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Today, October 8th 100th anniversary of the Lost Battalion relief


teufelhund
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Good morning from Over Here,

Today, October 8th 2018, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the relief of the "Lost Battalion" of the 77th US Infantry Division.

The battalion comprised doughboys of the 308th Infantry ( Cy A,B,C,E &H) 307th Infantry ( Cy K) and 306th Machine Gun BN was beseiged by german troops in a ravine of Charlevaux ( The Pocket) not far from the village of Binarville.

Oddly enough, Binarville and Chatel Chéhéry are distant apart from only 5 or 6 Kms.

Some pictures then and Now

 

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The French Monument

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The Pocket 1918

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The survivors ( the Happy 194)

 

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The casualties

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The protagonists

 

LTC Charles White Whittlesey and Colonel Eugene Houghton( the liberator)

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Lt Cepeglia

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Lt William Cullen

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The US Marker on Departemental road 104

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On the second group of pictures please read:

 

Major Carl McKINNEY instead of Col. EUGENE HOUGHTON ( pic with Whittlesey)

 

PVT Philip CEPAGLIA HQ Co 308th ( not Cepeglia)

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Great photos...thanks for posting.

 

It is interesting how perspectives change and evolve over time......

 

I cannot remember if it's in "Ohio in the Rainbow" (166th Infantry regimental history), or in "War Bugs" which is a narrative from one of the Rainbow Division artillery regiments....but one of those books contains a couple of stories related to the Lost Battalion.

 

The Rainbow vets ran into some of the 77th Div vets and were chiding them with things like "...we never lost any of OUR battalions...."......and later making fun of their divisional insignia, saying "Look...it's Lady Liberty holding up a torch, looking for her lost battalion...".

 

The regimental and divisional pride tends to be lost over time...the rivalries... the mistakes in battle that become fascinating stories....

 

Always interesting stuff.

 

 

Thanks for posting the thread! It's very cool to see.

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Thank-you for your kind comments...

You know probably Frank B.. who is a WW1 french historian-collector-architect, specialised in the WWI 42nd DIUS, he keeps a small WW1 museum in MARAC where the division stayed in 1918.

 

Here is an interesting short movie taken when the survivors of the LB were leaving the Pocket.

They were thereafter sent to " ABRIS DU CROCHET" not far from the former Kronprinz PC which BTW became the HQ of the 77th (seen on the clip)

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https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Lost+battalion+Argonne&view=detail&mid=CDCE74523C4FF9C18CBCCDCE74523C4FF9C18CBC&FORM=VIRE

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How intersting! Thanks for sharing! I have a little 1921 (think is the date) book that is the history of the LB in rhyme. Pocket-size book and has a fold-out picture of the men. I only know the basics, but I didn't know there were so many MoH winners from it!

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Yesterday, October 8th 2018 at precisely 1930, the exact time of the relief of the, Lost Battalion 100 years ago , a emotional and impresive ceremony toke place in the darkness of the Argonne Forest.

Lot of people where present, interalia the owner of the Charleveaux Mill and many US citizens , Adresses an national anthems were performed.

A very emotional moment indeed.

 

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.

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