Journal of Richard S. Gummere
From LibraryWiki
Richard's Timeline
The following is a summary of Richard S. Gummere's journal.
- May 1, 1918
- Richard enlisted into the military
- July 11, 1918
- Richard received a promotion to Corporal at Fort Audricus.
- July 28, 1918
- “broke camp, packed barrack bags and saddle packs. All set for the trip over seas”
- July 29, 1918
- “left Audricus for Strong” “stayed the night, beds good but rotten food”
- July 30, 1918
- “left Strong for East Boston where we boarded the Eng. SS. Margha” “have a barrack to sleep, which is all O.K. but no air below”
- July 31, 1918
- “pulled out Boston Harbor at 6:45 a.m. a little rain was falling”
- August 1, 1918
- “first day on the water running along the coast”
- August 2, 1918
- “pulled into Halifax Harbor (Canada) “saw where the big explosion took place.” (note: Richard is referring to a massive explosion in 1917 that took place when a French cargo ship full of explosives crashed into a Norwegian ship causing the largest artificial explosion of its time.) “Transports all around us, lots of Canadian troops”
- August 3, 1918
- “Still in Halifax, but expect to pull out tomorrow”
- August 4, 1918
- “Pulling out, England Destroyer behind us and transports all around us, so we are pretty safe”
- August 5, 1918
- “out at sea, weather is fine”
- August 6, 1918
- “saw sailing boat which cruiser gave chase to but returned ok. water very rough and many are sick”
- August 7, 1918
- "spent the day mostly reading”
- August 8, 1918
- “life boat drill at 3:45 p.m.”
- August 9, 1918
- “wrote a couple of letters one to chase”
- August 11, 1918
- “we are now in the danger zone and have to sleep with life vests on”
- August 12, 1918
- “traveling in a zigzag course as we are to meet our convoy and they haven’t shown up so far, everybody excited”
- August 13, 1918
- “meet the U.S. destroyer and chases at sam sure did look good to see the old flag”
- August 14, 1918
- “expected to land”
- August 15, 1918
- “landed but marched 5 miles to our rest camp”
- August 16, 1918
- “hiked to R.R. station” “rode all day thru England” “landed at Punessy”
- August 26, 1918
- “went to Winchester” Where Richard said to “travel and such” he must have been able to sight see a little.
- August 27, 1918
- “we expect to go onto France, as we cant expect anything from now on”
- August 28, 1918
- “drilled all day”
- August 29, 1918
- “boarded the U.S. Harvard for across the channel” “Left England at 7:30 p.m. arrived at Havre, France at 4:00a.m.” “got to camp at about 11 a.m. hiked thru the city, quite a reception for us”
- August 31, 1918
- “marched thru Harve to R.R. station where we got into our cattle cars”
- September 1, 1918
- “arrived, had to go on guard”
- September 3, 1918
- “drill started again”
- September 4, 1918
- “nothing new only drill, drill, drill and rumors of pay day”
- September 7, 1918
- “Inspection in the a.m.”
- September 8, 1918
- “went to church and wrote letters” “anxious for mail from home”
- September 16, 1918
- “fifty men from G bat. go to Augers to help build battalion units for wounded soldiers”
- September 17, 1918
- “pay day” 185 francs”
- September 27, 1918
- “good reports of the war, I don’t believe we’ll ever see the front”
- October 4, 1918
- “They say they will capture Mitz, but I doubt it” Mitz must be the name of an important enemy general of some kind."
- October 6, 1918
- “had a football competition” “I won the football throw at 148 ft. and 6 in. also second in Rgt. jump”
- October 12, 1918
- “Bulgaria drops out of the war” “good news in regards to the war, they are betting it will be over by x-mas”
- October 16, 1918
- “game of football to be played, but the flu is to bad”
- October 23, 1918
- “on guard again”
- October 24, 1918
- “had some pictures taken this a.m. by an old Belgian soldier, they were fairly good, and only cost 6 francs a doz.” Richard also mentions someone is dying of the flu.
- October 28, 1918
- “have a new Capt and 2nd Lt.” “Capt Gurdon and Lt. Palmer”
- October 30, 1918
- “the enemy is retreating and it looks like it cant last much longer”
- October 31, 1918
“Turkey quits and signs up”
- November 1, 1918
- “went on guard at 4 o’clock”
- November 11, 1918
- “Hurrah shes signing up and you should see this little town everybody is crazy” Germany signed the armistice on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
- November 13, 1918
- “on guard” Richard states that a soldier was drunk and disorderly so he took him in.
- Nov 21, 1918
- Richard says the German navy surrenders
- November 25, 1918
- “still getting ready to leave turned in all surplus clothing also each men turned in his barrack bag. we were issued our over seas bag”
- December 1, 1918
- Richard received 5 letters from home
- December 4, 1918
- Richards’s brother’s birthday
- December 5, 1918
- Helen Moore’s birthday, Richard mentions she was one of his former girlfriends.
- December 11, 1918
- Richard notes prisoners being tried on this date.
- December 16, 1918
- “President Wilson landed in Brest at 1:30 p.m.” “and the flags were all flying”
- December 23, 1918
- Richard mentions a lot of rain lately, an S.S. class he had to attend and that he misses home.
- December 25, 1918
- “the day of days” “gave x-mas boxes out in the a.m. at the “Y”
- January 3, 1919
- “saw Charlie Chapman in A Dog's Life”
- January 8, 1919
- Richard and the Rgt. heard news of Teddy Roosevelt’s death on the 6th of January.
- January 10, 1919
- Richard received word that they should be on their way out by February 10th.
- January 31, 1919
- Six months ago on this date Richard was sailing out of Boston Harbor.
- February 3, 1919
- Richard tells about his wonderful dream about marrying a woman named Dorathy Mead.
- February 6, 1919
- “left town at 1:15 p.m. went to Le Plesse and boarded real American train bound for St. Mazaier”
- February 10, 1919
- “boarded the ship”
- February 12, 1919
- “pulled out to sea”
- February 13, 1919
- “there are 6,500 men on board but shes a good size ship so theres plenty of room.
- February 18, 1919
- “roughest day at sea” “waves are breaking over the bow”
- March 18, 1919
- No exact mention of when he landed, but Richard was discharged on March 18, 1919 at 9:23 a.m.
The Rare Books and Manuscripts Library encourages patrons to examine this collection. If you discover important details or may have information related to this soldier and his company, please note it below:
