Pickering had practically recovered from his wound, was walking around and would soon return to the regiment. Then there was a long time when we heard nothing. Our regimental surgeon, Capt. Baker, wrote to the hospital where Lt. Pickering had been and in answer received a letter stating that he had passed away on October 15th from pneumonia following influenza and that he had been buried there at the hospital at Vittel, near Neufchateau, Department of Haute-Marne.

Staff Report, 91st Division


Cook Odus McFadden

... was gassed October 5, 1918. He was transferred to an S.O.S. Hospital October 10. Nineteen days later he recovered sufficiently to rejoin his company. On November 3, 1918, he was struck by a shell, while in action. His wound was so severe that he died before first aid could be given.

Chaplain's Report, 84th Division


Lt. Gow

October 16, 1918
Dear Friend,
I am commanding the company, Walter. Just think, I am the last officer left of five [of us who served together on the Mexican border]. It is an odd feeling to watch them go one by one until you are the left. It makes one feel as though his time is coming with the sureness of death ...

Lt. Ken Gow, 27th Division
(Lt. Gow was killed early the next morning leading his company in an attack.)

BUT THE END COMES SURPRISINGLY FAST

November 8, 1918

...the night of November 8 was indeed a wild one. It was on this night that the first report, or rather the false report, of the signing of the Armistice was received. Parades formed immediately: Flags appeared from every window and from all balconies. The cafes and restaurants were crowed to capacity. Everybody seemed happy. The next morning, however, the real facts were learned and the spiritsof the people somewhat damped.

Sgt. Albert Haas, 78th Division, In Vichy, France recovering from wounds
Diary

November 11, 1918: The AEF's Happiest Day

Again stern orders were given to roll our packs for a final drive. It was now twenty minutes to eleven, November 11th, 1918. We fell in line and marched onward.

We had had no official word yet that the armistice was to be signed. In fact we had heard so often about Germany's peace talk that we paid no attention to wild rumors.

Exactly at eleven o'clock, came the message from Marshal Foch's headquarters, the "Armistice was Signed." Instantaneously wild shrieks, shouts and yells of thousands and thousands of voices could be heard. The night had been a thing of horror! Daylight brought her joyful tidings to thousands of wearied fighters! Visions of home and dear ones, of transports homeward bound, waiting for the boys who answered the call of their country - the boys in khaki - the Yanks!

Pvt. Mathew Chopin, 356th Inf., 89th Div
Letter

As noon approached, we became conscious of an unusual quietness all around us. Firing of all kinds had almost entirely ceased. The Germans were not firing even a machine gun, though our artillery continued to send over a shell now and then. The Germans occupied the crest of the ridge along the river, and if they had had sufficient numbers, could easily have cleaned us up. After eleven o'clock, all firing ceased entirely, not a sound any where. Soon everyone was talking about it. No word had reached us yet.

A wounded fellow from our company was discovered, down near the river bank, where he had laid since before daylight. Getting a stretcher, McDermott and I went to him and dressed his wound. He was shot through the hip, and just about unconscious, as a result of his exposure to the cold. We wrapped him in a blanket, and laid him on the stretcher.

While we were getting ready to take our wounded man to the rear, a runner appeared' with the official news that an Armistice had been signed. Most everybody let out a few healthy yells, but I did not. For one reason, didn't feel much like yelling. I had some difficulty getting three more fellows to help me carry the stretcher. The one I did get had to stop every few minutes and rest. I kept urging the necessity of getting the fellow under medical care as soon as possible, for he was badly in need of attention. As we had to go back along the river bank to where we had crossed during the preceding night, I had a good opportunity to see just what we had done, and the hazardness of our undertaking.

Pvt. Clarence Richmond, 5th Marines, 2nd Division
Diary

FINALLY CAME NEWS of the Armistice. Somehow we could not believe it was true the war was actually over. Then, on Dec. 7, we saw a beautiful sight. Here came a passenger train flying U.S. flags. We climbed aboard. We were leaving German territory. I had been in a prison camp only 58 days, but felt as if I had been there 58 years

Pvt. Charles Dermody, 132nd Infantry; 33rd Division
Prisoner of War at Rostatt, Germany at time of Armistice
Letter

On November 11, the authorities deemed it advisable to keep all men off the streets and accordingly issued orders that all patients were to be confined to their quarters. Across the street from the Globe Hotel was a large bulletin board. About noon, a large printed poster was hung there which soon attracted eager and interested groups of people. After reading, they gave vent to their feelings in various ways. Some wept; some shouted for joy; some tossed their hats in the air and embraced their comrades. Little children and older men and women ran along the streets shouting 'Fini La Guerre.' In the evening a band appeared and judging from the general appearance of of the instruments, they had not been usd for some time. It was also quite evident that those playing them had not had a great deal of preliminary practice. The band passed in front of the hotel and we were able to recognize, by use of a little imagination, that they were trying to play The Star Spangled Banner. We appreciated the effort and applauded.

