The first Veterans Day

Although it has many connotations and meanings today, our present Veterans Day celebration got its start as Armistice Day on Nov. 11, 1918, the day the First World War o◊cially ended.

Not in on the strife, violence and militarism that led up to the war, known then only as the Great War, the United States was ultimately drawn into the conflict in the latter stages.

With interests around the globe and an emerging industrial power, the U.S.A. would naturally attract enemies. With Germany viewing the friends of their enemies as enemies themselves, attacks on American sea shipping resulted in American deaths and led to the inevitable declaration of war by both Houses of Congress on April 6, 1917.

At the point of the declaration, America was woefully unprepared for war.

Volunteers were called for, the draft was instituted, and although beginning with a small armed force in 1917, more than two million American soldiers would be marching in Europe in less than 18 months.

Among the many thousands answering the call was one John Nelson from Oklahoma who traveled to Pennsylvania to join the 318th Infantry and to serve in the engineers battalion.

Having left home many years before at age 13 to see the country and fi nd his way, his participation in America’s fi rst global military confl ict would help determine not only his country’s future but his own as well.

The 318th was a part of the large 80th Division, also known as the Blue Ridge Division. The engineers of the contingent would be responsible for cutting through barbed wire and other obstacles as well a rebuilding blown bridges along the way. A favorite target of German machine gunners and snipers, an engineer’s life would be one of extra hazard.

The 318th, led by Major General Adelbert Cronkhite, were trained at Fort Lee in northern Virginia, a training facility that hadn’t actually been completed by the time new soldiers came flooding in. Enduring the harshest winter conditions on record that year slowed the soldiers’ training but not their resolve as they were ready to travel by train to New York City to begin their journey to the battlefield by the spring of 1918.

John Nelson’s unit had the good fortune to draw berths on the newly acquired “Leviathan” ocean cruiser. Built in 1914 by a German firm, the boat was originally called the “Vaterland” but had been locked up in New Jersey when the war broke out while moored there. When the U.S. entered the fray, the boat was then declared property of the U.S. Navy and outfitted as a troop ship.

After being hurriedly reoutfitted, the Leviathan was moored in New York City’s East River in the spring of 1918 where it became the country’s major conveyor of troops to the European theater of war. One of the fastest ships in the world, the Leviathan’s transport of tens of thousands of American doughboys was a big part of the ultimate defeatof Germany.

While John Nelson’s trip across the Atlantic found calm seas, the atmosphere inside the Leviathan was not as favorable. Being packed with as many men as possible, movement around the ship was nigh onto impossible with galley schedules chaotic at best.

Worse, infl uenza broke out among the troops with over 100 losing their lives before ever setting foot on foreign soil. Originally built to transport 1,500 people, the refit boosted the troop capacity to 10,000.

German submarine activity made the fi nal few miles of the journey tense, but a strong U.S. and British screening e◊ort led them safely to harbor, On May 22, 1918, the troops were eventually debarked at Brest, on the coast of France.

The 318th was quickly aligned with French forces, and trained with both French and British soldiers to get acclimated to what they would certainly experience. The fi rst attack upon the 318th by German forces in the form of German flyers would soon come, resulting in the death of 12 horses.

Relieved to avoid injury via the air, soldiers began to fully understand what Gen.

Cronkhite meant when he said that the introduction of flying guns turned men into moles. Traveling was best done at night when airplanes weren’t present.

The arrival of John Nelson and the hundreds of thousands of American doughboys completely changed the face of the war. While the war had ground to a bloody stalemate across western Europe, the German high command didn’t believe the completely unprepared Americans could possibly be a factor soon enough to make a di◊erence. They were proven wrong.

With Americans pouring into France with each week, U.S. forces joined the battle, providing relief for weary allies who been battered by four years of shelling, aerial assaults and deadly gas attacks by the German war machine.

Rallying behind the 80th’s motto “Forward Only,” the American presence became a tide, gradually pushing the front back toward Germany with each passing week.

The American Expeditionary Forces, or the AEF, was led overall by Gen.

Black Jack Pershing, who succeeded in late summer 1918, of getting American forces combined for a massive assault to end the war.

In September, with the 80th and the 318th, American forces overwhelmed German defenders at St.

Mihiel, France, a key obstacle on the road to victory.

The Americans overcame torrential rains, knee deep mud and a well dug in enemy to set the stage for the great push to end the war.

The Ardennes Forest and the Muse River were the avenue the Allies could travel to drive into Germany itself. With the 318th in the center of the action, John Nelson had a front row view to an o◊ensive that began on Sept. 25 over a 40 mile front that started with a furious bombardment of 3,700 artillery guns, followed by the surge forward of 300,000 Americans.

The 318th moved forward, coming up against Montfaucon in northeastern France in early October. The town was on highground and a high value target in the American offensive. The ensuing battle reduced nearly the whole of the city to complete ruin and the doughboys pressed on, knowing the farther they went, the sooner the war ended.

On Nov. 6, the 318th was given two days of rest, but warned to be ready to move at any moment. On the 9th, they moved to Martincourt, France, and were preparing to move again when word finally came down that the Germans had capitulated, that the war was over. On Nov. 11, 1918, documents were signed and the day became known as Armistice Day. In the U.S. a proclamation by President Woodrow Wilson led to its being a national holiday. In 1947, after the conclusion of World War II, the name was changed to Veterans Day to include all veterans.

John Nelson’s 318th went on to stay in France for a few months before being shipped back to America in the spring of 1919. His 80th Division was the most active one of the war but had the lowest casualty rate of any division, having just 880 soldiers killed among the 23,000 soldiers in the Blue Ridge Division.

Praised by Gen. Pershing, the fighting unit was lauded for fighting with “unusual distinction.”

Young John Nelson survived the war, and used his new skills to be involved with bridge building across the southwest United States before settling down to start a family in Oklahoma. As the author of this article, I am keenly appreciative of the survival of this John Nelson McGee, a man who would later on become my grandfather.

A recent discovery of Granddad’s war momentos locked away in a long forgotten trunk provided the impetus for my research into the 80th Division’s history as well as the 318th Infantry. After deactivating in 1919, the 80th would come back to life to become the workhorse of Gen. Patton’s 3rd Army in World War II. Members of the 80th fought in the recent Iraq conflict, thereby keeping their tradition alive.

Some years ago, I inherited a large framed photo of a place called Montfaucon. I had no context to this picture of a blown up French city until my recent discovery of what my Granddad’s battalion did in WW I. Reading books by luminaries such as Gen.

Cronkhite, and reading other resource material relating to the men who have fought for America in time of peril, has reinforced my admiration for the kind of men who have kept America free a through the centuries. Depending on ordinary men with extraordinary character, the United States had long had the best fighting men on the planet.

The “angel dust” of freedom has long served to provide America with a citizenry equipped to take on the world’s problem when confronted by them.

American veterans aren’t super heroes in the cinematic sense, but are in the truest sense. Placing one’s own life and future in jeopardy for the protection of one’s people and country is as super as it gets.

If you see or know a veteran, thank him. There really is something you can thank him or her for.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 11/13/2013