The Project Gutenberg Etext I WAS THERE by C. Leroy Baldridge

These Sketches were made during a year's service as a camion driver with the French army in the Chemin-des-Dames sector and a year's service with the A.E.F. as an infantry private on special duty with "The Stars and Stripes," the official A.E.F. newspaper. Most of them were drawn at odd minutes during the French push of 1917 near Fort Malmaison, at loading parks and along the roadside while on truck convoy, and while on special permission to draw and paint with the French army given me by the Grand Quartier Gènèral during the time I was stationed at Soissons. The rest were drawn on American fronts from the Argonne to Belgium as my duties took me from one offensive to another.

It has been a keen regret to me that my artistic skill has been so unequal to these opportunites. The sketches do not sufficiently show war for the stupid horror I know it to be.

I hope, however, they may serve as a record of doughboy types, of the people he lived with in France, with whom he suffered and by whose side he fought.

Many appeared first in "The Stars and Stripes," "Leslie's Weekly", and "Scribner's Magazine", through the courtesy of whose editors I am now enabled to reprint them.

I WAS THERE

Seicheprey.
America's old home sector—first trenches entirely under their own command.

THE LINE

Form a line!

Get in line!

From the time that I enlisted

And since Jerry armististed

I've been standing, kidding, cussing,

I've been waiting, fuming, fussing,

In a line.

I have stood in line in mud and slime and sleet,

With the dirty water oozing from my feet,

I have soaked and slid and slipped,

While my tacky slicker dripped,

And I wondered what they'd hand me out to eat.

Get in line!

For supplies and for inspections,

With the dust in four directions,

For a chance to scrub the dirt off,

In the winter with my shirt off,

In a line.

I have sweated in an August training camp,

That would make a prohibition town look damp,

Underneath my dinky cap

While the sun burned off my map

And I waited for some gold-fish (and a cramp!).

Get in line!

For rice, pay-day, pills, and ration,

For corned-willy, army fashion,

In Hoboken, in the trenches,

In a station with the Frenchies,

In a line.

I've been standing, freezing, sweating,

Pushing, shoving, wheezing, fretting,

And I won't be soon forgetting

Though I don't say I'm regretting

That I stood there, with my buddies,

In a line.

The lids we wear—
Dungeree style...
The tin derby with winter knitted helmet...
Old "rain-in-the-face"...
The charming red-and-white effect...
Fuzzy-wuzzy...
The tank helmet...
Some managed to hang on to the old reliable...
With the French army...
With its canvas overcoat on

The Ration Detail—a job which no one relishes. Each day the other fellow's artillery tries to lay down a fire which will keep these boys from getting back. They travel to where their supply company has dumped the food from mule carts—the point nearest front where creaking wheels may go. The man in the center is carrying a string of French loaves, the round black variety common before we got our own bakeries started.

The Headquarters Company of the Reserve Mallet taking its bath at Chavigny Farm. The tub is a tin-lined cigarette box used by the Y.M.C.A. Water is heated in the old farm fire-place.

“PREPARE FOR ACTION”

I ran into Johnny Redlegs

A-sitting on his bus,

And I asked him why the devil

He dropped half his shells on us.

He just smiles and puffs his corn-cob,

As peaceful as a Persian,

And, "Buddy," says he, "you can't blame me,

You gotta blame dispersion."

I says to Johnny Redlegs,

"If I didn't have nine lives

Your barrage would have got me

With those lousy seventy-fives."

He grins and puffs his corn-cob,

And then he winks, reflective,

And, "Buddy," says he, "you can't blame me

If you pass your damn objective."

I says to Johnny Redlegs

(Just kidding him, you know),

"The trouble with your popgun is

She pops too gol-darned slow."

Then Redlegs drops his corn-cob

And spits on both his han's,

And, "Buddy," says he, "you can kid with me

And the whole damned Field Artilleree,

But there'll be a dud where you used to be

If you kid my swasont-cans!"

...and the doughboy who tries to keep just the right distance from the covering barrage fire.

American and French field artillery gun crews camped together in a wood near Charsoney. The canvas overhead keeps the fire from being observed by aeroplanes at night.

The linesman at the front—Same old job with just a couple percent more risk than usual

Former refugee—now mascot and the only man in the outfit who likes monkey meat

RELIEF

z-z-z-z-z-z-Z-Z-Z-Z-e-e-e-e-E-E-------------b Boom!

There's another!

God, this pack is heavy.

Glad I pinched the extra willy,

Guess I'll need it.

And the sweater, too,

out there.

-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-Z-Z-Z-Z-E-E-E-EEEEEE- - b Boom!

There's another!

Jesse! that was a close one.

Wonder if......good Christ! Where's Charlie?

Got him clean. God curse those Jerries!

I'll get even,—p'raps—

out there.

z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-Z-Z-Z-E-E-E-E-e-e----------b Boom!

There's another!

Over!

Well, if one has my name on it

Then the guv'ment pays ten thousand.

What's the use? I couldn't spend it.

Leastways not—

out there.

z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-Z-Z-Z-Z-e-e-e-e-e-E-E-E-E----b Boom!

There's another.

Where'd I put that plug of Climax?

Oh, I s'pose somebody swiped it.

Gee, I never thought that Charlie...

Glad I ain't out on the wire.

This damn trench is dark—ouch! Damn it,

Wait a minute.... Hell, I'm coming,

I can't run in this equipment.

What the hell's the rush to get—

out there?

The Relief—
Coming up to the front lines through the communication trenches, which extend a kilometer or so. On these occasions little love is lost on "beautiful moonlight nights"

Madam Framary who sewed on my buttons and who transformed miserable French army rations into marvelous dishes

Erasme, the youngest son who starts his three years of compulsory training in the fall 1919

The eldest son. After his three years of training he was called to war. He has never come back.

Awaiting the signal to attack. The sergeant is ready to blow the whistle for his squad to follow him out through a path in the barbed wire. In another minute they will advance close behind the bursting shells of a heavy barrage which, lifting, will leave them face to face with German machine guns.

The "Territorial"—the name given French poilu between the ages of 34 and 40. Vailly—1917

The Paris Bus—many kilometers from the Place de l'Opèra—used for transporting troops, horses, and fresh meat to the front

FATIGUE

You can see 'em in the movies,

With the sunlight on their guns,

You can read in all the papers

Of the charge that licked the Huns,

You can read of "khaki heroes"

And of "gleaming bayonet,"

But there's one thing that the writers

And the artist all forget:

That's me!

On K.P.

In my suit of denim blue

I am thinking—not of you—

But the places where I'd like the top to be!

On the posters in the windows,

In the monthly magazine,

Are the boys in leather leggins

Such as Pershing's never seen;

Oh, they love to paint 'em pretty,

All dressed up and fit to kiss,—

Ain't it funny there's a picture

That they always seem to miss?

Loading coal!

In my little shimmy-shirt,

Eyes and mouth full up with dirt—

(In the next war I'll be living at the Pole.)

R. Lufbery—Sketched at the Lafayette Escadrille field near Longpont as the aviator was getting into his "union suit" preparatory to flying in a Chemin-des-Dames engagement

Base port stevedores—Volunteers from the South who work eight hours a day for seven days a week
Bordeaux/18

A 26th Division Wagon Train moving toward Chasseurs wood—1918
Mule and Prairie Schooner in a country made desert by war

American being taught by Frenchman to drive truck so that the latter may return to his farm.
France/17

Moving up—
over a corduroy road hastily laid down by a gérre (engineer) regiment in war-wasted land. The piece of wall on the right is all that remains of a French village of five hundred inhabitants

Senegalaise types / voluneers used for the attack and for labor on roads Vailly 1917

Too old to serve in the active army and so assigned to the more unromatic, uninteresting but vital work of loading camions, tending horses, or building and repairing roads back of the lines. It has been said that the first battle of Verdun was won by the camion service. This is the kind of man who made that victory possible

A wounded Chasseur and "Fritz" who has the next cot. They get the same treatment and neither seems to mind the proximity

THAT QUIET SECTOR

Four hours off—two hours on—

And not a thing to do but think,

And watch the mud and twisted wire

And never let your peepers blink.

Two hours on—four hours off—

The dug-out's slimy as the trench;

It stinks of leather, men, and smoke,—

You wake up dopey from the stench.

Four hours off—two hours on—

Back on the same old trick again,

The same old noth'n' to do at all

From yesterday till God knows when.

On post or not it's just the same,

The waiting is what gets your goat

And makes you want to chuck the game

Or risk a trench-knife in your throat.

Two hours on—four hours off—

I s'pose our job is not so hard,—

I s'pose sometime we're going to quit—

* * * * *

The ghosts we leave—do they stand guard?

