Legacy of a Patriot: the First Seven Generations: A Story of One Line of the Summer Family

By Harry H. Summer, PhD

The author's interest in research of his family roots led him to the conclusion that genealogical charts are the driest of presentations of the family tree. In Legacy of a Patriot his ancestors interact with each other and with fictional characters. The scope of the book covers his family from their time in Germany to the first half of the Twentieth Century and puts flesh on the bones of ancestors and the people they could have encountered along the way. In the first five chapters his father and uncle come alive during WWI in the army and in France.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496914248

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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

© 2014 Harry H. Summer, Ph.D. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   07/01/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-1426-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-1425-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-1424-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014911533

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and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Preface

Chapter 1 Duty In France

Chapter 2 How It All Got Started

Chapter 3 Ralph And Harmon Enlist

Chapter 4 France

Chapter 5 Harmon Hunts For Ralph

Chapter 6 Paris

Chapter 7 Hans & Anna

Chapter 8 Crossing The Atlantic In The 1700S

Chapter 9 Life In The New World

Chapter 10 John And Anna In South Carolina

Chapter 11 Seeds Of Discontent

Chapter 12 The Beginning Of A Nation

Chapter 13 Henry Hazelius Summer

Chapter 14 From Boards To Bottles

Chapter 15 Harmon & Mary

Chapter 16 The Neighborhood Girls

Chapter 17 Anice And Lester

Chapter 18 Lillian And Harmon

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book started out as an effort to search out the genealogy of the Summer Family. George Leland Summer, Sr. furnished a great starting point for my research with his book, Newberry County, South Carolina: Historical and Genealogical. The author’s brother, Jack Dewey Summer provided a genealogy based on his research of the family name. To each of these sources I am indebted. Also, Ancestry.com was a valuable source for context information from their various collections that were accessible online.

I am deeply indebted to my younger sister, Mary Frances Summer Christie, for her suggestions and for proofing the text for me. Any typos that remain are to be credited to me. My cousin, Harriett Jane Summer Warren, contributed an insight to her family background and pictures from her father’s mementos and scrap book. Another cousin, Paul L. Wilson, Jr. contributed pictures, other items handed down by his mother and stories about the store his father operated briefly during the 1930s depression. Lyn Hindsman Gordan was very helpful for additional information concerning the Henry H. Summer family in Panama City, Florida.

I would be amiss, if I did not include my wife’s contribution to this work. Her encouragement to finish the book and hurry up about it helped keep me focused. She spent many lonely hours waiting for me to finish. I am grateful for her patience and sacrifice over the last several years.

I am also thankful to all those people who said they wanted to see the finished product when they either heard my description or read a chapter. This was an encouragement for me to finish.

A thank you to all my great grandchildren and those yet to be born. You are the reason that this work was started. I hope that when you read this book you will acquire an understanding of who you are and a knowledge of the times and circumstances that affected their contribution to what we have today. That is, a nation unlike any other that has ever existed on this earth.

PREFACE

The original purpose of this book was to present a careful and complete listing of ancestors which the author would pass on to his great-grandchildren. After the research was started it became clear that there is nothing so lacking in interest as a genealogy chart or list, especially to teenagers. The purpose was changed to presenting an understanding of the culture and background their ancestors experienced. It then became fun to imagine what they would be saying and doing during their lifetime. What was it like for previous generations of the Summer Family? In some small way this story presents the Summer Family ancestors in action during their life-times. In this story the fictitious characters with whom the Summer Family members interact are marked with a footnote the first time they appear in the story.

Long before the American Revolution, in fact, long before the first settlers came to the shores of North America, the essentials for a revolution happening were present in the souls of those who would join together in resistance to any form of tyranny. The spirit of independence and self-confidence and reliance upon self, combined with a deep faith in God and his providence were present in the hearts and souls in those who came to the new world. They had experienced persecution first hand in Europe and came to America to avoid the wiles of those who were lording it over the peoples of the European nations. Under the repressive oversight of political tyrants and the Roman church they had suffered for hundreds of years. Sooner or later people whose freedoms are trampled upon become so frustrated that the point of open resistance finally blossoms into a full rebellion.

The adventurous Europeans who came to the eastern shores of America were not impressed by the thoughts of their betters about what was best for them. They knew what was best for them and that is why they came. They wished to escape the dictates of European governments that were, for the most part influenced by the church in Rome. This tyranny deprived them of religious freedom and the right to own land if they left the Roman church.

