Losing Charlie Merritt: A Keystone Stater Remembers the Meuse-Argonne

Informing families back home of the loss of a loved one during the Great War proved a tough job for a multitude of reasons, one of them being that oftentimes the soldiers themselves didn't quite know what happened to their comrades.

    First Sergeant Ellis F. Robinson, of Co. M, 112^th Infantry, 28^th Division explained this in a letter written home after hostilities ended. "Lots of fellows were killed and maybe only one or two men witnessed the loss, and the witnesses were later knocked off," he wrote. "So we have no record. There are many cases like this. I have written a sheaf of letters back to the States in answer to some inquiry from some mother, father, sister, or brother as to the circumstances of their boy’s death or injury. The people back home don’t realize how hard it is. For we know so little about so many of the cases for we were continually advancing through dense woods and you might be able to see only a few men near you when maybe a whole battalion was in the immediate neighborhood. Then in the excitement you missed a lot of the things that went on about you. You were watching what was going on ahead and in front."

    Sergeant Robinson's letter, containing a detailed description of his regiment's fighting in late September 1918 during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, first saw publication in the March 20, 1919, edition of the Richwood Gazette published in Richwood, Ohio. 

Five soldiers of the 28th Division carry a litter bearing one of their comrades to the rear on September 26, 1918, the opening day of the Meuse-Argonne offensive. The 28th Division, formerly the Pennsylvania National Guard, arrived in Europe in May 1918 and saw its first action in July near Chateau-Thierry. General John Pershing later called the Pennsylvanians his "Iron Division." 

Sauvijay, France

February 1919

          About Charles Merritt I can’t tell you very much for I don’t know much about him. He was reported missing on September 29^th or 30^th, I am not sure which. The last time I saw him was early on the morning of September 29^th on Hill 245 in the Argonne. We attacked this strong German position late on the afternoon of the 28^th and reached the top but were unable to clean out before dark the Dutchmen who were in strong positions all around us. We consolidated our position and held the line that night. And it was absolutely the worst night I ever put in. Bright and early the next morning we made several attempts to clean out the Dutchmen but were unsuccessful. It was a frightful place: thick woods and heavy with underbrush, nearly impassable.

          One machine gun nest on our left was causing us a bunch of trouble and two attempts to clean it out were unsuccessful. Then Lieutenant Fleming, who later died of wounds, and I set out to organize a strong patrol to clean it out. I remember sending Merritt and a couple of other fellows down along the line to gather up all the hand grenades in the company and I remember him coming up the line with both arms full of bombs and I helped him distribute them among the patrol. A few minutes later we started out, but before we had hardly got started orders were received to withdraw from the hill and attack from the flank.

U.S. Army M1917 helmet displaying the red keystone, divisional symbol of the 28th Division and an homage to its home state of Pennsylvania. 

          Our patrol was called in and we withdrew back down the hill. The last time I remember seeing Merritt was just as we left our position on the road and the patrol entered the woods. Whether he came off the hill with the rest of us I do not know. Maybe he did or maybe he was killed, wounded, or captured there. For the woods were so thick that a fellow two or three feet on your right or left might have been wounded or killed and you would know nothing about it. And then in a short time we reorganized and attacked the hill again from the flank and it was during that attack that I was wounded and left the company soon after. From inquiry among the fellows who were there and are still with the company I can find nothing else about Merritt.

Sgt Ellis F. Robinson
Co. M, 112th Inf., 28th Div.

          It is my supposition that Merritt was either killed or seriously wounded while on patrol or while withdrawing from the hill for the company never again occupied the hill, flanking it, and causing the Boche garrison to withdraw. But I can say this: Merritt was in my platoon and he proved himself a real man and a solder on the line. He had the real qualities of a soldier. I have been with him on several little sprees with the Dutch and he knew the game and played it hard every minute.

          There are many cases like this. I have written a sheaf of letters back to the States in answer to some inquiry from some mother, father, sister, or brother as to the circumstances of their boy’s death or injury. The people back home don’t realize how hard it is. For we know so little about so many of the cases for we were continually advancing through dense woods and you might be able to see only a few men near you when maybe a whole battalion was in the immediate neighborhood. Then in the excitement you missed a lot of the things that went on about you. You were watching what was going on ahead and in front.

U.S. doughboys in France in 1918 display a  a few weapons they utilized in combat including their standard issue M1903 Springfield rifles, bayonets, and a Vickers machine gun. All of the men have a gas mask in its carrying bag hung around their necks, ready for quick use in the event of a German gas attack. Note the lack of divisional patches or adornment on their helmets; the painted helmets that have become so popular with collectors saw very limited field service and are more a post-Armistice phenomenon. 

          Lots of fellows were killed and maybe only one or two men witnessed the loss, and the witnesses were later knocked off. So we have no record. Some men got lost from their companies and joined the nearest outfit they saw and while with them were either killed or wounded. The wounded often times were picked up and taken to the rear by the litter bearer platoon and whose company knew nothing about him being wounded. The company’s only record of him was missing, or a report that he had been admitted to some hospital or had maybe died of wounds in the hospital. When people inquire of us for circumstances of their boy’s injury, we know practically nothing, and it is hard to explain to them why we don’t.

          As to Merritt, we only know he was missing in action and we have no further record of him. Maybe he was taken prisoner, but if so, we should have heard about it by now. My personal opinion is that he was killed sometime during the operations on the hill describes. Oh dad, it is a frightful and ghastly game and God knows I am glad it is over and that we have prospects of being home someday. I have been spared, thank God. But there we many a friend and comrade who sleeps tonight under the little wooden crosses so plentiful on the fields of France. And my heart aches for the mothers and fathers at home whose boy will be missing when the boys come home.

Source:

Letter from First Sergeant Ellis Free Robinson, Co. M, 112^th Infantry, 28^th Division, Richwood Gazette (Ohio), March 20, 1919, pg. 3