En Route to the Train for Camp Wadsworth Lieutenant-Colonel James Eben . Battalion Headquarters, 105th Infantry, near Dickebusch Lake Walker Farm, near Dickebusch Lake General O'Ryan, Major Kincaid and Captain Eddy Prisoners Carrying American Wounded, LeSelle River Regimental Headquarters, August, 1918 292 292 320 320 348 Officers 71st Infantry New York Guard, 1917 71st-105th Infantry Post at Funeral of Corporal Steed 490 520 FOREWORD The facts and statistics herein have been collected with much difficulty. As stated at another place in this book, the old regiment when it left the Armory for five months' service in New York State, took with it its records for several years previous. These records, together with all records of the regiment between the time it left the Armory and when it was broken up at Spartanburg, were sent to Washington and have not been accessible since that time. When this story was started there was no roster of the old regiment in the Armory and no record of the transfers of the officers or enlisted men to other organizations. This history is the direct result of a desire on the part of Colonel J. Hollis Wells to have it written. Colonel Wells, with his usual attitude that nothing is quite good enough for the 71st, has never hesitated to approve the necessary expense. The writer is greatly indebted to Captain (later LieutenantColonel) Stanley Bulkley, Captain Henry Maslin, Captain (later Major) Raymond D. Hodgdon, Lieutenant (later Major) Harry Merz, Lieutenant (later Captain) Charles H. Scott and others, for support, counsel and encouragement in the compiling of this book. Captain Scott particularly has been of the greatest assist ance. We of the 71st are spiritualists. We believe that the old 71st has a spirit a tangible, live factor. That even though the regiment were wiped out of existence, by disbandment or disintegration, the spirit of the 71st, so interwoven with the history of the Country, the State and the City, would still live and have its influence. Destiny has provided that radium shall be so widely distributed that many tons of material must be searched to locate the smallest unit. But the potency of radium is so great that the minutest particle ever has its influence upon its surroundings. When the old 71st infantry was disintegrated in 1917 at Van Cortlandt Park and at Camp Wadsworth, the soul of the old regiment went marching on. Men who during the war were active members of the 71st, by transfer, enlistment or commission served in over 300 different organizations of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. And we of the 71st think of these men and of the destiny that so widely distributed them as provided that the spirit of the old 71st might, at least in a measure, be conveyed to all of these different organizations and become a beneficial influence and collectively a power for the winning of the War. At another place in this volume is a list of the many organizations in the Army, Navy and Marine Corps in which 71st men served. This list is not complete, as the lack of records makes it impossible to compile a complete list. But it is sufficiently complete to indicate the great war work of the 71st New York Infantry and the great varieties of talent possessed by its men. Their work comprises all branches from the Labor Battalion to General Headquarters. And we are proud of them all, from the man who labored with a shovel and pick to the man who led his Regiment or did executive work at Headquarters. |