The water wagon filled with red-hot coffee going to the ration dump via shell fire and not losing any time about it— Outside Belleau wood—June '18

After the German Retreat
Cleaning up old quarry used by Fritz as a barracks—Chemin-des-Dames

"Marraines" (Godmothers) who kept their poilu godsons at the front in good cheer with letters and packages from home, and who took their Yank cousins to their hearts in the same kindly spirit

No one knows where the poilu slang word "Pinard" came from, but everyone knows what it means. It's half way between water and red wine, with the kick mostly in the taste. It is served as an army ration. The poilu's canteen is always full of it.

One of the Agent-de-ville = M.P. teams of Paris patrolling the boulevard. They have authority over both Yank and poilu.
Paris 1919

Caught by a star shell at a listening post, and attempting to "freeze" like a rabbit with the hunter upon him, to look as much like a lump of mud as possible until the glare dies down.

French Colonial Types: White, black, and half-way
From Algeria
A Zouave
From Morocco

"P.Gs" (prisonneurs de la guerre) who are keeping in physical trim by lumber work in a forest where once the kings of France took their morning walks
Croix St. Ouen 1918

A Yank going on leave having a midnight cup of "vin rouge" in a compartment of a Permissionnares' Train—with a soixante-quinze gunner, a sailor from a submarine, a chasseur, an aviation sergeant, and several infantrymen. For the next ten days of "permission" these men can forget war.
En route—Nice/1918

The barber shop quartette on the trip home— (no ocean rules about noise this time).

Forty feet underground in an old stone quarry formerly used by the Germans as barracks. Near Fort Malmaux

This is the cellar of her home. The house above no longer exists. For her living she washes clothes for the soldiers. Her daughter with two young children is a prisoner in Belgium. A third grandchild lives in this cave

Poulet
"Lui"
This one has won three army citations
"la soupe"
Liaison dog to carry messages
Red Cross dog
Jack - a yank volunteer

French dogs loaned by private families and trained by the army for use as Red Cross aids, sentinels, and message carriers. Intelligence the only qualification—any breed goes

(Arabic script) An African Mohommedan, An Indo-Chinese Annamite and a prisoner who all crack rocks nine hours a day for the roads of France

SALVAGE

I'll be stepping wide in these russet shoes!

Leather putts beside, honest I can't lose!

Guess the guy that had 'em left 'em in a hurry!

What the hell, he's S.O.L.

I should worry.

"That's my second razor!"

"Then gimme the blades."

"Whatcha got there, Buddy?"

"Pair of tailor-mades!"

I'll be walking on air! Yes...they was the top's!

He won't need 'em out there—if a big one drops.

"Going to keep that sweater?"

"No, look at the dirt."

"Put that on you, Buddy,

"You'll have to read your shirt!"

If I get that leave I can use 'em to dance.

Well, I should grieve,—he had his chance.

"Nothing doing! Beat it!"

"Saw that luger first!"

"Ten francs says I want it."

"Done. I'll cure this thirst."

Brand-new russet shoes, I'll be stepping high!

Someone's got to lose, glad I ain't the guy.

If I'm going to use 'em, guess I'll have to hurry,

The next H.E. may be meant for me—

I should worry!

Lafayette Escadrille Men—
Marcus who helps keep the big planes in order
Pilot
Observer
Loupont France Nov—'17

Both under Arms—The "pepère" of the '89 class and the Marie-Louise of the last call—Soissons France/17

Cafè group of poilus listening to an American popular song for the first time, sung by Yanks of The American Field Service

Vaux—the town American artillery blew off the map (together with the German inhabitants)

Dugouts built for German officers near Soissons used by them in 1915. Decked out with cement and mosaic floors, tile roofs and stained glass windows. Used by our troops in 1918.

"Once upon a time—"
Before leaving France 750,000 doughboys contributed enough to support 3,444 French war orphans for one year, and the "Stars and Stripes" newspaper left nearly three million francs toward their education

Annamites—French colonial troops from Indo-China. These paid Colonials were used as attacking troops, as laborers on roads and as drivers of light trucks.

EQUIPMENT C

The Loot is getting wabbly,

With his dinky little pack,—

He can hear the sergeant cussing

But he doesn't dare look back.

But we ain't saying nothing

Since we got the order "route,"

Too dog-dead for even wond'ring

If we'll ever hear "fall out."

My damn rifle and my helmet

Keep on getting in the way,

And my brains are numb and dopey

Try'n' to cuss and try'n' to pray.

My throat's as dry as sawdust

And my right arm's gone to sleep,

And the pack-strap on my shoulder

Cuts a slit two inches deep.

