Lot - WW I Letters from U.S. Army Cook in France, Great Archive!

Description:

World War I
Georgia, France, ca. 1917-1919
WW I Letters from U.S. Army Cook in France, Great Archive!
Archive

WORLD WAR I.] Archive of Letters from William A. Porter, 1917-1919. 18 letters, most with original envelopes, many on YMCA or Red Cross stationery; 1 order, 56 pp. Plus envelope of contemporary clippings; 2 unrelated postcards; 1 unidentified photograph of World War I soldier (perhaps Porter or Chapin), 6" x 9"; and Stanley F. Chapin, Autograph Letter Signed, to his grandmother, March 4, 1919, Souilly, France. 4 pp., 5" x 6.5".

This rich archive of correspondence covers the World War I service of William A. Porter of New York, who served as a cook with the 163rd Infantry Brigade in France. He received a special citation for serving hot meals for 17 days "under constant enemy shell fire" during the Meuse-Argonne campaign from September to November 1918. His letters from camp in Georgia, from England, and from France include details of his training, voyage across the submarine-filled Atlantic, and experiences of serving with a front-line unit in France.

Contents and Highlights
-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Mother & Father," November 20, 1917, Camp Gordon, [Georgia]. 4 pp., 5.125" x 6.5".
"Each afternoon we go out horse back riding to exercise the horses & learn riding. And can go anywhere we wish. No officers go with us.... We have to be in at four oclock, to start the night work."
"We are about eight miles from Atlanta, and a trolly line runs to camp."

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Mother & all," January 19, 1918, Camp Gordon, [Georgia]. 4 pp., 6" x 9".
"Just got back to camp from the rifle range, where eight of us have been since Wednesday."
"It is a hard march both ways, as we had to carry a blanket roll of three blankets, rain coat, extra pair of shoes, three pairs of socks, suit of underclothes, towel, mess kit and cup, soap, comb, besides our rifles, and overcoats, our rifles weighs nine pounds, and feel like fifty when carrying them about ten miles. I never thought I was a very good shot with a rifle, but I have got the best score of any in our detachment."
"It is quite cold here again and only had tents at the range, but with a stove they are nearly as warm as our barracks if they had a floor."

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Mother & all," May 10, 1918, England. 2 pp., 6" x 9".
"Have arrived safely overseas and enjoyed the trip quite well.... We were on water ten days, and were attacked by two submarines. But one of them was sunk by a destroyer."
"Traffic runs on the left side instead of the right. And the English soldiers carry their rifles on their left shoulder instead of their right as we do."

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Mother & all," May 25, 1918, France. 2 pp., 5" x 8".
"Our most difficult task, is trying to talk to the French. But we are learning quite fast."
"I am cooking again for the first, since leaving Georgia. We have a great plenty of food, and some tobacco, and cigarettes issued to us, so I think there is nothing more that we could ask for.
"Well as I cannot think of anything more, that would be passed by the censor, I will close for this time."

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Mother & Father," June 22, 1918, France. 4 pp., 5.25" x 8.25".
"we are now only a short distance from the front. There is some big guns about a hundred yards, from our cook tent. So sometimes it is quite noisy around us."
"The ways of the French are so different, although the people are very good & kind to us, although we have hard times trying to talk to the French people. We are learning real fast."
"it is much harder to cook on field ranges than on a kitchen stove. Sometimes I work from four-thirty A.M. until nine o'clock P.M., as sometimes when the boys are out on duty, I have to wait for them."

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Father & Mother," August 12, 1918, France. 1 p., 5.75" x 9".
"Last night I fell asleep with shrapnel bursting directly over my kitchen which is under a tent. It was our guns shooting at enemy air craft. But it is not so bad, as one might think. But of course, we are getting use to it now, and it is an every day occurrence."

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Mother & Father," August 27, 1918, France. 1 p., 6" x 9.125".
"I have been quite sick for about a week, and am just resting up now and getting ready to go back to work. I am feeling quite well. But am very weak. As I could not eat for three days. I guess it was caused by bad water, and terrible hot weather which we were having. Some of the villages over here are worse than our farm yards are in the states as their cattle and horses are kept in the house just to the side, or in the rear of the kitchen and there is no space between buildings only where there is a street."
"I think there are more men hunting this year than ever. Especially hunting for Germans. But all the boys over here are enjoying it. and it is certainly a great experience if one gets back to tell of his adventures. McCrea is not cooking for the officers now, but he is still with us, but reduced from cook to a private. But he is cooking in my place until I get well again.

