The Service of the 320Th Service Battalion the Backbone of The
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The Service of the 320th Service Battalion The Backbone of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) by Terri Bolden On June 28, 1914, a Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austria-Hungary throne and his wife. Austria-Hungary was allied with Germany and Serbia sought help from Russia which was allied with France, dialog and demands between the two powers broke down, huge armies began to move. By August fourth most of Europe was at war. On February 10, 1915 President Woodrow Wilson warned Germany the United States would hold them to strict accountability for their part in the war. A German U-boat torpedoed the British passenger liner named the Lusitania on May 7, 1915, killing an estimated 1,198 passengers including 128 Americans. President Wilson tried to keep the United States out of the war, but a very important piece of information, the Zimmerman Telegram, was intercepted by U.S. intelligence in January 1917. This was a German telegram sent to the Mexican government stating that if war broke out between the United States and Germany, Mexico should attack the United States.1 The final act that would bring the United States into the war was the sinking of five American ships between the dates of March 12 to March 21, 1917. On April 2, 1917 President Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany and its allies.2 At this time, the federal army had expanded to approximately 121,000, and the National Guard to 181,000, for a total of 302,000 men, the smallest army of the mobilized European powers. More men were needed. Congress passed the Selective Service Act on May 18, 1917 requiring men ages 21-30 to register with their local draft board.3 1 My grandfather Jim Greer was born on March 27, 1891 to John and France Greer in Trenton, TN , twenty-six years after the Civil War had ended. He was 26 years old when he registered for the draft and 27 when he was inducted. I remember my grandfather for whom I fondly called "Grandpap." He was a tall, silvered haired man with a wonderful smile even if he had a few teeth missing. I remember him as a very proud man. We had the best of everything for a black family in the 1960s. I loved him very much. He was a very good marksman even well into his seventies. I recall him letting me help clean his double barrel shotgun. I was five years old when he died on August 4,1965, so I do not remember him talking about the war. I am quite sure that he did, but I was too young to realize what he was talking about. It would be later, through years of education, that I would learn a great deal about the war and the treatment of black people. In modern warfare, a great organization of workers is needed behind the front lines where the fighting is going on. In World War I, such an organization was found inside the American Expeditionary Force (AEF).4 General John J. Pershing, Commander of the AEF understood this need. The Service of Supply (SOS) was the organization that was formed; it was not glamorous like the combat service. The men of the SOS were the muscle power that loaded the supply ships headed to France, unloaded them when they got there, and reloaded them to bring materials and even dead bodies back to the United States. They had numerous jobs to perform; they got up early and went to bed late, their work was never done and the tasks were often dull and back- breaking. My grandfather Jim Greer registered for the Service on June 5, 1917, which was mandated for all U.S. men age 21 to 31.5 He was among 3,619 Gibson County men who enlisted on that day. The other two enlistments were in June and August 1918, when 429 men enlisted; and September 12, 1919, when 4,597 men enlisted. Out of a total of 8,645 enlisted men, 1,058 men were inducted. My grandfather was not called until ten months later. The first record of his service was the mention of his boarding a train in Trenton for Camp Lee, VA, on May 18, 1918. Initially he was assigned to the 155th Depot Brigade that was assigned to Camp Lee, VA.6 He left Trenton for Camp Lee, VA, on May 18, 1918. The departure of soldiers, black and white, from Trenton, was a big affair. The Trenton Herald Democrat ran weekly articles about the county’s young men being sent off to serve their country. There were separate departure times for white and black soldiers. On Saturday, April 27, 1918, for example, 46 white men were given a big sendoff by the community as they boarded a train for Camp Jackson, SC. The next day, Sunday April 28, 1918, 31 African American men were given a sendoff also. This time the negro homes gave up their sons,” the newspaper quoted. A patriotic rally was held at the Gibson County Courthouse. Dr. L. H. Crisp of Trenton presided over the rally, and Bishop Isaac Lane delivered a strong message to the crowd. After the rally, the men walked to the train station down the hill from the courthouse and boarded a train headed for Camp Lee in Petersburg, VA, and Camp Meade, MD. Among them was Jim Greer.7 Like many of his fellow African American men, my grandfather may have been under the impression that they would be trained for battle, but they later found out that this was not to be. Months before my grandfather arrived at Camp Alexander, Black soldiers were treated very badly. They received provisions that would not have been fit even for a prisoner of war; they often went for long periods without shoes and overcoats. Whatever clothing they received was old civil war uniforms. They lacked access to bathing facilities for a period of four months. The camp commanders would cram up to thirty men in 16 X 16 ft tents, while the white service men lived comfortably in spacious barracks. During the winter of 1918, twenty black men froze to death in their tents because of inadequate housing and worst of all the color of their skin. In the winter months, the men were served their food outdoors, often the food would freeze before the mess attendants could serve it to the soldiers.8 As I try to picture in my mind the way my grandfather was treated by white men who felt that he was not worthy enough to be called an American soldier, it sickens me and makes me very, very sad. Many Black men had volunteered to join the army. I can only but imagine the anger they felt towards the southern commanders who treated them as second-class citizens, continuing plantation-type behaviors. Many white civilians were afraid of armed black service men in their towns and cities, feeling that this would empower them even more than the emancipation proclamation that had already given them freedom from slavery. Southern governors, mayors, and congressmen did not want black service men stationed at the camps in their states. 3 Not all black service men faced this kind of horrible mistreatment, northern camps. One camp located in Des Moines, Iowa, was constructed for the training of black service men. Some black men were so eager to serve that they tried to win over the respect of white civilians. In Logan, Texas, at another camp where blacks were trained, they tried to be upstanding citizens conducting themselves honorably. An officer of the 370th Infantry remarked, "Hardly had we arrived at our training camp before we were impressed with the fact that it was up to us to make good by converting the whites of Houston from hate to love, to make a people who regarded the regiment as a bunch of lawless men, to realize that we would wade through the fires of hell to gain and hold for our race a large place in the sun."9 This quote may sum up the sentiments of many of the black soldiers who felt very passionate about protecting their families and their country. My grandfather remained in the 155th Depot Brigade until June 19, 1918, at which time he was assigned to Company D2, 320th Labor Battalion.10 The company numbered 123 men, among whom 3 white overseers, 2 white medical officers, 1 white clerk, 1 black mechanic, 4 black sergeants, and 1 black cook. On July 13, 1918, his unit was sent to Camp Alexander in Newport News, VA. This was an embarkation camp established in September 1917 to house and train troops awaiting shipment overseas, near Norfolk, at the southern end of Chesapeeke Bay, from which over two million US soldiers left for overseas during 1917 and 1918. Between 1917 and 1918, over 50,000 black stevedores and laborers passed through Camp Alexander before being sent overseas to France. From Camp Alexander, my grandfather’s unit was transported across the bay to Port of Hampton Roads, where he embarked on July 18, 1918 on the USS Princess Matoika.11 Their trip would last two weeks. The USS Princess Matoika, which made many voyages back and forth to dropoff andpick upsoldiers and supplies, has an interesting story. The ship’s intended names were Borussia up until October 1899, then in November 1899, Teutonia. One year later, on September 14, 1900, she was renamed SS Kiautschou, then completed on December 14, and her maiden voyage took place on December 22,1900 as a Barbarossa-class ocean liner.