Clarence Franklin Hancock's WWI Stories

In October 1917, a train load of we draftees from Globe, Miami, and the Gila Valley left for Camp Funston, Kansas.  At Bowie we joined another train and got to Lordsburg about sun up the next morning.  We stopped out in the desert somewhere on the way and had a boxed lunch at which time some police tried to take some of the boys for making a noise but they were stopped by military officers and all the boys got back on the train.  When we got to Dodge City, Kansas, no one had a hat, as all of them had been thrown off the train, so we got some caps.  The officers had also wired ahead that the Arizona boys were coming and were going to be a tough lot to handle.  So when we got off the train, at Camp Funston, KS, they had soldiers lined up along the track with pick handles and clubs to take care of us, but no one gave them any trouble at all.

We were ordered to take an ice cold bath and some of the boys caught cold and were sick.  After that, they took our clothes and sent them home and gave us a pair of coveralls.  It was very cold in the barracks.  We stayed there about a month, got shots for typhoid and other diseases, and also some had shots from spies doctors, which gave them TB.

Well, soon we were shipped back to Camp Kearney, CA.  Where we should have gone in the first place.  We had to take all our shots over again at Kearney, as the first were all condemned.  It was here I learned how to be a soldier.  We drilled 8 hours a day except Sunday, for 8 months and the last part of our training was extended order digging trenches, throwing hand grenades, bayonet fighting, and all that goes with them.  Then we were ready to go overseas and take part in WWI, to help the French and English take care of the Kaiser and his soldiers.  We took a train at camp Kearney in June of 1918 and came to Colton, CA; to Santa Fe, NM; to Kansas City, KS; and then on to New York where we stayed about 2 weeks getting ready to take the boat.  We all had physical exams, we had our heads clipped, we had extra clothes and shoes, and on July 1, 1918, my 24th birthday, we sailed out of New York Harbor on the English ship, the Lapland.  This boat was about 750 feet long and had about 2500 officers, nurses and men on board.  It was only one of the ships in a large convoy of 22 ships loaded with troops.  On the 4th day out, we had a 4th of July celebration on board ship.  The band played, we had patriotic speeches, and quite a show on board.  I was given the job on this ship as checker.  I was to count how many men were fed at the kitchen, but it only lasted a day or so because they had the same number every time to feed.  We had rabbit all the way.  Seems that was the only kind of meat the English had.  We sure ate a lot of rabbit on that trip.
 

It took us nine days to get us to Liverpool, England as that was where our ship unloaded.  We then hiked across England to Camp Woodley near South Hampton and stayed for several days on short rations.  We did not even have the rabbit now, but only marmalade and bread--two pieces each day.  Then we got on a small ship at South Hampton late one evening and crossed the English Channel and came to LaHarve, France.  The next morning was cold and I got next to the smokestack of the boat to keep warm.  I was sent on a detail to get American rations.  And we made sure to get plenty and got filled up again.

From there we got on a French train and rode all night and part of the next day to get to our American Army camp which was somewhere between the Chatuthery front and Paris.  We stayed there about 6 days and went up to the front on the Marne River.  When we got up there, we found they had been fighting there and airplanes were still trying to bomb the place.  Our Company Headquarters was established in a large white house and there was ripe wheat in the fields ready to harvest and also on one side was alfalfa and it was ready to cut.

We pitched our pup tents around in these fields near the house and were given orders not to take our shoes off and be ready to move fast if a bomber came.  Well, one of the boys said, "I am going to undress and going to sleep tonight as I am tired, and there will be no bombing tonight anyway."  So he did.  We had just got to bed when one came right up the canyon toward us and we were given orders to scatter.  We all ran except Jack, as that was the boys name who would not leave his clothes on.

About the 2nd or 3rd bomb explosion, Jack came out with his pants in one hand, and his shoes in the other, and everyone he went close to would yell for him to get away from them with his white drawers as they were a target.  So poor Jack ran and ran until he gave out until he could go no further and fell down in the wheat field away from the rest and stayed there until the "all clear" signal.  I don't think Jack took off his clothes much after that night.

We stayed at this place for about 2 weeks.  At which time I was given an automatic rifle, French make, and was taught how to use it.  Then one wet, rainy, dark night we began to move toward Fishems.  We hiked all night, each night for several days and kept down in the day.  Scouts would be sent out to locate the enemy who were trying to hold us back with machine gun snipers in trees, buildings, churches and anywhere they might hide.  As soon as they fired at us, it gave us their location and we soon got them one way or another.  We kept getting word that the Germans were retreating since the Battle of the Marne, where so many were killed a few days ago.

