TRANSCRIBED FROM THE HUTTIG NEWS JANUARY 25, 1919 P1
Dear Dad:
As today is a day set aside and called “Dad’s Christmas Victory Letter Day,” will do all I can to show that your son has not forgotten you. Every man in the A. E. F. has been requested to write “Dad” and tell him all and all. Really there is so much until I do not know how and where to start, as I am told that our Company has no order concerning the “Dad’s Letters.” Therefore, it is going to be hard to write just what I would like to tell you. But nevertheless, I am going to make a start and start in at the time I left Camp Vail and tell you what I remember up to the present, but I have not kept any memorandum of the places and dates, but maybe I can remember the principal things that no doubt will interest you.
On April 4th the order came for us to prepare to embark soon as possible, and believe me, we sure did get busy in a hurry. Not a man was a slacker, every one did his bit and in a very few hours we were packed and our equipment loaded ready to leave for the place of embarkation, which was done on Saturday April 6th, and sailed from New York – or Hoboken, N. J., April 7th, and the ball began to roll. However, I had a pleasant trip over, was on lookout duty most all the way over. Some of the boys sure did get seasick. There were about 1500 Southern negroes on board and I do not think there was one of them that did not get seasick for several days. There was a holy mass on board among the “coons.” But all seasickness was forgotten when land was sighted seven days from the date we sailed. Don’t believe I ever saw a happier bunch anywhere. After going in harbor at Brest, France, we were held on board the ship from the 14th until the evening of the 19th, then we were taken off and made a three mile hike to some barracks that were built in Napoleon’s days; there we spent one night and the next day until about 6 p. m., when we hiked back to Brest and were loaded into box cars marked 8 horses or 40 men. The car I was in only had 39 men in it, so we had about 8 inches more space than we should have had; and to make the trip more pleasant it began to rain about midnight, and unfortunately the car I was in was more holy than righteous, so all we had to do was to sit still and let it pour in on us, as there there was not enough room for one to turn around in, much less move over to a dry corner. After about two days and two nights of this miserable riding we landed at a place called Olevres, France and shortly after stopping there we had the place called Grief – and it surely was grief – for they had us out every day cutting down brush and trees and otherwise clearing places for store houses. After three long weeks of this hard work we were again loaded on the trains and went to Mussy-Su-Saine. This was the place we all made and lost our reputations, it being the first pay day we all tried to see how much wine and other drinks we could consume, so we called it the Battle of “Vine Rouge.”
These places were in the S. O. S. District. We called the S. O. S. the “Seats of Safety,” for if a fellow did not hurt himself drinking wine nor stump his toe he sure was in “seats of safety. This was a very nice place and we had the pleasure of being there six weeks. We then went to Bar-Sur-OBe, a place not far from Paris, but I did not get to make a trip to Paris. We were in this place only about a week until we moved by trucks to Remiremont, which was a very nice place and only about 20 miles from the Front—then, but many miles from it now. The Company stayed here about two months, but I was sent out on detail to build some French lines. However, as there is nothing interesting to this, I will not discuss it further.
After leaving there we went farther north to St. Die, France. This place was the first front we were on, as it was only about 4 or 5 kilometers from the Front. This was the place where I witnessed my first artillery battle. I went out on some high hills and watched the artillery for a short time one night, but since those days I have decided that what I saw then was nothing to compare with what I have been in since.
From St. Die we moved 107 miles north to the Verdun Sector and sure did hit the ball while the St. Mihiel drive was going on. In this drive was my first Baptism in Fire. I worked several nights while the place where we were was being bombarded by enemy airplanes and long range guns.
From there we moved north of Verdun to a sector known as the Argonne, and for about four weeks worked under shell-fire, wondering every moment where and what damage the next shell would do. It was here I had the Spanish flu, but managed to get well without going to the hospital. We followed the boys up as they advanced until we came to a place named Gsnese, and were billeted there for ___ and the first week the place was being shelled continuously. This is also the place where we lost two men, one was woundee slightly, and the other’s wounds proved serious. I don’t know whether he recovered. We built one line that was being shelled and ever time one of the boys would climb a pole the gunners would send a large shell at the line and made two direct hits on the wires, but that did not stop us at all ---we stuck until the line was completed. I was standing in 20 feet of one of the boys that got hurt.
There are a lot of small incidents I could relate, but I fear I have not enough paper to put it all on, so I will have to save part of it to tell you when I return. But I want to say we were all glad when the big shells stopped coming over. We are now located in a town that was held by the Germans for four years and they only left here about nine days ago. I think it was a beautiful place before the war. We are about ten miles from Mertz, the place that is so well fortified by the Germans.
As no doubt I have written enough and it is getting dark, will stop, hoping all are well and that I will hear from you soon. Hoping you celebrate and make this the greatest Christmas in history, and wishing a merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all. I send love to one and all.
Your son,
SEGT. 1st. CLASS, Wm. F. PHILLIPS.
Sunday, Nov. 24th, 1918.
NOTES: William Floyd Phillips was writing to his father Martin Luther Phillips of Union County, Arkansas. He was born Nov. 1894. He served as a Sgt. 1st class, Co. E. 55th Tel Bu Signal Corps. A. E. F.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT.
