TRANSCRIBED FROM THE MALVERN TIMES JOURNAL FEBRUARY 13, 1919 P. 4
Simur, France, Jan. 1, 1919.
My Dear Father:
I will write you the only letter I have had time to write this New Year’s Day. It has been a very busy one for me; had two invitations out to dinner. Could not accept either. You asked me to tell you something about the work, etc., I have seen and helped to do since I have been over here. The first war surgery I helped do was up in Flandres with the British, in June. One day there were 400 wounded come through our hospital. Some of them had slight wounds, while many had their feet, legs and a portion of their thighs blown off by shrapnel; while others would get a piece of shrapnel at upper part of thigh and would split their muscular tissue, and all to the bone, probably two-thirds the entire length of limb. Of course, in these cases if death ensued it was usually caused by loss of blood before they reached the aid post. Some would get their ears cut off by shell, while it would take out one eye and leave the other, and again it might cut off their nose. This was all caused by shrapnel. Bullet wounds were not usually serious, unless multiple, or where they would strike the chest, abdomen or bone, in which event they usually shattered the latter very badly, although I have seen where they would pass through bone doing practically no harm other than leaving a hole the size of the projectile.
The next big push I was connected with was the St. Mihiel drive, but during actual drive there were not so many killed or wounded, but after our objective was gained our division, the 78th held a sector where the Huns were on one side of the woods and we were on the other. Of course they had the advantage of us by having occupied this post for four years, and they also had good observation, and immediately found any concentration of troops and would shell us. In some cases they would shoot at a single man with small artillery. The first man killed in the division was killed in my organization, and one evening they were shelling and made a direct hit and killed and wounded fifteen men with one shell, so all that were not dead we picked up and started to evacuate by ambulance. A lieutenant that was helping get them off first, as loaded, heard a shell coming. Some stood still and were not hurt, but the lieutenant ran behind a tree and a piece of the shell hit him in the back of the neck, severing his spinal column, which caused instant death; also three of the original wounded men on ambulance were killed. Such things as this are hourly occurrences. The major handed his orderly some papers to deliver somewhere, and a shell came over tearing the orderly’s head off his shoulders, but did not hurt us, and we were not ten feet away. We held this sector about one month, and our casualties in the division were over 3,000, not saying anything of the dead. Now we were relieved here, and marched day and night for three days, when we were picked up by trucks, in which we rode for three hours, landing in the forest of the Argonne, and after resting for a short time in the mud and water, we took over a sector from the 42nd division which was poorly outlined to our division. The night was so dark it was absolutely necessary for our men to hold their hands on each other’s shoulders to guide us to the proper place and keep contact at all, but all was completed before daybreak, although we had many casualties from gas during the night. The enemy’s strong point in our sector was Grand Pre and Bois de Loges; the latter was taken twice by our troop, but they had to give it up on account of gas and machine gun fire.
By November 1st some of our infantry companies, although they had received some replacements, were down to 60 and 65 to a company, and a company is 250 men when at full strength. Why, in one instance, there was a group of 20 men went over to try take Grand Pre. They got so far O. K. When the Huns opened up their machine guns they killed all but two of the men and they, disguising themselves, stayed on the spot until they killed all of the Huns that were working the machine guns, and when we found them next day they were asked, “What are you doing here?” The answer came back, pointing to the dead: “You see what they did---and we were determined to get revenge.” There were numerous cases of such bravery shown by our men.
On the morning of November 1st our big drive started, and our troops went over the top about daybreak. Our division had the most difficult sector, on account of Grand Pre and Bois de Loges, and it was the most depleted division also. While we had some difficulty reducing the above strong points, they did so on the morning of the second day, when they went forward with great speed for a distance of 30 kilometers. Then, as our troops entered the town of Binelle, the enemy artillery opened up and killed several of our officers and men---also many horses---as well as tearing to pieces many automobiles, but our troops continued to advance by road and field. The railways were all blown to pieces with dynamite before the Boches retreated, and the roads were mined, and some had exploded, tearing up the roads at their most important points for 500 or 600 yards and to the depth of 8 or 10 feet, where the mines were. In one instance I saw where a tank of ours had hit a mine and it was torn in half, and the driver’s intestines, brains, etc., were strewn everywhere on the ground and bushes. Our sick and wounded in this drive, saying nothing of the dead, were 6,500. It was in this drive I saw most every kind of operative case imaginable. The above is just a mere sketch of what I have seen and been through with since I left home, while many, many of my very best friends are not left living to tell these things and many of my over sea detachment were killed, and I might say that two of my men were the first to receive the D. S. C. in our division. I shall not say anything more at present, but hope to be home in the near future, when I can tell you something, and tell you how our men had to live during this time.
Your loving son,
Capt. Morgan C. Berry,
M. C., Division Surgeon’s Office, 78th Division, A. E. F., via New York.
NOTES: Dr. Berry was born on April 7, 1990 in Malvern, Arkansas and died on January 6, 1970 ant Little Rock, Arkansas. He is buried in the Ouachita Cemetery at Donaldson, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as a Colonel in the Medical Corps in both World War I and II.
