Let's not forget the 'doughboys'

by David Grand
June 17, 2004

That's what the U.S. infantrymen in World War 1 were called, with 53,407 killed in battle, plus 204,002 wounded/gassed. And those horrendous, casualty figures in the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) occurred within only 18 months, between the time Congress declared war against Germany on April 6, 1917 and when hostilities ceased on November 11, 1918.

By way of comparison, there were 33,741 battle deaths, 103,284 wounded. in the Korean War (1950-1953); and 47,410 killed, 153,303 wounded, in the Vietnam War (1964-1975). But those are only cold statistics. For the loss of one American life is one too many to those they left behind.

Undoubtedly, that high casualty rate was attributable in large part to the fact that they that were often engaged in trench warfare, where they were sitting ducks for snipers and for shrapnel raining down on them from exploding shells, with some canisters containing mustard gas (which is why their gas mask was always as close at hand as their Springfield rifle).

And when they climbed out of the trenches and charged into "no man's land," they risked being mowed down like wheat by German machine guns, artillery shells and mines and being entangled in barbed wire before they reached the objective, if ever. Plus, there were no armored vests back then, no tanks to shield them, no mortars to hurl shells at machine-gun nests or air support, nor helicopters to transport the wounded and to bring up reinforcements. It was their war, and theirs alone to fight.

Starting in the early summer of 1918, Americans were thrown into action, and showed, in both defense and counterattack, they were willing to make heavy sacrifices for victory. Among the battles in which their fighting ability inspired veteran French and British troops to heroic efforts in stopping the Germans were: Cantigny, Chahateau-Thierry, Belleau Wood, St-Mihiel, the second battle of the Marne, and at Meuse-Argonne, where 1,200,000 of them fought for 47 days for every inch of ground, resulting in Germany surrendering and signing a general armistice on November 11. Six hours later at 11:00 a.m. "all was quiet on the Western front." (Military historians unanimously agree, that were it not for the United States intervention in the last 18 months of that four-year war, the allies would not have defeated the Germans.)

Incidentally, it was in the Argonne Forest that Sgt. Alvin York single-handedly captured or killed an entire German battalion, a feat that brought him the Congressional Medal of Honor and some 50 other citations. His story was immortalized in the movie 'Sergeant York' in 1941 starring Gary Cooper. Only Audie Murphy, the most-decorated soldier off WW 11, could match his heroism and the public adulation he received. 

Now, while I rejoiced as all Americans did at the long overdue dedication of the WW 11 memorial on the mall in Washington, I found myself thinking that it's a shame that those who served in WW 1 have not been similarly honored. And we'd better hurry if we're going to, for as of September 2002 there were fewer than 500 of 'em still living out of the 4,734,991 who served in that war.      

A replica of them climbing out of the trenches with fixed bayonets and a gas mask slung over their shoulder would, I believe, be an ideal memorial, especially if poppies were planted around it, symbolic of the poppies growing at Flanders Field, a U.S. cemetery in Belgium where American soldiers who fought there are buried. I know my father who was gassed in that war would be pleased.