The desire for freedom was so great that they were willing to face the unknown. Although tales of the riches to be had in the new world influenced many to make the dangerous voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Once the first immigrants arrived, they realized that there were no cities, no roads, no industries, and no established religions. The weak, physically and mentally, perished. Only the strong-willed and those able to suffer the hardships of carving a nation out of a vast wilderness, survived the punishment dealt to them by the harsh environment. The frontier caused the pioneers to relinquish their customs that their former civilized society cherished and to adapt to the ruggedness presented them by the land to which they had come.

The current citizens of the United States will find it difficult to visualize a vast land in which there is no established government, no established churches, no roads, no cities, no television, no radio, no railroads, no automobiles, no appliances, no computers, no telephones, no police, no laws, no industries and nothing to which they were accustomed to have. There were only forests, wild animals in abundance and savages who may or may not be friendly and themselves. They were stripped of all things not essential to survival. They had only what they had brought with them and their faith in God and the will to survive. It was somewhat better than if they had landed upon the moon! There was air and plant and animal life as well as the sometimes hostile native population which the moon does not have.

The first five chapters tell the story of two seventh generation members, Harmon and Ralph as they cope with serving their country during World War I in France. On the way home from Europe they talk about their ancestors. Chapters six through eighteen present the story of the Summer Family in the context of their time. Starting in Germany, the first generation, Hans Adam Summer and his new young wife, Anna Maria Jostin, decided to come to America and look for the freedom to live their lives independent of the dictates of governments and to raise a family in the vast wilderness of the new world. This idea was not for the weak, but for the strong in heart and mind and the will to survive regardless of the difficulties they faced.

From this bleak beginning they, and the generations which have succeeded them, have carved from this wilderness, the America we know today. We should be thankful.

Harry H. Summer, Ph. D.

March 16, 2014

CHAPTER 1

DUTY IN FRANCE

The cold wind blew unmercifully, as Harmon snugged his coat collar closer to his neck, stomped his feet, beat his hands on his thighs and walked to and fro beside the Holt tractor trying to keep warm in the late Fall of 1918. The temperature had steadily fallen since eleven o’clock the previous evening. It was now four-thirty AM. The ground had frozen to steel hardness making his numb feet hurt all the more. He could hear the faint rumbling thunder of the German artillery exploring the front lines and see the lightning-like flashes on the horizon towards no-man’s land as well as the closer American artillery’s reply. Since the firing range was up in the high hills about 185 miles south of Paris, the view on the horizon was spectacular. Their range was at Montmorillon, France. The 64th Regiment was one of the three regiments of the 34th Coast Artillery Brigade, the other regiments being the 70th and the 71s.t. Being up high, and in early November it was rather chilly. Add the clear, moonless night and a steady wind of about fifteen miles per hour it seemed much colder than it really was.

"Man! Oh! Man! It sure is cold, cold enough to freeze tha’ horns off a brass billygoat! Harmon said to himself. He and his brother, Ralph, are wagoners in Battery B, 64th Coast Artillery Regiment. The 64th was in the last stages of their training and nearly ready to be deployed to the western front. They had been training at Montmorillon forever, it seemed. Harmon muttered just loud enough so that his helper, eighteen-year-old Private William (Willy) Charles Stone could not hear, I’ll be frozen before our tour is over."

Harmon and Willy have been on duty for about one and one-half hours. And he and Willy have one last run to make and then have about 15 minutes left on this tour. He and Willy are about talked out and have little or nothing to say to each other. Now each is deep in thought in the silence of the night. Harmon’s thoughts are drawn to what many a soldier draws near to when to they have some time just to try and forget their misery when in a damp and cold situation–warm thoughts of home!

Harmon mulls over in his mind how it was when he and Ralph left home. "Weedie is 10 years old now ’n she has dark black hair, which she wears in braids. O! How she cried when we left home to enlist. I can just see her standing there, holding her dolly and hugging it tightly and sobbing an’ tugging at my hand. I sure hope she’s got over by it now. When we left out the gate, she ran back, up the steps, opened the door, turned around looking so miserable, shouting through her sobs ‘I don’t want you to go, Harmon, I really, really, don’t!’ She ran inside and slammed the door. She is such a sweet child. Someone will get a sweet wife when she grows up and marries. Speaking of marrying, when we get back, I am going to hunt for me a beautiful, sweet, loving ’n gentle ’n kind girl for a wife, one I can live with forever!" Little did Harmon know that he would find two such girls and the joy and grief that he would experience.

