On Christmas they enjoyed music from the regimental band and a good meal. Pershing, the commander of the American Expeditionary Force just before Christmas. The 166th Infantry from the Ohio National Guard, was reviewed by General John J. "Scrawny turkeys and a few nuts were added to the usual rough menu" he recalled. The 168th didn't eat as well as the 165th on Christmas day, according to Thompson. Thompson in his book "Trench Knives and Mustard Gas." The kids received dolls, horns and balloons, recalled Lt. Two American Soldiers dressed like Santa Claus gave presents to the French children and a French band played the Star Spangled Banner. The 168th Infantry, from the Iowa National Guard, hosted 400 French children at a Christmas celebration in the village of Rimaucourt. The Army, wrote Corporal Martin Hogan "was a first rate caterer." On Christmas Day the men ate turkey, chicken, carrots, cranberries, mashed potatoes, bread pudding, nuts, figs and coffee. A choir of French woman sang hymns in their own language, the American Soldiers sang a few in English, and French and American joined in the universal Latin of "Venite, Adoremus Dominum." The 69th was present, and some French soldier-violinists. Joyce Kilmer, a poet, and editor, "the regimental colors were in the chancel, flanked by the tri-color. Father Francis Duffy, the regiment's famous chaplain, celebrated a joint American-French mass on Christmas event.Īccording to Sgt.
The 165th Infantry celebrated Christmas 1917 in the village of Grand. The men had hiked there from Vaucouleurs where they had originally been deposited by train. The New York National Guard's 69th Infantry, renowned as the "Fighting 69th" had been renamed the 165th Infantry.īy Christmas 1917 the division's elements were located in a number of villages northeast of the city of Chaumont, about 190 miles east of Paris. The largest elements were four regiments from Ohio, Iowa, Alabama and New York organized in two brigades of two regiments and supporting units. The 42nd Division had been formed by taking National Guard units from 26 states and combining them into a division that stretched across the country "like a rainbow" in the words of the division chief of staff, Colonel Douglas MacArthur.
The last elements of the 26-state division-the 168th Infantry Regiment from Iowa- had reached France at the end of November. The division's 27,000 troops had started moving from Camp Albert Mills on Long Island to France in October. SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.- In December of 1917 the National Guard Soldiers of the 42nd Division were all in France, waiting for training in the trench warfare that marked World War I in Europe. In these photos from the book "Official Pictures of the World War" National Guard Soldiers of the 42nd Division make their way through the snowy French countryside during December 1917 in what became known as the "Valley Forge Hike".
Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 3 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – In this photo from the book "Official Pictures of the World War" National Guard Soldiers of Ohio's 166th Infantry Regiment of the 42nd Division make their way through the snowy French countryside during December 1917 in what became known as the "Vall. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 2 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – In this photograph from the book "the Story of the Rainbow Division" Missouri National Guard Soldiers of the 117th Field Signal Battalion of the 42nd Division make their way through the snowy French countryside during December 1917 in what became kno.
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