Service Number 2155518
Unit Casual Detachment #540, 163rd Depot Brigade
Enlistment January 15, 1918
Discharge May 24, 1919
Buried Westside Cemetery, Westside, Iowa

Gustav's brother Henry Phillip Jessen - Cook, 2nd Company, 163rd Depot Brigade (November 13, 1888 - January 1, 1960

Corporal Gustav A. Jessen, France
From the West Side Journal we have copied the following letter written by Gustav Jessen of that vicinity. Corporal Jessen gives a most vivid account of the last terrific battle in which he took part, and we feel sure our many readers will be interested in his account of it.

Chassigny, France, November, 1918.
MY Dear Friend. Max:
Just a line to let you know that I am still in the land of the living, although my chances were mighty slim at times. Our division was in the big drive near Verdun. We relieved a tired division just after the Argonne Forest had been cleared and took up the work of driving the huns. Believe me, war is all that Sherman said it was. I saw all the hell in that advance that I care to see, but would go through it again if "Fritze" or "Jerry" hadn't laid down. Dodging in a shell hole, half filled with water, lying low on account of heavy machine gun fire, or going through a barrage is no joke, but at that it is great sport, as one never thinks of the danger.

The first day we were caught in our own barrage, likewise "Jerry's", which fell on us a few minutes later. We had to retreat but won it back a few hours later in a counter attack. After that nothing stopped us until another division relieved us. We were out of the lines a few days when the firing ceased on the 11th of November, as you have heard long before this. I bet the people went wild in the good old U.S.A. when the news first came.

That drive that I tried to describe in only a mild way cannot be realized only by a soldier of action. The whine of shells, the bursting of shrapnel, the hum of machine gun bullets, the awful positions the dead are in, an arm here and a leg there, and something else over there. Picture that in your own mind if you can and you will have a faint idea of what war is like.

The huns sure lived up to their name, for they would stick to their machine guns until we were upon them, then would raise their hands and shout "Kamerad," but our company didn't take many prisoners although many were taken in the drive. I don't know how it is that escaped without a scratch, but I guess God had his way about it.

Our Uncle Sam sure used us fine since leaving the lines. He gave us an eight day furlough which we spent in LaBourboule, a summer resort in peace times, but now used for the amusement of soldiers who have gone over the top. It certainly is the sunny part of France and the mountains in a distance made it all the more beautiful. Swell hotels and a large Y.M.C.A. casino made things quite lively for us. Believe me it was some treat to sleep in a real bed and to push your feet under a table.

We rejoined our re-filled company at this place, and since then have been drilling, etc. to get the men in shape once more. According to rumors, we may see Germany, but I'd sooner see the states now. We may sail soon, no one knows, but my choice would be the U.S.A., as I would like to flirt with the Statue of Liberty once more. Wow! What a grand and glorious feeling to walk down Broadway stewed to the eyebrows just once more.

Well, Max just a few more lines. I saw in the Journal your family had the flu, and hope they got over it nicely.

Thanks to old "Happy" for sending the Journal; that old scout don't forget his friends. I will surely remember him when I return. Well, Max, zee old pencil pusher, remember me to all my friends and don't forget Happy.

I close, wishing you all the best of luck. From your friend and faithful reader.
Corporal Gustav A. Jessen, Company M, 325th Infantry,
A.E.F., France.

Gustav A. Jessen, who was employed in the H.F. Brown store a few years ago, died at Westside September 13, 1924, after an illness which developed during the war and ended in a diseased liver.
He was born December 13, 1895, to Dr. Balzer Tychsen and Anna L. (Doppenschmidt) Jessen.

He went in service January 15, 1918. After spending a few weeks in Camp Dodge, Iowa, and Camp Gordon, Georgia, his company was sent to New York where they embarked for France. He was in some of the hardest battles of the great struggle, being twenty-one days in the front lines. He was mustered out May 29, 1919.

He was a traveling salesman and remained in Omaha until two months ago when he was forced to give up his work, so the family returned to Westside, the former home of Mrs. Jessen. His wife and two daughters survive.