Harmon’s thoughts now drifted to his three older sisters. He mused to himself. Well, let’s see, my older sisters were not there to see Ralph and me off to the war. Let’s see now, Willie Ola left home and married Jim Martin when I was about ten. I can’t remember much about her except she looked a lot like Mama, rather short and stout. She wore her hair like Mama did, put up in a bun. I recall that. An’ that’s about all. Now, I remember Constance getting married to a fella with a strange last name – Olive. Let’s see, believe she married him when I was fifteen n’ that would have been in the summer of 13, n’ that would have been in July or August. I thought the preacher would never finish and have them kiss. That stiff, high, starched collar itched so much, an’ I tugged and pulled at it till I thought I’d go nuts. An’ she went with him to Panama City, Florida. They had their first baby there, an’ named her ‘Zora.’ Man! Who could forget a name like that one? I wonder where it came from. Then there was Marge. Now, she was the pretty one of the bunch and she really liked to have fun with us boys and then she got all grown-uppity, changed her pants for a skirt, and about two years ago, married this really nice fella, Lawson Phillips. But, nobody called him Lawson. Everyone called him ‘Eggy’–that’s an odd nick-name. Wonder why he is called that?

Climbing up onto the open seat of the Holt tractor,¹ Harmon thought about his brother, Ralph Was he still alive? Calling to his helper, Private William (Willy) Charles Stone,² to turn the crank while he was advancing the spark and pulling out the choke, he wondered where they had taken his older brother. (Ralph had become one of the victims of the world-wide endemic of influenza.)

He thought, once again. This is the last run for our tour. Then to his helper, let’s move to the next one, Willy. This one’’ gonna stay runnin, I think. Harmon stepped across to the top of the track of the next tractor and climbed to the seat, while Willy moved over to the crank on the second tractor. They continued this way until they had finished and then Harmon went back to the first tractor and cut the engine and made the trip back over the tracks, cutting each one in turn. Then they had ten minutes or so, until their tour was over. It was an endless routine as long as the temps were down.

Every thirty minutes the engines had to be started to keep radiators from freezing so that the tractor would be warmed up and ready to drive from the tractor line over to the artillery park, only a short distance away. There, the gun crews would hook up the big 8-inch howitzers and the limbers for the move to the firing lines. And, if the 64th ever finished practice firing their guns, they would move out to the western front. Exactly where they would go was dependent upon which way the war was moving. If German troops made a breakthrough, then they would move towards the new German line, which would be only a few hundred yards or maybe even a half mile or a little less, at most, from its previous position. Then the Allies would take it back. All of this at a horrible cost in lives and maimed for both sides. What a high cost for so little real estate which was worthless, because it was so torn up. The war virtually had been stalled after the first month of hostilities in 1914, just a little over four years ago.

Left to their own thoughts, once again, each man retired where they were. Harmon sat in the seat of the last tractor on line and Willy had already sat down by its track. Willy had started doing some serious thinking about himself, at least serious for him. Boy-O-Boy! That Harmon really has a great family from what he’s already told me. I know that he has a lot of brothers and sisters. He told me that one of his brothers died at age fifteen and nobody knew why he died. I mean, if I had a brother to die like that, I know it would be hard… . . I wonder how Mom is feeling. In her last letter she said that she was starting to cough some, but she thought it was not anything. Gosh, I really hope the consumption ain’t a’comin’ back. She said that Daddy was thinking about retiring, but she didn’t think he would. She said he’d just keep workin’ ’till one day he’d just lay down and die on the job. I guess that would be better than being sick a long time and knowing that there was not much that could be done for you, like Mom. I really love Mom and I know she loves me and wants me to do something besides logging and living in Sopchoppy. There ain’t nothin’ else to do there and I surely don’t wont to work at Jernigan’s Ice Cream Parlor. Ain’t no future there, and I could never get married ’cause I’d never save up enough money. If it wasn’t for the tourists on their way to Miami or Tampa, there wouldn’t be no business a’tall. You can’t make any money selling stuff to ’bout seventy-five people, if you count the dogs, cats and chickens. Harmon’s really had a nice life, so far. I mean to go somewhere else when I get out. I really mean it!

With those thoughts he nodded off leaning back against the last tractor Harmon had just cut off. They had four tractors to start and run for ten to fifteen minutes every thirty minutes. He and Harmon would start one then start another and then another until they had all four of them running and then it was time to cut them all off. That left about ten or fifteen minutes they could talk or rest. Usually they would start out talking and by the time they got to the last run of their shift, they were silent, like they were tonight or rather, this morning.

Reflecting, once again, on the day he and Ralph left for the Army, Harmon remembered: Doc, Man! Was he really wanting to go with us? He said "I’ll lie about my age. Even if I’m only fifteen, I’m big enough that I can pass for eighteen! ’N nobody’d ever know". But, Papa said NO and Mama said they’d find out anyway! So they would not let him even try. Well, he hasn’t grown up enough yet ’n he’s so gullible that h’’d be picked on continuously by all the rest, so he’d a’been miserable all tha’ time. He’s a good-looking youngster an’ a jolly boy, but he don’t act like a man, yet.

Then, there’s Jones. Now, he would have been old enough, soon, but with that little straight, stiff leg n’ the way he walked, they wouldn’t have taken him anyway. But he’s strong enough to throw an ox down. I really believe he could! He wanted to go, but didn’t say a thing about going, ’cause, he knew he’d never pass the physical, if he even got that far. Man! It’s cold! Look at those stars. Makes you know that God really does exist. He continued to look up at the sky marveling at how close they seemed. Looks like you could just reach up and get one!

Still quietly sitting there in the dark and looking up at the luminous star-spangled glory of the sky, Harmon saw a star fall through the clear night sky. There had been a moon earlier in the evening, before he and Willy had come on duty, but, it had set about an hour ago. Now the stars sparkled in all their twinkling glory. Seeing a star falling reminded him of Harry [John Harrison, his closest older brother]. Many nights in their boyhood the two of them would sit out in the meadow staring up at the beautiful vista of the heavens, naming the constellations and simply talking about the earth and how God had made such a wonderful place for men to live and about life in general and what they would be when they grew up. Before he had died, Harmon and Harry had been almost like twins, being only 20 months apart, with Harry being the older. Since Harmon was two and Harry was four, they had slept together. Harmon felt a real loss, when Harry got sick and seemingly, in a moment, just wilted away in only a few short weeks.

Not one person seemed to know what was wrong. The doctor didn’t, n’ Papa and Mama didn’t, Harmon thought. It seemed to the thirteen-year-old Harmon that, He just up and died for no-good reason. It was a devastating blow to Harmon.

"I kept expecting my buddy and pal to come back. It seemed like a horrible dream n’ he was only fifteen! If it hadn’t been for Ralph, sort of taking care to comfort me, I don’t think that I would have made it. I still miss him, but it’s not like it was yesterday that he left." Ralph had taken special care to keep Harmon close and include him in any activities that he usually did by himself as he was six years senior to Harmon. And thus it was, that Harmon, nineteen, and Ralph, twenty-five, came to be so close and the reason they enlisted together.

Heads-up! Willy, here comes our relief.

CHAPTER 2

HOW IT ALL GOT STARTED

It was June 28, 1914, mid-morning. Lurking in a food shop, fate was waiting for the motorcade to pass by. In the open third car, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife rode blissfully and majestically oblivious to the impending threat.

Earlier that day a member of the Black Hand had hurled a hand grenade towards the Archduke’s car. When the grenade bounced under another car, the attempt failed to accomplish its purpose: The purpose of this attack was the elimination of a perceived threat to the plan for Serbia to become the leader of a pan-Slav state.³ The Archduke, also the Inspector General of the army, had accepted the invitation of General Oskar Potiorek to visit the capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo, to inspect army maneuvers. After the attempted assassination, the Archduke had interrupted the Mayor’s welcome speech at city hall, complaining about the bombs being thrown at him. Afterward the motorcade preceded toward the observation point and stalled at an intersection because the lead vehicle’s driver was uncertain about the direction that the motorcade was to take.

Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Black Hand,⁴ was inside Schiller’s delicatessen, mad at his girlfriend. He could see that the open car stalled at the intersection, the Archduke and his wife relishing the adoration of the people who had lined the streets. I will not miss he said silently. Concealing his gun in his coat, he rushed out of the deli, at just the right time, stepped upon the running board, bringing his pistol out of his coat, he pistol-whipped a nearby pedestrian and fired two shots from a distance of five feet, mortally wounding both the Archduke and his wife Sophie. Gavrilo was arrested immediately. The Black Hand had done its duty. Serbia would no longer be threatened by Austria.

However, the ripples of this event would reach most of the rest of the world. A month later, Austria declared war on Serbia. And so, a World War began.⁵ The actions of a single man acting upon the opportunity presented to him by an accident, succeeded where carefully made plans had failed.

When Austria declared war against Serbia, it set off a domino effect in Europe and eastern Asia because of the existing treaties in the area. Of course the spark that started the war was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian fanatic in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. A month to the day later, on July 28, 1914 the dominos began to fall:

(1)   Austria declared war on Serbia, and because

(2)   Russia was an ally of Serbia, Russia entered the war

(3)   Germany was an ally of Austria, Germany entered the war

(4)   France was an ally of Russia as well as a traditional enemy of Germany, so France entered the war,

(5)   Great Britain, an ally of France, entered the war.⁶

In a flash the whole continent was at war.⁷ War broke out into a seething European brouhaha over the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian, June 28, 1914. An over-two-million-man German army marched into Belgium, threatening France, which was still suffering from the humiliating loss of the industrially rich Alsace-Lorraine territory in 1871 to Germany. Kaiser Wilhelm II dreamed of a political and imperial role in world affairs using their industrial strength to challenge Britain’s world-wide dominance of trade. This action caused Britain to enter the war to aid the French.

When war broke out in July of 1914, people all over Europe were saying, our troops will be home before Christmas! It would be before Christmas (November 11) – the Christmas of 1918.⁸ People are usually optimistic about a war being short before a war gets started or right after it starts. However, wars have a tendency to last longer than people think they will. The Korean War started Sunday, June 25, 1950⁹ and as of this day in November of 2013, North Korea has declared that the peace talks are over, a state of war still exists and has threatened to launch atomic missiles targeting the United States. Wars sometime have a life of their own.

The Central Powers as they were called consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria, The manpower they could collectively muster was a little more than 25.25 million men. The total casualties were 16.4 million including KIA, WIA, and MIA (killed, wounded, and missing in action). This was a terrible price to pay for eventually losing the war.

Sometimes, the perpetrators of a war try to catch the other side with their guard down. In the case of World War One, the Germans tried to make an end run through a neutral country.¹⁰ "On August 2, 1914, the day before Germany declared war on France, the German government wrote to the Belgium government demanding the right of free passage across Belgium for its troops, so that the latter could most efficiently invade France and reach Paris. Belgium’s reply to what amounted to a German ultimatum (grant free passage or suffer occupation as an enemy of Germany) was delivered on August 3, 1914. It was clear refusal of free passage. On the same day as the Belgian reply, Germany declared war on France and invaded Belgium the next day, which resulted in Britain’s entry into the war to defend the neutrality of Belgium.¹¹

When the war broke out in 1914, France, Britain and Russia were allied against Germany and Austria. The Germans attacked France through southern Belgium–aiming to capture Paris in a swift knock-out blow even though the Belgium government denied passage. The Belgium government stated, in no uncertain terms that crossing their border would be considered the declaration of war. The French Army stopped the Germans along the River Marne, just north of Paris. They were helped by the British Expeditionary Force that had rushed across the English Channel.¹²

Both sides dug in, creating lines of muddy trenches. These were defended with barbed-wire fences, land mines, artillery and murderous machine-guns. The trenches were so difficult to attack that the battle lines became frozen in a stalemate. By November 1914¹³ they extended across Belgium and France, from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border.

Although Paris and most of France were saved, almost all of Belgium and much of the northern French borderlands remained in enemy hands. German troops established control with harsh repressive measures, confiscating houses and property for the use of occupying troops and killing anyone who showed any sign of resistance.¹⁴

The French and Belgian populations behind the German trenches were used for forced labor to benefit the German war effort, and given inadequate food supplies. This semi-starvation was supposed to keep the people of France and Belgium docile. However, the result was that it only increased their hatred for the German occupiers and encouraged passive sabotage and resistance. The mines, factories, farms, and railways of northern France were exploited, and systematically looted for whatever Germany needed. While the Germans were pillaging these areas, the Allied naval blockade in the North Sea caused shortages of food and other supplies in Germany, which increased, even more, the suffering of French people in the German-held areas.¹⁵

The front consisted of a series of trench lines connected by communication trenches, with many twists and turns. If the enemy broke through a line they would not have a straight line of fire in a trench and be able to kill or injure all the soldiers occupying a section of trench. It was much like a maze with lots of dead ends and off-sets that made the trenches defendable if the enemy broke into a line of trenches. The connecting trenches made possible the ability to rush reinforcements to weakened areas. Troops occupying the trenches could be supplied through the network of trenches.

