by Maj. William Carraway
Historian,
Georgia Army National Guard
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| Non-commissioned officers of Company A, 151st MGB. Sergeant Burton is third from the right. Georgia Guard Archives |
October 28, 1918
(Exermont) France
My Dearest Mother,
Well, will drop you another line tonight. I am as well as fine as
can be.
I know no especial news to write only that we are still giving the
Boche no rest and I believe “Daddy” Foch won’t until he has them across the
Rhine and back into Germany.
We received some German propaganda today. I wish that I could send
you one of these. They are real funny. They say come over and be a free boarder
in Germany till after the war. They don’t mention the work nor do they send the
prison camp menu. This is very neglectful of them. The boys had a great laugh
when they read it. It was certainly absurd, to say the least of it. They
consider that we are as the German Soldier, block minded and they treat us as
if they thought we were children. It was great.
Well fall and winter have and are rolling round again. I suppose
the people at home are killing hogs and having fresh meat. Gee! Wouldn’t some
fresh sausage and spare ribs and backbone taste good. We get plenty to eat and
all the time, but some homemade fresh meat would sho go good.
Ed (Sgt. Augustus Edward Williamson) has been recommended for the
Distinguished Service Cross and I hope he gets it for he certainly deserves it.
He is Mess Sergeant now. He has all the feeding to look out for and he does it
in great style. We get lots to eat.
You already know that I have received the box but that the watch
was broken. That was hard luck, but I think that if I ever get to go to Paris I
can have it fixed. I am writing with the pen now and it surely does write good.
I am also smoking one of the cigarettes while I write. The box they came in is
serving as a writing desk so all around the whole outfit came in handy.
I have written you about my girl in Macon. She is the best looking
girl in Georgia, “That’s all they are too it.”
She has asked me several times if I have written you about her. This is
the most serious affair that I have had I think. I think a heap about her. I
also think lots of her. She is certainly a fine girl. I have already told you I
think she was a cousin to Rob and Hiram Nowell.
You know about the seven boys that transferred from old H Co. to
the 151st? Well six of them are non-commissioned officers. 5 Sergeants, 1 corporal, 1 private. That is a
pretty good record, don’t you think?
Tell Frank, Rache and John that I will write them when I have more
time. It takes most all the spare time to write to you and Mary, so when an
opportunity presents itself I will write to them. I know Lois and little Gene
are interesting now. Tell them their Uncle Gober thinks of them heaps ad sends
lots of love and a big hug for each one of them.
I appreciated Ida’s letter a whole lot and will answer it when I
have the time.
Ere you have received this I suppose you will have received the
little slip to send me an Xmas package. It is only three pounds, but it is that
much and it will come in good about Xmas time. You will have to comply with the
directions on it for me to receive it.
I told you in the letter what to send in it I think.
Well mother dear, this will make the third Christmas from home but
I am quite certain that war won’t be the cause if I am away Christmas a year
from now. For the war will finish before then and peace will be in the world.
This is long mother so will ring off for this time. Write me long
letters. I like to receive them.
Your ever devoted son,
Gober
Sgt. R.G. Burton
Co A 151 M. G. Bn[i]
The 151st Machine Gun
Battalion remained in position near the Cote de Chatillon and Exermont through
November 1, 1918 and supported an assault made by the 2nd Division on that day.[ii] Once the 2nd Division’s
assault moved beyond the range of supporting fire from the guns of the 151st
MGB, the battalion was relieved. Transferred to the First Corps, the battalion
began movement towards Sommerance the next day during a pouring rain. The battalion
moved on to Immercourt the next day and forward to front line positions near
St. Piermont, arriving on November 5, 1918. With German resistance rapidly
collapsing, the Americans maintained a rapid pursuit driving north. At one
point, the companies of the 151st found that they had actually advanced ahead
of the infantry units they were assigned to support.[iii]
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| Thelonne, France. Photo by Maj. William Carraway |
On November 7, the
151st reached Thelonne, a small village set among hills just south of the Meuse
River and the important supply hub of Sedan. While in Thelonne, the battalion
was subjected to severe German artillery fire. The next day, Cpl. Charles B
Long of Company B died of wounds. The 28-year-old native of Macon, Ga. was the
last battlefield casualty of the 151st.
