Letters From An American Soldier (Charles MacDermut | My Grandfather ) Who Was Hurt Near Malancourt | France on November 10 | 1918 | the Day Before the Armistice Was Declared
On September 26,1918, Charles MacDermut and his regiment jumped off (set off) from Le Mort Homme to try to capture Malancourt in eastern France. On November 8, 1918 they received orders to advance but only got 1/2 mile. On November 9, 1918 they were able to advance almost 3 miles to the east of Meury. The next day, November 10, 1918, at about 8:30AM, something gave him a wallop in the slats (his ribs) and because of the heavy enemy fire he had to lay there all day until 4:30PM when he could be rescued. He did not understand why the Germans did not kill his whole battilion, as they could have, but later he realized that they had begun to withdraw their guns prior to a retreat. He was taken to a shock ward of a field hospital. In the second letter, dated January 29, 1919, he describes what it was like to recover from his wounds amid a ward of fellow soldiers who were for the most part in worse shape than he was. He did eventually recover, marry and have two children (including my mother) but always had problems related to his wound. He also served in France during World War II. He died in 1954 while undergoing surgery related to his wounded lung.
- 2nd and 3rd pages of a letter (1st page is missing) written from a hospital by Charles MacDermut to his family describing how he was hurt near Malancourt, France on November 10, 1918.
- Photo of Charles MacDermut (1917 or 1918)
- First page of a letter (last page missing) written by Charles MacDermut to his family, describing what it was like to recover from his wounds in a military hospital on January 29. 1919
- Photo of Paul Azan (1874-1951), En Souvenir de l'Iron Battalion 1917. He was Chief of the Information Mission to the USA
CONTRIBUTOR
Anne Pantelich
DATE
1918-11-08 - 1919-01-29
LANGUAGE
eng
ITEMS
1
INSTITUTION
Europeana 1914-1918
PROGRESS
METADATA
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Letter sent by Charles MacDermut to his family after being wounded near Malancourt | France on November 10 | 1918
1 Item
Copy of the 2nd and 3rd page of a letter written by my grandfather, while he was recovering from his wounds, probably December 1918.
Letter sent by Charles MacDermut while he was recovering from his wounds in a hospital in France
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Copy of the first page of a letter (rest of letter missing) dated January 29, 1919, in which my grandfather talks about his experience recovering from his wounds in a hospital in France.
Two photographs - but what was the occasion?
2 Items
Two photographs of a group of soldiers and sailors. December 1919 at Versailles and the Louvre. From the cataloguer: The Versailles Treaty was symbolically signed on 28th June 1919 - five years to the day that Franz Ferdinand had been assassinated. However the Peace Conference did not leave Paris until January 1920 and smaller ones continued to try and sort out the 'new' European and Middle Eastern countries ethnic and 'real' borders. These soldiers and sailors represent some of the countries involved in the decision making. || I'm puzzled by the occasion, in December 1919, which brought together the group of 16 soldiers pictured in the two photographs wearing the uniforms of their different countries. Perhaps the ladies are translators. One picture is taken at Versailles, the other at the Louvre. The photos belonged to my father, Clarence Kenneth Frost, who served in the Royal Engineers and who appears in the photos. At Versailles he is on the right, and at the Louvre he is second from the left. My father has written his name, the location and a date on the reverse side - 12th December (Versailles), 15th December (Louvre). These I assumed were the dates the photos were taken, but the photographer, Ernest Wardavoir of 11 Rue Mathis, Paris 19, has stamped the photos with the earlier date of 9th December. Later my father was stationed in Berlin, living in the Saxonia Hotel, as a clerk in the Fortifications Sub-Commission, presumably involved with German disarmament. He was demobilised in March 1920 as a 2nd Corporal. What could have been happening? Perhaps this group represents the support staff for a conference of senior military personnel taking place in Paris. Most if not all of those present appear to be of junior rank. The group appears to contain several sailors as well as the soldiers.