Tactics were similar for both sides. The generals on each side would plan offensives to try to break through the enemy’s trench lines. First, they would shell the enemy lines to weaken their defenses. Then the infantry would be sent out of their trenches into no-man’s land. What a ghastly place this was! One cannot imagine what it was like. First, there was the mud from all the rain. In all the mud there was debris from all the buildings (houses, barns, etc.) that had once been there. Added to this were the splintered trees that had been blown apart by the artillery barrages. And, to add to the stench of rotting wood and the lingering nitrate odor of exploded rounds, was the unforgettable aroma of decomposing bodies and body parts of both horses and men¹⁶. In addition to all of this, there were the lingering whiffs of poison gas. The Germans were the first to try using poison gas and flame-throwers, for an attack on the enemy. The first time poison gas was used, high winds blew the gas back on their own lines. Later they were more successful.

The nature of no-man’s land should be enough to defeat an attack by the enemy. However, the generals on both sides insisted on frontal assaults on enemy lines, hoping that this time they would get the big break-through they wanted. Thousands of men would be mowed down with devastatingly effective consequences. The bodies of the dead and wounded would just pile up on the barbed wire. In addition to the direct fire of the enemy’s machine guns and rifle fire from the opposing trenches, there were mortar fire, the direct fire of light artillery and the heavy bombardment of the field artillery located far behind the front lines. Knowing all of this, the generals still sent their men over the top, many of whom would not come back from the failed attack. Calling the roll after an attack produced sad silences when someone did not answer.

Dunkerque, the coastal anchor of the North Sea end of the trench lines, was vital for the protection of the French ports linking the theater of war with England and the United States. During the Germans’ final offensive in 1917-18, the Allies employed the traditional tactic for defending Dunkerque – flooding the costal marshes. The low land of the marshes was normally protected from the sea by a network of dykes. As a consequence of its location, Dunkerque suffered regular bombing and shelling during the war.¹⁷

As horrible as no-man’s land was, the trenches provided their own enemies to the occupants, no matter whether they were German or Allied troops. The trench systems used by the Germans and the Allies harbored two very dangerous residents besides the soldiers who resided therein for weeks and weeks at a time. The stench of soldiers coming out of the trenches for rest and recreation in rear areas advertised their previous whereabouts before they ever came into view. Filthy does not begin to describe the horrifying conditions that the men in the trenches endured.

Mud-spattered and dirty uniforms and unwashed bodies which had no benefit of sanitary facilities except the crudest you can imagine, harbored the uninvited lice. Damp and wet most of the time, uniforms were perfect habitats for lice. Even if the clothes were deloused and washed, the eggs of the lice eluded cleansing efforts by infesting the seams of the garments.¹⁸

Then, there were the rats. Rats were even a larger problem. Literally! Rats inhabited the trenches with such arrogance that one could be led to believe that the trenches were dug for them. Constant oaths and violent actions of the men resulted. There were millions, of them, feeding upon the eyes, livers and intestines of cadavers lying in the areas between the trenches. Rats grew to the size of cats. A constant vigil was required of the men who used bullets, shovels, bayonets, boards, and anything else available to fight the onslaught of the fierce and aggressive enemy within the trenches.¹⁹

Trenches led to the development of better use of the artillery in preparation for an attack or defending against an attack. A bombardment preceding an attack could last from four hours to sixteen days. Such barrages contributed to the misery of trench life enhancing the already awful stench by throwing up mud and rotting flesh of men and horses²⁰ that could not be removed from no-man’s land. Harmon was grateful for being spared the agony of duty in the trenches as the artillery was positioned behind the front lines. As Harmon’s unit had not been ordered to deploy for firing missions, his unit was further removed from the agony and debilitating endurance of the trenches.

