The World War I Memoirs of Robert P. Patterson: A Captain in the Great War

Plattsburg

Plattsburg I When the United States entered the World War in April, 1917, I was working in the law office of Cravath & Henderson. I was then a private in the New York National Guard. When I had come to New York from law school in 1915, I had enlisted in Company I, 7th New York Infantry. There was drilling every Thursday night. In June 1916, the entire National Guard of the country had been mustered into Federal service and had been sent to the Mexican Border because of the threat of war with Mexico. The 7th New York left late in June and spent about five months at McAllen, Texas. These five months covered my military training. I acquired only three things of value: first, a fair knowledge of infantry close-order drill; second, a feeling of sympathy for the ordinary private who marches all day with a pack on his back; and, third, a realization that in the army it is useless to be a kicker. The third idea was the most important. Strange as it may seem to those who have never served in the army, this lesson is actually hard to learn. I had always known of course that obedience was the first duty of a soldier. But to a man who is accustomed to the independence of civil life, the drudgery that always goes with an ordinary soldier’s life comes hard, and along with his labors there springs up a spirit of criticizing openly and freely the foolish orders that a soldier constantly is obliged to obey. Petty injustices are of daily occurrence in the military life, and the average man of spirit rankles under them. After some months, however, there comes a feeling that it is useless to kick against the pricks, that no one cares what your opinions may be, that there is nothing you can do about it, and that cheerful and willing obedience costs no more than sullen and halting obedience. When a man really possesses this point of view, he begins to be a soldier.1 There are of course limits even here. Wherever I have served, there have always been some officers or non-commissioned officers who were martinets , men whose chief aim seemed to be to show their authority and to harass as constantly as possible those serving under them.2 In Texas there was a sergeant in our company who took delight in pouncing on soldiers while enjoying themselves off duty and in inventing work for them to do. In 6 The World War I Memoirs of Robert P. Patterson France we had a captain in our regiment who could not bear to see officers or men having a little relaxation. Even the spirit of cheerful obedience does not enable a soldier to grin and bear it with such specimens as these. They are universally hated.3 II Getting back to April, 1917, it seemed to me that I was fit for a commission as lieutenant. While my military training had not amounted to much, it was considerably more than most of my friends had had. The government had recently started the system of an officers’ reserve corps, and examinations for commissions in the reserve corps were being held at the Army post on Private Robert Patterson, left, of the Seventh Infantry, New York National Guard, at Camp in McAllen, Texas, July 1916, with inset, Madero, Texas, September 1916. From collection of the Patterson family. Plattsburg 7 Governors Island. One morning in April I went down to Governors Island and presented myself as a candidate for a second lieutenancy in infantry, the lowest commission in existence. As it turned out, the examination was largely a matter of form, and in June, 1917, while I was training in Plattsburg, my commission as second lieutenant of infantry reached me. At the same time the announcement was made that training camps for men who wished to become officers would be held throughout the country , beginning in May.4 The instruction was to cover three months and the successful candidates would receive officers’ commissions. The camp for New York City men was to be at Plattsburg. I was still enlisted in the 7th New York, which complicated matters for a time; but I succeeded in obtaining from the colonel of the regiment a ninety-day furlough to attend the Plattsburg camp. Under the rule, if I failed to win...