TRANSCRIBED BY KAREN PITTMAN
Simur, France, Jan. 1, 1919.
My Dear Father:
I will write you the only letter I have had time to write this New Year’s Day. It has been a very busy one for me; had two invitations out to dinner. Could not accept either. You asked me to tell you something about the work, etc., I have seen and helped to do since I have been over here. The first war surgery I helped do was up in Flandres with the British, in June. One day there were 400 wounded come through our hospital. Some of them had slight wounds, while many had their feet, legs and a portion of their thighs blown off by shrapnel; while others would get a piece of shrapnel at upper part of thigh and would split their muscular tissue, and all to the bone, probably two-thirds the entire length of limb. Of course, in these cases if death ensued it was usually caused by loss of blood before they reached the aid post. Some would get their ears cut off by shell, while it would take out one eye and leave the other, and again it might cut off their nose. This was all caused by shrapnel. Bullet wounds were not usually serious, unless multiple, or where they would strike the chest, abdomen or bone, in which event they usually shattered the latter very badly, although I have seen where they would pass through bone doing practically no harm other than leaving a hole the size of the projectile.
The next big push I was connected with was the St. Mihiel drive, but during actual drive there were not so many killed or wounded, but after our objective was gained our division, the 78th held a sector where the Huns were on one side of the woods and we were on the other. Of course they had the advantage of us by having occupied this post for four years, and they also had good observation, and immediately found any concentration of troops and would shell us. In some cases they would shoot at a single man with small artillery. The first man killed in the division was killed in my organization, and one evening they were shelling and made a direct hit and killed and wounded fifteen men with one shell, so all that were not dead we picked up and started to evacuate by ambulance. A lieutenant that was helping get them off first, as loaded, heard a shell coming. Some stood still and were not hurt, but the lieutenant ran behind a tree and a piece of the shell hit him in the back of the neck, severing his spinal column, which caused instant death; also three of the original wounded men on ambulance were killed. Such things as this are hourly occurrences. The major handed his orderly some papers to deliver somewhere, and a shell came over tearing the orderly’s head off his shoulders, but did not hurt us, and we were not ten feet away. We held this sector about one month, and our casualties in the division were over 3,000, not saying anything of the dead. Now we were relieved here, and marched day and night for three days, when we were picked up by trucks, in which we rode for three hours, landing in the forest of the Argonne, and after resting for a short time in the mud and water, we took over a sector from the 42nd division which was poorly outlined to our division. The night was so dark it was absolutely necessary for our men to hold their hands on each other’s shoulders to guide us to the proper place and keep contact at all, but all was completed before daybreak, although we had many casualties from gas during the night. The enemy’s strong point in our sector was Grand Pre and Bois de Loges; the latter was taken twice by our troop, but they had to give it up on account of gas and machine gun fire.
By November 1st some of our infantry companies, although they had received some replacements, were down to 60 and 65 to a company, and a company is 250 men when at full strength. Why, in one instance, there was a group of 20 men went over to try take Grand Pre. They got so far O. K. When the Huns opened up their machine guns they killed all but two of the men and they, disguising themselves, stayed on the spot until they killed all of the Huns that were working the machine guns, and when we found them next day they were asked, “What are you doing here?” The answer came back, pointing to the dead: “You see what they did---and we were determined to get revenge.” There were numerous cases of such bravery shown by our men.
On the morning of November 1st our big drive started, and our troops went over the top about daybreak. Our division had the most difficult sector, on account of Grand Pre and Bois de Loges, and it was the most depleted division also. While we had some difficulty reducing the above strong points, they did so on the morning of the second day, when they went forward with great speed for a distance of 30 kilometers. Then, as our troops entered the town of Binelle, the enemy artillery opened up and killed several of our officers and men---also many horses---as well as tearing to pieces many automobiles, but our troops continued to advance by road and field. The railways were all blown to pieces with dynamite before the Boches retreated, and the roads were mined, and some had exploded, tearing up the roads at their most important points for 500 or 600 yards and to the depth of 8 or 10 feet, where the mines were. In one instance I saw where a tank of ours had hit a mine and it was torn in half, and the driver’s intestines, brains, etc., were strewn everywhere on the ground and bushes. Our sick and wounded in this drive, saying nothing of the dead, were 6,500. It was in this drive I saw most every kind of operative case imaginable. The above is just a mere sketch of what I have seen and been through with since I left home, while many, many of my very best friends are not left living to tell these things and many of my over sea detachment were killed, and I might say that two of my men were the first to receive the D. S. C. in our division. I shall not say anything more at present, but hope to be home in the near future, when I can tell you something, and tell you how our men had to live during this time.
Your loving son,
Capt. Morgan C. Berry,
M. C., Division Surgeon’s Office, 78th Division, A. E. F., via New York.
NOTES: Dr. Berry was born on April 7, 1990 in Malvern, Arkansas and died on January 6, 1970 ant Little Rock, Arkansas. He is buried in the Ouachita Cemetery at Donaldson, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as a Colonel in the Medical Corps in both World War I and II.
TRANSCRIBED BY KAREN PITTMAN