The Germans tried to fight a sea war but ended up trying to use submarines to cut off supplies coming to Britain from the United States. Early in the war, Germany recognized the need to restrict the supply of the Allied war effort by sinking ships headed across the Atlantic for Britain. Their attacks were most often without warning which gave merchant crews little chance of survival. When US ships were sunk, the United States protested with little change in attack rules which resulted in the sinking of the passenger-liner RMS Lusitania in 1915. Early in 1917 Germany adopted unrestricted submarine warfare policy. They were only able to maintain a few subs in the Atlantic with little effect, unless you happened to be on one of the few ships that these subs were able to sink.

When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, she sent a telegram to Mexico asking that Mexico join in the war as an ally against the US. Germany promised she would send money and help it recover the territories of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona that Mexico lost to the US during the Mexican-American War in 1847. After the telegram became public and Germany’s submarines sank seven US merchant ships, President Woodrow Wilson called for a declaration of war against Germany, which the Congress declared April 6, 1917.²¹

When the United States declared war on Germany, the population was possessed with a patriotic fever that produced enlistment lines that stretched for blocks around the recruiting offices. The administration insisted on implementing a national lottery with local draft boards, in addition to the recruiting efforts. Nearly three million men were inducted through the draft system. Many men registered under The Selective Service Act of 1917 only to volunteer before they could be drafted.

The war affected life in the nation in many ways. The Sedition Act of 1918 criminalized any expression of opinion that used disloyal, profane, scurrilous or abusive language about the United States government, flag or armed forces. Hollywood produced a variety of propaganda films, including, Charlie Chaplin’s Shoulder Arms.

The US Food Administration encouraged Americans to economize on their food, to grow victory gardens and to observe less-days such as Gas-less Sundays, fuel-less Mondays, meat-less Tuesdays, and wheat-less Mondays. Women entered the labor pool taking jobs that were traditionally male jobs for the first time in the history of the American people and millions of women joined the Red Cross as volunteers to help soldiers and their families.²²

In April 1917 the Wilson Administration created the Committee on Public Information (CPI), also known as the Creel Committee, to control war information and provide pro-war propaganda. It issued anti-German pamphlets and films. Thousands of Four-Minute Men were organized to give brief talks (four minutes, of course) at movie theaters, schools and churches to promote patriotism and participation in the war effort.²³

Patriotic music and songs are always part of most wars and World War One was no exception. There is something stirring about marching music. Many songs were sung by soldiers while marching and in the infantry there was always somewhere that soldiers were marching and singing. The titles of some of the songs were: Pack-Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag, Keep the Home Fires Burning, It’s a Long Way to Tipperary, I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now, and Over There. The song, Over There, had such particularly strong and regularly repeated beat of sound that one had to move when one heard it. George M. Cohan²⁴ penned the words and music for this song. The words of the chorus:

"Over there, over there!

Send the word, send the word, over there!

That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming,

The drums rum-tumming everywhere!

So prepare, say a prayer, send the word to beware!

We’ll be over, we’re coming over,

And we won’t come back, ’till it’s over, over there!"

The words of this song stirred the soul and aroused a patriotic response wherever it was played or sung.

Another song that was sung in the trenches and everywhere else was Mademoiselle From Armentieres. There were many corrupted versions of this song, many of which are not very nice and others that would be banned from the airwaves, even today. The genuine words of the first verse are as follows:²⁵

"Mademoiselle from Armentieres, Parlez-vous

Mademoiselle from Armentieres, Parlez-vous

Mademoiselle from Armentieres

She hasn’t been kissed for forty years

Inky-Dinky Parlez-vous

President Woodrow Wilson initially planned to give command of the A E F to General Frederick Funston, but after Funston’s sudden death, the President appointed Major General John J. Black Jack Pershing in May 1917. Pershing remained in command for the entire war. Pershing insisted that American soldiers should be well trained before going to Europe. As a President Woodrow Wilson initially planned to give command of the A E F to General Frederick Funston, but after Funston’s sudden death, the President appointed Major General John J. Black Jack Pershing in May 1917. Pershing remained in command for the entire war. Pershing insisted that American soldiers should be well trained before going to Europe. As a result, few troops arrived before 1918. In addition, Pershing insisted that American soldiers would not be used merely to fill gaps in the French and British Armies and he resisted European efforts to have US troops deployed