CHAPTER XXIII

NOR STORIED URN, NOR MOUNTING SHAFT

GLORY NOT ALL SPECTACULAR--BRAVE FORCES BEHIND THE LINES--325TH FIELD SIGNAL BATTALION--COMPOSED OF YOUNG NEGROES--SEE REAL FIGHTING--SUFFER CASUALTIES--AN EXCITING INCIDENT--COLORED SIGNAL BATTALION A SUCCESS--RALPH TYLER'S STORIES--BURIAL OF NEGRO SOLDIER AT SEA--MORE INCIDENTS OF NEGRO VALOR--A WORD FROM CHARLES M. SCHWAB.

Out of the glamor and spectacular settings of combat comes most of the glory of war. The raids, the forays, the charges; the pitting of cold steel against cold steel, the hand to hand encounters in trenches, the steadfast manning of machine guns and field pieces against deadly assault, these and kindred phases of battle are what find themselves into print. Because they lend themselves so readily to the word painter or to the artist's brush, these lurid features are played to the almost complete exclusion of others, only slightly less important.

There are brave forces behind the lines, sometimes in front of the lines, about which little is written or pictured. Of these the most efficient and indispensable is the Signal Corps. While this branch of the service was not obliged to occupy front line trenches; make raids for prisoners, or march in battle formation into big engagements, it must not be supposed that it did not have a very dangerous duty to perform.

One of the colored units that made good most decisively was the 325th Field Signal Battalion of the 92nd Division. The men of this battalion had to string the wires for telegraphic and telephonic connections at times when the enemy guns were trained upon them. Therefore, in many respects, their duty took them into situations fully as dangerous as those of the combatant units.

This battalion was composed entirely of young Negroes excepting the Lieutenant Colonel, Major and two or three white line officers. With few exceptions, they were all college or high school boys, quite a number of them experts in radio or electric engineering. Those who were not experts when the battalion was formed, became so through the training which they received.

Major Spencer, who was responsible for the formation of the battalion, the only Negro signal unit in the American Army, was firm in the belief that Negroes could make good, and he remained with it long enough to see his belief become a realization.

After arriving at Brest, June 19, 1918, the battalion proceeded to Vitrey, and from that town began a four-day hike to Bourbonne les Baines. From that point it proceeded after a few days to Visey, where the boys got their first taste of what was to be, later, their daily duties. Here the radio (wireless telegraphy) company received its quota of the latest type of French instruments, a battery plant was established and a full supply of wire and other equipment issued to Companies B and C. Here, too, the Infantry Signal platoons of the battalion joined the outfit and shared in the training.

A courage test and their first introduction into real fighting in addition to stringing wires and sending and receiving radio messages, came on the afternoon of September 27th. A party including the Colonel, Lieutenant Herbert, the latter a Negro, and some French liaison officers, advanced beyond the battalion post and soon found themselves outside the lines and directly in front of a German machine gun nest.

The colonel divided his men into small groups and advanced on the enemy's position. The sortie resulted in the Signal boys capturing eight prisoners and two machine guns, but it cost the loss of Corporal Charles E. Boykin, who did not return. Two days later during a general advance, Sergeant Henry E. Moody was mortally wounded while at his post. Boykin was killed outright, while Sergeant Moody died in the hospital, these being the first two of the Signal Battalion to make the supreme sacrifice.

On the 10th of October the 92nd Division, having taken over the Marbache sector and relieved the 167th French Division, the 325th Field Signal Battalion took over all existing lines of communication. In the days following they installed new lines and made connections between the various units of the division. This was no small duty, when it is remembered that an army sector extends over a wide area of many square miles, including in it from 50 to 100 cities and towns.

The Marbache sector was an active front and time and time again the boys went ahead repairing lines and establishing new communications under shell fire, with no heed to personal danger--inspired only by that ideal of the Signal Corps man--get communication through at any cost, but get it through.

On the morning of November 10th, when the Second Army launched its attack on the famous Hindenburg line before Metz, the 92nd Division held the line of Vandieres--St. Michel, Xon and Norry. The engagement lasted for twenty-eight hours continuously, during which time the Signal Corps functioned splendidly and as one man, keeping up communications, installing new lines and repairing those shelled out.

One of the most exciting incidents was that participated in by the First Platoon of the Signal Battalion on the first day of the Metz battle. Shortly after the lighter artillery barrage was lifted, the big guns of the enemy began shelling Pont a Mousson. The first shells hit on the edge of the city and then they began peppering the Signal Battalion's station.

