The 102nd Ambulance Company in World War I
“Bridgeport’s Own” Serves in the Yankee Division, 1917–1919
Andrew W. German
McFarland, Jefferson, North Carolina, 2023, 275 pages
Book Review published on: September 5, 2024
The 102nd Ambulance Company in World War I traces the experience of a National Guard company from its formation in Bridgeport, Connecticut, until the men in the company returned as individuals almost two years later. The entrance of the United States into World War I in 1917 came on the heels of the National Defense Act of 1916, which largely provides the legal basis for the National Guard to the present. However, the reforms envisioned by the Act had barely begun to be implemented when the country entered the war.
The 102nd Ambulance Company was part of the 102nd Regiment, 51st Brigade, 26th Division. The 26th Division—the Yankee Division—was comprised of National Guard units from New England—and has a claim to being the first U.S. division in France. Throughout the war, the 102nd Ambulance Company underwent major changes in men and equipment. Experienced men were transferred out while Selectees, increasingly not from New England became more common in its ranks. Death from illness, accidents, and enemy actions also brought change. Despite the turnover, the company retained enough original members to maintain its identity as a Bridgeport company. In this endeavor, the Bridgeport Comfort Club, a local support group of wives, mothers, and girlfriends, played an important role by sending letters, money, food, clothing, and tobacco.
The author, Andrew W. German, was a long-time editor and director of publications at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. His major source was an account written after the war by company member Sgt. Leslie R. Barlow, apparently intended for publication. Barlow was never able to realize that goal, but he did deposit a copy in the Connecticut State Library, where German found it. German also made use of letters and journals kept by other soldiers in the company, stories in local publications, and other sources to provide a deep dive into the thoughts, observations, and experiences of the men. Another rich source he mined were the letters to and from the Bridgeport Comfort Club. The result is well-written and vividly detailed narrative of a National Guard ambulance company in the Great War.
After a brief introduction on the history of military ambulance units and the experience of a predecessor National Guard company during the Mexican Border call up of 1916, German traces the formation, training, deployment, more training, and frontline service of the company. Throughout the book, details such as delayed pay, inadequate uniforms, gaps in food supplies, and other problems underscore the complexity of the American effort. A telling detail involves the actual ambulances the men used. They trained extensively on horse drawn vehicles, deployed with them, but over the winter of 1917-1918, most of the horse drawn equipment was replaced by motorized ambulances. Shortly after the company’s arrival in France, almost all the men volunteered to participate in experiments to allow medical officers to better understand the links between “cooties” and trench fever. Several were chosen and assigned to various roles. Those who got infected usually spent months recuperating, but they did help further military medicine, and throughout the rest of the wartime experience of the American Expeditionary Force, measures to control lice became routine. In France, the men also suffered from chilblains, and most deadly, the Spanish Influenza.
In all, the company spent 193 days on the line, and transported more than twenty thousand sick and wounded, usually under fire. Poison gas near the front was an almost constant danger. In their duties in caring for the wounded, the Ambulance men were assisted by the Red Cross, while the YMCA and Salvation Army, and later the Knights of Columbus and Jewish Welfare Board also became involved. The narrative includes the service of the company after the Armistice, and its eventual return to New England in May 1919. A postscript gives details of some of the men after the war, in which too many died within a year or two of their return, usually due to the effects of gas.
The 102nd Ambulance Company in World War I does not present a strategic view of the war, or even much of a tactical view. Instead, the book is an examination of the war through the eyes of ambulance drivers, stretcher bearers, and dressing station attendants. Readers will learn their opinions of the officers they served under, all of whom were medical doctors and not professional soldiers. Some earned their deep respect and admiration, while others their contempt. Readers will also see their view of France and its people. In contrast to many works from the war, the men of the 103rd maintained a high opinion of the French, both soldiers and civilians. All seemed struck by the beauty of the French countryside, and the charm of its cities and towns away from the battle zones, while also seeing the horror of towns reduced to rubble. The Germans made much less of an impression, for they rarely appear in person, with a few mentioned as prisoners or patients. Instead, the Germans mainly appear as distant faceless persons, lobbing explosive and poison gas artillery shells, and specifically targeting vehicles bearing the red cross.
Works documenting the tactical through strategic aspects of the war abound, with their emphasis on the combat arms; works detailing the more mundane experiences of support troops such as ambulance companies are much less common. For this reason, works such as The 102nd Ambulance Company in World War I are valuable for providing a fuller understanding of the American Expeditionary Force. The U.S. Army began to assume its modern form during the First World War. In this volume, that maturation process can be seen at the lowest levels.
Book Review written by: Barry M. Stentiford, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas