History of Company G
314th Infantry
By Joseph T. Labrum
Philadelphia, Pa. (1925)
Formerly Sergeant
Co. G, 314th Infantry, U. S. A.
CHAPTER I
The Birth of a Fighting Outfit
From the date of its birth, August 29, 1917,
Company "G" was a big success. Rising from the
depths of an infancy in the sandy wilderness of
Camp Meade, Maryland, it became one of the
best fighting companies in this man's army. That
isn't boasting either, it is an established fact borne
out by the reputation earned by the boys of the
company, during their time on the front. Also
Company "G," we must add, is part of the Second
Battalion, Three Hundred and Fourteenth infantry,
One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Brigade,
Seventy-ninth Division.
As was stated before, Camp Meade was a sandy
wilderness when the company was born. At that
time it had accommodations for approximately
five hundred men, exclusive of workmen, many
of whom did not live on the newly established cantonment.
The nearest railroad station was more
than a mile from where the camp was at that time
located, while the other accommodations were akin
to the rail facilities. The word accommodation is
not used advisedly, for there wasn't any such thing
when the camp opened. However, it wasn't long
before the land boomed and Uncle Sam made it
- look more like a camp where future fighters were
to do their training than a home for sand lizards.
At the inception of the company the following
were its officers: Captain Harry J. Lawrence,
First Lieutenant James W. Acklin, Second Lieutenants
Robert H. Brigham, John H. Hollinger,
Joseph R. A. Cushing and Daniel K. Chase. To
these officers was given the task of welding together
a fighting machine from a mass of men who
had little or no knowledge of what the word
soldier meant, and who did not know whether
"squads" was a command or army slang. In addition,
the officers had but few men with any training
at all to assist them. But the first men showed a
willingness and desire to learn that made the task
of the officers easier, and gave them a nucleus from
which to pick their non-commissioned officers and
establish the company.
The officers received their first taste of work
with the new army men when on the twentieth
(lay of September fifty-three men from Bradford
County came into Camp Meade all ready for the
first act of their part in the big drama. - They
were a happy bunch, too, many of them being
happier than usual as a result of free imbibing on
the way down. They can't be blamed for that,
for were they not giving up everything to serve
their uncle? And they had to do something to
lessen the pain of the giving. Those fifty-three
men were the vanguard of some nine hundred and
fifty that came to the company to be trained in
the rudiments of a soldier's career. Of that number,
seven hundred and fifty were from time to
time transferred to some other division or outfit
destined for overseas.
Of the fifty-three men who came to camp that
day, twenty-one went over to France and participated
actively in the fighting, the remainder
of the men were either transferred to other divisions,
sent home because of physical disability
of some sort, or volunteered for the tank service.
It is as advisable to give the names of these first
members of the old company as it would be to
place the name of the builder in the cornerstone
of a new building, for it was these men who
really started the company on its successful career,
drilling many of us who went over and many who
did not.
The list follows: George Fairchild, Bernard
McCabe, Sherman Vanderpool Vincent A. Vineski,
Wilfred Brewer, Harry L. Hawkins, Harry May.
nard, Albert Hemenway, Daniel O'Sullivan, Lee
Brooks, Grant Cole, Charles G. Kapp, Elwyn
Foster, Harland Van Loon, Charles Boland, Harry
West, Brewster Dibble, Harry Estelle, Charles L.
Spencer, Charles De Voe, Harold L. Peters, the
twenty-one who came across with us; Ernest Vanderpool,
Ernest Williams, Leonard Sullivan, John
Scott, Walter Scott, Edward Stanton, Floyd Ellsbrey,
Leonard Campbell, Charles Seebich, Lawrence
O'Donnell, Paul Freeman, George Neuber
(transferred and died in France), James Mason,
Clyde Tebo, Daniel Carman, Patrick Morrisey,
Claire Secor, Ross Weyman, Cameron Campbell,
Leo Mills, Howard McCutcheon, Lloyd Eddy,
Harry B. Ackley, Raymond White, Orin Bennett,
Harry J; Fletcher and Samuel Cook, who received
a commission as a second lieutenant in the infantry
after attending the training school at Camp Meade.
John W. E. Phillips was the top sergeant in
these early days of the company and was the only
member of the company to become a member of
the regimental football team, which gained an enviable
reputation for the Three Fourteenth. In
November Phillips was succeeded by W. W. Lambert,
a former training school man.
Those who were present with the company on
October thirty-first, Hallowe'en night, cannot for.
get the wonderful time we had that night, and
those who were present the same night one year
later cannot forget the time we had that night,
either. The contrast between the two nights~ is
interesting. But in 1917 every one enjoyed him-
self, some of the boys getting dressed up in
peculiar looking garbs that caused considerable
mirth, while others sang and told stories and jokes
during the big feed. Cider was served to the
boys, which no doubt shocked some of them. This
little party gave us the opinion that the army was
not so cold-hearted after all. The officers of the
company were all present, as was the commanding
officer of the battalion, Maj or Allen.
Then again on Thanksgiving Day we had
another party that will long be remembered by
the boys who were left behind when the passes
were given out. About two hundred men
composed the company at that time, and almost the
entire number were present to enjoy a real home
feed of turkey, pie, fruit and all the accessory
dishes that go to make up a real Thanksgiving Day
dinner. Nothing was too good for the boys that
night, and joy was unconfined on all sides.
From Thanksgiving Day on we began looking
forward to Christmas and the five-day passes that
were to be given out, according to the rumors
that were current. Drilling was more or less
a pleasure during those days, for was there not an
opportunity to get home for five days staring us
in the face? The cold and the sand had no terrors.
And then came the time for the selection of the
fortunate ones. With the exception of the equivalent
of a platoon, the whole company enjoyed the
holidays at home.
The day after the boys started on their passes
the company was quarantined for the measles, and
the men left in the barracks were forced to do
guard duty continuously for five days. Few of the
men were able even to take their shoes off during
that time. The cold and the snow gave us our
first taste of real hardship in the army as we
walked our posts.
Thanks to Lieutenant Cushing, Christmas Day
for those who did. not go on pass was a most
pleasant one. The mess hall was covered with
holly and evergreen, while a big Christmas tree,
gaily decorated and containing a gift for each
man present, stood in the center of the hall.
Speeches were made by the officers and the boys.
Judging by the comments made to those fortunate
enough to get away on pass when they returned,
a great time was had by all.
Those who returned flushed with the good time
at home were more than surprised to find the
company under rigid quarantine restrictions for
the first time. The quarantine was placed on
the company for seven days, but before the seventh
day had passed one of our number returning from
pass contracted the measles and an additional seven
days was levied.
On the fourteenth of January the entire regiment
was quarantined because of an epidemic of
all sorts of diseases, and from that day until the
seventh of February, at one in the morning,
when the quarantine was lifted, a guard walked
in the front and rear of the building. During
the period of the quarantine all bunks were taken
outside in the morning and remained there until
the afternoon for airing, while the most rigid
restrictions imaginable made those days anything
but joyous ones. You could not get away from the
barracks at all during the quarantine except to
do detail work or drill, had guards on at all times,
were permitted no passes and could receive no
visitors. They were the darkest days in our soldier
life at that time.
On the fifth of January, during the quarantine,
First Sergeant Lambert and Sergeants Kapp,
Phillips and Cook were sent to the officers training
school in the camp. I. H. Boyer was selected
as the new first sergeant of the company.
The twentieth of January saw the departure of
Captain Lawrence, who had been with the company
since its infancy. The Captain had always
leaned toward aviation as his favorite branch of
the fighting game, but it was with considerable
surprise that we received the announcement of
his transferring to naval aviation. So it was with
mingled feelings that we bade good-by to the Captain
when he left the company, feelings of regret
that he was leaving us, and feelings of pleasure
that he had succeeded in securing what he
cherished most.
Captain Frederick M. Muhlenberg, for twelve
days after the twentieth, was our company commander,
Captain Henry M. Smith, formerly First
Lieutenant Company F, who had been an
"instructor at the officers. training school, succeeded
Captain Muhlenberg as our company commander,
which post he has held ever since, with the
exception of three months, during which time he
was in a hospital recovering from wounds. In
the interim Lieutenant Brigham acted as company
commander. The company was under the
latter's command from the twenty-sixth of September
during the remainder of the first drive and
all of the second drive, when the company saw
its hardest fighting.
In the meantime several of the officers of the
company had been elevated in rank. Lieutenants
Cushing and Brigham were advanced from Second
Lieutenants to Firsts, so that the line-up of our
company officers about the first of February was
as follows: Captain, Henry M. Smith; First Lieu.
tenants, James-W. Acklin, Joseph R. A. Cushing,
Robert H. Brigham; Second Lieutenants, John H.
Hollinger and Joseph A. Haney. Lieutenant
Chase in the meantime had become a member of
the First Battalion.