The battalion was
relieved from their front-line positions November 8, 1918. On November 11,
1918, the day the armistice went into effect the 151st MGB was on the march
from Grand Armoises to Germont.[iv]
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| Sedan, France as viewed from the final position of the 151st MGB. Photo by Maj. William Carraway |
On November 17, 1918,
Sgt. Burton was availed of the opportunity to write home for the first time
since the armistice.
November 17, 1918
East of the Meuse River
My dearest mother,
Well will write you for the first time since the war
has finished. Can you realize that the war has actually finished? For the first
day or so I could not grasp that we would not have to go back up and fight some
more. I am becoming more convinced each day that it has finished.
Long lines of Frenchmen pass each day and all day long
coming from Germany. Most of them have been prisoners for four long miserable
years. And they tell some horrible tales of those four years.
I have received several letters from you but as we
were in the last fight I could not very well answer them at the time so will
try to do it with this one.
Yes as I have already written you, the box came OK. I
am writing you with the pen now and have not smoked all the cigarettes yet. Ed
and I have both been smoking on them. He is Mess Sgt. of the Co. now and had
room to carry them so we have both been smoking on them. As I have written you
the watch was broken but I think that I will be able to have it fixed. It was
certainly the very thing that I wanted. It is surely a cracker jack.
I am glad that the allotments have begun to come in as
I had about decided to stop it and get it straightened out. It has been changed
to $15 a month. They owe me $60 now, so I suppose you will get $30 and papa the
same amount. Be sure and keep it for now the WAR IS OVER I may be calling on
you and papa for some money. This won’t be until I come back to the States. I
should have some money from the $12 a month allotment that I made June 1917.
You know I will have to have a new outfit when I get home and I certainly do
mean to have good goods. I am going to have at least one tailor made suit. But
at that I won’t have to buy as much as most fellows for I have enough shirts to
last me for some time to come.
I would like to shove my feet under that dining table
and eat some real home cooked food. That would be the life and I think that I
wouldn’t weaken a bit on it.
We will probably have to go into Germany and quiet
down the population so that they can distribute food and the like. But that
won’t last always and Mch 1 will see us in the U.S. if not at home. Just to be
in the U.S. will surely be a relief from war-torn France. Even now, the work of
restoration has started and in 5 years there will be little signs of war for
France is an energetic country and thrifty too. I am real sorry that it could
not be that I could be home for Xmas. But I thank our Heavenly father each night
that he spared me so miraculously through the year of the war. We have only
been over here only a year but we have certainly had some experience, one that
I will ever forget.
Can it really be that we have won the war and that we
won’t have to go up and fight any more? That the Germans won’t shoot us
anymore?
Great have been the celebrations in France since the
Armistice was signed. Frenchmen coming back to their homes and the meeting of
brothers and fathers and mothers and old friends. The Americans were certainly
warmly received in the towns which they liberated. They have liberated many
French towns and many thousands of the inhabitants.
Well mother dear, will close for this time. Am waiting
for a letter from you.
Your ever devoted son,
Gober[v]
Burton
was correct. While the war was indeed over the battalion would soon head into
Germany for occupation duty.
Next
Chapter: The Rhine
[i] Robert
G. Burton to Mrs. R. F. Burton. October 18, 1918
[ii] Peavy,
Arthur and Miller, White, The 151st Machine Gun Battalion 42d (Rainbow)
Division: A Battalion History and Citations of the Rainbow August 13, 1917 to
April 26, 1919. J. W. Burke Co., 1919, 17
[iii] Peavy,
Arthur and Miller, White, The 151st Machine Gun Battalion 42d (Rainbow) Division:
A Battalion History and Citations of the Rainbow August 13, 1917 to April 26,
1919. J. W. Burke Co., 1919, 18
[iv] Peavy,
Arthur and Miller, White, The 151st Machine Gun Battalion 42d (Rainbow)
Division: A Battalion History and Citations of the Rainbow August 13, 1917 to
April 26, 1919. J. W. Burke Co., 1919, 20
[v] Robert G. Burton to Mrs. R. F. Burton. November 17, 1918
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