WW1 111th Engineerss collection

[Vincennes]

Last weekend I bought some WW1 estate material at the flea market. The material belonged to Nelson Herbert “Ted” Welch (1888-1974) of Ponca City, OK. He was a member of the 111th Engineer Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Company F, 4th Platoon. He was a Sgt. The material includes maps, photos, checks, postcards, a home, roster, etc.

 

One of the most important items is a 6 page typed description of his service. Here is a quote from his account of a artillery attack on his tent. "...that night the shells fairly hummed overhead all night, but we thought they were shooting at a big hospital so stuck it out and the next night the 6 inch high explosive shells started to whiz again and Mahr said they were shooting at us, but I said I thought Not and didnt care if they were so long as they didnt use shrapnel shells as I was tired and couldnt be bothered about a little thing like that, about then another one came over hitting about a hundred feet behind the tent I turned over and yelled, ‘missed again, mark number 91’, we both laughed and then they sent over two more, but we heard the next one coming and from the whine we knew what to expect, I said x ‘lay low boy’ and we did pulling the blankets over our heads, just then we felt a strong wind, kind of a suction seemed to lift the cover, and a loud purring, hissing, whineing sound then we heard the canvas rip and a dull thud shaking the ground all at once, then a kind of muffled explosion, something like powder at the rock-quarry then we felt ourselves being lifted and we lit about two feet from the bed or where it had been, Mahr says, ‘where do we go from here’ I answered ‘Gosh I believe they were shooting at us, but Ill bet my hob-nails they cant do it again, but we beat it to a dug-out for the rest of the night and that’s as close as they ever came to me, and oh joy thats close enough for comfort."

 

Here is one of the pictures (probably taken at Camp Bowie) and a small target silhouette.

 

Paul

[cagedfalcon]

Great story

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk