[Illustration: Capt. Colonna and Lt. Foulkes at Camp Dix, 1918.]
THE HISTORY
OF
COMPANY B, 311th INFANTRY
IN THE
WORLD WAR.
Edited by
B. A. Colonna
with contributions by David Gardenier, Charles Peter,
and Tracy S. White.
Statistics compiled by Bert W. Stiles.
FREEHOLD, N. J.
TRANSCRIPT PRINTING HOUSE,
1922
COPYRIGHT, 1922,
BY B. A. COLONNA AND B. W. STILES.
INDEX
Page
Introduction 5
Chapter I--Madison Barracks 6
Chapter II--Camp Dix 7
Chapter III--The Cruise of the “NESTOR” 11
Chapter IV--The English Sector 16
Chapter V--The American Sector 32
Chapter VI--St. Mihiel and Limey Sector 40
Chapter VII--Meuse-Argonne 67
Chapter VIII--Flavigny-sur-Ozerain 74
Chapter IX--Homeward Bound 76
Alphabetical Roster of Officers 81
Alphabetical Roster of Enlisted Men 83
Classified Rosters 108
Number of Officers and Men by States 111
Lists of Casualties 112
Decorations 114
Extracts from General Orders No. 6 115
INTRODUCTION
You, my comrades of the past two years, for whom this history is
written, know that I have but small gift of expression at any time,
and least of all for the things closest to my heart. At your request,
however, made when we parted for the last time, I am writing the
story of our company. I shall do my best to put down everything as it
occurred, so far as my knowledge and memory will serve; and I trust
that if the matter is true, you will overlook crudeness in the form.
“Company B, 311th Infantry”--Only a letter and a number? Only one
company out of the hundreds in the National Army? Yes, to outsiders;
but to me, and I trust and believe to you, Company B was a living and
vital being, composed of part of what was best in each of us. Its
official life was twenty months; in that time it was born, grew to
full strength, was trained, travelled some 7500 miles, fulfilled its
destiny--fought, suffered, lost; and finally returned to its birthplace
and was mustered out. But the spirit of B Company is still with each of
us, and not a man but has carried away more than he gave.
Relatively, B Company was a very small part of the army. But to us,
it was the army; just as we shall always think of the war in terms of
St. Mihiel and the Argonne. We have heard of the Marne, Ypres, Verdun,
Chateau Thierry; but every man sees the war through his own eyes.
For this reason, I am writing in the first person. The best I can do
is to relate things as I saw them so I shall not take refuge behind an
artificial impersonality. Probably a good many things were pulled off
that I did not know anything about. And then you may discover that I
knew more about some little matters than you thought I did.
CHAPTER I
MADISON BARRACKS
On May 5, 1917, I reported for duty at the Officers’ Training Camp at
Madison Barracks, New York, with a commission as Second Lieutenant of
Infantry in the Reserve Corps. My call to active duty had cut short my
law course at Columbia University two months before I was to take my
degree.
Having graduated three years before from the Virginia Military
Institute, and served there a year as sub-professor of German and
tactics, I had some idea of the fundamental principles of military
training; but, like almost all the other reserve officers, army paper
work and administration was a closed book to me.
A few days later I was told off to report to Capt. Haynes Odom, U.
S. R., commanding Co. 5 of the 2d Provisional Training Regt. Capt.
Odom was already conspicuous among the batch of reserve officers for
his efficiency and tireless energy and industry. The tall, upstanding
figure, with the mark of the regular army man indelibly stamped upon
him; the head carried well back; the weather-worn, sun-wrinkled face,
the hooked nose, cool hazel eyes; the smile that accompanied alike
a friendly greeting or a merciless balling out; the soft Southern
accent indescribably harshened by thousands of commands given--do you
recognize the Major, boys?
The three long, hot, arduous months of training at Madison Barracks
can be passed over briefly. My cot in the long frame barrack was next
to that of a tall, lithe, black haired lad from Rochester, N. Y., with
the merriest, keenest, black eyes I ever saw. Before a week went by he
stood out above the average candidate. He was young, just twenty-one--I
was at the venerable age of twenty-two. But he had the keenest,
quickest, practical mind I have ever met, and the gift of natural
leadership, which is compounded of courage, intelligence, unselfish
sympathy, and a sense of humor. He had graduated from Cornell in 1916.
Later you knew him as 1st Lieut. Louis Sinclair Foulkes, the best
officer in “B” Company; the best officer it was my fortune to come in
contact with during the war.
One of the training companies was organized as a cavalry troop. We saw
them now and then being led in physical drill by a handsome, muscular
young chap, so alive and vibrant with nervous energy that it was good
to watch him work. He was Roy A. Schuyler, of Schenectady, a graduate
of Union College, and a descendant of that General Schuyler whose
record in the Revolutionary War makes so bright a page in American
history. Brilliant, impulsive, generous, full of the joy of life,
passionately eager to serve; he was a worthy descendant of a long line
of fighting patriots.
In Co. 9 was an earnest, dignified, hard working reserve first
lieutenant, one of the most capable of the reserve officers on the
post. He was a prominent lawyer of Utica, N. Y., and one of the leaders
in the Plattsburg movement. Though well over the draft age, he had
given up his large practice and had gone into the service at the first
call. This was Russell H. Brennan, the first commander of “B” Company.
At last our course drew to a close; the commissions were announced and
we departed for ten days’ leave before reporting to Camp Dix for duty.
Will we ever forget those ten golden August days? The world was ours,
and life was sweet. No one knew what lay ahead, but we all made the
most of our last taste of the old life for some time.