#27 War – WWI. The War to End all Wars
In the previous post we looked at Drums who served during
the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Of course, it is not revolutionary to
say that there is nothing “civil” about war, even if it is a Civil War; perhaps
ESPECIALLY if it is a Civil War. Wars come in all sizes. Some are “local”, some
“regional”, but at least two of them (some might argue more), so far, have been
“world-wide” and there were Drums serving in both. Once again, however, Helman
had to mostly pluck them from the extended family tree.
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| Harry made this napkin holder as a teenager. |
For instance, for WW1, Helman mentions Abram H. Thomas.[1]
Abram’s father was Abram D. Thomas who, in turn, was the son of Jacob Thomas
and Magdalena Drum Thomas(Abraham,
George, Jacob, Philip). Helman tells us Abram H. Thomas was attached to
the U.S. Aviation Corps serving ten
months in France during WWI. One assumes this means Abram was a pilot although
not necessarily. His length of service implies he was, perhaps, servicing
aircraft, not flying sorties. Fighter pilots had a life expectancy of only
several weeks when flying in combat.[2]
However, whether on the ground or in the air, Abram was
part of a very new aspect of American warfare. American air forces were being built
from scratch. No American aircraft had ever even had a machine gun mounted to
it prior to 1917. Even flight uniforms were unknown to American personnel. [3]
These pilots flew planes that were primitive and unreliable. The pilots
themselves lacked the depth of experience required for success.[4]
However, U.S. participation in, and support of, WWI air warfare was the birth
of the American Air Force that later became so dominant around the world.[5]
In her Drum Genealogy, Laura Helman also mentions the
service of Rudi Harcourt[6].
He joined “The Drum Tree” by marrying Bennette Adele Helman. Her father was
George Helman, Laura Helman’s brother. George’s father was Abraham Helman and
George’s mother was Mary Magdalene Drum(Philip,
George, Jacob, Philip) Helman.
A third such example mentioned by Helman is Sgt. George Dana
Lauderbach[7].
His father was Jonas Lauderbach and his mother was Anna Margaretta Drum(Isaac, Jacob, George, Jacob,
Philip) Lauderbach.
It is good that Helman included the service of these “Drum
Tree” members, but it seems so odd that Helman missed the WW1 service of at
least two members of the Drum’s Family Tree whose name was Drum; Clarence and Elmer.
Clarence Drum(Wallace, Reuben, Jacob, Philip, George, Jacob, Philip) was an Army Sargent with Battalion A, Third Regiment, Pennsylvania Field Artillery. He was born in 1893, making him two years older than Elmer. He died 36 years later, on the 30th of July, 1929. Clarence is buried in the St. John’s Cemetery in St. Johns, PA.
Clarence Drum(Wallace, Reuben, Jacob, Philip, George, Jacob, Philip) was an Army Sargent with Battalion A, Third Regiment, Pennsylvania Field Artillery. He was born in 1893, making him two years older than Elmer. He died 36 years later, on the 30th of July, 1929. Clarence is buried in the St. John’s Cemetery in St. Johns, PA.
Elmer Alonzo Drum(Nathan A.,
John, Philip, George, Jacob, Philip), served as a private. That’s a postcard
to the right, not my grandfather, but it is probably how he felt. In fact,
that’s what he told Ella when he gave it to her. In fact, that’s what the card
says across the bottom: How it Feels,
During a “Hike,” in Full Marching Order, and Wearing Our “Cinderella” Army
Shoes.
This is a photo of my Grandfather.
Elmer Alonzo Drum, was born July 6, 1895 in Drums, PA. According to his Honorable Discharge, when he enlisted he had grey eyes, black hair, stood 5 feet 5½ inches, had a “ruddy” complexion, and was 22 10/12 years of age. His occupation was as a carpenter. He was inducted into the Army on April 30, 1918 at Shickshinny, PA as a Private, 2nd Class, Co. M, 145th Infantry, USA (United States Army ). His service with A.E.F. (American Expeditionary Forces) from June 15, 1918 to March 30, 1919 included fighting in the Meuse - Argonne Offensive and the Flanders Offensive.
He is also in the next photo of the “boys” from the area.
I cannot recall if mom said this photo of “The Boys from
the Area” was taken before they went or after they returned. I’m thinking after
because a number of them are wearing medals. Elmer is right in the middle. A
Sailor, the only one in the photo, is directly behind Elmer. I believe, but I
am not certain, that the sailor is Seaman 2nd Class Patrick
McLaughlin, Naval Reserve Force. If this is Patrick McLaughlin, then the photo was
taken prior to their leaving. McLaughlin enlisted June 5, 1918 and died from Pneumonia
in Hazleton November 5, 1918.[8]
The men of the 37th Division were taken from
Camp Lee in Virginia on June 11 to Hoboken, NJ in preparation for their transit
across the ocean on June 15.[9]
That leaves a rather small window of opportunity, between June 5 – 11, for when
the photo could have been taken in which both Patrick and Elmer could be
present.
I also think, but again I am not certain, that Clarence Drum
is sitting to Elmer’s left (fourth in from the right, wearing the tie.).
Unfortunately, a list of who everyone is in the photo was not kept, probably
because the photo has been hanging on a wall all this time. If Mom had been
given the opportunity to glue it into a scrapbook like most of our pictures and
documents, she would have recorded their identities, proving that there are
pros and cons to everything.
 |
| Elmer’s Discharge obverse |
Under “Wounds received in service”, Elmer's discharge says
“none” but Ella, my grandmother, would always mention that while fighting in
the “Argonne Forest”, her husband, Elmer, had been exposed to Mustard Gas. She always believed
that his Gall Bladder Cancer, the disease that took his life in 1959, was
somehow directly related to this gas exposure. Although there was never any
medical confirmation for her theory, it is true that mustard gas can damage
human DNA placing exposure victims at greater risk for cancer.[10]
 |
| Elmer’s Discharge reverse |
In one of the first letters he sent home, he included the
following list.
These are some of the things we rec’d.
2 uniforms
2 shirts
3 suits underwear
1 overcoat
1 raincoat
1 pair fist mits (sic)
2 pair canvas gloves
5 pair socks
2 pair hobnail shoes
1 pair russet shoes
2 pair leggings
2 towels
1 razor
1 mirror
1 tooth brush
1 hair brush and comb
1 sweater
1 mess kit and cup
3 woolen blankets
2 straw ticks
1 pair overalls and blouse
1 cartridge belt
1 rifle
1 bayonette (sic)
1 shelter tent
That’s about all I can think of.
It’s about all I’d be able to carry and he didn’t even mention
his helmet! He also did not mention his gas mask. One wonders if that was
issued later or if he decided it may be best not to mention the mask in a
letter to his mother.
I used to have that gas mask and the bag it came in, but
when I was still in single digits age-wise I started to go fishing. That gas
mask case made the BEST bag to put my lures and newly caught fish into. I know.
Who knew?
Same thing for his sleeping bag. Man, that was a great
sleeping bag for camping. I took it with me the first year I went to 4-H Camp.