We went from the Marne front to Saint Mehiel and along one evening, we were ordered to build a lot of fires in the open.  We were wet and cold but as soon as the fires were going good, we got orders to move out to another place which put a high hill between us and the Germans.  No sooner had we got to safety, than the Germans began to shell our fires with heavy artillery and blew the whole place up.  This gave our artillery the range on them and our artillery also blew up their ammunition dump.  So they retreated back farther.

After we were up there 15 days, we were ordered to a small town for a short rest.  We had lots of entertainment, shows and plays of all kinds put on by people by America--good old USA!  You can not appreciate what it means until you are away from it for a time.  After about 2 weeks at this place, a fleet of Japanese trucks came and picked us up and we loaded so tight that we could only stand up.  Did you ever try to sleep or rest standing up?  We were this way with no food or water for 36 hours.  The trucks had bows and a canvas to keep out the rain as it was raining most of the time night and day.  The trucks were chained together so they could not stop or get stuck in the mud.  When we got out of these trucks, it was at a rock quarry near the Argonne Woods.  We were reorganized and got new officers, and one turned out to be the same officer we had at Camp Kearney.  His name was George Seley, and was a very good officer and treated us very good.

After we stayed at this place for about 4 or 5 weeks, we were ordered to move forward in the Argonne front.  We moved up in daylight for the first day and saw several airplane battles over us.  One of our observation balloons was shot down with shell pieces falling near us.  We hiked the rest of that day and when night came, we went into some trenches which had been occupied by the Germans a day or two before.  That night a shell came into our kitchen, killing the mules that pulled it and also the cook.  It demolished the wagon so it could not go so we had no food.  The next night, a ration wagon got too far out in No Man's Land and was blown up by shell fire.  I and another buddy crawled out to this wagon and got a can of dried vegetable stew which we cooked in a dug out and all had a feed.

The next evening, a German plane with a machine gun flew low after he had shot our observation balloon.  He tried to machine gun us on the ground.  I got behind a tree and was safe, but a few men were hit.  We all commenced firing from the ground and he was hit and lost control of his plane.  It circled and came down near us.  He was a German Lieutenant but was not badly hurt.  Some of the men wanted to kill him on the spot, but the commanding officer decided to send him to Army Headquarters to get information from him.  He was taken away by the Military Police.  

In my story of this war, I do not wish to tell of some of the worst things that happened to us.  I am not going to mention them because it is not necessary.  After this plane came down among us, we expected more trouble, but none came.  In a day or so after that, one of our planes dropped a message saying Austria had surrendered and Turkey was lean.  Then we prepared to advance again on the enemy.  On October 2, 1918, we went over and marched on them starting our march at 3am under heavy artillery fire.  We marched in battle formation all that day and long into the night.

That morning, our company was full strength--250 men.  We ran into a gas barrage about dark that evening and went into a dugout which they had occupied a few hours before.  We were in this place when we got the "all clear" signal and started to take off our gas masks.  We discovered gas was still in the bottom of the dugout.  We hurried out but it was too late.  We that is Dave Hawkins and myself had enough to make us sick.  We were ordered back to the first aid station.  When I checked out the first sergeant says, "I can only account for 30 men now."  We went back to the first aid station and were given emergency treatment and sent back to the field station.  We got on trucks and were taken to a station near the railroad.  We laid on cots in a tent joining the main tent and went to sleep.  When we woke up all the troops were gone but us two.
We checked with the Red Cross man there.  He said they had made a mistake in leaving us.  But this proved to be the best for us as the next train came and took us clear back to the Base Hospital at Bazzolia in Southern France where we got excellent treatment.

We stayed there about four weeks and had the opportunity of visiting the town of Domremy--the place where Joan of Arc, the princess of France, was born.  After we had spent our time there, we were transfered to the town of Haveleers which was a little farther north, and while we were there, the Armistice was signed and the war was over.

Well, to make a long story short, we were sent back to Bordeaux in Southern France and stayed there about 3 weeks while we went through the "de-louser" and had a rigid physical exam before coming home.  Some of the boys didn't make it and did not get to come on the first ship.  They had to stay until they were well before they could come home.  In the first part of March, 1919, we set sail out of Bordeaux Harbor on the small ship Edgar F. Lukenbaugh, a German ship.  We spent 19 days coming home.  We had lots of storms and were seasick most all the way as the water was so rough.

One of the most joyous sights of my life was when we saw the Statue of Liberty and knew we were back home at last.  The band played our regimental march and many other pieces which made us all shed tears of joy.  We landed on the first day of April 1919 in New York Harbor.  We stayed in New York City for about 3 weeks and then entrained for El Paso, TX and we were assigned to Camp Owen O'Brian at Fort Bliss, TX.  We were there only a short time and got honorable discharges, $60 cash, and a railroad ticked to Thatcher, AZ and home.  My family was glad to see me.  My mother was extra happy because it had been reported that I had been killed in action with gas.