WWI - 146/148th Field Artillery Regiments - Items Needed for Book!

[kiaiokalewa]

That there sir sure looks great .  I'm think now that I have some additional Army of Occupation related items.  I forget what they call them but it's one of them large blue banners type curios brought back home that have the Third Army in center with different locations embroidered on it in white.  There's some paper etc... in the frame it's placed in.  I'll have to dig it out and have a closer look to whether it has a direct Oregon National Guard connection.  We'll shall see.

[JDR]

@kiaiokalewa,

 

Interesting, please share it when you get the chance!

 

Best Regards,

-J.D.

[kiaiokalewa]

Well, I was off with the color but here it is.  The paperwork are general in contents and do not reference any unit specifically.  Neat curio regardless and all from the AFG Occupation era.

[AustinO]

Here's a nice rppc I picked up recently. Need to get around to scanning it at some point.  The Holt tractor is nicely marked, as is the tail of the gun which is partially obscured in front of the tractor. 

[B Frank]

[JDR]

@AustinO,

 

Nice picture! I will have to go through my notes again and see exactly when the History of the 66th Field Artillery Brigade mentions marking of vehicles. From what I remember both regiments did not mark their equipment until after the armistice went into effect. The Wyoming National Guard has a fantastic photo depicting the 148th SSI on the front of a motorcycle sidecar!

 

On a different note I managed to pick up a scratched, 146th FA Battery A disc from another collector out east. Being from Roswell NM myself, where Battery A was raised from the New Mexico National Guard, I really enjoyed getting this disc even though it had been peeled off a (presumably) IDed uniform from a Roswell estate auction back in 2020. At least the trackable lineage helps to back up the authenticity of the disc since scratched examples can be hard to prove genuine:

 

The uniform was complete with 18-months overseas chevrons and a 3rd Army "Liberty Loan" patch

 

New Mexico disc on right collar

 

Scratched 146th Battery A disc on left collar

 

My 66th FA Brigade insignia so far (bottom left could be CAC)

The officer's collar insignia is identified to Idaho National Guardsman Colonel Claude Hodge who, coincidentally, served with the 148th Field Artillery during WWII.

 

I've loved seeing the contributions of everyone here so far. Always good to see more stuff pop up from the 66th! Just bought a named 146th Battery A stein this past weekend to go with the 148th example. I will be sure to post it here once it gets to me in the mail.

 

Best Regards,

-J.D.

[JDR]

On 12/4/2023 at 9:30 AM, JDR said:

Greetings,

 

I hope this appeals to the right people, in the coming days I may also inquire in several Facebook groups regarding this same topic. Would really be interesting to see what turns up

 

Over the last year or so, I have been assisting the Fort Walla Walla Museum in Washington State with putting together material for a book covering the exploits of the 146th and 148th Field Artillery Regiments during World War One. In addition to two 1918 produced 155mm GPF cannons housed on museum grounds, both of which were used and souvenired by Walla Walla doughboys of Battery D 146th Field Artillery, the Fort WW Museum also has an extensive collection of items relating to both regiments but we are lacking in several areas.

 

The 155mm GPFs of Walla Walla, restored circa 2009

 

Sergeant Ezra Post, Battery D, posing with cannon no.2

This gun was named "Pansy" after Ezra's wife. Cannon no. 2 is the right-hand gun in the previous photo

 

To make things easy, here is a list of items I put together that the Museum and myself would be delighted to consider including in the book:

 

unit-marked field gear (webbing, equipment)

officer's uniform from either regiment

unit marked trench art (brass shells, belt buckles, ect.)

German souvenirs (hate belts, helmets, buckles, ect.)

original equipment used to fire the guns (shells, crates, sights, gunner's quadrant's, ect.)

monuments dedicated/featuring men in either regiment

original guide-ons for any of the batteries

photos of men serving overseas

a 148th tobacco humidor

a 148th painted helmet

 

Looking forward to checking out what people have, please feel free to share what you got here or with me over messages! The book will not be a huge production, the theme will be around PNW doughboys who served in both regiments, but it would be neat to include original items as best as we can. For items listed above, I am offering to take HD photos should mailing to me and returning back to sender seem like a viable option. Here are several photos I have taken of 146th items at the Ft. WW Museum:

 

146th Field Artillery Marked Shell

 

2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery mug

 

146th Field Artillery painted steel helmet

Battery E

 

Another 146th FA helmet

Battery E

 

