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| Sergeants of Company A, 314th Engineers, 89th Division Charles pictured in front row, fourth from left 1979.24.13 |
After ten days on the East Coast,
on June 12, 1918, Sergeant Charles S. Stevenson and the 314th
Engineers set sail for England. In a
letter to O’Gee dated June 29, 1918, Charles notes that he has arrived in
France. “We keep on the move all the
time - have been so for thirty days and expect to keep going for a couple of
weeks to come. Forty-eight hours ago I
was in England listening to Harry Lauder signing and tonight I find myself in
sunny France - - and if you could seen the sweat pouring off my brow, you would
have known it was sunny France.”
Already overseas, on July 21, 1918, Maurice, Charles’
brother, wrote Charles concerning the role of the 1st Division. Maurice states, “The First Division is
generally looked on now as “Old Soldiers”, and I suppose we have had as much,
or more fighting than any other division of the A. E. F. We have been in three different sectors,
pulled the Cantigny affair, and now this last show, which was the first real
big offensive that any American have been in.
So, come around when you want to find out anything about the gentle art
of “Fighting in France.”” Shortly after
receipt of Maurice’s letter, Charles made the trip to visit Maurice. In a letter dated August 8, 1918, Charles
writes home concerning the arduous journey he made to see Maurice for the first
time. After learning Maurice’s regiment
had been in his current location, Charles rode a bicycle several hours to their
new location only to reach regimental headquarters where he was informed
Maurice had been sent to the front. Luckily,
the front was near and Maurice returned to camp before midnight. At three in the morning, Charles started back
for his own camp via bicycle in the rain. Charles notes that he was able to get
to camp minutes before first call, and slept the rest of the day.
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| Trucks being loaded with material from a quarry for road construction in Germany 1979.24.25 |
In addition to his time with Maurice, Charles wrote about his
experience in No-Man’s Land. He states, “...A
party from our company was sent out into a certain section in No Man’s Land to
repair a broken bridge. With ten other
youths I was sent out in front of the broken bridge to act as a “cover” party
for the boys who were working on the bridge.
It was not at all as thrilling as we thought and hoped for, as all we
did was to lay on our stomachs in a big bunch of wet grass for six hours and
watch a three-quarter moon set. We could
hear machine gun and rifle fire as plain as if I were called you from the barn,
but it didn’t bother any of us. We were
close the first line trenches of the Germans and this facts was appreciated by
us.”
On September 18, 1918, Charles writes more concerning his
experience at the St. Mihiel Drive. “It
was some drive. Small, in comparison to
many, operations, to we rookies it was a real battle. Machine guns, rifles, shells, aeroplanes, and
tanks - everything you read about - I saw ‘em all. We followed the first line (the attacking
party) for twelve hours and ours was a sort of “after the battle” review. I saw all kinds of German trenches, barbed
wire entanglements, busted houses, burning trees, deep shell holes, torn-up
railroad tracks, peaceful gardens, dynamited bridges - and lots of things I had
read of, but never seen.”
While overseas, Charles suffered no wounds. Charles even joked that the only damage done
to him at the St. Mihiel Drive was missed sleep and torn leggings. The same,
however, was not true for Maurice. In a
letter dated October 24, 1918, Charles informs O’Gee of Maurice’s injuries. “If what he tells me is true, he is badly
bunged up, but he should recover fully in time, for which he can be duly
thankful - and we can all be glad it is no worse. At that, he is not exactly well, yet...He did
not go much into detail, but I can imagine he is hurt.” While family had been informed of Maurice’s
injury, the extent was not known until much later. Charles wrote, “You are probably aware by
this time that Maurice wired you that he was slightly injured when he was
severely injured. I am sure that he will
completely recover and except for a part of one ear being gone...” This letter also indicates that Maurice
received the Distinguished Service Cross.
The full citation reads:
“The President of the United States of America, authorized
by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the
Distinguished Service Cross to Second Lieutenant (Infantry) Maurice S.
Stevenson, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while
serving with 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, A.E.F., near Exermont,
France, 9 October 1918. Lieutenant Stevenson displayed splendid devotion to
duty by twice passing through a terrific artillery and machine-gun barrage in
order to transmit important orders from his brigade commander to the assaulting
battalion, and while in the performance of such duty was seriously wounded, but
refused to be evacuated before he had made his report.”
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| Sgt. Charles S. Stevenson Taken February 1919 at Welschbillig, Germany 1979.24.17 |
Amidst the concern for his brother came the relief of the
war ending. On November 14, 1918,
Charles wrote home concerning the armistice.
“We chased the Boche way, way back - and the good news of November 11 is
the result. Honestly, Folks! It seems too good to be true! We had very little idea it was coming and you
can guess how much it pleased us. None
of us can realize it yet - it certainly does seem to good to be true! To you all there it means the finish of the
Germans - to us it means the same and a lot more.”
From the end the declaration of the armistice to December 4,
Charles and the 314th Engineers made their way across France,
Belgium, and Luxembourg into Germany.
While in Germany, divisional headquarters started granting leave privileges. Charles put in for a pass to visit Maurice at
Base Hospital 8 in Savenay, France. Headquarters granted Charles’ leave and on
February 12, he set out for Savenay.
Like his first visit with Maurice, Charles’ travel included unfortunate
circumstances and crafty coordination.
Having been out of town when the leave was granted, Charles was already
at a day’s disadvantage. In order to
make his connection in Paris, Charles sneaked aboard an officer’s train and hid
in the lavatory for the first half-hour of the trip. Once the train was sufficiently in motion,
Charles emerged and took a seat in the aisle for the remainder of the trip.
Once at Base Hospital 8, Charles remained with Maurice for
eight days. In a letter dated March 1,
1919, Charles wrote extensively concerning the severity of Maurice’s
wounds. Charles notes the condition of Maurice’s
left foot, leg, back, abdomen, and ear.
As mentioned in a previous letter, Maurice’s wounds were rather
extensive, but he was recovering nicely by the time Charles was able to
visit. He notes, “... as soon as a
couple of weeks have gone by he has been told he could get up and try walking
with crutches. He could walk without
them, were it not for his foot, which needs only Time for recovery.”
On May 3, 1919, Charles wrote the final letter of the series
from Europe. “Unless something of
especial importance happens or we are set back on our date of departure, this
is the last letter I will write to you from Europe. The next time you hear from me will be from
Someplace in America. I’m feeling fine
and am already for the trip. I’ll see
you soon. Love, C.S.S.”
Charles arrived back in the United States on May 26, 1919. Upon his return to civilian life, Charles
worked at Hallmark Cards until his retirement in 1960,
when he became a free-lance writer for the Kansas
City Star. He died in 1985 in Kansas City, Missouri.
For more information about the
Charles S. Stevenson Collection, please read our past blog-post
concerning his military training at Camp Funston.
Bibliography
MilitaryTimes. “Maurice S. Stevenson.”
MilitaryTimes Hall of Valor. Accessed October 29, 2014. http://projects.militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards/recipient.php?recipientid=14901
Stevenson, Charles S., 1917-1919.
1979.24; 1982.202. National World War I
Museum, Kansas City, Missouri.