I thought of what had happened in the past two months, of what I had experienced in that short time and was swept by a peculiar and indescribable feeling. I was glad. Glad that the war was over, glad for those people who endured four years of misery and hardship, and who were now to know better conditions. I though of home and how the folks at home felt when they received the same good news; of other folks whose loved ones would not come home, and what the stopping of fighting meant to them. It was the end of the most terrible four years of warfare the civilized world had ever known.

Sgt. Albert Haas, 78th Division, In Vichy, France recovering from wounds
Diary

GREAT DAY !!! THE WAR HAS ENDED !!! PEACE HAS COME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
While we were eating mess, a French soldier came running by waving a flag and yelling "Finis la guerre!" Later, an official communication affirmed the great news. We are all overjoyed ...

Sgt. Edwin Gerth, 51st Artillery
Diary


On Monday at 11:30 am when the sound of cannon boomed the joyful news that the longed for peace had come ... The French seemed stunned at first--they couldn't in a moment throw off these four years of horror and grief. But [we in] the Red Cross turned out strong. [Outside, in the street], a drum appeared from somewhere ... and in a moment the crowd was singing the Marseillaise. So many people were crying that it was a little difficult. Then a procession formed ... If you could have seen me marching between a Tommy and a wounded Poilu, the latter helping me carry the flag with his good arm. A French boy scout carried the French Flag. The whole of Paris seemed to join in the parade. You never saw anything like it.

Elizabeth Ashe, American Red Cross
Memoir, INTIMATE LETTERS FROM FRANCE & EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARY


Somebody came out waving a white flag. An American officer stepped forward to greet the German. Then the German kids started coming down. We celebrated that day with the German soldiers. They came down and we mixed all up. Some of them could speak English and we could speak German. . . They were glad to see it over with, too.

Gene Lee, USMC, 51st Company, 2nd Division
Interviewed at age 104, 7 November 2003

PRESIDENT WILSON'S ARMISTICE MESSAGE TO THE NATION

After the Armistice, those of us not involved in the Occupation were encouraged to seek educational opportunities. I studied French at the Sorbonne. Later on, this training led to Douglas MacArthur appointing me to the faculty at West Point. It changed my life completely.

Lt. Ralph Smith, 4th Division
1989 Interview

SOME DOUGHBOYS WERE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF TROUBLE, HOWEVER

Ekaterinburg, Siberia, Saturday, July 12, 1919
The Siberian Army of 40,000 is retreating before an army of 37,000 Bolsheviki ... I saw one group of 500 Bolsheviki prisoners, and several groups of 15 and 20 being marched off to their destiny (execution)...

After breakfast, I went uptown and saw the home ... which was the prison of Czar Nicholas and his family, the barred window and the cross outside where the Czar worshipped, and the place where the Czar, his wife Alexandra, son and daughters were murdered.

Corporal Jesse Anderson, Guard Detail, 15th Red Cross Train
Diary


AMERICAN FORCES WOULD NOT RETURN FROM NORTHERN RUSSIA UNTIL AUGUST 1919 AND APRIL 1920 FROM SIBERIA

Hush little soldier,
Don't you cry,
We'll get orders
By and by.

Doughboys'doggerel


April 9, 1919
Embark[ed] at 10am after marching down under full pack. Greatest day I've spent in France ... Aboard the German [now U.S.,] ship Zeppelin.

Capt. Harry S. Truman, Batt. D, 35th Division
Diary

HOME

On ... Decoration Day, we sailed up the Delaware [River and then] landed at the Snyder Avenue dock at about noon. We marched to a waiting train which took us to Camp Dix ... On June 7th, my 27th birthday, I was discharged form the army and went to my home, at that time in Clarksboro, New Jersey.

Sgt. Maximilian Boll, 79th Division
Unpublished manuscript, FIRST JOURNEY

Dear Family,
I don't believe you can appreciate what a wonderful feeling it is to get back to the U.S. from France. It's beyond description...

Sgt. Sidney Adams, 91st Division
Unpublished manuscript, LETTERS TO MY FATHER, EPHRAIM D. ADAMS


After the war was over I returned to my old job with the General Hardware Company and I've been there ever since. In my home town people point me out to strangers and say, "You'd never believe that fellow had a hat full of medals, would you ?" And the strangers always say, no they never would.

Pvt. Harold Dresser, Company K
From the novel, COMPANY K by William March [Campbell]


THE LAST MAN

When I opened my stationery store in Richmond California, I began to meet many of my fellow veterans from France. We had heard of "Last Man" associations forming around the country so we decided to pass the word and form a group here in Contra Costa County. We used to meet fairly frequently - there were several dozen of us - and we chipped in and bought a bottle of cognac to be drunk by the last man to survive. I got to be the one to open the bottle, but the liquor didn't taste very good.

AEF veteran Al Furrer of the 4th Ammo Train, "Last Man" of Contra Costa County, California, died shortly after this 1989 interview.