Dental Department; Medical Detachment
Dental Department
In personnel the Dental Department was the smallest individual unit in the regiment. The number of its members fluctuated according to the demand and treatment. It became so small that at times, especially in travel, it was swallowed up and forgotten, but always when a stop was made it came to life and was ready to take care of any toothaches that may have developed in the trip.
When the regiment was organized Captain Clarence Paul Lendgrebe was summoned to duty as head of the Dental Department. During the first few weeks when examining recruits was the business of the hour, he was assisted by an added personnel of one officer and two enlisted men. After the first two big drafts he was left alone to handle the department through the winter.
The main duty of the Dental Department seemed to be treating men preparatory to their transfer to some other regiment, until only a few weeks before we sailed for France. As soon as a good bunch of men were broken in they were taken away from us and sent to some other camp and all there had to have good teeth before they could be transferred. So it was the Doc’s labor lost until we got the last draft. With a trip to the fighting line imminent the department was again increased, this time by two commissioned officers and two enlisted men. No change too k place in the personnel after that until we were ready to go into action.
At Camp Cöetquidan transfers were ordered that left Captain Landgrebe and Private—alone to take care of the regiment’s teeth. Until we reached Le Mans there were no further changes, but here we lost the Dental Department altogether.
On the transport and at every single stop of twenty-four hours or more there was a dentist’s office opened up. Sometimes it was by necessity a crude affair, as at Messac, when the office was of the portable type and could go into action anywhere a tooth ached. At one stage of the game the portable chair broke down and a big fallen log was used instead, the patient lying down full length while being treated. The task of pulling a tooth required only a pair of forceps and a little antiseptic sometimes.
While the batteries were preparing their positions at front, making ready to enter the battle in earnest, the Dental Department was on the job of converting an old German dugout into a sanitary dentist’s office. Conveniences were none to many and treatment was given under difficulty, but in a way a record was established because here the Dental Department began to enlarge its field of operation.
A line-up of soldiers at a dentist’s office would nearly approach the impossible to conceive but that did actually happen at the front. One night a chap from the trenches came back to the battery positions and asked for a dentist, explaining that he had been suffering greatly with a toothache. He was directed to our dental infirmary and was treated by Captain Landgrebe. The next night as soon as darkness fell the command halt was heard outside the dental dugout. The doughboys, guided by their companion who had visited us the night before, had come in force to see the dentist. They were all treated but the next morning the department explained that a shell had blown down their "Dental Infirmary" sign during the night.
The expansion policy was continued after the armistice also. We had moved into Pont-a-Mousson and an office had been established. French troopers who belong to outfits not so fortunate as ours in having a Dental Department, were never turned down when they needed treatment. Russian soldiers away from their organization were also treated and even the German prisoners were taken care of. When the civilian population came back to Pont-a-Mousson they failed to bring their dentist with them, and it was no uncommon affair for them to drop in on Captain Landgrebe.
Records of the department show that approximately three hundred cases from the regiment were treated each month. After the first round of extractions back in Custer that form of operation was not common.
The Dental Department came through the whole affair with only one serious accident.
We will enter that under the head of "Lost in Action." The Captain had just availed himself of a new supply of choice towels when the armistice was signed. In moving from the positions to Pont-a-Mousson someone coming into contact with our baggage train evidently thought that towels were not necessary artillery equipment. The worst part of it was that on such short notice and if the Medical Department proper hadn’t opened up its heart and towel supply we might have seen an order like this: "All men reporting to the Dental Infirmary for treatment will be equipped with a clean towel." And who ever heard of a supply sergeant that had towels on hand?
Medical Detachment
Shortly after the United States declared war against the militarism of the German government, medical training camps were established at some of the permanent army posts scattered throughout the United Sates. One of these camps was located at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana (being a short distance from Indianapolis, the state capital). Doctors of the Medical Reserve Corps of almost every state within a radius of 750 miles were assembled here, together with several thousand men of the Medical Corps, Regular Army, from the various recruiting depots such as Jefferson Barracks, Mo., Columbus Barracks, O., and Ft. Thomas, Ky. It was here that the detachment, Medical Department, No. 12, Artillery Section, was organized per telegraphic orders from the War Department, dated August 23, 1917, which also directed us to proceed to Camp Custer, Michigan, located near Battle Creek....
...We left Fort Benjamin Harrison, Ind., in the early morning of August 27, 1917, and arrived at our new location in the evening of the same day. Camp Custer was located on and among the sand hills which border the Kalamazoo River, so naturally our first impression on getting off the train was the depth of the sand and the enormous mounds of it. From the train we marched with full pack along a road which was merely a path through a corn field, up a giant hill which only served to increase our respect for the dimensionous Michigan sand mounds both in height and depth, to our first view of Camp Custer.
The first impression was that of seeing an enormous lumber yard, with sheds here and there in the course of construction. There were no roads, only dusty lanes between piles of building and waste material. To one side was a building with many partitioned or "stalled" windows where we were told the workmen (of which there were several thousand) checked in and out each day and received their wages. The most peculiar thing was the army post with the absence of soldiers. Besides those who came on the same train with us there were only a few in uniform here and there (from a Michigan National Guard Infantry Regiment) doing guard duty.
Passing through all this confusion we came to a series of skeleton and half-constructed buildings. Just beyond this were a few buildings which the workmen had just completed. In one of these the Y. M. C. A. had improvised a reading and writing room. One nearby was destined to be our home for a few days, which we spent quietly doing nothing.
