Heaven, Hell, or Hoboken: Third in a Series
This can't be just another soldier: either he was the first casualty to be brought home, or someone of very high rank. With 48,909 American casualties, there couldn't have been enough bands to escort them all from the pier to the train station for the last leg of their journey home, and each one wouldn't have gotten a big flag-draped hearse, or a photographer to record the event for posterity. And look at the people crowded into doorways and windows to watch. They wouldn't have been doing that for just anybody, even if he did make the ultimate sacrifice for his country.
Unfortunately, there is no information with this photo, at least not on the monument itself.
More than three million American soldiers fought in "The War to End All Wars;" the Veterans Administration estimates there are fewer than 5,000 still with us today.
One doughboy, Private Clair M. Pfennig of Bristol, Connecticut, kept a diary during the war, and author Anthony Finan turned it into a book, All for Heaven, Hell, or Hoboken. I haven't read it yet; just found out about it today by doing a Google search on the phrase "Heaven, Hell, or Hoboken."
Here's an excerpt:
"Reached Barracks with baggage at 3:30 A.M. Turned in at night on floor. Better than box cars. had little sleep, eat breakfast and visited the French village. All of stone -- manure piles in street. You judge the hospitality and money of a place by the size of the manure pile. Took shoes off first time in four days and washed hands and face. Not able to take bath or wash any thing. Feeling good but tired. Barracks used before by 165th Infantry of Rain Bow Division on arrival.
Gen Pershing Passed in auto at retreat."
posted by Janet Dagley Dagley @6:54 PM
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11.3.03 |
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