Peter and Frank Linn - In Europe During World War I

From the last post, we know that Frank and Peter were drafted, received their basic training at Camp Dodge, and were assigned to different units before leaving for Europe.

On July 31, 1918, Peter’s unit left by train for Upton, New York, where they arrived on August 2 for an August 9 departure to Europe. What would these young, single soldiers do on their time off in New York? What would a young Peter Linn do? It is the stories he told of that time, like the ones below, that show a picture of the man and the soldier.

Peter, my grandfather, was a fun-loving man with a great cackle for a laugh. While I never heard these stories directly from him, I can just imagine him telling them, like the one below, to an adoring grandson, Myron, who shares here:

When he was in New York City on his last night before catching the ship to Europe, Peter and another soldier were out having one last night in port and looking to do some partying. They weren’t permitted to buy liquor without a New York license, so they found a ‘bum’ on the street and offered him $5 to buy a bottle of whiskey. While they were waiting outside the store, another ‘bum’ came along and called the first ‘bum’ by the name of “Slim”.

Soon the ‘bum’ came out of the store, gave the two soldiers the full bottle, and told them not to open it until he was gone because it was against the law to buy for someone else. The two soldiers waited until the ‘bum’ was gone, then opened the bottle, and found that it was diluted coffee. They spent the rest of the night looking for the ‘bum’. They saw the second ‘bum’ and asked where they could find “Slim”. That ‘bum’ turned to them and said, “Hi Slim.” He called EVERYBODY “Slim” whether he knew them or not!

Once he was in France, Peter tells another story (recalled from Myron):

On a quiet night with the wind blowing toward the Ally trenches, he could hear the German soldiers talking. With the enemy so close it developed high levels of stress and quick reaction to anything that looked like a potential attack from the Germans.

During the late evenings, the men took turns in duty assignments to be "on watch" while most of the soldiers slept. Only a few were awake and watching for an enemy attack. That made it even more stressful as the entire regiment was relying upon the soldiers who were on watch.

As one of the newest men assigned to his regiment, Pvt. Peter Linn was assigned to be on watch and to respond to anything that might signal an attack from the Germans. Front guards were positioned out front of the trench line, typically at least 30 yards or so, and sometimes more. In order to allow "friendly" soldiers to move to and from the outpost positions, there was a password that was used. If you knew the password, you were allowed to pass, but if a person did not say the password when challenged, it was assumed that the person was not friendly and had to be neutralized.

On this particular night, Pvt. Peter Linn was assigned to an outpost in the dark of night with only a dull moon providing any light. He had not been in this position before, so he was not familiar with the terrain.

Soon after he took his position, in the dull moonlight, he saw a man standing in front of him by several yards. It was dark with only very dim light, and Peter was going to do his duty.

Pvt. Linn raised his rifle and told the man to give the password. There was no response. The man stood still and gave no reply. Pvt. Linn demanded the password, and again the unknown person stood still and gave no response. "This is your last chance--give the password!" No response; just standing there in the very dim light of the moon.

Pvt. Linn did his duty. He shot at the man from his outpost position, and ran back to the trenches where everyone now was awake and aiming their rifles to the oncoming attack. It started out slowly, with a few bullets form each side, but it escalated into an exchange of heavy fire. Within a short period of time, the exchange subsided, and the attack had been repulsed. Pvt. Linn had done his duty in his outpost assignment and had protected his regiment.

Except..., at the break of dawn the next morning, Pvt. Linn looked out to see if the man he had shot at was in front of the outpost. What he saw was not what he expected. In front of him, instead of a wounded or dead German, there was a stationary tree. About 6 feet tall, with only a few leaves, but with debris hanging on its branches. That "man" that he had shot at, which started several minutes of exchange of fire with the enemy, was ONLY a tree.

Grandpa never told anyone that he had mistaken a tree for an enemy soldier. But 60 years later, he shared this story with Myron.

I love this story about the humanity of Grandpa Linn, showing his young, vulnerable side but also his determination to do his duty and to protect the other soldiers who relied on him. Funny, too, but shows how very stressful this time was.

Peter Edward Linn, handsome World War I Private

I have one copy of a photograph of Frank, in which we see that Linn face and a very handsome Private Frank Linn:

Frank Linn, handsome World War I Private

Exactly where Pete was, what battles he was involved in, I would refer the readers to several articles or books or a google of his unit. There are many articles about the 88th Division, about the 349th Infantry. Here are just a couple for my readers to review:

History of the 88th Division

From Wikipedia, the following about the 349th: The 349th saw minor combat in Alsace just before the war ended, and the 88th Division as a whole suffered only 78 total casualties. The 349th was deactivated on June 12, 1919, at Camp Dodge, Iowa, the same place it was organized.

One story we learned from Peter is how heavy the gear was that each man was responsible for. According to The 88th Division in the World War of 1914-1918, page 16, during September 23 - November 1, 1918, in order to reach the Center Sector of Haute-Alsace, the men were "forced to make long marches--sometimes 25 km a day--on congested roads, pulling with them their heavily loaded machine gun carts, combat and field wagons, in cases the average weight pulled per man being 250 pounds." It's no wonder that many soldiers jettisoned items from their own backpacks. What would a soldier be willing to give up? What did he think would be necessary to keep him safe? In Peter's case, unlike that of many other soldiers, he kept his gas mask. And several years later, he told family members that he was certain the gas mask had saved his life.

Long, narrow trenches often dug by the soldiers who would occupy them, were used widely in France during World War I. While trenches offered a bit of cover and time to prepare to battle or to put on a gas mask,  they also were unsanitary. Water and mud up to the calves caused trench foot and, in some cases, amputations. Dysentery, influenza and other diseases spread quickly. Soldiers like Peter and Frank might have spent weeks in a trench, not far from their German foes.

Because so much equipment was tossed along the way to lighten loads AND supplies such as food were not available, often the soldiers had hard tack and cheese alone for their meals. One might expect that the rats that also lived in the trenches and fed on the corpses would look enticing. And, according to Peter, they were. He tells of luring the rats near the trenches where they were killed and then eaten.

Another story Peter told was how he had stood at the intersection of 3 countries while he was in Europe during World War I. While the maps have changed, boundaries have moved, it appears that he would have stood at the intersection of France, Germany, and Switzerland.

Sadly, I don't have any stories that Frank told of his service in Europe, but I would imagine that he would have had similar stories to tell. (Well, except for that shooting the tree incident!) Frank was assigned to backfill the 163rd Infantry, Company C, 41st Division. And because the nature of this "casual unit" was to fill in where needed, I would refer the reader to articles or books about the 41st Division and/or the 163rd Infantry.

The final post on these two brave soldiers will be about their trip home. In both Peter's and Frank's situations, the trip back to Iowa was not an easy one.