February 23, 1919

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday hummed their way, drummed their way and went their way. That is their way now. It’s a life of twin days. Not a birthmark, freckle or line that isn’t common to all. Their death-masks could be made up, a dozen at a time, from the same mold.

Except a few – an announcement that Washington’s Birthday would be a holiday, and orders and preparations for a trip for me.

Chateau-Thierry is more a popular excursion point for Americans than Rheims; which is as it should be. It is a name that will live in American history, with a renown greater than that of the Argonne-Meuse battles. The latter was the biggest effort of our army – the greatest in which an American army ever engaged; yet it is, I believe, less known than any other. The people at home think that America won the war, and did it at Chateau-Thierry. It certainly was a popular success. What if it was the British and Americans in Belgium and northern France, the French and Italians in the center of the line, and the Americans in the Argonne-Meuse-Lorraine section, the French and Americans in Alsace, all pushing at once, in October and November, that actually finished the enemy? In the U.S. it remains the first great victory – Chateau-Thierry – which ended the war.

In 1914 the first great drive of the Germans brought them as far as Meaux, 40 miles from Paris, on the great main highway between Paris and Metz. Here the French checked them. Gradually, they were forced back. Then both sides dug in and settled down for life, on the front of the Aisne river. One week the Germans took a trench and the next week the French had it back. Winters were hard, but there were always warm dugouts at the end of the three or four day bit in the trenches. And in the summer the breezes wafted over No Man’s land, the nights were cool and life was lovely.

In 1917 Foch replaced the capable but cautious Joffre and the Yanks came along. Result – pep. Activity began to result. It wasn’t always successful but it gave promise.

The German spring drive 1918 took them as far as the Marne River, a bit beyond Chateau-Thierry, but not as far as Meaux. They were making another attempt along the Paris-Metz Road. Then in June Foch prepared a counter-offensive and Pershing sent him the now famous message: “Everything we have is yours.”

With a vengeance, the supreme commander took him at his word. Americans fought among, around and between the French, throughout. In June they cleared the vanguard from Torcy, Bouresches, Belleau Woods. In July they tackled the more difficult Chateau-Thierry and Marne regions and just sailed through. By the beginning of August the Germans were everywhere driven back to the Vesle River, half way, between the Marne and the Aisne. The trench system was gone; they fought above ground. And they moved fast.

Yesterday there were four of us. We visited all the old battlegrounds and tramped over them. Now they are mostly ploughed up for the early spring planting, but the evidences of battle are still there. We saw Lucy, Torcy, Bouresches, Montreuil, Meaux and a dozen other war towns. Many of them are only powdered mortar. The weather was alternately sunny and rainy; the rain was a heavy downpour. And everywhere the mud was ankle-deep. We had to ooze through it.

Belleau Woods, which our Marines took, was the toughest place we saw. It is a thick, tangled wood of small trees, on a very steep hill. It is full of waterfilled holes and dugouts and hastily-dug shelters. How they fought through it is beyond me. It was a job to walk through. Nearby is a little graveyard with nearly 200 wooden crosses, in straight rows, standing erect, each with the identification tag of the soldier nailed on it and star-spangled disc. The French showed their appreciation by renaming the place “Bois de la Brigade des Marines,” but everyone calls it Belleau Woods.

Lucy is another point of interest. The village is a complete wreck. The church is ruined, its roof fallen in, and the height of the debris pile inside equaling that of its remaining walls. But the crucifix over the altar, by some remarkable chance remains almost untouched.

The object of the trip was twofold – pleasure and business. I took quite a number of pictures (object, same two.) We didn’t set out to get souvenirs, which was lucky, for the place, seems to have been combed clean. I went into one house in Lucy and found a lot of books, two or three of which I took. They are French. In another was a copy of “Barrack-Room Ballads”, with the name of one Walter Browne on the fly-leaf. The book had been soaked by many a rain, falling unresisted through the roofless house. Maybe Walter was too.

After a very active day we went back to Meaux, reached there at 7:30 and after a welcome wash had an even more welcome supper. Nothing ever tasted so good before. We were all pretty cold and hungry. It was like seeing an old friend or a character out of a favorite book, to be served by the little boy waiter who has been photographed so often that everyone in the lab knows his face.

Although we could have stayed out today (Sunday) and although I’d have liked to see Soissons, we finally decided to come back. We had covered a great deal of ground, done all we wanted to up there, and our orders were not good for any other place. We got home quite late and I just fell into bed. I slept soundly until one o’clock this afternoon and I’m still tired. That trip has made me feel like a Y.M.C.A. man – “Boys we are right behind you; go to it.” But it was interesting and I’d like to take another some time.

Next post March 3.