Unit-stenciled coat belonging to Sergeant "Red" Lake of Yakima, WA

Battery E, 146th Field Artillery

 

Souvenir ink well made from the fuses of German shells

Brought back by a member of the 146th Field Artillery 

 

Two German made tobacco humidors, souvenired by Sergeant Ezra Post

Battery D, 146th Field Artillery

 

Business cards belonging to Sergeant Ezra Post

Battery D, 146th Field Artillery

 

One of several copies of The Long Range Sniper newspaper printed in Germany

From the belongings of Colonel Paul Weyrauch, 146th Field Artillery

 

Segment of a "yardlong" photo

Depicting Battery E, 146th Field Artillery

 

Thanks for taking alook at what we got so far, this is really only a tidbit of the museum's collection. The largest gap we have regarding men from the local area are those who served out of Oregon in the 148th Field Artillery, most of whom were from Pendleton OR. It is to my understanding that 148th Field Artillery items are quite scarce, however it would honor me to document anything I can for the project and for the owners should my offer appeal to anyone.
 

Thanks for your time and please feel free to message me anytime!

 

Headstone of Private First Class Conrad Hoff; the only killed in action

doughboy buried in Walla Walla from the 146th Field Artillery

Battery D, 146th Field Artillery

 

 

Three Walla Walla veterans of Battery D, 146th Field Artillery

posing with the very 155mm GPF they used during WWI

Circa 1955

 

Best Regards,

-J.D.

 

I would also like to make a correction to this post. Conrad Hoff, the killed-in-action doughboy of Battery D of the 146th Field Artillery, is in fact not the only KIA doughboy of the 146th buried in Walla Walla. After some research into the 66th's KIA list, I discovered a Corporal John M. Fouste who was killed in action during the Meuse-Argonne and is now buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Walla Walla. According to the brigade history, Corporal Fouste was killed by a high-explosive German artillery shell that detonated near him while he was asleep:

 

Corporal John M. Fouste - Battery D 146th Field Artillery Regiment

1889 - 1918

Mountain View Cemetery - WALLA-MV-61-22-9

 

I would like to apologize for the mistake, I was incorrect in my assumption that Conrad Hoff was the only KIA in town! Perhaps it is better to leave things open and not jump to conclusions in case something similar happens again. 

 

Best Regards,

-J.D.

[AustinO]

On 10/30/2024 at 10:11 PM, JDR said:

@AustinO,

 

Nice picture! I will have to go through my notes again and see exactly when the History of the 66th Field Artillery Brigade mentions marking of vehicles. From what I remember both regiments did not mark their equipment until after the armistice went into effect. The Wyoming National Guard has a fantastic photo depicting the 148th SSI on the front of a motorcycle sidecar!

 

 

Yes the markings were probably done post-Armistice.  In this instance the photo is for sure taken in Germany (its on German postcard stock). 

[B Frank]

Walla Walla Union Bulletin, May 29, 1989

[B Frank]

146TH AND 148TH ARE HOME AGAIN
 

The "Gypsy Brigade."

A splendid tribute to the fighting of the 146th and 148th Field Artillery is found in the Stars and Stripes, the official publication of the American Expeditionary Force in France. These two regiments were a part of the 66th Artillery Brigade, which was moved so often that it became known as the "Gypsy Brigade." The vagabondage of this and other artillery brigades in France destroyed all traditions of the immobile quality of the heavy artillery.
 

Says the Stars and Stripes of the 66th Brigade:

"The 66th Brigade, equipped with the split-railed 155 centimeter G.P.F. rifles, has an interesting story that is a far cry from harbor defense days. The 146th and 148th Regiments, the only units of the 41st division that were not scattered to the winds like all replacements, saw their first action at Chateau Thierry on July 11. The outfit was motorized and by a clever system which moved one piece forward at a time, steady fire was maintained as the doughboys chased back the Boche.
 

When the lumbering giants had pushed up as far as Fismes the brigade was ordered to join the all-American push at St. Mihiel, when the long-nosed devils lent their thunder to the Yankee chorus of victory. But, despite the fact that this wandering unit was now a part of the First American Army, it still belonged to no division and in the end, unsung in the records of any divisional history, it remained the Gypsy Brigade.
 

