Newspapers & WWI

Examining newspapers published in Missouri during World War I is a great way to find interesting stories about the war from the soldier’s perspective. Recently, project staff uncovered an interesting article in the Springfield (Missouri) Daily Leader about the 130th Machine Gun Battalion’s experience in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The article included a firsthand account of the battle from Private Ralph McKenzie, a native of Ash Grove Missouri.








McKenzie was inducted into the Missouri National Guard on June 22, 1917 (see his soldier record here). He was placed into Company K, 2nd Missouri Infantry, which was converted into the 130th Machine Gun Battalion after it became a part of the 35th Division. The company left for training at Camp Doniphan, Oklahoma in September 1917, before being shipped to Europe in May 1918. The 35th Division's first engagement was in the Vosges Mountains, a relatively quite sector in the Alsace region of France.  In September they were transferred to the St. Mihiel salient but were held in reserve for what became the first all American offensive of the war.  

After reducing the St. Mihiel salient, General John J. Pershing organized an offensive in the Meuse-Argonne region of France.  This time the 35th Division took an active role and suffered its heaviest casualties of the war.  In an article in the Springfield Daily Leader on January 3, 1919, McKenzie described his experience in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. According to the article, McKenzie was the first member of the 130th Machine Gun Battalion to be wounded in action. He was hit in the shoulder and arm by a piece of shrapnel from a high explosive shell on July 31, 1918 while in the Vosges Mountains. McKenzie was sent to a field hospital for several weeks before re-joining the 130th just prior to the Argonne offensive.

“We then went to the Argonne sector and on September 25 entered the trenches again. The place on which were located was known as Dead Man’s Hill. From this hill on September 26 the great drive started. I remember well how it started. Everything was in order and we were sitting around in the trenches which were shoe top deep in mud and in some places deeper. I was looking around for a dry place and crawled into a gas post and fell asleep. I did not notice the crackling and whistling of the shells until one landed in the trench. We made a run for a dugout. It was a good one about 35 feet deep and well timbered. We lighted our cigarettes and said ‘let Jerry come,’ which he tried to do but our guns soon put him out of the race. It sure beat any Fourth of July I ever expect to see. The boys were fussing among themselves who was going over the top first and here and there we could see the burning end of a cigarette. At 5 o’clock there was plenty of work for the doughboys had gone over the top. We opened our machine guns and threw a 45 minute barrage. We were in the drive several days and nights, capturing many prisoners and lots of materials.”

McKenzie was honorably discharged from the army in April 1919. He returned home and would eventually serve 20 years as a member of the Springfield (Missouri) Police Force.

Sources

Kenamore, Clair. From Vauquois Hill to Exermont. St. Louis: Guard Publishing Co. 1919.

Honor Roll of Greene County Missouri: An Illustrated Historical Biography Compiled from Private and Public Authentic Records. Chicago: The Faithorn Company and George Robb Collins. 1919.