Twentieth Engineers, France, 1917-1918-1919
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yC-NRLF B 3 TSS bS5 Professor Myron Kruego ' Affri. - Foreetr)' - Main Library Corrections The follow it\L; paraj^raphs shouki follow the stor\- of "[""orls- ihitxl linginccrs : ("o. D of the 43ivl, the 4'-)th and fag-end company of the Twentieth, reported to the La Cluse-Bourg District, Ninth Battalion, and were given charge of the Murat operation, in the upper valley of the river AUier, in south central France. Here they operated a McDonough sawmill of 10,000 rated capacity. The region was rich in timber resources, and its importance led to the establishment of a new F'orestry district at LePuy, si.xty miles to the east, with Fourteenth Battalion Headquarters in control. At the cessation of hostilities several new camps were in progress of development in the neighborhood. Upon release from the Le Puy District the 49th Co. was sent to join the assembled Forest troops in the Landes, and spent the spring in road repair details around Ponten.x and Labouheyre. After the Fourth Battalion left for home, early in May, the 49th took over the job of liquidating the American mills in the Da.x district, as well as at f^ontenx, iVlimizan and the Burnt Area. Sale of the bulk of equipment remaining to French railway in- terests closed the need for garrison functions, and the scattered details started for the States, leaving only a forlorn rearguard, and warped and silent shanties, to recall to the Landais villagers the boom days of '17-19. "The F\)rty-Second Engineers " (Fourteenth Battalion, Twen- tieth Engineers) to read "The Forty-Second Engineers."" "The InirtN- FhirLl Engineers " (bifteenth Battalion, Twentieth Engineers) to read "The Forty-Third Engineers (Fouricctiih Battalion, Twentieth Lingineers.) Press of DIMM 6- SONS PRINTING CO. Henry BIdg., Portland, Oregon TWENTIETH ENGINEERS FRANCE I917-I9I8-I919 TWENTIETH ENGINEERS PUBLISHING ASSN. 743 GreeuM^ood Aveuue Portland, Or«. 35 FORESTRY Aeri F->nacfr<- - Main Library StafF Perez Simmons, Alhambra, Calif., 4th Bn. Editor Alfred H. Davies, Portland, Ore., 4th Bn. Editor Shelby L. Davies, Portland, Ore., 6th Bn. Business Manager William W. Logan, Sioux City, Iowa . Regimental Hq. George W. Batten, New York City 10th Engineers. Theo. Tandberg, Goodrich, Minn. 10th Engineers. Clarence H. Burrage, DeForest, Ga. 10th Engineers. Clinton E. Young, Voorheesville, N. Y 10th Engineers. Frank S. McNally, New York City 10th Engineers. 1st Battalion. Lyall Tracy, Minneapolis, Minn. George A. Faulkner, Augusta, Me. 1st Battalion. Robert Major, Ogden, Utah 1st Battalion. Charles Boorman, Great Falls, Mont. 2nd Battalion. A. L. Van Riper, Berkeley, Cal. 2nd Battalion Philip B. Custard, Ridgefield, Wash. 3rd Battalion. Oscar E. Johnson, New Britain, Conn 3rd Battalion. Clifford t. Dodds. Berkeley, Cal. 4th Battalion. Francis H. Gott, Rochester, N. Y. 4th Battalion. 4th Battalion. Ole E. Stokke, Rose Lake, Idaho . Kenneth Shetterly, Willamina, Ore. 5th Battalion. 5th Battalion. J. E. Hennessey, Excelsior, Minn. Harold C. Johns, Titusville, Pa. 5th Battalion. E. R. Herzog, New York, N. Y. 5th Battalion. 6th Battalion. Henry J. Askew, Merkcl, Tex. Ray O. Rennie, Thurston, Ore. 6th Battalion. Walter Tillotson, Richey, Mont. 7th Battalion. Raymond A. Crago, Flint, Mich. 8th Battalion. George R. Napper, Creswell, Ore. 8th Battalion. 9th Battalion. William R. Bone, Salem, Ore. 9th Battalion. J. E. Schwarz, St. Louis, Mo. Proctor M. McClure, Chicago, HI. 9th Battalion. George W. Anderson, Kenosha, Wi 10th Battalion. R. D. Remington, Hibbing, Minn. 10th Battalion. A. L. Lake, Mason City, Iowa 10th Battalion. William Houck, Plummer, Idaho 10th Battalion. Cecil E. Haworth, Medway, Mass. 41st Engineers. 41st Engineers. J. B. Campbell, Ontario, Cal. Thomas Carney, Medford, Ore. 41st Engineers. David G. Glass, Pendleton, Ore. 42nd Engineers. Leo F. Shields, Faribault, K4inn. 42nd Engineers. Lynton E. Athey, Portland, Ore. 43rd Engineers. C. C. Buenger, Chicago, 111. 43rd Engineers. C. M. Cradlebaugh, Portland, Ore 43 rd Engineers. Sam C. Yockev, Harrisville, Mich. 43rd Engineers. iviSOlSOO Table of Contents Introduction Acknowledgements The Engineers in France ' Division of Construction and Forestry The Twentieth Engineers Regimental Headquarters The Tenth Engineers First Battalion Second Battalion Third Battalion Fourth Battalion Fifth Battalion Sixth Battalion Seventh Battalion Eighth Battalion Ninth Battalion Tenth Battalion Forty-First Engineers Forty-Second Engineers Forty-Third Engineers Auxiliaries Reinforcements "Official" Band New England Units Canadian Foresters Flying Knots Editorially Speaking Casualty List Bebicateb to our unforgotten comrades, who passed from among us in camp, field or the breakers of I slay, and whose mem- ory is at once our most pxDignant sorrow and our loftiest pride. FOREWORD