by Captain William Carraway
Historian, Georgia Army National Guard
By May, the grim reality of trench
warfare had set in for the men of the 151st Machine Gun Battalion. In the two
and a half months the 151st spent occupying the relatively quiet Baccarat
sector they were exposed to regular direct and indirect fire as well as gas
attacks and probing actions. Life in the trenches was unsanitary, boring and
terrifying.
Letters from home provided the only
relief from the dull routine and tense waiting while reminding the Soldiers
that a world existed outside the scarred landscape of France. Corporal Robert
Gober Burton’s aunt Mary Eulalia Gober wrote frequently to him and the other
Soldiers in the 151st from Monroe, Ga. One of the Monroe Soldiers, Sgt. Tom
Hensler, wrote back:
In the Trenches
 |
| Gas-proof shelters for dressing stations, near Badonviller, Baccarat Sector, April 29, 1918. Photo from The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War, 1925. |
April 28, 1918
Mrs. W. H. Nunnally
Monroe, Ga,
My very dear Mrs. Nunnally
Received your card yesterday and was
glad to know that there was still one in my old home town that hadn’t
forgotten me altogether.
