![]() ![]() Given Uncle Gus’s training, no wonder one report noted: “American losses were worsened by the inexperience of many troops.” Over a million Americans would fight in that 46-day battle, resulting in 26,000 US deaths. Two weeks after arriving in France, Uncle Gus’s 56th Pioneers were thrust into the maw of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive that would end the war on November 11. ![]() Whew! I can recall feeling pretty lost after 25 days of a longer basic training cycle in 1974. In 25 days, remarkably, Uncle Gus was issued uniforms, basic field gear, familiarized with the ‘03 Springfield rifle, perhaps shown a scant few tactics, then deemed ready for combat. By September 4, he was on a troop ship sailing for France with the 56th Pioneer Infantry Regiment. His 1919 discharge paper is sparse, but it’s still sobering to connect dates and events. Uncle Gus was inducted, here, on August 8, 1918. I thought of two great-uncles who went off to the war and returned to tell about it, along with a long-deceased friend, and a man I did not know but wrote about, briefly, a few months ago.Īlthough I never talked to Uncle Gus or Uncle Arlie about their war experiences, you can learn a lot by connecting a few words and facts on a century-old document. It changed the world, even to the present day. June 28 marked the 1914 assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, triggering the outbreak of World War I five weeks later. ![]()
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