I kept a small stuffed rabbit down in the bag’s toe to help keep me from
getting homesick. As far as I know, none of the other kids ever knew that bunny
was there. Funny thing is that I still have that rabbit. In fact, here he is! Not
so much the sleeping bag or the gas mask and its case. |
| Originally the S.S. Leviathan was named the “ S.S. Vaterland”. This is a postcard of the “ S.S. Vaterland”. It says the ship is the “largest in the world”. Shortly thereafter the name was changed to S.S. Leviathan. |
The 145th Infantry was part of the 37th
Division. Members of this Division trained at Camp Lee in Virginia. On June 11,
1918, they were taken by train to Hoboken, NJ and from there, on June 15, they
boarded the ship S.S. Leviathan and headed for France. A short history[11]
of the Division’s role in the fighting published by the Army reports that
“after fast and safe passage” the ship arrived at Brest, France on June 22 and
the soldiers debarked on June 23. They were given 3 days rest at Pontanezen
Barracks and then loaded onto a train in which they “rattled in box cars” for
eight days until they detrained on June 29 in the Bourmont area (Haute-Marne).[12]
The Infantry was ordered on to Baccarat. There they took
over the trenches on August 4 and experienced their first “training under
fire.”[13]
Relieved on Sept. 16, they were taken by train to Robert-Espagne and on Sept
21, by bus to Recicourt. This was the beginning of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive
and it was the 37th Division’s “lot” to be one of the American
Divisions to start the fight that “contributed so great a part towards the
final victory.” It commenced on Sept. 25 with an artillery barrage that began
at 11:00pm and reached its maximum at 5:30 on the morning of the 26th.[14]
The order “fix bayonets!” was passed down the line of the
wet, tired soldiers. Then the whistle blew and up the ladders and out of the
trenches clambered the men, advancing out into the smoky fog that stung their
eyes and burned their throats[15];
out from Avocourt into the area Elmer and his fellow soldiers knew as
“no-mans-land.”[16]
“No-mans-land” was a section of this offensive’s battlefield
Gen. Hugh Drum (no relation, darn-it), First Army’s Chief of Staff, called “the
most ideal defensive terrain”. Unfortunately, Elmer and his fellow soldiers
were not defending this area, they were trying to take it. A difficult task to
be sure, with heights on the left and heights on the right from which the enemy
could pour weapon fire down on the advancing infantry. It was made that much
more difficult by the weather. As the locals say about the area, “Pas de neige,
toujours la pluie, pluie, pluie” (no snow, always rain, rain, rain).[17]
It was sloppy going that only got worse.
It had started to rain the night of the 26th
and the rain continued for the next five days. It was not long before the
battlefield turned into a sea of knee-deep mud. Making matters worse, the enemy
was putting up severe resistance. Their resistance forced the soldiers to fight
for every foot they gained “through the gas-filled Bois Emont, Bois de Bauge,
and on to the Bois Communial de Cierges.” Having reached that point, they were
relieved on October 1.[18]
 |
| This is a pillow and a handkerchief Elmer sent home to Ella from France. The top half of the pillow depicts a young woman holding a U.S. flag, folding it back to display the words "Forget Me Not". The letters are made out of bullets. On the right stands a Dough boy. Below this image it reads, Dear flag of our country, whose stars and whose bars Call all her sons to defend her. God help us be true to the red, white and blue. Her principles never surrender. A 48 star U.S. flag is displayed on the bottom half of the pillow. The handkerchief is bordered in lace. It is embroidered with flowers and the year 1918. |
It was then on to the Saint-Mihiel sector by bus on
October 2. There they experienced heavy fighting including artillery and
airplane bombardments described as “one of the heaviest bombardments of this barbarous
method of warfare (gas) that the enemy attempted.” [19]
Next it was on to Belgian which was achieved on October 22. From that point
they would launch the now famous Flanders Offensive. Again, they experienced
heavy fighting but made constant advance. Their efforts put the Division across the Escout River by the morning of November 11.[20]
As they continued to fight, the soldiers kept hearing
rumors of peace, and indeed an Armistice had been signed. It provided that “all
hostilities were to cease at eleven o’clock that day” (Nov. 11). However, the
battle continued to be fiercely fought right up to the 11:00 am hour![21]
Then, right at 11:00am, a sudden stillness fell across
the battlefield. It was a stillness that some described as “oppressing.” It
must have been almost un-nerving. A few hours later, one of the soldiers
produced a baseball and a game of catch broke out “where three hours before no
living thing could be exposed.”[22]
When clocks read 11:00am in Europe, it is 6:00am in
Drums, Hazleton and New York City. So, when America awoke, it exploded with
joy! People rushed into the streets of the major cities. Hazleton was the scene
of “wild jubilation”[23].
