Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "17343226",
    "label": "The Memoirs of Sergeant Verne Chaney",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/17343226"
}

{
    "id": "17343226",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/17343226",
    "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"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/3432/17343226/content/presidential-libraries/truman/648564/hst-vec-naid7453017-01.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/3432/17343226/content/presidential-libraries/truman/648564/hst-vec-naid7453017-01.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/3432/17343226/content/presidential-libraries/truman/648564/hst-vec-naid7453017-01.jpg",
    "imageCount": 49,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/17343226",
    "naId": 17343226,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "logicalDate": "1919-01-01",
            "year": 1919
        }
    ],
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 13,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/3432/17343226/content/presidential-libraries/truman/648564/hst-vec-naid7453017-13.jpg",
    "mediaId": "523629a4f387143b",
    "ocrText": "13\nwe were ordered to move to the front.34 With about 105 horses, firing\nbattery and five American caissons we pulled over a chain of mountains to\nKruth, a small village about eight kilos back from the lines and lying in\ndeep narrow valley. The trip was made at night and full pack, with all men\non foot except chiefs of sections and drivers.35\nArriving in Kruth in the early morning, men dead tired from the all\nnight hike, we had some difficulty in locating a suitable place for our picket\nlines. 36 This was a first sign of incompetancy of our 1st Sgt. as he kept us\nwaiting on the road holding our horses for two hours after locating a place\nfor the horses. Daylight found horses tied to a picket rope, stallions fighting\nalong side mares, harness thrown back of the horses with men flopped near\nthem, most anyway to get a bit of sleep. It was necessary to have a guard\non the stallions to keep them from fighting. So, rather than have some of\nmy men stand guard that had hiked all the way, I stood it myself. Along\nwith the discomfort it had to rain, but the men slept on regardless.\nIt was noon before breakfast was ready, when the men were awakened\nand fed a scanty breakfast, hastily prepared. After breakfast came the work\nof grooming, feeding and watering of the horses. After which a suitable\nTRUMAN,\nspot was found to pitch pup tents. Then came a good nights sleep. It was\nARCHIVES & \"NATIONAL RECORDS ADMIN\ns CONTRACTED\n34\nThe editor has been unable to locate this town or village. Saulxures fits the description, and locality.\nRecords of the 60th Artillery Brigade show the brigade had rested in Saulxures before moving into the line.\n35\nThe Vosges Mountains are a chain of big hills running roughly North-South in Alsace Province.\nKruth, as can be noted from the spelling, was not always a French town. A battery is usually four artillery pieces,\noccasionally six pieces, ammunition caissons, water tank, kitchen and other supporting elements. The AEF with\nwas almost totally supplied with artillery by the French. There was less than one hundred American made\nartillery pieces in France. The fact that the his battery had American caissons was unusual, but handy. An\nAmerican caisson carried one hundred rounds to the French caisson's eighty. A section is one gun and support\nstructure. The limber driver and a driver on each left horse and the sergeant in charge of the gun (section chief)\ncould ride.\n36\nKruth became the command post of the 35th Division during the period it was in the Vosges sector.\nPicket lines are ropes staked to the ground, strung between trees or posts and to which the mules or horses are\ntied to."
}