Most years I pick up a book or movie to read to commemorate Veteran's Day. This year, my choice was To Conquer Hell, by Edward G. Lengel.
It seems most Americans don't understand what Veterans Day is and what other commemoration it grew out of. In the United States, Veteran's Day is observed every year on November 11. Its purpose is to honor military veterans of the United States Armed Forces. Prior to 1954, the day was called Armistice Day, and recognized the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect., ending major hostilities during World War I. In South Africa, the day is called Poppy Day. In Britain, France, Belgium and Poland.it is called Remembrance Day.
It seems most Americans don't understand what Veterans Day is and what other commemoration it grew out of. In the United States, Veteran's Day is observed every year on November 11. Its purpose is to honor military veterans of the United States Armed Forces. Prior to 1954, the day was called Armistice Day, and recognized the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect., ending major hostilities during World War I. In South Africa, the day is called Poppy Day. In Britain, France, Belgium and Poland.it is called Remembrance Day.
Ernest Wrentmore Lengel's book deals with the American Expeditionary Force's role in the Meuse-Argonne offensive which came at the end of the war. The book sometimes focuses on specific soldiers, including famous ones like Alvin York and Charles Whittlesey, and lesser known ones like Ernest Wrentmore, who joined up when only 12 years old and went on to serve in WWII and Korea. .
Pattonn in front of one of his tanks. I found some of Lengel's writing quite informative and amusing. For instance, he calls George Patton "wealthy, athletic, and brilliantly insane." When explaining Patton's work establishing the First Army Tank School at Langres, France, he includes the interesting fact that there were no lights in Renault tanks, so crews had to operate in the dark when the hatches were closed. "A tank commander signaled the driver with a series of kicks: one in the back told him to go forward, a kick on the right or left shoulder meant he should turn, and a kick in the head signaled him to stop. Repeated kicks in the head meant he should turn back."
For me, a New Mexican, Lengel's book was a bit of a disappointment. New Mexico hadn't been a state very long when World War I broke out, and it was a very sparsely populated place, with only 345,000 inhabitants. Despite that, more than 17,000 men stepped up to serve. All 33 counties were represented. Tiny as we were, New Mexico was ranked fifth in the nation for military service by the end of the first World War.
Men leaving for military training camp in 1917 parade on Palace Avenue near Sena Plaza. Courtesy Palace of the Governors Photo Archive, Negative No. 149995
Of especial note was Roswell's Battery A, 1st New Mexico Field Artillery. Renamed Battery A, 146th Field Artillery Brigade of the 41st Infantry Division when the National Guard was "federalized" and mixed into the regular army, this devision had served Pershing well in Mexico during the Punitive Expedition against Pancho Villa. In France, they fought at Chateau-Theirry, St. Mihiel and in the Argonne Forest. The unit's four guns fired more than 14,000 rounds in combat, surpassing all other U.S. heavy artillery units. So why wouldn't Lengel mention them?
I cringed when Lengel said that Douglas MacArthur grew up at Fort Selden, Texas; Fort Selden is in New Mexico, just north of Las Cruces.
A picture of the MacArthur family that hangs in the Ft. Selden visitor center. The future general is the child on the left.
While To Conquer Hell certainly encompasses the full span of operations by the American Expeditionary Force, I found it difficult to read in parts. I wish the narrative had referenced the maps that are strewn throughout the book, so that I could have found the right map to go with each engagement.
Jennifer Bohnhoff is a native New Mexican, and proud of it. A former history teacher, she now writes full time from her home in the remote mountains of central New Mexico. Her novel, A Blaze of Poppies, is set in the southern part of the state and in France in the years just before and during America's involvement in World War I. .
