Doughboys on the Great War

One of the most persistent stereotypes of World War I is that its veterans were a “lost generation.” First used by Gertrude Stein and popularized by authors like Ernest Hemmingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, the phrase described writers who were disillusioned by the war and used their fiction to question the traditional values of society. Edward A. Gutierrez forcefully challenges how widespread these ideas were in his new book, Doughboys on the Great War: How American Soldiers Viewed Their Military Experience. Based on 30,847 surveys completed by American soldiers shortly after their discharge, the book clearly reveals “lost generation” attitudes were not universal.

Although most states collected information from their returning veterans, only Utah, Minnesota, Virginia, and Connecticut asked them to reflect on the meaning of their service. Four hundred men referenced the famous statement by Union General William T. Sherman that “war is hell.” Speaking to a veterans group on August 11, 1880 in Columbus, Ohio, Sherman said “There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys it is all hell. You can bear this warning voice to generations yet to come. I look upon war with horror, but if it is to come I am here.” Guitierrez argues Sherman’s attitude was shared by thousands of returning Doughboys. Patriotic and motivated by a strong sense of duty, despite the horrors in France, America’s newest veterans were proud of their service and would enlist again if necessary.

William T. Sherman, Library of Congress

Missouri sent a survey to its veterans in 1919.  Thousands responded, and although the survey did not ask the men about their thoughts on the war, the forms are an important resource for genealogists and will be digitized by Missouri Over There.  

All of the documents on Missouri Over There are keyword searchable. With this feature, users can quickly identify each time a word or phrase appears in the collections with a simple search at this link, http://cdm16795.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/overthere

For example, the name “Sherman” appears in 12 collections. One soldier who referenced Sherman was Sergeant George Vonland. After being wounded during the Battle of the Argonne Forest, he wrote in his diary, “As I write I am in a hospital, and all this is from memory, as much as I can remember-my trip through hell. Sherman was right, but in his day, they did not have, gas, trench-mortors, machine-guns, high-explosives shells, or shells almost as big as a man.” Another Missourian, Samuel Henighary, wrote on October 4, 1981, “Last week I was out to rifle range about 10 miles from no-where and the life out there is every thing that general Sherman claimed war to be, and then some, the experience is what counts, I would not sell my experience at these for $100 nor would I take $500 to go through it again if I possibly could get out of it. The Army life is great if you don’t weaken under it.”

Sources:

Gutierrez, Edward A.  Doughboys on the Great War:  How American Soldiers Viewed Their Military Experience.  Lawrence:  University Press of Kansas, 2014

My Days in France by George O. Vonland, May 1918---February 1919.  George Vonland Collection. A2291.  Missouri History Museum, St. Louis, Missouri. 

Samuel Henighary to Dr. Henry Milton Whelpley October 4, 1918.   Dr. Henry Milton Whelpley  Collection, Missouri History Museum.