The life of an American Engineer in The Great War - Milton Samuel Kimball
...we could hear the rumble of the guns on the front at almost every hour of the day.
Wrote Milton Samuel Kimball in the cold weather of France, while stationed at the Rolampont village, near the western trench lines.
In 1914, Europe found itself in a conflict it had never seen before. Serbia, Austro-Hungary, Germany, Britain, and Russia sent their young men to die on the eastern and western fronts of the continent with other countries joining later.
In June 1917, American National Guard volunteers and US Army soldiers found themselves sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to aid the Allied Powers on the Western Front against the Germans.
The American Expenditory Force (A.E.F.) consisted of these young American men, with different positions like the Infantry battalion and the Engineer regiments.
Fortunately, I have had the privilege of obtaining access to letters sent by my great-grandfather, Milton Samuel Kimball, to his family members while serving in the war. Mr. Kimball served in the 42nd Divison (Known as the "Rainbow Division") of the AEF, under the 117th Engineers (Company E) in all four of their operations.
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| Mr. Kimball during his service in World War II. |
In August 23, 1917 while stationed near Paris, Mr. Kimball wrote a letter sharing his timeline of duties for the day after being informed that his company would be moving locations:
"6AM - Get up... I eat early with the seven inspectors, my crew does not go to work till 8AM...7:30AM was sick call and fatigue call. Sick men go to hospital and others are supposed to make up. Their supposed to make up their beds and clean up around their tents. At 8AM I go to work. At noon I eat and go to work at 1pm, quitting at 5pm...5:50PM first call for retreat, 6PM retreat and rollcall..."
Later on January 28th, 1918, he wrote: "To tell you the truth our existence has been pretty peaceful so far. In the Town where we stayed for a month, we could hear the rumble of the guns on the front at almost every hour of the day"
The letter ends with Mr. Kimball sharing that he and some engineers unloaded a Prussian state car. The Engineers moved closer to the front lines as time went on, replacing French divison bases as they moved.
 Engineer's work usually consisted of building structures, moving barbed wire as seen above and even transporting dead soldeirs from both sides of the conflict. |
| Photo: Cutting - "American engineers clearing wire entanglements from a captured German position" |
James J. Cooke, a history professor at the University of Mississippi, wrote an extensive timeline of the entire Rainbow Divison during WW1 in his book, "The Rainbow Division in the Great War 1917-1919", which sheds light on what the 117th Engineers were like as a whole.
In February 11 to 13th, 1918, an inspection team from Chaumont viewed the 117th Enginners, Signal Batalion and Sanitary Train as lacking the requirements to serve near the French held trenches ahead, which the whole division planned to head to. William Kelly, whom commanded the 117th Enginners, felt that the inspection review was false and had treated the Engineers unfairly. William argued that the engineer regiment in Training Area 7 had constructed barracks, stables, bathrooms and fixed the utilities system of their area. He shared that as the division started to leave Rolampont, the engineers were aiding the infantry troops by carrying their supplies for them (Cooke 44, 46).
A couple days later, the entire Rainbow division moved into Luneville and were now administered by the French during their stay in the trenches (Cooke 47).
The 117th Engineer's life in the trenches was more detailed in another source by Major Walter B. Wolf of the 84th Infantry Brigade, in a book titled "History of the 42nd Division". Released in 1919.
Major Wolf writes on a section titled The Work of the Artillery and Engineers: "The engineer troops, in splendid co-operation with the infantry during the entire period, combatted the inroads of spring and the abudance of mud and water, and in addition, with great skill, prepared and wired new positions to be used in case the Germans struck on that part of the line" (Wolf 19).
On August 3rd, 1918, Mr. Kimball wrote a letter back home describing his conditions in great detail while staying in an old german hole with a fellow soldier:
"Our home consists of a hole, covered with German wire cots and mattresses and about 3 feet of dirt. The entrance is a short trench, covered with a canopy of camouflaged German canvas. We sit under the the canvas with our feet in the trench. Our equipment is piled on one side. We sleep on a German bed tick, woven of twisted paper and stuffed with excelsior. For over twenty-four hours we have not heard a German shell or aerial bomb, and last night was the best for sleeping that we've had for a week"
Later in the letter Mr. Kimball notes that he had not bathed in three weeks, fortunatelly, they found a pump with water to wash themselves that day.
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| This is the kind of hole Mr. Kimball would stay in. Photo: In the Salient - "Soldiers from the US 167th Infantry, 42nd Division, have taken positions near St. Banoit in the St. Mihiel salient. Picture made on September 9, 1918" |
Mr. Kimball finished his service with the divison by the end of the war and helped train soldiers for 16 years until the conflict of the second world war begun.
*Originally Published November 11, 2022, the link broke so I re-published it*
Citations
Cooke, James J. "The Rainbow Division in the Great War 1917-1919" (????).
Wolf, Walter B. "History of the 42nd Division" (1919). Dana Daniels Collection. Pg. 19. Accessed 4th November 2022. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p16007coll51/id/7011
42nd Divison Photos were from "The Heritage of The Great War / First World War 1914-1918" Website. Link:
*Be advised: The website features graphic photos of the war on its front page*
In the Salient Photo link: https://greatwar.nl/index.html
Cutting Photo link: https://greatwar.nl/index.html
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