I just lift one foot and shove it

And it hits most any place,

Then I lift and shove the other

T'keep from falling on my face.

If the guide should change the cadence

I'll be damned if I could stop;

If you pushed me with a feather—

Well, I'd just curl up and drop.

And I know damn well there's stragglers

That'll ride up on a truck—

Guess if you ain't born a quitter,

You're just simply outa luck.

I suppose we'll keep on going—

Huh? The Skipper's faced about?

Halt!...I'm dreaming...in the daisies...

You don't need...to say..."fall out!"

In an old Roman cellar two floors underground where civilians went during air raids as bombing planes passed over on their way to Compiegne, Paris, and interior cities. This "cave" was considered absolutely safe, but in October 1918 was completed demolished by one "155" shell.

Mess and distribution of mail at the "non-com" school for the M.T.C. at Longpont

Americans quartered in the old abbey St. John de Vine of Soissons in the spring of '18

Jean, who comes around at mess time for "confiture Americaine," and who has learned how to say "chewing gum" and "cigarette."

The town of Cuffies (sur Aisne) held by the Germans till 1916, when the old inhabitants began moving back in; they were assisted in re-establishing their life there by the American Red Cross

The site of the home of Madam Crépin where the Red Cross set up a barrack cottage for her.

Cut off from rations for three days in the wood—with one can of tomatoes for both food and drink—

Madelon of the village, who washed our clothes—and who still has some of those we had to leave when we pulled out of the sector in the middle of the night

Troops coming home from Marseilles go by way of Africa and stop to coal at Oran. Here the doughboy rests the French Arab soldier with whom He fought side by side at Soissons.

Reading the Draft Covenant for the League of Nations—Paris. (President Wilson, center, reads, other figures labelled as) General Bliss, Colonel House, Secretary Lansing, M. Clemenceau, Mr. Balfour

Outpost at Molsberg, Germany, an ancient castle which stands just on the edge of the American occupied area and the Neutral Zone.

NOVEMBER ELEVENTH

We stood up and we didn't say a word,

It felt just like when you have dropped your pack

After a hike, and straightened out your back

And seem just twice as light as any bird.

We stood up straight and, God! but it was good!

When you have crouched like that for months, to stand

Straight up and look right out toward No-Man's-Land

And feel the way you never thought you could.

We saw the trenches on the other side

And Jerry, too, not making any fuss,

But prob'ly stupid-happy, just like us.

Nobody shot and no one tried to hide.

If you had listened then I guess you'd heard

A sort of sigh from everybody there,

But all we did was stand and stare and stare,

Just stare and stand and never say a word.

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "I WAS THERE" WITH THE YANKS ON THE WESTERN FRONT, 1917-1919 ***

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The Project Gutenberg eBook of "I was there" with the Yanks on the western front, 1917-1919

“I WAS THERE”

WITH THE YANKS
ON THE WESTERN FRONT
1917-1919

BY

C. LEROY BALDRIDGE
PVT. A. E. F.

TOGETHER WITH VERSES
BY
HILMAR R. BAUKHAGE
PVT. A. E. F.

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1919

Copyright, 1919
by
C. LEROY BALDRIDGE

TO OUR MOTHERS

I WAS THERE

THE LINE

“PREPARE FOR ACTION”

FATIGUE

POILU

THAT QUIET SECTOR

SALVAGE

EQUIPMENT C

"MADELON"

NOVEMBER ELEVENTH

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

The Project Gutenberg eBook of "I was there" with the Yanks on the western front, 1917-1919

“I WAS THERE”

WITH THE YANKS ON THE WESTERN FRONT 1917-1919

BY

C. LEROY BALDRIDGE PVT. A. E. F.

TOGETHER WITH VERSES BY HILMAR R. BAUKHAGE PVT. A. E. F.

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON The Knickerbocker Press 1919

Copyright, 1919byC. LEROY BALDRIDGE

TO OUR MOTHERS

I WAS THERE

THE LINE

“PREPARE FOR ACTION”

FATIGUE

POILU

THAT QUIET SECTOR

SALVAGE

EQUIPMENT C

"MADELON"

NOVEMBER ELEVENTH

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

WITH THE YANKS
ON THE WESTERN FRONT
1917-1919

C. LEROY BALDRIDGE
PVT. A. E. F.

TOGETHER WITH VERSES
BY
HILMAR R. BAUKHAGE
PVT. A. E. F.

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1919

Copyright, 1919
by
C. LEROY BALDRIDGE