Sergeant Rufus B. Atwood of the First Platoon was seated in the cellar near the switchboard; Private Edgar White was operating the switchboard, and Private Clark the buzzerphone. Several officers and men were standing in the "dugout" cellar. Suddenly a shell struck the top, passed through the ceiling and wall and exploded, making havoc of the cellar.

[Illustration: OFFICERS OF THE 15TH NEW YORK (369TH INFANTRY), MARCHING IN PARADE PRIOR TO THE WAR. LEFT TO RIGHT--COL. WM. HAYWARD, BERT WILLIAMS. FAMOUS COMEDIAN AND DR. G. McSWEENEY.]

[Illustration: AFTER THE WAR. ONE OF THE NUMBER OF AUTOMOBILES BEARING WOUNDED OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS OF THE 15TH NEW YORK (369TH INFANTRY). MAJOR DAVID L. 'ESPERANCE (WITH HELMET) AND MAJOR LORRILARD SPENCER.]

[Illustration: A REPRESENTATIVE GROUP OF NEGRO OFFICERS OF "MOSS'S BUFFALOES" (167TH INFANTRY). THE LITTLE LADY WITH THE BOUQUET IS ONE OF THEIR FRENCH ACQUAINTANCES.]

[Illustration: CAPTAIN JOHN H. PATTON, REGIMENTAL ADJUTANT, 8TH ILLINOIS INFANTRY. FROM JUNE 26, 1916, TO SEPTEMBER 11, 1918. COMMANDING 2ND BATTALION, 370TH INFANTRY, FROM SEPTEMBER 11. 1918, TO DECEMBER 25. 1918. SAINT MIHIEL SECTOR FROM JUNE 21, 1918, TO JULY 3, 1918. ARGONNE FOREST FROM JULY 6, 1916, TO AUGUST 15, 1918. BATTLES FOR MONT DES SIGNES, FROM SEPTEMBER 16 TO 30, 1918. OISE-AllSNE OFFENSIVE, FROM SEPTEMBER 717 1918. TO NOVEMBER 11, 1918. AWARDED THE FRENCH CROIX DE GUERRE FOR MERITORIOUS SERVICE COVERING PERIOD FROM SEPTEMBER 11 TO NOVEMBER II, 1918.]

[Illustration: EMIL LAURENT, NEGRO CORPORAL OF 8TH ILLINOIS (370TH INFANTRY), A CROIX DE GUERRE WINNER, ENGAGED IN FIELD TELEPHONE SERVICE IN A FRENCH WOOD.]

[Illustration: GROUP OF "HELL FIGHTERS" (369TH INFANTRY) WITH THEIR JEWELRY (CROIX DE GUERRE). FRONT ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT, "EAGLE EYE" EDWARD WILLIAMS, "LAMP LIGHT" HERB TAYLOR, LEON TRAINOR, "KID HAWK" RALPH HAWKINS, BACK ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT, SERGT. M.D. PRIMUS, SERGT. DANIEL STORMS, "KID WONEY" JOE WILLIAMS, "KID BUCK" ALFRED HANLY AND CORP. T.W. TAYLOR.]

[Illustration: DR. JOSEPH H. WARD ON TRANSPORT FRANCE. THE ONLY NEGRO ATTAINING THE RANK OF MAJOR IN THE MEDICAL CORPS OF THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES.]

[Illustration: CAPTAIN NAPOLEON B. MARSHALL, FAMOUS HARVARD ATHLETE, WHO HELPED ORGANIZE 15TH NEW YORK AND WAS ONE OF ITS ORIGINAL NEGRO OFFICERS. HE WAS SERIOUSLY WOUNDED AT METZ.]

[Illustration: BRAVE NEGROES HOMEWARD BOUND FROM WAR. FIRST CALL FOR DINNER.]

[Illustration: "MOSS'S BUFFALOES" (367TH INFANTRY), REVIEWED BY GOVERNOR WHITMAN AFTER FLAG PRESENTATION IN FRONT OF UNION LEAGUE CLUB, NEW YORK.]

[Illustration: THE "BUFFALOES" (367TH INFANTRY), RETURNING TO NEW YORK AFTER VALIANT SERVICE IN FRANCE. THEIR COLORS STILL FLYING.]

[Illustration: SOLDIERS WHO DISTINGUISHED THEMSELVES AT THE FORTRESS OF METZ. GROUP BELONGING TO 365TH INFANTRY ARRIVING AT CHICAGO STATION.]

[Illustration: HOMEWARD BOUND IN A PULLMAN CAR. NO "JIM CROWING THERE." THE NEGRO BEARS ON HIS SHOULDER THE CITATION CORD AND EMBLEM DENOTING VALOROUS SERVICE.]

