The Evolution of the American Field Service and Its Effect
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THE EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN FIELD SERVICE AND ITS EFFECT ON AMERICAN ENGAGEMENT IN WWI, 1914 – 1917 ____________ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, Chico ____________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in History ____________ by © Russell Gray Olson 2013 Fall 2013 THE EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN FIELD SERVICE AND ITS EFFECT ON AMERICAN ENGAGEMENT IN WWI, 1914 – 1917 A Thesis by Russell Gray Olson Fall 2013 APPROVED BY THE DEAN OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND VICE PROVOST FOR RESEARCH: _________________________________ Eun K. Park, Ph.D. APPROVED BY THE GRADUATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE: _________________________________ _________________________________ Gwendolyn J. Sheldon, Ed.D. Jeffery Livingston, Ph.D., Chair Graduate Coordinator _________________________________ Robert S. Tinkler, Ph.D. _________________________________ Robert C. Cottrell, Ph.D. PUBLICATION RIGHTS No portion of this thesis may be reprinted or reproduced in any manner unacceptable to the usual copyright restrictions without the written permission of the author. iii DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to my family, and the many roads we have traveled together iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis would not have been possible without the encouragement (and gentle prodding) of my parents Marcia and Paul. I am also grateful to Dr. Jeffery Livingston for providing valuable support and advice throughout the long process of research and writing. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Robert Tinkler and Dr. Robert Cottrell for their many contributions to this project. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Publication Rights ...................................................................................................... iii Dedication................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................... v Abstract....................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I. Introduction.............................................................................................. 1 II. The Beginning of the Volunteer Ambulance Service............................... 8 III. The Growth and Expansion of the Field Service...................................... 21 IV. Gradual Growth and the Split from Neuilly Hospital .............................. 31 V. The Balkans.............................................................................................. 52 VI. An Increase in Volunteers ........................................................................ 59 VII. Reasons for Joining the American Field Service ..................................... 70 VIII. Wartime Experiences................................................................................ 89 IX. Reactions to Danger................................................................................. 101 X. American Experiences with the French.................................................... 108 XI. Common Problems ................................................................................... 117 XII. The American Field Service’s Effect on France ...................................... 124 XIII. The American Field Service’s Effect on the United States...................... 132 vi CHAPTER PAGE XIV. Conclusion................................................................................................ 150 Bibliography............................................................................................................... 152 vii ABSTRACT THE EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN FIELD SERVICE AND ITS EFFECT ON AMERICAN ENGAGEMENT IN WWI, 1914 – 1917 by © Russell Gray Olson 2013 Master of Arts in History California State University, Chico Fall 2013 This project examines a long misunderstood dynamic of the United States World War I narrative. For the opening three years of the war, President Wilson guided the U.S. down the path of neutrality; American citizens were expected to remain impartial in both thought and action to the great European conflict. Yet during this period, 2,500 American men volunteered for the American Field Service as warzone ambulance drivers for the French Army. Through this process the men, who were mostly upper class from prestigious universities, became fierce domestic advocates for American intervention on the side of the Allied Powers. While many historians have a vague notion of the volunteer phenomenon, the extent to which these men influenced the nation, given their prominence in the war-era media, has been remarkably overlooked. Even among acclaimed historians there are prevalent misconceptions concerning the men, and discussions of the ambulance volunteers in broader histories of viii the war commonly cite these misconception, and only these misconceptions, while discussing the volunteers. This is unfortunate as, upon researching the ambulance volunteers, it becomes apparent that substantial historical relevance can be found on a number of different levels, including the historically unique phenomenon of American men risking it all (seventeen AFS volunteers lost their lives in the war), in what was at the time, a strictly European conflict. Additional historical significance stems from the fact that AFS volunteers served for over three years in the war (longer than AEF forces). While proper written histories of the volunteer are disturbingly scant, the official archivist of the American Field Service, David Gray, has written several articles concerning the volunteer movement during the war. The chief historical publication consulted for this project is Arlen J. Hansen’s Gentleman Volunteers: The Story of the American Ambulance Drivers in the First World War. While secondary sources proved sparse, the volunteers left behind a wealth of primary-accounts concerning their service. Men such as Julien H. Bryan, Robert Whitney Imbrie, William Yorke Stevenson and Phillip Sydney Rice meticulously recorded their wartime experiences. Additionally, the archives of the Harvard Crimson, Cornell Daily Sun, and the New York Times have been invaluable. ix CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION At the outbreak of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson took a neutral stance toward the conflict. Almost immediately Wilson realized that the extent to which the U.S. would remain free of European entanglement depended upon the behavior and attitudes of private American citizens. Cognizant of this fact, just a few weeks into the war, and with the German military advancing through Belgium and northern France, President Wilson solemnly addressed the American public, plainly stating, “The United States must be neutral in fact, as well as in name, during these days that are to try men's souls. We must be impartial in thought, as well as action, must put a curb upon our sentiments, as well as upon every transaction that might be construed as a preference of one party to the struggle before another.”1 Yet over the next three years, as Wilson attempted to retain neutrality, over 2,500 American men volunteered with the French Army as part of an ambulance organization that cultivated a fiercely pro-Allie d reputation. In spite of Wilson’s appeal, the organization’s official motto was “Everything and all for France”2 and one 1 U.S. Department of State. Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States: The World War, 1915 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1928), 552. 2 The American Field Service, History of the American Field Service in France, vol. 3, The Camion Sections (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1920), 8. 1 2 advertisement courting new volunteers plainly stated that new recruits “above all, must be loyal to the cause of France and the allies.”3 The American Field Service volunteer ambulance organization, originating as a hastily-arranged fleet of private vehicles during the first Battle of the Marne in September 1914, became the most tangible expression of American goodwill toward the wartime goals of the Allied Powers during the opening three years of World War I. Despite the organization’s humble beginnings, by the time the United States entered the war (and took control of the organization) in late 1917, the American Field Service boasted thirty-four complete ambulance sections and ten military transport units totaling 2,000 American men in service.4 While the AFS was not the only volunteer ambulance service during the period, the organization unquestionably became the most prominent of the three American ambulance offerings that served the Allied Powers during the years in which the United States remained neutral. Because of the AFS’s dominant cultural and military impact, the scope of this paper will be limited to the ambulance volunteers that served in the sections of that organization. The other two volunteer offerings attracted a far lower numbers of volunteers, recruited men of many nationalities, piggybacked on the AFS’s military ties, and were directly affiliated with the Red Cross – which meant they lacked the aggressively pro-Allied stance held by AFS administrators.5 Additionally, the 3 “American Field Service Desires Many New Men,” Cornell Daily Sun, January 6, 1917. 4 The American Field Service, History of the American Field Service in France, vol. 1 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1920), 4. 5 Lawrence D. Geller, “American Field Service Archives of World War I, 1914-1917: An Essay on the Sources,” American Field Service