Download Over There: A Doughboy in France 1918 AudioBook Free
My father's notebook, placed carefully throughout his World Battle One service, is a cherished family keepsake. It had been, however, almost never actually read, much less consulted for its first-hand bank account of his encounters on the American Front. Most of us knew the basics, that he had been on leading lines on Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, and experienced recorded that reality. I transcribed that day's moving access a few years back, and dispatched it to each of his grandchildren. With the way of the centennial of World Battle One, and America's access in 1917, it seemed the right time to take a closer look at the notebook. I am pleased that I did. It had been written in pencil, but thankfully, during a period of convalescence, Dad had gone over much of it with pen and printer ink. He had also supplemented his notebook entries with more broadly centered memos, which gave depth and context to his preceding notebook entries, when the article writer was mindful of security limitations. Gradually, as the weeks exceeded, the handwriting became more familiar. The outlines of the storyline, how Father enlisted, trained at Fort Devens, Massachusetts with his 301st Indication Corps Field Battalion, and then visited France were becoming familiar. The larger story was interesting, including their naval convoy across the U-Boat infested North Atlantic, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to THE UK, and passage across the Channel. Then came up the eastward activity via a rail and training network largely laid out by Basic Pershing in 1917 across France to the eastern sector, that was to be the American Sector, in Meurthe-et-Moselle, Lorraine. That is where Dad's quest led, to the isolated and rocky hill on the Moselle known as Mousson Hill, and combat with the American Sixth Corps. It had been enough time of the St. Mihiel Salient, and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.
