IntroductionMy grandfather, Frederick William Smith, was born on 27 December 1895 in Ansonia, Connecticut, to Frederick W. Smith and Matilda White (aka Domithilde LeBlanc). His mother died when he was three, and his father eventually abandoned him and his sisters. They spent time in the Mt. Carmel Children's Home; the girls were soon married, but according to family memory, he only got out when he joined the Army at 17 (For more on his family history, see here). We don't have records of that service, however. We can only document his enlistment in 1917. He served during World War One with the 12th Field Artillery Regiment, a part of the 2d Division. He reenlisted after the war and served in the 3d Cavalry at Fort Myer, Virginia, where he played the French Horn in the band. While in Virginia, he met a man who knew his family, from which he had been separated since the orphanage, and he was able to reconnect. After he got out of the Army he married, had a son, divorced, remarried and had three children. He was trained at one point as an electrician, worked for a time as a gardener, but is remembered primarily as repairing and refinishing antiques. Like most combat veterans, he didn't talk much about his experiences. He was afraid of lightning and thunder as he said it reminded him of the war. He was a member of the VFW and of the World War I Veterans of the USA. He would show off his medals to friends or neighborhood boys, and sometimes tell tall tales (some of which we are still not sure about). We know, however, that he was a victim of mustard gas, and that this affected his health long after the war; it was basis for a permanent disability that was granted retroactively about 1959. He made frequent visits to VA hospitals, and died on a trip to the VA hospital in Bath, NY--while changing buses in New York City, he was separated from his wife and a daughter, and was found with his medals strewn on the sidewalk beside him. This webpage comes from a desire to preserve what we know and to learn more about his military record. Different family members have pictures of him in uniform, medals, and a songbook, and some pieces of written documentation. I will be posting that information here, and other information we can discover through searching available records.
Duty - Honor - CountryWhat I've discovered so far shows that Bill Smith was an ordinary soldier who showed up and did his duty in the midst of a horrible war, and who got injured in the course of it, and suffered in visible and invisible ways for the rest of his life. He didn't get medals for individual heroism; he never advanced beyond Corporal. He did his duty for his country, with honor. Duty. Honor. Country. Those words recall to me what Douglas MacArthur said of the American soldier:
The glory, of course, is not in a horrific death in a muddy trench in the fields of France, let alone death on a New York sidewalk after forty years of prolonged suffering. The glory of which MacArthur speaks is, rather, the gift of self, the hope in which they went to war, not knowing what price they might pay. And though the songs they sang as they marched to war strike us as naively optimistic, they sang those songs in full realization of the suffering the French had endured for years by the time the doughboys began to prepare to go "over there." They went knowing full well what they might face, and they went singing mocking songs of their enemy and of their own leaders. They trusted in one another. They were confident that they would get the job done. They were willing to pay any price. The day I received three of my grandfather's medals in the mail from my mother, I went to see "Flags of Our Fathers," Clint Eastwood's film of James Bradley's book of the same title, about the men immortalized in Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima in World War II. Three of those six died on that volcanic island; the other three, paraded around the US as heroes while other young men continued to die, would themselves die years later, after prolonged suffering of various kinds. On Iwo Jima their thoughts were of duty, honor, country--identified with the Marine in the next foxhole. This gave way in later years to grief, guilt, embarrassment. All the men in the theater at the screening I attended left with tears in their eyes. So did I. I wept not just for the soldiers in the film, but for all the soldiers I've known as an Army chaplain and veteran. I wept for my grandfather, whose life after combat echoes aspects of each of the lives of Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon, and John Bradley. Duty, honor, country. They gave everything, not knowing what price they would pay. But there is always a price. The glory is not in the price paid, which can vary greatly, but in the hope for which they willingly sacrificed their futures, to make our present possible. William J. Cork
Enlistment InformationFamily history says he joined the Army at 17, but the earliest documentation we have is of his service immediately prior to and during the war, starting in March 1917. He was a musician, and he used to say that upon America's entry into the war, they took away his horn and gave him a rifle, which he hadn't been trained to use.
He remained in the Army after the war, and was in the band at Fort Myer, Virginia. AGO Form 01253, Transcript of Military Record, dated 21 September 1948, gives this information:
My grandmother used to claim that my grandfather played taps at Admiral Peary's funeral, and that after the funeral the widow turned and handed him the flag that had been on the casket. Peary died on February 20, 1920, and was buried at Arlington. My grandfather was there at the time, was a musician, and was with the ceremonial unit. But a report of the funeral in the Washington Post said that it was a navy bugler who played taps, but the entire band was also present, and much of the 3d Cavalry marched in the procession. So he was undoubtedly at the funeral, but his role was misremembered. Despite his WWI service and his age, he was still required to register for the Draft for WW2.I found his Draft Registration Card at Ancestry.com.
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2d Division |
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From a Division history:
| One of the few active
units organized on foreign soil, the 2nd Infantry
Division was born on 26 October 1917, at Bourmont
France. At the time of its activation, the Division was
composed of one brigade of U.S. lnfantry, one brigade of
U.S. Marines, an artillery brigade, and various
supporting units. During “The Great War” twice, Marine
Corps General Officers commanded the division; Major
General
C.A. Doyen
and Major General
John A. Lejeune.
This was the only time in U.S. military history when
Marine Corps officers commanded an Army Division. The Division spent the winter of 1917-1918 training with French Army veterans. Though judged unprepared by French tacticians, the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) was committed to combat in the spring of 1918 in a desperate attempt to halt a German advance toward Paris. The 2nd Division drew its first blood in the nightmare landscape of Belleau-Wood and contributed to shattering the four-year-old stalemate on the battlefield during the Chateau-Thierry campaign that followed. The Division won hard fought victories at Soissons and Mont Blanc, for which it was awarded the French Fourragère in the colors of the Croix deGuerre. Finally, the Division participated in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, which spelled the end of any German hope for victory. On 11 November 1918 the Armistice was declared, and the 2nd Infantry Division marched into Germany where it performed occupation duties until April of 1919. |
Among the decorations in my grandfather's possession was a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal. This struck me as very odd. But there was something unique about the 2d Division in World War 1--as the above history notes, it included a Marine brigade, and twice the division was commanded by Marine Corps general officers. Could these Marine Corps generals have given a Marine medal to soldiers in the Division? Could the Marine brigade have given it to members of supporting artillery units? Maybe he just got it from a Marine buddy, whether on the battlefield or years later over a drink at the VFW post.
On the participation of Marines, see also Leathernecks at Soissons.
From a history of the 3d Cavalry:
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1 June 1919, the Regiment sailed for Boston and, upon arrival,
the headquarters and 1st Squadron moved to Fort Ethan Allen,
Vermont. During the 1920's and 1930's the Regiment underwent a
series of organizational changes. 2d Squadron, plus troops C and
D of 1st Squadron, were inactivated. 3d Squadron was
redesignated as 2d Squadron which was stationed at Fort Myer,
Virginia, becoming known as the "President’s Own". Because of its proximity to Washington and Arlington National Cemetery, the 2d Squadron was frequently called upon to furnish honor guards and escorts for distinguished visitors and funeral escorts for distinguished civilian officials and military personnel. On 11 November 1921, the Regiment furnished the cavalry escort for the burial of the Unknown Soldier from WWI in Arlington National Cemetery. Staff Sergeant Frank Witchey, 3d Cavalry, sounded final “Taps”. SSG Witchey’s trumpet and tabard are displayed in the Regimental Museum. Until 1941, the Regiment provided the guard detail at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
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Songs of World War I (lots of old songs, in MP3; even the old familiar ones have some surprises)
Army Band Music