"Through the terrific days in the Argonne, advancing over roads that no longer existed, save on the ante-1914 maps, and toward the end at the mercy of the German heavies that made every moment hell for the gun crews, the big 155's pushed through Fort Marre, Chatlincourt, Malincourt, Montfaucon, Cuisy, Bantheville, Aincreville, Montigny, and Dun-sur-Meuse to Stenay. Here the armistice found them and now--transferred again--they helping the Third Army keep the watch on the Rhine. Like everyone else, they are hoping that the watch will soon run down and stop and 'Cannoneers, post!' will be a forgotten legend."
 

This hope has now become a reality, and our boys are Home Again!
 

Athena Press, June 27, 1919

[B Frank]

Banners on Coaches.
 

Two coaches carrying the Walla Walla men were labeled with big banners, red letters a foot high on a white cloth, that read "From Coblenz, Germany, to Walla Walla, Wash., D Battery, 146th F. A., 66th Brigade." On the coaches bearing the Spokane soldiers was the banner, "Battery F. 146th F. A., Spokane, Wash. Homeward bound from the Rhine to Spokane."
 

The Spokesman Review, June 28, 1919

[B Frank]

Spokane_Chronicle_Thu__Jun_26__1919

[B Frank]

[B Frank]

[B Frank]

[B Frank]

From Ancestry:

John Charles (Chuck) Ward, 1896–1964

Birth 5 APR 1896 • Toronto, Jefferson, Ohio, USA

Death 26 NOV 1964 • Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA

Battery A, 148th

 

 

[B Frank]

From Ancestry; 

Arthur Jackson Dunn, Battery B, 148th

[B Frank]

YANKEES COULD

USE BAYONETS ON

THEIR BIG GUNS
 

Clarence Tatsch Tells of

Fighting at Front in the

Final Days of Big Drive.
 

Battery F, 146th field artillery, organized in Spokane in 1917 as the first Washington field artillery, national guard, has six Old National bank men in its ranks. A community letter collected by Miss Bertha Sholderer of the bank during May was answered by Clarence Tatsch October 20, and reached the bank this week. The two men mentioned in the letter are Corporal Earl E. Scholer, paying teller, and Perry Franklin, bookkeeper.

In Mr. Tatsch's letter, dated October 20, he says in part:
 

Glorious Feeling.
 

"When the sun hasn't shone for days and it's raining today (it rained yesterday and the day before and then some more, the mud today being just a little muddier than it was yesterday), when the world looks blacker and we cuss the kaiser more, when the 'top cutter' bawls out your name and hands you a big, fat, brown envelope containing a community letter. Oh, boy, it's more than a grand and glorious feelin'. It makes the ol' sun shine. I would like to answer each letter separately, but 'Lor lumme.' it can't be done, cause if I stopped that long ol' Fritz might sneak back and that would never do. The boys sure put the 'oil' on the Boche, and he's running along nicely.
 

"We've just been issued hip boots, mittens, overcoats and an extra blanket, so I guess it's a long, hard winter with no hole to crawl into, but we hired out for tough men, and I guess we can do it.
 

"The way they're pushing 'em now the heavy artillery doesn't stay back and lob them over, 'Nay, nay, Pauline,' the last position we went into was close enough up to warrant putting bayonets on our big guns. Not only that, somebody went and lost our horseshoe and we've had some men wounded. Can't be lucky all the time, though.
 

"It sure am getting cold, even for the 'cooties.' I managed to pick up a fleece-lined shirt, and I guess all the 'cooties' in France know about it. Guess they know I'm kind to dumb animals. Why, I wouldn't hurt a hair on their dear little heads, (No, but the next clean shirt I get hold of they are sure going to get a swim in gasoline, and that's a luxury with gas at $2 per gallon. More W. S. S. for some one to buy.)
 

"Some one mentioned duck hunting In his letter. Well, the hunting is good here, and it's 'open season' the year around.

"Saw Earl and Perry a few days ago and expect to see them again in a couple of days. Will sure let them read the library."
 

Spokane Chronicle, Dec. 18, 1918


 

[JDR]

Greetings,

 

Another beer stein to share here, this example being named to Mechanic Jacob Ludwig Monk of Battery "A" of the 146th Field Artillery Regiment. A immigrant from Denmark, Jacob Monk would spend most of his life before and after World War One working as a farmhand in California. He passed away in 1967 at the age of 74 and is now buried in Farmington California:

 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/276099236/jacob-ludwig-monk

 

 

 

 

Grenzhausen Germany maker's stamp on the base of the mug, identical to the mark found on ceramic humidors of the 146th Field Artillery Regiment.

 

Best Regards,

-J.D.