TRANSCRIBED FROM THE DAILY ARKANSAS GAZETTE MARCH 20, 1919 P. 7
While here I was sent to a French chauchat automatic rifle school at Boise L’Eveque near Toul, where we had it pretty easy for three weeks. I have a silver cigarette case that the French there gave me for being the best officer shot in the division. We returned to the company by trucks. By this time they were in the line at Bouconville, just south of Mont Sec. A night or two after I went on my first patrol out across No Man’s Land. Nothing much happened the first night except they threw a few flares in our faces, but we had plenty of fun later on. After what we have been through later, though, this seems pretty tame. On the morning of my birthday, Aug. 4, I was on patrol and we had quite a little brush with the Jerry, but it didn’t amount to much. I thought it did, then, though.
I forgot to mention this. You remember telling you that I spent the Fourth of July in a French city? That city was Nancy. I had a fine time and have made several visits there since.
Going back to our stay in the Toul sector. We were there about six weeks, with nothing more exciting than a few of Jerry’s 77’s coming over now and then, with an occasional patrol. To gain contact with the enemy, capture prisoners and secure identification. We came out of the lines August 7, went back to Trousey, near Pagny-sur-Muse, where we had a week’s special training and the men got some clean clothes. This is about the nicest and cleanest and all-round best town we have been in, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I made a trip to Nancy from here.
We took a narrow gauge from Trousey to the Pont-a-Mouson sector, our battalion going in regimental reserve near Liverdun, a town not far from Nancy. (More trips to Nancy). This sector offered us a little more excitement in the way of shell fire and patrols, and most especially toward the last, when we were in the St. Mihiel drive of September 12,13,14 did we have plenty of excitement. We were the extreme right of the drive, in fact, our regiment was the only regiment of our division which got into the drive. Our regimental sector was the west bank of the Moselle. On this sector we advanced about five kilos.
We came out of this sector about September 19 and camped in some woods south of Marbache for two or three days, when we embussed for the Argonne forest, and that is when hell started. I am not going to try to describe any of this fight to you, more than to tell you that we went in on October 7 and came out on November 1, after 25 days of pushing and holding, pushing and holding. I promised myself if I got out of there safe that I would not even think of this thing, much less talk of it, but if you will let it hang fire until I come home, I will tell you about it as well as I can. While I was there I was sent to the field hospital with bronchitis, which I caught sleeping in wet shell holes, but soon recovered, and joined my battalion at Sommerance. Some of the towns in which we fought were Chatel Chierrey, Flieville Cornay, Appremont and Sommerance.
When we were finally relieved from this sector, by a series of marches we reached a French rest camp (and by this time rest camps looked much better to us than when we first got over here), and here we embussed for the area south of Toul, where we were billeted in the town of Maxey sur Vaise. We were here a week and then made a three days march to Claumont la Ville (south), another three day hike and here we are in the village of Pierrecourt, where we expect to be for some time yet.
NOTES: Lieutenant Clark Dunn was writing to his father, J. S. of Warren, Arkansas. He was serving as a Sgt. in the Arkansas National Guard before serving in the army. He sailed from France on May 9, 1919 and was listed as First Lt. HDQRS Det 1st BN 328th INF. He was born on August 4, 1893 in Columbia, South Carolina. By 1910 his family was living in Pennington, Arkansas. He died on January 1, 1972 in Montgomery, Alabama and is buried in the Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile, Alabama. He was described as being tall and slender with brown eyes and blonde hair.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT
While here I was sent to a French chauchat automatic rifle school at Boise L’Eveque near Toul, where we had it pretty easy for three weeks. I have a silver cigarette case that the French there gave me for being the best officer shot in the division. We returned to the company by trucks. By this time they were in the line at Bouconville, just south of Mont Sec. A night or two after I went on my first patrol out across No Man’s Land. Nothing much happened the first night except they threw a few flares in our faces, but we had plenty of fun later on. After what we have been through later, though, this seems pretty tame. On the morning of my birthday, Aug. 4, I was on patrol and we had quite a little brush with the Jerry, but it didn’t amount to much. I thought it did, then, though.
I forgot to mention this. You remember telling you that I spent the Fourth of July in a French city? That city was Nancy. I had a fine time and have made several visits there since.
Going back to our stay in the Toul sector. We were there about six weeks, with nothing more exciting than a few of Jerry’s 77’s coming over now and then, with an occasional patrol. To gain contact with the enemy, capture prisoners and secure identification. We came out of the lines August 7, went back to Trousey, near Pagny-sur-Muse, where we had a week’s special training and the men got some clean clothes. This is about the nicest and cleanest and all-round best town we have been in, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I made a trip to Nancy from here.
We took a narrow gauge from Trousey to the Pont-a-Mouson sector, our battalion going in regimental reserve near Liverdun, a town not far from Nancy. (More trips to Nancy). This sector offered us a little more excitement in the way of shell fire and patrols, and most especially toward the last, when we were in the St. Mihiel drive of September 12,13,14 did we have plenty of excitement. We were the extreme right of the drive, in fact, our regiment was the only regiment of our division which got into the drive. Our regimental sector was the west bank of the Moselle. On this sector we advanced about five kilos.
We came out of this sector about September 19 and camped in some woods south of Marbache for two or three days, when we embussed for the Argonne forest, and that is when hell started. I am not going to try to describe any of this fight to you, more than to tell you that we went in on October 7 and came out on November 1, after 25 days of pushing and holding, pushing and holding. I promised myself if I got out of there safe that I would not even think of this thing, much less talk of it, but if you will let it hang fire until I come home, I will tell you about it as well as I can. While I was there I was sent to the field hospital with bronchitis, which I caught sleeping in wet shell holes, but soon recovered, and joined my battalion at Sommerance. Some of the towns in which we fought were Chatel Chierrey, Flieville Cornay, Appremont and Sommerance.
When we were finally relieved from this sector, by a series of marches we reached a French rest camp (and by this time rest camps looked much better to us than when we first got over here), and here we embussed for the area south of Toul, where we were billeted in the town of Maxey sur Vaise. We were here a week and then made a three days march to Claumont la Ville (south), another three day hike and here we are in the village of Pierrecourt, where we expect to be for some time yet.
NOTES: Lieutenant Clark Dunn was writing to his father, J. S. of Warren, Arkansas. He was serving as a Sgt. in the Arkansas National Guard before serving in the army. He sailed from France on May 9, 1919 and was listed as First Lt. HDQRS Det 1st BN 328th INF. He was born on August 4, 1893 in Columbia, South Carolina. By 1910 his family was living in Pennington, Arkansas. He died on January 1, 1972 in Montgomery, Alabama and is buried in the Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile, Alabama. He was described as being tall and slender with brown eyes and blonde hair.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT