My great grandfather Battle of Argonne Forest?

[camonick]

Hello all,

After helping a classmate research her dads navy service, I have a renewed spark to study my family again. My mom has extensive genealogy research of my ancestors on her side that Ill share later.

Verbal family history says one of my great grandfathers was in the Battle of Argonne Forest. He was from Louisiana and a member of the 114th Engineers of the 39th Division. Would there be any other supporting documents besides the one attached here that would prove his involvement in that battle?

Thanks

Nick

 

[camonick]

He is the hand written entry on line 103.

[camonick]

Here are some of his belongings. The notes are from my grandmother.

 

[RustyCanteen]

Hi,

 

The 114th Engineers were credited for the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, 30 October-11 November 1918.

 

I should add that they were not assigned to a division at the time.

[aznation]

Source:

 

https://history.army.mil/html/books/023/23-1/CMH_Pub_23-1.pdf

 

Page 83 and 195 under category Engineers

 

 

[aznation]

>

[camonick]

Great info! Thanks

Any idea what the medal is for in the 2nd picture? My grandmother's note says "prisoner guard" and our family story is that he did guard prisoners. A search on Google says the 114th Engineers laid railroad tracks and built bridges for the I Army Corps.

Thanks again

Nick

[aznation]

Great info! Thanks

Any idea what the medal is for in the 2nd picture? My grandmother's note says "prisoner guard" and our family story is that he did guard prisoners. A search on Google says the 114th Engineers laid railroad tracks and built bridges for the I Army Corps.

Thanks again

Nick

 

The medal is from this society below, also known as the 40 and 8 because in WW1 the military could either fit 40 men or 8 horses in one railroad box car.

 

See this link for further: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/43599-great-408-piece/

 

La Societe des 40 Hommes et 8 Chevaux

Formed in 1920, the 40&8 was a fun and honor society for American Legionnaires. Titles for officers in the society are taken from French railroad workers and officials. The local unit, the Volture (a car, cart, coach, carriage), is limited to one per county (with a few exceptions) and headed by the Chef de Gare (station master or Commander). The department or state organization, Grande (large, tall, great, big) Volture, is headed by the Grande Chef de Gare (great station master or Dept. Commander). The national body is called the Volture Nationale and lead by the Chef de Chemin de Fer (railroad president or Nat'l Commander).

 

Garde de Prisonnier.......Prisoners Guard (escorts new members of the society during the initiation ceremony know as a WRECK)

[camonick]

Thank you aznation

I'll pass on the information to my mom.

Nick

[RustyCanteen]

Also note the dates of the campaign are not the same as the dates the unit participated in the campaign. In the case of the 114th Engineers, they are credited for 30 Oct-11 Nov. 1918 in the Battle Participation of Organizations of the AEF.

[camonick]

I found this notice from 22 May, 1919 in the archives of the Alexandria Daily Town Talk in Alexandria, LA. It doesnt give an exact location but does say they were in the frontline trenches for 43 days. The highlighted name is my great grandfather.

 

[aznation]

Good find Comonick!

[camonick]

I found another thread about the 114th Engineers (Link: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/145889-114th-engineers-1918-19/ ) and noticed that forum member aef1917 posted that he had a photo of the HQ Co. 114th Engineers as well as a copy of their unit history. Through PM and email he provided me with a scan of the photo. I hadn't given any thought to contact my great-uncle in Louisiana before, but sent him a copy of the photo via email with my contact info. He immediately called me back as soon as he received my email! He was ecstatic to see the picture. He said it was the correct picture and that he had actually had an exact copy of it hanging in his house but it had been lost when his home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina and he thought it was lost forever. He was only 5 when his father died but had some good stories about his service that he had learned from my great-grandmother and other family members. My mom and I had scanned the photo using some other family pictures for reference trying to locate my great-grandfather. We had it narrowed down to a few possibilities and asked my great uncle to verify which one he was. My mom and I were both wrong in our guesses but were happy to learn my great-uncle knew exactly which doughboy he was. I have him marked with the pink dot in the included photo. Through a few email exchanges with aef1917 (Ian) about the picture and some of the information about the 114th, he graciously offered to sell me both the photo and unit history. I can't say how much I appreciated his offer.

 

He explained to me in one of his emails that "The 39th Division, of which the 114th was a part, was designated as the 5th Depot Division upon its arrival in France. The Infantry regiments were broken up and used as replacements in various combat divisions, and the specialist troops (Field Artillery, Signals, Engineers, etc.) were detached and assigned at the Army and Corps level. The 114th was attached to 1st Corps, and was the only unit of the 39th to see combat service."

You can see some of the soldiers wearing the I Corps SSI

 

There are 2 very faint lines of writing on the photo below the Headquarters sign that read: "Headquarters Co. 114th Engineers <First Corps A.E.F.> and below that it says "Camp Stewart, VA, May 4, 1919" That date means the photo was taken when they returned home to Camp Stuart (the photo is misspelled), Newport News.

 

I will continue to post any new information I find.

 

[OhioBright86]

Good Bless the photo that was saved from Katrina. I recently found photos of my Great Grandfather in the 77th Div 308th Company B. I thought they were gone forever