Famous 5th Avenue in NYC was crammed and the city became a mad
celebration of bands, parades, auto horns, air raid sirens, church bells,
kissing, hugging, laughter, and pure joy.[24]
I imagine Nathan and Mary at least gave each other a hug. We Drums tend to be
subdued.
Among the various pieces of paper and photos Elmer had
saved are two postcards depicting ships. One is the S.S. Leviathan and the
other is labeled as the RMS Aquitania. I can only
assume that the RMS Aquitania was the ship that brought my grandfather home. 
Hanging on our living room wall is that photo
of “the boys from the area” that went to fight in France. Above the photo hangs
Elmer’s WWI helmet and dog-tags.
The helmet has a slight dent in it. No one ever told me
how that dent occurred. I've done a lot of things but at least I know that I didn’t do THAT!
The certificate lower right in the photo is Elmer’s High
School Diploma from Butler Township High School dated April 20, 1911. The large
photo above the diploma is Elmer taken probably in 1924 by Edwin Finstermacher.
When Elmer was discharged April 10, 1919 at
Camp Dix, NJ, Infantry Major George H. Farrell signed the document. Beside
“Character” he wrote “Excellent”.
On July 3, 1919 (almost age 24) Elmer was married to Ella
Nora Santee in the St. John’s German Reformed Church by Rev. W. D. Stoyer.
Shortly thereafter they purchased a farm in
Fritzingertown from Charles Embling. There they had two children, Harry Nathan
Drum on August 4, 1923[25]
and Clara Vera Drum on Sept. 5, 1925.
Elmer died January 24, 1959. He was 63 years old.
Ella died December 18, 1976, seventeen years a widow. She
was 79.
Elmer and Ella are both buried in the St. Johns Cemetery behind the St.
John’s U.C.C.; the same cemetery in which George, Philip II, John, Nathan A.,
and Harry N. and their wives, and many of their children, are buried; each just
a short walk away from the other.
Join us again on July 1, 2019 for the next Drums of
Drums, PA post: And World War II, too,
for some of us.
[1] Helman,
Laura M., History and Genealogy of the Drum Family (Allentown, PA:
Berkemeyer, Keck & Co., 1927), p 26
[3]
Bergs, Christoph, History of the U.S. Air Service in WWI, posted 4/10/2017 http://centenaire.org/en/autour-de-la-grande-guerre/aviation/history-us-air-service-world-war-i
accessed May 4, 2018.
[4]
Harries, Meirion and Susie, The Last Days of Innocence: America at War,
1917-1918 (NY: Random House, 1997) p 47
[5]
Bergs
[7] Helman,
p 16
[8] Officers
and Enlisted Men of the Navy who lost their lives during the World War, from
April 6, 1917 to November 11, 1918, Vol. 2, U.S. Govt. Printing Office, in:
World War; 1914-1918 (Heritage Books, 2007), p 491.
[10]
Palermo, Elizabeth, “What’s Mustard Gas?” Live Science, https://www.livescience.com/39248-what-is-mustard-gas.html
accessed 6/27/2018
[11] Penker,
H. W., Major – H.Q. 37th Div., The Thirty-Seventh’s Bit (USA:
37th Div., 1918)
[12]
Penker, p 2
[13]
Penker, pp 3-4
[14] Penker,
p 6
[16]
Penker, p 6
[17]
Harries, Meirion and Susie, p 349
[18]
Penker, p 7
[19]
Penker, pp 8-9
[20]
Penker, pp 10-15
[21]
Penker, p 14
[22]
Penker, p 14
[23]
Photo caption, Pages From the Past Special Edition, Hazleton
Standard-Speaker, Friday, Sept. 6, 1991, p D 9
[24]
Harries, Meirion and Susie, pp 423-424