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Mother and all," October 19, 1918, France. 4 pp., 6" x 9".
"We have been in all the batles throught he Argonne forests of which perhaps you have read, and when traveling and cooking during the day, at night we are too tired to write, and could not, on account of not being allowed to burn lights. We have been in the battle seventeen days, and have been relieved, and are going back for a rest, and get cleaned up and new clothes as we are dirty and clothes torn and wet. We have slept in mud four inches deep, as sometimes a spot of grass could not be seen. Have slept in shell holes, on boards, or anything available. This has been our first real experience on the battlefields we have traveled over twenty miles of hard fought ground, and mostly all wilderness."
"I have had a few narrow escapes. A shell bursted about thirty feet from me one day, and was cut by small pieces of shrapnel, but not bad enough to quit work."
"in one of our recent battles I saw about seventy-five planes in one flock, battleing with hun planes in the air and five came down in flames, four of them were hun planes, and one a French plane."

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Mother & Father," October 22, 1918, France. 3 pp., 6" x 9.125".
"I can say that it takes nerve, and energy to stand what we have experienced in the last twenty-one days, although we are hardened until we do not mind anything now. Last night, I slept all night, and this morning McCrea told me, he could not sleep as there was a battery of big guns shooting all night. And they were not a hundred yards in back of us. So I think I must have slept sound. McCrea and I are working together and have been nearly three months, as he is not cooking for the officers. Some days we feed from six to seven hundred men. As we have to feed every body that comes around hungry, since being in the drive."
"You was speaking about picking apples. Well I have been in some parts of France, where there were lots of apple trees. But where we are now I have not seen any fruit trees. As every thing is quite well shot up. Lots of places the trees are all dead, from the tops being shot off. And lots of them are killed by gas."

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Father & Mother," October 30, 1918, France. 4 pp., 6" x 9".
"Well I have had quite some experiences in the last few days, as our outfits have taken part in the hardest battle fought since the beginning of the war. And we have been following closely, and am always in range of the german guns. We are shelled every day and night, and are gassed nearly every night, so we have to sleep with our gas-masks on for three and four hours at a time. But one soon gets use to a mask, and does not mind it. One night McCrea and I were sleeping, on the ground, in our kitchen, when one of Jerrie's ‘express trains' exploded just outside the door, and covered us with mud. The next morning we found shrapnel marks all over the brick walls inside. The only thing that saved us was because we were laying down. Two nights after that our kitchen was blown up by a direct hit. There was not a pan or pot that could be used, as they were full of holes. But McCrea or Porter did not happen to be sleeping in the kitchen that night as the shell that exploded outside the door was close enough for us, and lucky enough for us we were sleeping in a dugout the next night, and all future nights I think that will be where we will be found."
"Well by the way sleeping in dugouts is rather annoying. Because a dugout is most generally crowded with men, and the rats want to play baseball or tag, about midnight And if it is not the rats annoying us, someone will be up with a candle lit, hunting the ‘soldiers most hated enemies' those little ‘bugs' called ‘cooties' not exactly body lice, but worse, and ten times larger."

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Mother & all," November 18, 1918, n.p. 2 pp., 5.5" x 8.5".
"We are all guessing now, as to when we will be sent home. We move just like gypsies now, every two or three days we move thirty to forty miles, and as we are headed we expect to arrive in some seaport town, in a few days. We are in a small village near Dijon arrived here yesterday afternoon but will only be here three or four days.
"We expect to [be] one of the first divisions home as we are classed as the best of the National Army divisions. And took part in the hardest battles. But it is all over now."
"Well I suppose there was some celebrating, in the states the day that the fighting stopped. I know there was some great celebrating over here. And now the French people cannot do enough for the boys."

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Mother & all," November 29, 1918, Bourboule, France. 3 pp., 5.5" x 8.5".
"We spent a fine thanksgiving, as there is a big Y.M.C.A. here. That is as big as the Liberty House and they furnished entertainments all day such as games, band concerts, motion pictures, and refreshments. And we are going out today to visit the different points of interest."
"We were in Neuf-Chatau another city, The night that the armistice was signed. We did some celebrating there that night, as every body paraded, with the Yanks in the lead, then French, Italians, and Bosche prisoners in the rear."

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Father & all," December 3, 1918, La Bourboule, France. 1 p., 8.25" x 10".
"It is a great vacation after working nearly seven months, every day steady, and when we were in the Argonne fight, there were no limit to hours, as we worked many a night, and day, without sleep. As I said before there were thirty-three days and nights, that we could not take our clothes off."