On the eighteenth of February, the first opportunity
to shoot our rifles since becoming soldiers
arrived. It was quite a sensation on the first
shot to receive a little kick in the shoulder and
find that there really wasn't anything to shooting
a rifle after all. Just hold it good and tight, get
a good aim, and squeeze the trigger. The shooting
was done on the obstacle course, as the big range
had not been completed. That same obstacle
course took a good deal of our time, for we built
it, getting a taste of making bosches, facines and
doing police work galore, in addition to once and
a while getting into a few snowball fights.
In March a call was sent out through the division
for men who desired to volunteer for the tank
service. Company "G," not to be outdone by any
of the other companies, sent a strong representation
to the tankers, including First Sergeant Boyer
and several other non-coms of no mean ability.
Sergeant Vincent A. Vineski was chosen for
the place vacated by reason of Boyer's change of
allegiance. Sergeant Joseph Barnett, supply sergeant,
also left for the tankers, and our old friend
Bill' Brewer was promoted from company clerk
to supply sergeant, while Harry Seitzer, a member
of the old third platoon, was given the rank of
corporal and made company clerk. Private Isham
A. Gillette, in Dibble's twenty-eighth squad, was
made mess sergeant, succeeding Doyle Clarke.
On St. Patrick's Day the company received an
overseas examination and rumors flew thick and
fast that the division would sail for overseas. We
had heard the first step in making preparations
for overseas duty was a physical examination.
The company at that time, however, was exceedingly
small, due to the large number of transfers
that occurred almost daily. In the meantime the
various divisional and regimental schools had been
taking many of the men during the day. There
were all sorts of schools, gas, automatic arms, field
fortifications, French, topography and various
others, all of which proved interesting to those
who attended them.
CHAPTER II.
The Baltimore Hike
In April came the never-to-be-forgotten Balti-
more hike, when the division displayed its wares
before the President, other official dignitaries
and more than two hundred thousand people. It
was on the morning of April Fourth that with full
packs we started on the first leg of our hike to
Baltimore. The first day, fourteen miles, to the
town of Shipley was our objective. Pup tents
were put up and preparations made for the night.
Tired from the hike on the macadamized road, it
wasn't long before we crawled into our tents to
sleep. However, few slept, for the night was
bitter cold, so cold that it was warmer to dance
around on the outside of the tent than to attempt
to sleep on the inside.
Few were sorry the next morning when we
struck tents, rolled our packs and started out for
Baltimore. Shortly after ten the morning of the
fifth we landed in Druid Hill Park, Baltimore,
pitched tents and established the camp. Passes
were given for the night to town to many of the
boys, while the remainder contented themselves
with meeting their many friends who had journeyed
out to the park to see Uncle Sam's new
soldiers.
At eleven forty-five the following day, Saturday,
we fell in and fifteen minutes later moved out
on a nine-and-one-half-mile march at attention
with bayonets fixed. That Enfield never felt
heavier than it did that day. It seemed to weigh
a ton. It had to be carried at the right shoulder
and could not be moved even for a minute's relief
to the left. And that right elbow had to be against
the hip and the forearm had to be straight. The
spirit of the occasion and the fact that we were
being reviewed by the Commander-in-Chief of
the Army and Navy made us forget our troubles
and the leg and arm weariness we were suffering.
As we passed the reviewing stand and "Eyes
Right" was given, a more perfect line could hardly
be seen.
When route step was given, the relief of being
able to transfer that gun from one shoulder to
the other tasted sweeter than all the sweets in
existence. After a good night's sleep in the old pup
tent, we packed up at seven in the morning, and
at eight five started on our journey back to camp.
We carried light packs on the way back, and as
a result did some excellent hiking, arriving in
camp at three thirty-five without the loss of a
single man by falling out. A great record when
compared with what other companies suffered.
It wouldn't be a complete history if we did not
make mention of Ken Clarke and his song rehearsals
at camp. Who can forget the familiar "All
together, let's go," in that baritone voice of Ken's?
Rehearsals were held in the "Y," and when the
weather was good, on the drill field. In between
acts at the theatre we used to sing with Ken. He
had more to do with the development of our vocal
powers than any one we ever met, but he ruined
many a good evening in the barracks, for men
who never sang before in their lives took to singing
with sad results.
And did you ever get your name taken for a.
dirty gun from October till May, or were you
one of the fortunate ones never to accumulate dust
on that old piece? There were a few, we will
admit. Or were you ever late for reveille and