WW1 1918 France, letter American soldier in 101st Inf. to parents

$50.00 CAD

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A corporal in the 101st Infantry regiment is writing about his latest adventures in a liberated French town.

France Sep 16,1918
 
Dear Ma & Pa,
…I am well…This paper is some Boche paper that I got on the last drive. We went through some towns that the Germans had held for four years and you had ought to see some of the French people when we got in that had had been under the Germans. They were the most tickled bunch of people I ever saw in my life. They were stopping us and kissing our hands and calling us all sorts of good names.
The Germans were going to take them with them at ten o’clock and the Americans got in the town at about nine so the Germans lost out.
We went through so fast that we captured auto trucks and all kinds of supplies.
When the Germans pulled out they had set everything they could on fire but they left a lot of stuff that they didn’t have time to burn. The French people were getting flour, potatoes, tea and coffee and numerous other things from store houses that they didn’t have time to burn. We hadn’t eaten for a couple of days when we struck the town and you had ought to see us eat the German Corned Willie and hard tack and bread and tea. We had a regular feast in German barracks. The boys were smoking German cigarettes and tobacco. It was a shame the way the Germans burnt the towns. We could stand on a hill and look for miles in front of us and every place we looked we could see towns and stuff burning that they had set on their retreat…
Your loving son
 
Corp. Louis A. Hubert
? M. 101st US Inf
Am. Ex. Force
Via New York

 

4 pages.

Vertical and horizontal folds. Paper toned

8 ¼” x 6 ½”

 

The 9th Massachusetts...was redesignated the 101st Infantry Regiment, and was assigned to the 51st Infantry Brigade of the 26th Infantry Division, the "Yankee Division." The regiment mustered in its new form on 22 August 1917 in Framingham, Massachusetts and arrived in France in September. It was the first Army National Guard unit of the American Expeditionary Force to arrive in France, and was also the first National Guard unit to enter frontline combat.

Alongside the French Army, the 101st made a raid into German lines on 23 February 1918, marking the first time an American unit had launched a raid in the war. Commanded by Edward Lawrence Logan, the 26th Division, including the 101st Regiment, engaged the Germans in numerous battles along the Western Front including; the 1918 Spring Offensive, the Third Battle of the Aisne, the Second Battle of the Marne, the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, and the massive Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

The bloodied regiment was mustered out of service in April 1919 at Camp Devens.

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