Dear Dad:
As today is a day set aside and called “Dad’s Christmas Victory Letter Day,” will do all I can to show that your son has not forgotten you. Every man in the A. E. F. has been requested to write “Dad” and tell him all and all. Really there is so much until I do not know how and where to start, as I am told that our Company has no order concerning the “Dad’s Letters.” Therefore, it is going to be hard to write just what I would like to tell you. But nevertheless, I am going to make a start and start in at the time I left Camp Vail and tell you what I remember up to the present, but I have not kept any memorandum of the places and dates, but maybe I can remember the principal things that no doubt will interest you.
On April 4th the order came for us to prepare to embark soon as possible, and believe me, we sure did get busy in a hurry. Not a man was a slacker, every one did his bit and in a very few hours we were packed and our equipment loaded ready to leave for the place of embarkation, which was done on Saturday April 6th, and sailed from New York – or Hoboken, N. J., April 7th, and the ball began to roll. However, I had a pleasant trip over, was on lookout duty most all the way over. Some of the boys sure did get seasick. There were about 1500 Southern negroes on board and I do not think there was one of them that did not get seasick for several days. There was a holy mass on board among the “coons.” But all seasickness was forgotten when land was sighted seven days from the date we sailed. Don’t believe I ever saw a happier bunch anywhere. After going in harbor at Brest, France, we were held on board the ship from the 14th until the evening of the 19th, then we were taken off and made a three mile hike to some barracks that were built in Napoleon’s days; there we spent one night and the next day until about 6 p. m., when we hiked back to Brest and were loaded into box cars marked 8 horses or 40 men. The car I was in only had 39 men in it, so we had about 8 inches more space than we should have had; and to make the trip more pleasant it began to rain about midnight, and unfortunately the car I was in was more holy than righteous, so all we had to do was to sit still and let it pour in on us, as there there was not enough room for one to turn around in, much less move over to a dry corner. After about two days and two nights of this miserable riding we landed at a place called Olevres, France and shortly after stopping there we had the place called Grief – and it surely was grief – for they had us out every day cutting down brush and trees and otherwise clearing places for store houses. After three long weeks of this hard work we were again loaded on the trains and went to Mussy-Su-Saine. This was the place we all made and lost our reputations, it being the first pay day we all tried to see how much wine and other drinks we could consume, so we called it the Battle of “Vine Rouge.”
These places were in the S. O. S. District. We called the S. O. S. the “Seats of Safety,” for if a fellow did not hurt himself drinking wine nor stump his toe he sure was in “seats of safety. This was a very nice place and we had the pleasure of being there six weeks. We then went to Bar-Sur-OBe, a place not far from Paris, but I did not get to make a trip to Paris. We were in this place only about a week until we moved by trucks to Remiremont, which was a very nice place and only about 20 miles from the Front—then, but many miles from it now. The Company stayed here about two months, but I was sent out on detail to build some French lines. However, as there is nothing interesting to this, I will not discuss it further.
After leaving there we went farther north to St. Die, France. This place was the first front we were on, as it was only about 4 or 5 kilometers from the Front. This was the place where I witnessed my first artillery battle. I went out on some high hills and watched the artillery for a short time one night, but since those days I have decided that what I saw then was nothing to compare with what I have been in since.
From St. Die we moved 107 miles north to the Verdun Sector and sure did hit the ball while the St. Mihiel drive was going on. In this drive was my first Baptism in Fire. I worked several nights while the place where we were was being bombarded by enemy airplanes and long range guns.
From there we moved north of Verdun to a sector known as the Argonne, and for about four weeks worked under shell-fire, wondering every moment where and what damage the next shell would do. It was here I had the Spanish flu, but managed to get well without going to the hospital. We followed the boys up as they advanced until we came to a place named Gsnese, and were billeted there for ___ and the first week the place was being shelled continuously. This is also the place where we lost two men, one was woundee slightly, and the other’s wounds proved serious. I don’t know whether he recovered. We built one line that was being shelled and ever time one of the boys would climb a pole the gunners would send a large shell at the line and made two direct hits on the wires, but that did not stop us at all ---we stuck until the line was completed. I was standing in 20 feet of one of the boys that got hurt.
There are a lot of small incidents I could relate, but I fear I have not enough paper to put it all on, so I will have to save part of it to tell you when I return. But I want to say we were all glad when the big shells stopped coming over. We are now located in a town that was held by the Germans for four years and they only left here about nine days ago. I think it was a beautiful place before the war. We are about ten miles from Mertz, the place that is so well fortified by the Germans.
As no doubt I have written enough and it is getting dark, will stop, hoping all are well and that I will hear from you soon. Hoping you celebrate and make this the greatest Christmas in history, and wishing a merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all. I send love to one and all.
Your son,
SEGT. 1st. CLASS, Wm. F. PHILLIPS.
Sunday, Nov. 24th, 1918.
NOTES: William Floyd Phillips was writing to his father Martin Luther Phillips of Union County, Arkansas. He was born Nov. 1894. He served as a Sgt. 1st class, Co. E. 55th Tel Bu Signal Corps. A. E. F.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT.