A Small Circle of Chums~~ some Marines of 15th Company, 6th Machine Gun Battalion at Belleau Wood: how each of them came to be there, and what followed after . . .

Frank Dunham’s caption for this photo reads: “The crack Machine Gun Section of the world, after 28 days in Belleau Woods”. Individual Marines remain unidentified.

Cpl Frank Dunham

A modest cache of letters, photos and medals originally belonging to Cpl. Frank Dunham, USMC (1917-19) offers an evocative glimpse into the wartime experiences of several members of 15th Company, 6th Machine Gun Battalion, during the summer of 1918 at Belleau Wood near the River Marne.

There is not enough here for a cohesive narrative, but only isolated clues, such as might emerge from an archaeological dig– or, as in this case, from a soldier’s trunk.

The full story of Frank Dunham and his friends in 15th Company is lost to time.  But his handful of photos & medals, and a couple of letters, open small windows on a place called Belleau Wood and, together with what is preserved in the official histories, at least a small part of that story can be pieced together.

For the Marines of 15th Company, as for much of the 4th Brigade, the decisive date was June 6, 1918, when the Marine Corps suffered more casualties in one day than during their entire history up to that time.

At 3:45 a.m. on the 6th, the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines under Major Julius Turrill (of which only two companies were available, the 49th under Capt. George Hamilton, and the 67th under 1stLt Orlando Crowther) attacked from Hill 142 north to the Lucy-Torcy road.  Ten machine guns from 15th Company, including Dunham and his friends, supported the attack with direct overhead fire on German assembly points and reserve positions.  As a result of this firing, they drew fire upon themselves.  While their objectives were attained, both companies had suffered such heavy casualties among officers and men that by mid-morning Capt Hamilton had to step in and merge the remnants of both companies into a single company under his command.

Dunham’s Croix de Guerre

Meanwhile, the machine gunners of 15th Company suffered several casualties during the attack, though no fatalities.  Cpl Frank Dunham was awarded the Silver Star Certificate and Croix de Guerre for his actions on this date.  His citation reads: “He displayed coolness and leadership  in conducting his guns throughout the day, under heavy artillery and machine gun fire.”

Also decorated for courage under fire in this attack was one of Dunham’s friends, Pvt. Russell D. Smith, who received the Silver Star Certificate.  His citation reads: “He maintained the fire of his machine gun throughout the day while subjected to enemy fire which was so intense that parts of his gun were destroyed.”  Pvt Smith would later be awarded another Silver Star and two Croix de Guerres for his actions at Soissons.

Among Dunham‘s possessions is a photograph of Smith and himself standing in the wheat field where the attack of the 6th had taken place.  The photograph is undated, but it was so soon after the battle that bodies of dead Marines are still lying unburied on the ground.

Dunham & Smith, with unidentified dead Marines. Taken sometime shortly after June 6.

Also taken at this time is another photograph showing Dunham standng by himself, with unidentified dead Marines.

Dunham standing near dead Marines at Belleau Wood

And this photo of another chum, Irving Bigelow . . .

Irving Bigelow sitting near dead Marine, Belleau Wood

But the story and Frank Dunham, Russell Smith and Irving Bigelow, as well as their other chums, Harvey Hagan, Nicholas Meyer, Edward Duda, Emanuel Smolik and Victor Bleasdale– all members of 15th Company, 6th Machine Gun Battalion, and all present at Belleau Wood– for all of them the story of their military service began earlier.  For most, it began with the declaration of war by the United States in April, 1917.  But for two of them, Frank Dunham and Victor Bleasdale, the story began two years earlier, in 1915, and involved an earlier conflict, an insurrection in Haiti— while for Irving Bigelow it began earlier yet, in 1914, in yet another conflict —  in Mexico, at Vera Cruz.

Irving Bigelow

Vera Cruz, Apr-Nov 1914

Irving Bigelow enlisted in Lansing, Michigan in January 1914 and was stationed at Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, in Norfolk, Virginia for the next three and a half months.

On April 22nd, Pvt Bigelow joined 20th Company in LtCol A.W. Caitlin’s 3rd Regiment and participated in the landing at Vera Cruz, taking part in the house-to-house fighting that took place in that city later the same day.

On the 29th, Bigelow joined 15th Company of  LtCol Wendell Neville’s 2nd Regiment and remained in Vera Cruz for the duration of the American occupation, until late November of that year.

Pvt Victor Bleasdale, in Haiti

 
Haiti, Aug 1915 — Dec 1916

Next among the future friends to enlist was Frank Dunham, who joined up in Akron, Ohio on October 19, 1914.  He trained as a member of Company F, Recruit Depot, Marine Barracks, in the Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia until mid-January when he was transferred to 15th Company, 2nd Regiment, 1st Brigade which by this time had returned from Vera Cruz and was stationed at the Navy Yard on League Island, Philadelphia. 

The third friend to enlist was Victor Bleasdale  from Janesville, Wisconsin, who joined up in Milwaukee on May 10th, 1915.  He trained in Company D at the Recruit Depot, Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, in Norfolk until mid-July, when he travelled by train to Wintrop, Massachusetts, where he underwent marksmanship training on the Army rifle course. 

At the end of July, Bleasdale was transferred to 15th Company in Philadelphia, just in time to join the company on board the USS Connecticut, which steamed out to sea on July 31st— carrying 344 Marines (five companies) of the 2nd Regiment, under Colonel E.K. Cole— and bound for Haiti, where a bloody revolution was underway.

At this point, on board ship, the three future friends, Bigelow, Dunham & Bleasdale, were all together for the first time in the same company, though at what point they became acquainted and struck up friendships is unknown.

Marines boarding the USS Connecticut at Navy Yard, Philadelphia, 31 July 1915, destination Haiti.

The Connecticut steamed into harbor at Port au Prince on August 4, after a record run from Philadelphia. The capitol was in chaos. Two Presidents had been murdered within thirty-six hours— one of them dismembered with body parts displayed on poles; hundreds executed, many by machete; two foreign legations violated, and the government non-existant. Mobs stormed through the streets.

On August 15, Colonel L.W.T. Waller arrived on board the armored cruiser Tennessee with eight companies from the 1st Regiment of Marines and estabished the 1st Brigade (just over 2000 men) on shore, with the long-term purpose of pacifying the country and permitting the reconstitution of the Haitian government.   The native insurgents, known as cacos, controlled much of the island, and driving them out of their strongholds became the main objective of the Marines.

The first job was to drive the cacos out of the capital of Port au Prince, and this was accomplished in the first few days by Col Waller’s 2nd Regiment, followed by the clearing of nearby town of Gonaives. 

The next main trouble spot was in the north around Cap-Haitian.  Colonel Cole’s 1st Battalion, 1st Regiment, including 15th Company. was stationed in Cap-Haitian.  The cacos, controlling the countryside, set up a blockade around the town, blocking all movement in or out, cutting off all supplies to the surrounded Marines.  On September 20th, a Marine patrol, attempting to cut through the blockade, was ambushed.   Cole called in a landing force from the USS Connecticut to hold the town, while he and most of his regiment went to the rescue of the surrounded patrol.  In the ensuing conflict, forty cacos were killed at the expense of 10 Marines wounded.  It is unknown if  Bigelow, Bleasdale or Dunham took part in this fight, as no mention of it is found in their roster records.

The following week Cole attacked a caco stronghold at Quartier Morin, taking it on the 27th.   At this point Waller turned his full attention to taking possession of the northern region of the island.  He set up a three-town triangle of garrisons at Ouanaminthe, on the Dominican border, Grand Riviere du Nord, and Fort Liberte, leaving a company in each town.  15th Company was responsible for Fort Liberte. 

15th Company, 2nd Regiment — 3 pm Guard Relief, Fort Liberte, Haiti, 1916.

The next objective in Waller‘s plan was the caco stronghold at Fort Capois.  Waller sent Major Smedley Butler and Captain “Deacon” Upshur and forty enlisted Marines, including the legendary Gunnery Sergeant Dan Daly (both Butler & Daly would end their military careers with two Medals of Honor apiece).  Also present on this six-day, 120-mile expedition was Pvt Irving Bigelow.  For an assault force, the Marines were lightly armed, their heaviest weapon being a single machine gun. 