When America entered (he war in 1917, one of the first demands of the Commander-in-Chief was for a regiment of forestry engineers. If an army of the size comtemplated was to be put at the front, docks must be built; railroads laid; barracks, warehouses, hospitals, bakeries, refrigerator plants, and power plants provided; and trench timbers, dug-outs, and barb-wire stakes fur- nished. The basic factor in all these necessities was lumber and the Twentieth Engineers, detailed to this task, more than met their tremendous responsibility. It meant work; hard, monotonous, and unrelenting, but never did men respond more nobly. From these first days in the Fall of 1917 when I saw men hitched to wagons and pulling like horses because we had none; through those terrible spring days of 1918 when the Germans were driving on toward Paris and these men scattered from the Pyrenees to the Argonne toiled day and night to make possible our defense; down through the armistice until the last man came home, in all my ex- perience across the seas I never saw more faithful and conscientious effort. Brave deeds abounded in France but equal in spirit to any of them was the persistent devotion to his task, so vitally essential but lacking in personal glory, of many a man in this largest regiment ui history. It was my great privilege to serve men of many regiments, but in all my service never did I find an or- ganization of better personnel, or men who responded more quickly to high ideals and unselfish service. The story of these men, their devotion, their sacrifice, and their loyalty will be related as long as the history of American accomplishments in the \\ orld \\ ar shall be recorded. HOWARD Y. WILLIAMS, Caitain Howard Y. William.^ Regimental Chaplain, Seaule, Wash., April 14, 1^20. To the Officers and N4en of the 20th Engineers (Forestry): As your former Commanding OlTicer it gives me great pleasure to have this opportunity to send you a greeting and my appre- ciation of your services in !•" ranee in the WorkI War, an account of which is containei^l in this history of the Regiment. As patriots and woodsmen you promptly answered the call of your country and by your skill, enthusiasm and unceasing effort you made a record in the American Expeditionary Forces in France of which \-ou ma\ well he proud. I shall alw ays feel that it w as a great honor to have commanded such an organization of American soldiers. J. A. WOODRIFF, [j.-CoL. Cor(:)s of Engineers, i . S. Arnix. Colonel J. A. Woodruff To the licliiors — 1 listory of 2()lh Lingineers: It is to m\ w.'md an excellent effort on \our part to endcasor to compile a history of the \'ery important work of the 20th Engineers, which will not only be of \alue to the public but will, it is hoped, inform all of the men of the regiment of the enormous amount of work carried on by this regiment, of which only those members who were familiar with the work at headquarters could haxe lully appreciated. I he record accomplished b\' the 2()th Engineers and the auxiliary units attached to it is one of which e\ery member can well be proud. I consider the year in which I was fortunate enough to be a member of the 2()th Engineers, as one of the most \'aluable in my life and it gi\es me the greatest pleasure to ha\'e this opportunity of expressing a word of greeting to the members of the organization. Sincerely, Edw IN 1 1. Marks, Major, Corps of En^^ineers. (Col. of Engrs. during emergency) Colonel Edwin H. Marks IHh AMhRiCAN LUMBbKJAC.lv IN 1 KANCb The work of the 20th Engineers in I^>ance was one of the best examples of the value of industrial training in furnishing citizen soldiers well qualified for meeting one of the critical emergencies of the great war. General Pershing had been in France but a few weeks before he was impressed with the necessity of a special organization for supplying the American army with the \ast quantity of timber needed in its operations at and behind the front. The 20th Engineers was the answer to this problem. It was organized largely from men trained in the forest industries of America. These men brought to the colors not onI>' the patriotism of the citizen but the adaptability, the physical hardi- ness, and the rough and ready m.echanical skill of the American woodsmen. They knew the work which they were called upon to perform; and they put into it not only the woodcraft which they had acquired but a spirit of backing up the fighting dough- boys which was unexcelled in the Expeditionary Force. In an incredibly short time, this regiment established an enormous lumber industry in France. It erected, mo\ed, and reset sawmills at a rate which woulci take away the breath of the peace-time operator. When equipment was lacking, it improvised the tools needed out of any odds and ends of material available. It broke records of lumber production so fast that we could scarcely keep the count.