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Mother & all," December 11, 1918, France. 4 pp., 6" x 9".
"Well we were all glad when the war came to an end. But when we were in the lines, we did not realize, the danger our lives, were in, or at least when one goes into the lines, his mind is only on one thing, and that was to push forward. But since it is over, and we talk over our experiences. One can fully realize what he has been through."
"Of course we do not want to come home until the job has been fully accomplished. But I think everything is safe now."
"our main meat since being in France has been fresh beef, and I really am getting tired of it."

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Father & Mother," December 18, 1918, [France]. 5 pp., 4.5" x 7".
"We were seeing some action, as our boys were trying to take a town and had to fall back twice. And once they were across a river but were repulsed by machine guns. But soon took the town, after our artillery began sending over shells, from 6 inches to 20 inches, which are the big naval guns. Of course, we were getting some in return. Jerry had a great habit of shelling the little village we were in, about a mile and a half back of the lines, about five o'clock, and many a night they broke up our mess line. As we would have to get in dugouts. The most dangerous things were shrapnel, and gas. Because when a shell explodes, it throws pieces of steel and pig iron in every direction. I have a small piece of shrapnel that dropped in my mess kit, as I was eating."
"Our division is starting on a three day maneauver, Wednesday. In which every body will take part, just as he would in real action, only the enemy will not be there. Messages will be sent as if in action. I think it is more for the benefit of the new officers and men, That joined our division after we came from the front. As we have lots of men, that did not see action. as some have only been over here two months."

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Mother & all," March 6, 1919, Cerous, France. 5 pp., 5.375" x 8.5".
"Well we are now in a very nice part of France. We are located in a town only a short distance, from the city of Bourdeaux, where we will take the boats. Some time during March or April."
"Now you and Josie have been puzzled about my regiment or company. I have tried to explain it. But do not succeed. Of course you know my address. That is the outfit that I belong too. I have no regiment or company. These Headquarters consists of twenty men and One Brig. General One Major, three Lieutenants. That is all there is to it. Then these Officers command two regiments, the 325th Infantry and 326th Infantry. Then our headquarters gets their orders from division Headquarters and carry them on down to the regiments.

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Father & all," April 5, 1919, Cerous, France. 4 pp., 5.375" x 8.5".
"we have found that my division, will be here for an indefinite period. On account of Gen. March at Washington, issuing an order, that divisions will return home, in the order in which they came to France. Well according to that we should have been home by this time. But there were so many that had just landed, in France, at the time of the Armistice. So they sent them back first. And now there is still three or four divisions, ahead of us, some are going from Germany ahead of us. So we are just out of luck for a while."
"We are sure of being here for six weeks or two months, because they are giving us seven days leave, again to the American leave areas. And counting the traveling time, and seven days clear, we are away from Army work, and regulations for about fifteen days. So I am going Sunday afternoon.... this leave camp is on the Spanish border. The one I was at in November was in the south central part of France. We are supposed to get a seven day leave, every six months."

-- William A. Porter, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Brother Harold," April 20, 1919, Cerous, [France]. 2 pp., 5.5" x 8.25".
"I will bring Josie up to see you as soon as I get home, which will be soon."

-- Brigadier General Robert D. Walsh, Typed Document, Extract from General Orders No. 3, May 1, 1919, France. 1 p., 8.5" x 10".
"1. The Brigade Commander takes pleasure in citing to the command the following officers and enlisted men for bravery in action and devotion to duty under the most trying circumstances during the MEUSE-ARGONNE Offensive, October 9-31, 1918:...
"PRIVATE WILLIAM A. PORTER, 1896003, HQ. DET., 163rd INFANTRY BRIGADE, with one assistant, served hot meals day and night for seventeen days under constant enemy shell fire to the Headquarters personnel and to the constant stream of wounded being evacuated....
"2. The total disregard of personal safety in the performance of their duty calls for the highest praise. Their conduct under fire will ever be a source of pride to all members of the Brigade. They have established a high record for the Brigade by their personal example."

William A. Porter (1894-1952) was born in Liberty, Sullivan County, New York. He was inducted into the U.S. Army in September 1917. In April 1918, he married Josephine "Josie" M. Barger (1896-1938), with whom he had two children. He served in the 163rd Infantry Brigade in Europe from April 1918 to May 1919 as a cook. He was honorably discharged in May 1919. After the war, he moved to Westchester County, New York, where he worked as a carpenter.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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WW I Letters from U.S. Army Cook in France, Great Archive!

WW I Letters from U.S. Army Cook in France, Great Archive!

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