Unfortunately for the patrol, their guide was in cahoots with the cacos and led the Marines into an ambush.  That night (Oct 24-25), as the Marines were attempting to cross a mountain river of whitewater, the forty-odd Marines were surrounded and attacked by some 400 cacos from Fort Capois and Fort Dipitie.  The cacos kept them pinned down and under fire throughout the night.  The Marines did not even have the benefit of their one machine gun, as the horse carrying it had been killed by gunfire while crossing the river.  In the dark, while still under attack, GSgt Daly stole back to the river, hoisted the machine gun on his back and made his way back to camp (an action which earned him his second Medal of Honor).

At daylight, knowing the cacos would attack and overwhelm them by sheer numbers, Butler audaciously attacked the cacos, in three directions!  The cacos were so dumbfounded and caught off guard that they panicked and ran.  Captain Upshur and 1st Lt Ostermann (who was wounded), with just 13 Marines (one of whom was Bigelow) pursued the cacos back to Fort Dipitie, then stormed the fort and burned it to the ground (an action for which both officers received Medals of Honor).  Bigelow, as one of the thirteen, would later receive a Letter of Commendation, signed by the Secretary of the Navy, for his participation in this attack.

After their long and sleepless night, Butler led the patrol back to Grande Riviere du Nord.  Almost immediately Captain Chandler Campbell organized a column and set out to attack Fort Capois.  This time the Marine column was far larger, composed of two companies of sailors from the Connecticut and five companies of Marines, including 15th Company.  Bigelow, Bleasdale and Dunham were all present on this expedition.  Le Trou was captured on Nov 2, and Fort Capois on Nov 5.  Forts Selon and Berthol were captured on the  7th and 8th.

“Hunting bandits near Fort Liberte, Haiti, 1916″. Photo by V. Bleasdale.

According to their muster roll records, Bigelow, Bleasdale and Dunham only participated in Butler‘s expedition through the 15th, but this is probably in error since the expedition lasted at least through the 18th, culminating in the major assault of Fort Riviere on that date.  As none of the three Marines was wounded, or was reported sick, or AWOL, it seems unlikely that any of them would have been removed from the expedition while it was in progress.

15th Company was one of several units assigned to the initial assault on the fort on the night of the 17th-18th.  The company, accompanied by Major Butler, attacked the south side of the fortification, and penetrated the fort through an opening so constricted that only one man could go through at a time.  The first two Marines to enter were Sgt Ross Iams and Private Sam Gross, both of whom were awared Medals of Honor.  A few more squads from the company squeezed through right after them, and were immediately attacked from within by the cacos.  The hand-to-hand fighting which ensued was extremely brutal— involving firearms, bayonets, machetes, clubs and rocks.  By the time it was over, all the cacos were killed (about fifty in all), while all the Marines were left standing.  Major Smedley Butler earned his second Medal of Honor on this day.

15th Company, as part of the 2nd Regiment of Marines, remained in Haiti through the rest of 1916. 

Irving Bigelow served on detached duty with the Haitian Gendarmerie at La Valliere throughout June and July, then returned to Port au Prince in August where, till the end of the year, he drove an “auto truck” for the regiment.  Sometime in September, 1915, Pvt Bigelow was promoted to corporal.  On Dec 27, Cpl Bigelow was promoted to sergeant.

Through most of his time in Haiti, when he was not participating in expeditions against the cacos, Victor Bleasdale served as payroll and muster roll clerk for the company.  On June 25th, 1916, Pvt Bleasdale was promoted to corporal.

From September 1 to 26, 1916, Frank Dunham participated in a mounted expedition from Port au Prince, Haiti, over mountainous jungle, to Azua, in the Dominican Republic.  Through much of November and December he was hospitalized in Port au Prince with an unspecified ailment.

Stateside, Jan-Apr 1917

Sometime in January, 1917, the 2nd Regiment, including 15th Company, returned to the United States and took up their station in Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Philadelphia.  Bigelow and Bleasdale returned with the company.  Dunham‘s movements are less clear, as his roster record for January is missing.  Probably he remained in hospital in Port au Prince for a time after the regiment had returned to the States.  By February, 1917, all three Marines were at Marine Barracks, Philadelphia Navy Yard on League Island.

Sometime in late February, 1917, 15th Company was transferred to the Marine Aviation Section, US Navy Aeronautic Station in Pensacola, Florida, and all three friends were included in the move.  It was at this time that another future member of the Dunham “circle of chums” joined the Company:  Russell Smith, who had enlisted the previous November.  

War is Declared, April 2

While Bigelow, Bleasdale and Dunham were still at Pensacola with 15th Company, the United States declared war on Germany on April 2nd.   In mid-May, the Secretary of War made a formal request to President Wilson that a regiment of Marines be included in the first contingent of troops being sent to France.  Wilson issued an order to that effect on the 27th.  Accordingly, Marine units with expeditionary experience in Haiti, Santo Domingo and Cuba, including 15th Company, as well as a number of shipboard detachments, were formally organized into the 5th Marine Regiment, commanded by Col Charles Doyen, and composed of three battalions.  15th Company was called up from Pensacola to Quantico and assigned to 1st Battalion under Major Julius Turrill.  

It was at about this time that the rest of the Marines in Dunham’s “circle of chums” joined the company.  Harvey Hagan, Nicholas Meyer and Emanuel Smolik enlisted just days after the declaration of war, underwent basic training together at Paris* Island as members of the same ”Company H”  and joined 15th Company at Quantico on June 1st.  Edward Duda also joined on this date from Paris Island, where he had trained in “Company I”.  

Crossing the Pond

The Marines of 15th Company left Quantico on June 12, traveling by train to their old homebase at the Navy Yard on League Island, Philadelphia, and immediately boarded the USS DeKalb (formerly the German ship Prinz Eitel, seized at the outbreak of war), joining the rest of the Col Julius Turrill’s 1st Battalion.

Marines boarding the USS Dekalb, June 12, 1917, Navy Yard, Philadelphia

Together with the USS Hancock (which held Headquarters & Supply Companies), the Dekalb weighed anchor and steamed out to sea on the same day, to a sustained cacaphony of every bell and whistle on the waterfront.  Their journey up the Jersey coast was slowed by a heavy fog in Delaware Bay, but soon enough they made it into New York Harbor and anchored within sight of the Statue of Liberty.   The two ships were  joined by a third, the USS Henderson, which carried the 2nd and 3rd Battalions and the regimental band.  On the 14th, together with other ships carrying the remainder of the 1st Division, they set sail for France. 

A pair of encounters with German U-boats notwithstanding, the Dekalb arrived in St Nazaire harbor, on the coast of France in good order on June 26.  The 1st Battalion disembarked with little fanfare on the same day and marched five miles to the western outskirts of the city, to a British campground known as Base Camp #1.  This was to be their home for the next couple of weeks.    They set up tents, and within a few hours were nicely settled in, making coffee and frying bacon over open fires.  For the next couple of weeks, the Marines primarily busied themselves with marches and close order drills, sometimes marching back to the docks to spend a day unloading ships.

Prvates Harvey Hagan, Nicholas Meyer and Edward Duda at Base Camp #1, St. Nazaire, in early July 1917.

