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{
    "localId": "17343226",
    "label": "The Memoirs of Sergeant Verne Chaney",
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{
    "id": "17343226",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "The Memoirs of Sergeant Verne Chaney",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/17343226",
    "collections": [
        "Verne E. Chaney Papers",
        "Subject Files"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972",
        "Spina, Frank E., 1887-1972",
        "Klemm, Karl D., 1880-",
        "Wooldridge, Glenwood F., 1893-1977",
        "Pershing, John J. (John Joseph), 1860-1948",
        "Thacher, John H., 1872-1960",
        "Miles, John L., 1878-1961",
        "Soldiers",
        "World War, 1914-1918",
        "Artillery"
    ],
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            "logicalDate": "1919-01-01",
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    "seq": 9,
    "pageIndex": 0,
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    "ocrText": "9\nplenty of escorts as small fishing boats and destroyers hovered around us all\nnight.\nIt was one miserable night, as we were forbidden to go below deck\nand it soon turned cold once we cleared of the shore. Men began to unroll\ntheir rolls and make their bunks any where they found room enough to\nstretch out. For my part I curled up around the smoke stack and rested my\nweary bones on an iron grating about six feet above the deck, which served\nas an opening to the engine room. Well! It was a case of roast on one side\nand freeze on the other, and believe me I wasn't much black by morning,\nbut at that it was better than standing up.\nAt daybreak we found ourselves in La Harve.22 We hiked at once to\na\nrest camp, which we named Cinder Camp. This camp is made entirely of\ncinders and was the dirtiest clean place we have ever been in. We had\nEnglish rations again with an occasional \"cup o'ta\" to go with our cheese.\nHere we came on contact with many British troops who had been at the\nfront. From all appearances the moral of the British troops were very low.\nThey told us we didn't know what we were going up against, well! we didn't\nthink we were going to a banquet.23\nAfter a few days in camp all the non-coms were given a pass to visit\nLa Harve. We went in a bunch and had a very good time winding up with a\nTRUMAN,\nbig dinner at a hotel. Lt. Younger was the officer in charge, and we\nEs ARCRIVES& RECORDS NATIONAL ADMIN.\nGOVERNMEN\n22\nGeneral Pershing selected ports providing easy access to the American sector. This was done to\npreclude tieing up of the roads, docks and railroads in the French and British sectors. Troops coming from\nEngland would disembark at La Harve after a short trip. This avoided the longer exposure to submarines that\na trip to the American sector ports would entail.\n23\nThe British Expeditionary Force (BEF) had been fighting a dead end war since 1914. The British\nTommy had been fighting some of the most murderous battles he had ever been engaged in. The battle of the\nSomme had cost the British 60,000 casualties on the first day alone. When the battle finally trailed off, the\ncasualty list was over 500,000. The Tommy had every reason to be dispirited. Nevertheless, he was a skillful,\nresourceful, tough and stubborn fighter."
}