On August 31, 1917, we were informed that the Detachment Medical Department No. 12 was attached to the 329th Field Artillery for duty. The 329th Field Artillery was then a myth as far as fighting power was concerned, for it was only a "paper regiment" with no combatant troops. About September 4, 1917, the first of the men called to the colors through the selective service act arrived at camp. During the next few days more followed, until the first quote was filled. All through our intensive training season at Fort Benjamin Harrison we were wondering what important role we were to play in counter balance to the long hours we had spent in study. We were soon to know and our initiation was in the examination barracks. Each man coming to camp must be given a thorough physical examination. This, together with the medical attention of the men and the administration of the famous triple typhoid vaccine and smallpox vaccination, comprised our varied duties... {twelve new men arrive for Med. D}
...The gradual increase in the number of men in camp as different quotas were called and accepted soon called for more room and as the barracks for the Artillery Brigade were about completed, we left the Infantry section and took our place in our own barracks where we remained until we left for the port of embarkation. As the men became acclimated to their work and surroundings, less sickness was prevalent in the regiment and less men were accordingly needed to carry on the medical duties....{fifteen men transferred from Med. D}
...Then began the famous battle of steam pipes, ending, to our joy (?) July 16, 1918. What wonderful, terrible days! How we hated and cherished them! Electric lights and steam heat; water, hot, cold or indifferent. Showers, inside, if you please. Passes twice a week with Wednesday and Saturday afternoons off duty as well as Sunday. Commissary and canteen near at hand. Real homelike feeds at Battle Creek with now and then a short leave to skip home. How terrible the hardships of those days compared with the sunshine of France! Compared with the all hours outdoor "shower" of the A. E. F. And the invisible candle gleam of the front. This was the quiet battle but one not soon to be forgotten.
Our time from this period until our departure from camp was a mixture of our regular medical duties such as care of the sick, sanitation inspections, physical examinations, etc., together with various periods of intensive school studies. These included hygiene, sanitation, first aid, anatomy, physiology, pharmacy, therapeutics and dietetics. When the weather permitted these classes were interspersed with outdoor instructions such as foot drill, litter drill and field maneuvers...
...The next few months were spent mostly in school. Besides our regular detachment school, composed of subjects involving our medical duties, we had gas school, packers’ school, physical training school and officers’ school. School days did not seem half as bad as they sounded, especially when the snow was several feet deep and the mercury cramped itself around zero. As it gradually grew warmer with the coming of spring, outdoor activities seemed to predominate and we once more heard the shouted commands of litters left, right by four, on right into line, fall in with shovels and rake, etc., together with athletic games and contests to liven the scene. Mounted reviews also seemed to gain favor and accordingly mounted drill was given both for work and for pleasure. But the pleasure was not grooming.
.....July 16, 1918, found us on our way.....Camp Mills was a city of tents. We thought the sand storms at Camp Custer were bad enough, but the dust storms here were even worse. Then came more inspections. For a while it looked as if there was a race between take away, turn in, re-draw and re-issue....But at last, with the calling in of the old favorite service hat and the issue of the new regulation overseas cap and spiral putties, the equipment and supply situation was again settled. Some fine looking regiment we had the following morning. It usually takes three weeks to learn how to wrap a spiral puttie and at least one week to master the intricate balance of the overseas cap. So you can imagine how we looked with only one night’s practice.
Daily inspections of the regiment were made so the medics were not without work. The open system of baths and open pits for waste water made sanitary inspections more necessary and the constant abuse, by civilians and soldiers, of other outfits of course, of the baths and wash sheds made a medical guard a necessity....
...On July 30th, 1918, the regiment embarked for overseas and sailed the following morning. The ship was a New Zealand transport and was called the Maunganui. Excitement was high until we struck some heavy seas and then hope ebbed. There was no lack of food. Everyone seemed to be giving up their lunch, but order soon presided and the rest of the journey was spent in fine weather. Even though it was summer it was quite cool for we traveled the northern route. Eleven days after we left Hoboken we arrived at Liverpool, via the northern coast of Ireland...
....we arrived [at the rest camp near Le Havre]. It would be well to describe rest camp so as not to confuse it with vacation. A rest camp is a bunkless locality where you march between 5 and 10 miles to get two cups of "wash," blind robin, cheese and war bread, sleep over night on the soft side of a board and then duplicate the hike the next day. The next day we hiked to the railroad station and embarked รก la box car for Messac, a small town in France...
...We remained at Messac about a week, when we started on a hike of thirty-two kilometers (which was accomplished in two days) to Camp Cöetquidan, an artillery training camp. This camp was said to have been used by Napoleon and certainly gave evidence of its antiquity. But hopes and prices soared everywhere we went, as each move meant one step nearer to active combat and one less chance for the mercantile population. Camp Hospital No. 15 was located at this place and a detail of helpers was soon requisitioned from our organization. Here they helped with all manner of cases from acute diseases to convalescents from the front. The detail remained here until the brigade had finished their training and was ready to proceed to the front....
...Our detachment was divided into three parts from this time until the armistice was signed. We detrained and went into billets near Rimaucourt. The headquarters section was located at Orquevaux, the first battalion at Manois and the second battalion at Humberville. We remained here a few days and then proceeded to Domgermain, near Toul, where an advance ordnance dump was located, and turned in all surplus equipment. From this place we proceeded on foot to the active front via Toul, Lagney and Essey. The night before the battalions went into firing positions we stopped in the Bois de Mort Mare, arriving there just before midnight. The woods were dark and a light rain was falling but invisibility was necessary, so by morning all animals, wagons, guns, etc., were well hidden beneath the trees or covered with brush. The following night the regiment went into position. Regimental headquarters were established at Bouillionville, the first battalion near Thiaucourt and the second battalion near Beney, the Medical personnel for the above-named units establishing stations at the same places. We remained in these districts until after the armistice.....on November 13th we hiked to Pont-a-Mousson....the remainder of our time...passed in rest and training.
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