 To be continued . . .

~~~~~

* “Parris Island” was not spelled with two “r”s until after the war.

Original photographs in this article courtesy of Paul Higgins.  All other photos are in the Public Domain.

Last updated in the early hours of 11 Feb 2013.   Additions, questions & corrections by readers are welcome.

Armistice Day, 2012

Armistice Day, November 11

Eleventh hour, eleventh day, eleventh month

1918 – 2012

Announcing a new blog about WWI poet John Allan Wyeth

So why a blog about an unknown WWI poet (and a Yank at that) ?

In a nutshell, because the war poetry of John Allan Wyeth changes the landscape of First World War literature. His body of work is like a promontory hidden by mists for three-quarters of a century, and one day the mists disperse and there it stands, commanding its own space, impossible to ignore, and altering forever the configuration of features on the land.  It is the extent and character of that alteration which contributors to this blog will explore.

To date Wyeth remains almost completely unknown.  His book of war sonnets, This Man’s Army: A War in Fifty-odd Sonnets, was first published in 1928 and reprinted the following year.  The reviews of his book were not only favorable for the most part, but often remarkably prescient.  And yet the book went unnoticed by the literary world, and it sank into oblivion.

In 2008 This Man’s Army was republished by the University of South Carolina Press as part of Matthew Bruccoli’s “Great War Series” of neglected WWI literary classics.  Once again, the reviews have been favorable, and strong, but few in number.

The real work of assessing Wyeth’s place in the literature of the First World War has yet to be undertaken.  This blog represents an attempt to get the ball rolling, to approach Wyeth’s work from a number of angles, and so start a number of conversations which I hope others will take up.  In addition to essays, and back-and-forth discussions, links to previously published essays and reviews on Wyeth will be provided, as well as links to other sites devoted to the literature of the First World War.

When you have a chance, visit the new Wyeth blog at:  http://johnallanwyeth.blogspot.com/

An artist’s memoir of Belleau Wood, Soissons and St Mihiel

I received a parcel from McFarland Publishers today, containing a memoir of an enlisted US Marine, Louis C. Linn, who served at Belleau Wood, Soissons and St Mihiel. At Belleau Wood with Rifle and Sketchpad. I wrote the chapter introductions and footnotes for the book.

I also wrote the following summary and assessment of Linn’s memoir, only part of which appears in the book.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Louis Linn wrote his memoir of service with the Marine Brigade in France in 1918 about ten years after the end of the war. This is just when the great majority of memoirs, novels and books of poems about the First World War began to appear, in the late 1920s and early ‘30s. For nearly all the participants of the war, from whatever country, it took at least a decade before combat veterans could “come to terms” with the trauma of the war, and gain the perspective necessary to write about it with some clarity and dispassion.

Linn’s memoir is rough-hewn. It reads like a rough draft written straight through and never revised, with passages of lyric force and clarity interspersed with passages which are much less certain, where Linn is clearly struggling to capture experiences that are not easily rendered into language.

Memoirs are difficult to write at best, for a host of reasons, and memoirs dealing with trauma are the most difficult of all. Yet unlike many memoirists from the war, Linn never resorts to easy shortcuts with the language. There are no euphemisms or clichés, or any of the easy formulaic phrases heard so often during the war itself. There is no talk of “dash” or “valor” or “elan”. There is not the slightest whiff of patriotism, esprit de corps, or demonization of the enemy. He never even refers to himself as a Marine, but just as a plain infantry soldier.

Linn’s perspective is personal and ground-level. There is no sense of larger issues, strategic objectives, or being part of a Great Crusade. What he writes about is getting through each day. If there is a moral compass in Linn’s account, it too is personal and ground-level. What Linn describes again and again are relations between individuals, and their rank and nationality scarcely figure into it. He observes numerous instances of callousness, cruelty and injustice, and these become a part of his record. Some of those he meets elicit his sympathy, or pity, even occasionally his admiration, but many more provoke his ridicule and contempt, especially if they are officers.

What strikes the reader most of all is Linn’s uncompromising frankness, whether about human flaws, including his own, or the sordid particulars of life in the trenches. He never fudges, or makes excuses, or offers explanations. He just puts it down as he remembers it, in detail, and with no apparent concern for the impression he makes, either of himself, or on the reader. This is what gives Linn’s memoir its great value as a document of core human experience. If his phrasing is not always polished, his forthrightness never falters.

Louis Linn was a member of 77th Company, 6th Machine Gun Battalion, 4th Brigade of Marines, Second Division (Regular), A.E.F. Of all the American divisions participating in the Great War, the Second Division suffered the most casualties, captured the second most territory, captured the most enemy prisoners and equipment, and won the most decorations for valor.

The Second Division was the only Army division in the history of the United States to contain a brigade of Marines, and the only Army division ever to be commanded by a Marine. It was due to the participation of this single Marine brigade that the Marine Corps, in six months time, went from being a minor expeditionary fighting force attached to the Navy, to being considered a first-rate force of shock troops by the German Army. It was this single Marine brigade which made the Marine Corps a participant on the world stage, and prepared it for playing a major role in the next world war, and which provided the crucial core of experienced field officers for that war.

Of three major battles, all of which were devastating for the Marine Brigade, Linn participated in two, Belleau Wood and Soissons, and in those two he participated in the very worst of the fighting. He came through Belleau Wood unscathed, was badly wounded at Soissons, and then, at St. Mihiel, during an attack when only seven Marines were wounded by a concealed grenade, Linn was one of the seven, and he was wounded badly enough that he remained hospitalized until after the Armistice.

Regarding his experiences in the war, Linn’s daughter, Laura Jane Linn Wright writes that ” . . . [he] always carried a sketchbook and a stub of a pencil in his pocket. He carried them all through the war. He drew, whenever he could, to try to maintain his sanity in a terrible situation. Drawing gave him a measure of mental peace. He was tormented by nightmares. He wrote his memoir several years after the war, partly as a catharsis, using his sketches as illustrations. Or perhaps the sketches brought back his experiences. He made woodcuts from some of the sketches to more vividly convey the bleakness and horror of the war . . . ”

BJ Omanson

For more about this book, go here.

 

Armistice Day, 2011

 

Armistice Day, November 11

Eleventh hour, eleventh day, eleventh month

1918 – 2011

Some unusual documents awarded to a Marine officer of the Second Division, AEF

2ndLt Wilbur T. Love, USMC

Quartermaster Sergeant Wilbur T. Love joined Headquarters Detachment, 6th Machine Gun Battalion at its formation at Quantico in September, 1917, and served with the battalion throughout the war.  

For his actions at Belleau Wood on June 7-8, 1918, Quartermaster Sgt Love was awarded the Silver Star Citation.  His commendation read:  “He carried supplies and ammunition into the town of Bouresches, on horse-back while the enemy was counter attacking the town.  During this trip he not only ran the gauntlet of raking machine-gun fire from the southern edge of Bois de Belleau, but went through places where bursting shells and gas made passage almost impossible”.

GSgt Love was promoted to 2dLt on September 26, after St. Mihiel and on the eve of the Battle of Blanc Mont.

Several of his citations are shown below.  The US Army Citation is well-known to all students of the AEF, but the others are much less common.  I would be grateful to anyone who could enlighten us regarding the history of these documents.

BJ Omanson

 

Burial detail, Belleau Wood: an old-timer is laid to rest

Among the wartime effects of Cpl. Frank W. Dunham of 15^th Company, 6^th Machine Gun Battalion, are several photographs which he took during the fighting at Belleau Wood in June, 1918.  One of the photos shows four Marines carrying a body toward a stand of trees.  On the back of the photograph, the scrawled caption in pencil reads: “1^st Sgt Hunter carted to the grave.  Belleau Wood.”

First Sergeant Daniel Amos Hunter, USMC, known to his men as “Pop”, was a crusty old-timer who had served four enlistments in the regular Army, fought in the Spanish American War, and was on his third hitch with the Marines.  He had served in Santo Domingo, Mexico, Cuba, aboard various ships and, as a seasoned veteran of four court martials, had seen the inside of more than his share of brigs 

At shortly after 3 a.m. on June 6^th, Marines of the 49^th and 67^th Companies, 1^st Battalion, 5^th Marines, lay hidden in position on either side of Hill 142 southwest of Belleau Wood.  According to the original plan, two additional companies, the  17^th and 66^th, should have been in position to join the assault, but had not yet been relieved by the French and so were still deployed near Les Mares Farm.  The assault was also to have been supported by barrage fire from two companies of the 6^th Machine Gun Battalion, but one of their companies was tied up elsewhere, also awaiting relief from the French, which meant that the two companies of the 1st Battalion were supported by just ten guns of 15^th Company dug in behind them, between Champillon and Bois St. Martin.  Among these ten machine gun crews was Cpl. Dunham.

At first light, 0345, 1^st Sgt Hunter– as described by George Clark–  “… strode out before his line, checked right and left, then, with a whistle to his mouth, blew it once.  Forward, over his head, and downward went his cane, pointing toward the company’s objective, straight ahead…”  The two companies set off down the slopes of Hill 142 and out into the open, moving northward across wheatfields still softened with nighttime mist toward the village of Torcy.  According to Lt. John W. Thomason of 49th Company, the wheat was wet with dew and festooned with poppies and the immense red sun was just a handsbreadth above the horizon.  It was pleasantly cool and the blue woods ahead looked inviting…, and it was just then that hell fell out of the heavens, with artillery and machine gun fire hitting the Marines simultaneously.

Much of the devastating fire was from Maxim machine guns manned by three companies of the German 460^th Infantry Regiment, barricaded in a wooded copse just to the northwest, with a clear view of the advancing Marines.  The Germans were taking barrage fire from the guns of 15^th Company, but it was not enough to silence them.  67^th Company, advancing through the wheat, was completely cut to pieces.  “Pop” Hunter was hit, got back on his feet, was hit again and again rose– all the while shouting to his men to keep moving– and then was hit a third time, in the head, and this time he lay where he fell.

1st Sgt Hunter being carted to his grave

Some days later the dead were gathered up and laid to a proper rest by burial parties of Marines.  Much of the grisly work was done by new replacements, led by a few seasoned veterans.  One of the newcomers to 67^th Company, detailed to burial duty that day, was Pvt. Elton E. Mackin, who had only been with the company about a week.  A trench had been dug by a squad of Engineers and a corporal of the 67^th, “Tugboat” Wilson, was working down in the trench, taking the bodies one at a time, laying them out in position and covering them with earth.  As the bodies were being handed down, an “old-timer” stopped to observe the proceedings.  Occasionally, when one of the bodies was an officer, the old-timer would silently flick off a salute.  What happened then is best described in Mackin’s own words:

“After a time, as the work progressed, a body was handed down dressed in forest greens with a top-cutter’s chevrons above hashmarks denoting seven enlistments.  A whistle dangled loosely from a cord about the sergeant’s neck, and the flap of his holster flopped about untidily.  The old-timer, still watching, made a sharp salute.  Turning to a boot he said, “Get a blanket, soldier.  Wrap him up proper.  That’s ‘Pop’ Hunter.”

 1st Sergeant Hunter would posthumously be awarded both the Distinguished Service Cross and the Navy Cross for his actions that morning.  His citation would read:  “For extraordinary heroism in action. He fearlessly exposed himself and encouraged all men near him, although he himself was wounded three times.”   1st Sgt. Hunter was also a recipient of the Silver Star Citation.

I would like to express my gratitude to Paul Higgins, whose wife is the great-grandneice of Frank W. Dunham, for permission to use this remarkable photograph of 1st Sgt Hunter’s burial detail.

BJ Omanson

~~~~~

SOURCES:

Asprey, Robert B.  At Belleau Wood (NY: GP Putnam’s Sons, 1965), p 151.

 Clark, George B.  Devil Dogs: Fighting Marines of World War I.  (Novato, California: Presidio Press, 1999), pp 102-4.

 Clark, George B.  Decorated Marines of the Fourth Brigade in World War I.  (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2007), p. 58.

Curtis, Captain T.J. and Captain L.R. Long.  History of the Sixth Machine Gun Battalion, Fourth Brigade, U.S. Marines, Second Division, and Its Participation in the Great War.  (Neuwied on the Rhine, Germany: March, 1919), p. 15.

Mackin, Elton E.  Suddenly We Didn’t Want to Die: Memoirs of a World War I Marine.  With an introduction and annotation by George B. Clark.  (Novato, California: Presidio Press, 1999), pp 43-4.

Muster Rolls of the U.S. Marine Corps, 1798-1892; (National Archives Microfilm Publication T1118, 123 rolls); Records of the U.S. Marine Corps, Record Group 127; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Returns from U.S. Military Posts, 1800-1916; Microfilm Serial: M617; Microfilm Roll: 1107

Register of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1798-1914; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M233, 81 rolls); Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917, Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Thomason, John W., Jr.  Fix Bayonets!  (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1926), pp 9-10.

Thomason, John W., Jr.  The United States Army Second Division Northwest of Chateau Thierry in World War I.  Edited by George B. Clark.  (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2007), pp. 82-5.