Lieutenant Walker, who arrived just at this time, took hold of matters with admirable coolness and presence of mind. Sergeant Atwood tried out the switchboard and found all lines broken. He also found on trying it the buzzerphone out. Lieutenant Walker gave orders to Private White to stay on the switchboard and Corporal Adolphus Johnson to stay on the buzzerphone. The twelve-cord monocord board was nailed up by White and then began the connecting up of the lines from outside to the monocord board. All this time the shelling by the Germans was fierce and deadly. Shells struck all around the boys and one struck a nearby ammunition dump, causing the explosion of thousands of rounds of ammunition, which created a terrific shock and extinguished all the lights.

But still the men worked on and would not leave the dangerous post, a veritable target for the enemy's big guns, until the lieutenant of the Military Police arrived and ordered them out.

The 325th Field Signal Battalion was a great success. What the boys did not learn about radio, telephonic and telegraphic work would be of little advantage to anyone. It will be of great advantage to many of them in the way of making a living in times of peace.

By the time the armistice stopped the fighting the different units of the 92nd Division had taken many prisoners and gained many objectives. They finally retired to the vicinity of Pont a Mousson, where time was spent salvaging material and cleaning equipment, while the men, knowing there was to be no more fighting, anxiously awaited the time until they were ordered to an embarkation point and thence home.

The trip home in February, 1919, was about as perilous to some of them as the war had been. It was a period of unusually rough weather. The north Atlantic, never very smooth during the winter months, put on some extra touches for the returning Negro soldiers. An experience common to many on several different transports has been described by Mechanic Charles E. Bryan of Battery B, 351st Artillery upon his return to his home, 5658 Frankstown Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa. Asked about his impressions of the war, he said that which impressed him the most was the storm at sea on the way home.

"That storm beat the war all hollow," he said. "Me and my buddies were messing when the ship turned about eighteen somersaults, and we all pitched on the floor, spilling soup and beans and things all over the ship.

"The lights went out and somehow the automatic bell which means 'abandon ship' was rung by accident. We didn't know it was an accident, and from the way the ship pitched we thought she was on her way down to look up one Mr. Davy Jones. So we made a break for the decks, and believe me, some of those lads who had come through battles and all sorts of dangers were about to take a dive over the side if our officers had not started explaining in time."

Stories of varying degrees of interest, some thrilling, some humorous and some pathetic to the last degree, have been brought back.

Ralph Tyler, the Negro newspaper man, who was sent to France as the official representative of the Afro-American press by the Committee on Public Information, has written many of the incidents, and told others from the rostrum. He has told how the small insignificant, crowded freight cars in which the soldiers traveled looked like Pullman parlor coaches to the Negro soldiers.

"To many of our people back in the 'States,'" wrote Mr. Tyler from France, "who saw our boys embark on fine American railroad coaches and Pullman sleepers to cover the first lap of their hoped-for pilgrimage to Berlin, the coaches they must ride in over here would arouse a mild protest. I stood at Vierzon, one of France's many quaint old towns recently, and saw a long train of freight cars roll in, en route to some point further distant. In these cars with but a limited number of boxes to sit upon, and just the floors to stand upon, were crowded some 1,000 of our own colored soldiers from the States. But a jollier crowd never rode through American cities in Pullman sleepers and diners than those 1,000 colored troopers. They accepted passage on these rude box freight cars cheerfully, for they knew they were now in war, and palace cars, downy coaches and the usual American railroad conveniences were neither available nor desirable.

"The point I wish to convey to the people back home is that did they but know how cheerfully, even eagerly our boys over here accept war time conveniences, they would not worry quite so much about how the boys are faring. They are being wholesomely and plenteously fed; they are warmly clothed, they are cheerful and uncomplaining as they know this is war and for that reason know exactly what they must expect. To the soldier who must at times sleep with but the canopy of heaven as a covering, and the earth as a mattress, a box freight car that shields him from the rain and wind is a real luxury, and he accepts it as such.

"There need not be any worry back home as to the maintenance of our colored soldiers over here. They receive the same substantial fare the white soldier receives, and the white soldier travels from point to point in the same box freight cars as afford means of passage for colored soldiers. In short, when it comes to maintenance and equipment, and consideration for the comfort of the American soldier, to use a trite saying, 'the folks are as good as the people.' There is absolutely no discrimination, and the cheerfulness of those 1,000 boys whose freight cars became, in imagination, Pullman palace cars, was the proof to me that the colored boys in the ranks are getting a fifty-fifty break."

"Two more stories have come to me," continues Mr. Tyler, "to prove that our colored soldiers preserve and radiate their humor even where shells and shrapnel fly thickest. A colored soldier slightly wounded in the Argonne fighting--and let me assure you there w