Oliver James Emmons
Son of Albert Sampson & Anna May (Wilson) Emmons
Born August 7, 1894, in Manning
Last known residence Omaha, Nebraska 1945
Departure Brest, France
Arrival July 28, 1919, at New York, New York, on the Radnor (ID-3023)
Home address 5833 Lake Street Residence, Omaha, Nebraska
Unit Company C, 7th Regiment, U.S. Engineers
May 8, 1919 Manning Monitor
LIEUTENANT O.J. EMMONS
Below we print portions of a letter received by our former townsman, Chandler A.
Emmons, now of Fort Dodge, Iowa, from his grandson, Second Lieutenant, Oliver J.
Emmons, who enlisted at Omaha in August 1917, and who is now with the Army of
Occupation in Germany, serving in Company C. 7th U.S. Engineers Rumelangl, Luxemburg, February 24, 1919.
Dear Grandfather:
I hope the shock due to receiving a letter from me does not seriously affect
your health, for I am like most of the Emmons family as regards letter writing,
100 percent minus. Hope this finds you and grandmother in the best of health
and that the flu did not bother you. I went through six months action on the
line and got shot only once and after it was all over got the flu. Don't see
how I ever got through it all as lucky as I did. Sometimes I have been so close
to hell, I could see and feel the heat. We went over as infantry in the Bois de Roppe. We had to advance over one hill about
three-fourths of a mile. We got to the top of the first hill and were going down the forward slope when the Boch opened on us.
All you could hear was a long whistle, then a bang, and on looking around one
could see one or more of the boys lying on the ground looking as if they had gone
through a threshing machine. We got to our objective
and took our positions on the line and it sure was smoky. There is where I got
my soldier straps. There were 3 machine guns playing on our troops. They called
for some one to go and get them. I had a hunch that I was the one who "was
the one who should be the goat or corpse and so I volunteered." I took 6
men with me and started. We advanced quite a ways under cover of a strip of
woods and were trying to locate them when they opened fire on us from 3 different
directions. Believe me when I say I hugged the ground. One bullet hit the tree
in front of my nose, and I moved out of that place. We moved to another place
and in doing so stumbled into a dug-out. Out of that we got three boches and in a few minutes had 16 more, 19 in all, and we
shot 2 and destroyed 3 machine gun nests. (Lieutenant Emmons was a First
Sergeant at the time of all the incidents herein recounted.)
"Another time I was sent with 3 men out on a night
patrol. We got across "No Man's Land to river that we were to reconnoiter,
and ran into a Boche control of 10 men. We withdrew
before they saw us and were lucky in so doing as they had the ground covered by
machine guns. Later in the night, I was sent over the same ground on a daylight
patrol. They told me there were no Germans there but I knew better as I had
seen them, so I took only one corporal with me for I figured that if we were
discovered, two had a better chance to get away than more and if we were
killed, I would be to blame for but one death. We had to cross a flat about
one-half mile wide before we hit their lines. About half way across we saw the
first Boches and when we got to the river there were
about 50 on the other side about 100 yards distant. We knew then we were goners
unless we could bluff the "Heinies". The
Roches waved a white flag and acted as if they wanted to talk. Of course, I
couldn't parlez German but I made signs to them and
made them understand that I wanted to come across. I got a long pole and began
testing the river as if I was looking for a shallow place to cross. In that way
we worked our way back up the river until we were out of direct range and I
then got back to our own lines. Two days later I got my commission. The
corporal swore he would never again go on a patrol with me. He said I didn't care enough for my life."
Well, Granddad, I have told enough of tales of war for once.
I'll tell you more when I get to talk with you.
Your affectionate, Grandson "JIM"