An American Soldier in World War I

Introduction

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 [First Page] [1], (1) Lines: 0 to ——— 0.0pt PgV ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TE [1], (1) introduction The United States declared war on the Central powers— Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire—on April 6, 1917, and joined a conflict that was already in its third year. On that fateful day, Americans had to come to grips with what this war meant and how it would affect their lives. George E. Browne, or “Brownie” as he was better known, was a twentythree -year-old civil engineer in Waterbury, Connecticut, when the United States declared war.1 His girlfriend and soon to be fiancée, Martha “Marty” Johnson, was nineteen years old and a schoolteacher in her hometown of East Morris, Connecticut, about fifteen miles from Waterbury.2 Their lives, like many others , were forever changed by the war.3 They endured a year and a half of separation as Brownie served in the American Expeditionary Forces (aef). They relied on their prewar memories and an almost continuous exchange of letters to maintain their relationship through this difficult time. Little is known about Brownie and Marty before the war started. It is unclear when they met and how their relationship developed. The limited information that is available reveals, however, a blossoming relationship in the summer of 1917 that turned into a lifelong marriage after the war. Brownie enlisted in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 [2], (2) Lines: 17 ——— 12.79999pt ——— Normal PgEnds: [2], (2) the American army on July 8, 1917, and served in the aef until February 1919. After enlisting, Brownie trained in the United States for more than three months before sailing to France in late October 1917. In France he prepared for combat while serving with the 42nd Division in a quiet sector of the front until June 1918. Starting in July and continuing through November, Brownie and the rest of his division participated actively in combat in the Champagne defensive, the Aisne-Marne offensive, the Saint-Mihiel offensive, and the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Since Brownie and Marty did not see each other from October 1917 until his discharge in 1919, they wrote letters to keep in touch. While only a few of Marty’s letters to Brownie survived the war, more than one hundred of his letters remain. His first letter was on July 8 and from that time forward, he wrote with great frequency while his unit was in training and as often as possible when he was in combat. His letters indicate that Marty wrote to him even more often. Brownie’s letters offer a view of the experiences of an American soldier. He described the difficulties of training, transit to and within France, the dangers and excitement of combat, and the war’s impact on relationships. While the letters reveal the war’s strain on Brownie and Marty’s relationship, their love never seemed to waver. july 8, 1917 (Fort Slocum, New York) Dear Martha: I have often wondered under what circumstances my first letter to you would be written, but never dreamed of anything like this. I am now in the pay of the U.S. army—some pay.4 There were five in our bunch and we were all accepted after a three hour examination this morning. I thought the one in Waterbury was bad, but I found out something to-day. We arrived here yesterday noon and spent most of the time until this morning in waiting for some-one or other. You should have seen the gang that came here with us. There are over 300 of them and I don’t believe some of them ever had a bath. I don’t want to give you a bad impression of the army though. They handle the crowd much better than I thought they would and the eats are pretty good considering the gang you have to eat with. To2 | introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8...