ARMISTICE DAY: The Doughboy and the Leviathan

 

THE DOUGHBOY AND THE LEVIATHAN

My grandfather, IRA RUSSELL GLOVER was 22 years old when he was called to serve his country, signing up for the military on October 3^rd, 1917 at Middlebourne, West Virginia. A school teacher by vocation, he was appointed to the army rank of Corporal four months later.

He served as part of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) on the Western Front at:

1.      Marne, 7/15-7/29

2.      Bois Belleau 6/14-6/29

3.      Argonne 9/28-10/26.

  Remarks included on his service record include:

“Character: Excellent. No A.W.O.L. No absence from duty…Recommended for re-enlistment. Served ---; 7^th Inf. 12/12/17 to 2/7/19, 340^th Inf. 2/7/19 to date of discharge. Sailed from U.S. 4/5/18. Arrived in port on return 4/2/19.”

According to my Aunt Sandra, Grandfather Glover was an Army communications specialist and was required to string his own telegraph lines for transmitting Morse code. She explained that her father and his brother Clyde Glover both served overseas. “Dad was gassed in France; Clyde also, I believe. Dad was left outside the field hospital as there was not room but they put blankets on him and he recovered from the [ill effects causing] pneumonia.” 

(from his papers)

After serving one year overseas, Ira Russell Glover returned from Europe five months following the Armistice, departing 26 March 1919 from Brest, France to Hoboken, N.J. aboard the luxury ocean-liner-turned-troop-ship, LEVIATHAN. Two weeks later, he received his official discharge papers and headed home—making the transition from war-time  ‘doughboy’ back to civilian life as a classroom teacher.

(from his papers--below, note the code of conduct enforced while aboard the ship--in particular "Never spit on decks--it spreads disease." This was an important precaution since later that year, the ship would be hit with an outbreak of the "Spanish Flu" while transporting more troops. According to a Library of America article,"Leviathan. Of the more than 9,000 troops on board, 2,000 became ill and 91 died — by far the worst outbreak of influenza on any transport during the war. All told, an estimated 46,000 members of the U.S. armed forces died of influenza in 1918–19.")

HONORABLE DISCHARGE from THE UNITED STATES ARMY:

 “This is to Certify that Ira R. Glover, #------, Corporal Infantry, Unassigned (Last assigned to 340^th Infantry) THE UNITED STATES ARMY, as a Testimonial of Honest and Faithful Service, is hereby HONORABLY DISCHARGED from the military service of the UNITED STATES by reason of Demobilization per Letter A.C.A., 11/15/18.

“SAID Ira R. Glover was born in Alvy, in the State of West Virginia; when enlisted he was 22 1/6 years of age, and by occupation a Teacher; he had Brown eyes, Dark Brown hair, Dark complexion, and was 5 feet 11 ½ inches in height.”

“GIVEN under my hand at Camp Mead, Maryland, this 18^th day of April; one thousand nine hundred and nineteen. W.F. Carlop. Major, Infantry, U.S.A., Commanding.”

WWI troops in gas-masks

Battlefield experiences would later shape his cynical views on war. The following is taken from the opening paragraph of an article written by my “hard headed realist” grandfather and published in The Educational Forum in 1937:

“There are people who think and people who dream, but there are more people who do neither. The first group, those who think, do not doubt that wars will continue in the future as in the past; the dreamers, their heads swirling in roseate dreams of the universal brotherhood of all mankind, still envision the warless age. Hard headed realists know that civilization of the kind we have always had (when we have had any at all) is more likely to increase than to decrease the number of open seasons for human game…” (Brotherly Love and the Piper’s Pay by Ira Russell Glover)

In the 1940's his career path included veteran-focused work as he explained on his CV:

“I set up and operated the Veterans Placement Unit during and immediately after the war. The last work I did for the Commission was preparing a point rating system designed to help in the allocation of manual and trade positions.”

NOTE: In 1964, my grandfather died of a rare form of cancer: Reticulum Cell Sarcoma. My aunt explained, "When Dad came down with bone cancer, doctors at Henry Ford hospital asked what was going on as another older man [from his community] had the same rare type of cancer. That was the first I knew of the connection [to long-term effects of chemical warfare]." 

I found the following information online:

" The mortality rate from mustard gas was only 2-3%, but those who suffered chemical burns and respiratory problems had long hospitalizations and if they recovered were thought to be at higher risk of developing cancers during later life."

(Quote and battlefield photo from article: "Gas in the Great War" by James Patton, military historian)

(Read more about how a German luxury liner became an American troop ship at: https://www.greatoceanliners.com/ss-leviathan )

(For an in-depth, scientific study of WWI gas warfare and its effects: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2376985/ )

(And the haunting poetry from the battlefield: "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen, 1893-1918.)  The poem's Latin title is from a verse written by the Roman poet Horace: "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori," which translates to "it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country". Wilfred was killed in action one week before the Armistice was signed, ending World War One.