This post is more of an update and clarification of the first few months of Grandpa Jim's military service. Thanks to the morning reports that continue to be published on fold3.com, I now have a clearer picture of my great-grandpa's first few months in the Army following his induction on August 6, 1918.
As I have covered in earlier posts, he was inducted at Salida, Colorado on August 6, 1918, and sent to Fort Logan, Colorado, arriving there the next day. He was assigned to 19th Company, General Service Infantry, given his serial number issued his uniform and equipment, and filled out paperwork for enlistment and insurance.
He then left Fort Logan on August 9th for Camp MacArthur, Texas, arriving there on the 11th. Upon arrival, he was assigned to Co. K, 3rd Replacement Battalion. The morning report indicates that he was one of 132 enlisted men who were assigned to this company on the 11th. The morning report even gives the hour - 10:00 am. Below is the morning report from the 11th and 12th of August, 1918.
While there is no specific mention of Grandpa Jim in the morning reports, they do give some detail as to the the activities of the unit and changes in status of individual solders assigned to each unit. The morning reports do list individual soldiers who were promoted, demoted, disciplined, transferred, AWOL, deserted, died, etc. Right now, not all of the morning reports are searchable by index on fold3.com. You need to know the unit that the soldier you are looking for belonged to.
Grandpa Jim was assigned to Co. K, 3rd Replacement Battalion until September 16th, when he, along with 249 other soldiers, were transferred to Camp MacArthur September Automatic Replacement Draft Company #16. They left Camp MacArthur at 2:00 pm and arrived at Camp Merritt, New Jersey at 12:30 am on September 20th, after a train ride of nearly four days. Below are the morning reports for Co. K, 3rd Replacement Battalion & Camp MacArthur September Automatic Replacement Draft Company #16.
I can't imagine what the train rides must have been like. Being stuck in close, cramped quarters for four days riding across the country probably wasn't the most pleasant experience (think of the opening scene from the movie Biloxi Blues). This is the only entry for Camp MacArthur September Automatic Replacement Draft Company #16 that is available on fold3.com. Camp MacArthur September Automatic Replacement Draft Company #15 gives some additional details for the journey from Camp Merritt to their destination in France. According to Company #15, they left Camp Merritt on September 22nd at 3:45 am and were sent to the Port of Embarkation at Hoboken, approximately 20 miles to the South. For some geographical context, Camp Merritt is across the Hudson River from Yonkers, New York, and the Port of Embarkation at Hoboken is across the Hudson River from mid-town Manhattan.
Upon arriving in Hoboken, Camp MacArthur September Automatic Replacement Draft Company #16 boarded the US Army Transport President Grant, which set sail the next day, September 23rd at 4:30 am, for St. Nazaire, France. ancestry.com (as well as fold3.com) have published the troopship manifests from WWI. They not only list the names, ranks and service numbers of the troops that were transported to and from the war front, they also give the shipping details of each voyage. On this particular trip, there were a total of nearly 5,500 troops sailing to France. Also, the ship had just returned to the US six days earlier, on the 17th of September. To have that kind of turnaround to disembark and unload the ship and to embark and load again is pretty remarkable.
After a journey of 15 days, the USAT President Grant arrived at St. Nazaire, France on October 7, 1918 at 4:30 am. Disembarkation of the ship began that evening at 7pm and continued until the 10th. According to the morning reports for Co. #15 (Co. #16 are not published for October 1918), the troops remained at Base #1 and did their usual duties until the 28th (I would imagine including continuing basic training), when they were transferred to the 162nd Infantry Regiment and Co. #15 disbanded.
According to the morning reports for Co. #15, if the company Grandpa Jim was in (Co. #16) followed the same timeline, he would have remained attached to Co. #16 through most of October. According to the monthly reports (which are on Family Search) he was assigned to Co. C, 162nd Infantry Regiment in October of 1918. Reading through the morning reports for October 1918 for this Company, it is very likely that he was attached on October 28, 1918. The morning report for October 29, 1918 reads: '170 Privates attached this Co. for Qrs. duty and rations for supper 10-28-18.' The next day, October 30, 1918, the report was amended and reads: '146 Privates assigned to Co. per S.O. #288 H.Q. Int. D.D. Oct. 29, 1918' Below is the morning report for Co. C, 162nd Infantry Regiment for October 28-30, 1918.
Grandpa Jim was with Co. C, 162nd Infantry Regiment until November 16, 1918, when '200 Privates transferred to 2nd Division per Par. 40, S.O. #315, H.Q. Int. D.D. Nov. 15, 1918' This meant that Grandpa Jim was attached to the 2nd Division on November 16, 1918, although he wasn't assigned to Co. F, 9th Infantry Regiment until November 28, 1918. This means that he (and many others) did participate in the March to the Rhine as a member of the 2nd Infantry Division, and was assigned to his Company and Regiment following completion of the march. The March to the Rhine began on November 17, 1918 and crossed France, through Belgium and Luxembourg to Germany, a distance of some sixty miles. The distance was covered in six days. This meant that he had one day to make sure he had his gear ready to go for the march.
Below is the morning report for Co. C, 162nd Infantry Regiment for November 1918.
In one of my earlier posts, I listed Grandpa Jim's complete military service. I've gone back and updated that post to reflect the updates that I have recently found. This definitely has been very interesting to piece together my great-grandpa's service record. With the morning reports and his VA Claims File to add to the information from the troopship manifests and monthly reports, this definitely helps add clarity and understanding to his military service in the absence of his official military personnel file.
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