Sidney D. Light's WWI Diary, Postcards & Letters, 329th Battery Book Accounts

        One of the least heard of, and one of the most necessary departments of the regiment is the detachment of enlisted men who draw, issue, account, repair, and otherwise maintain the Ordnance equipment of the regiment.

        In order to get men for this special work, they picked men from the batteries of the regiment whose former occupation best suited them for the job, and sent them to the Division Ordnance School at Camp Custer. On completion of the course, the men were transferred to the Ordnance Detachment, 329th F. A.

        Out of the little detachment of two non-commissioned officers and two privates, it has grown until before we left Camp Custer it boasted of twelve men; One Ordnance Sergeant, one Sergeant of Ordnance, two Corporals, three privates first class, five privates...

        ...Everything was going along fine, and not casting any reflections on the efficiency of the family. It might be said that during the training at Camp Custer, before the first real field pieces arrived, the greater part of the Ordnance devised and procured places to spend the time between reveille and retreat (except mess time) in quiet and undisturbed slumber, quite unknown to the daily inspectors, who found great delight in seeing and being sure that no one was "stalling on them." It may also be said that the sleep they lost at the front was simply a draft on the reserve they had acquired in the camp back in the good old U.S.A. However, that cannot be altogether relied upon, as Corporal McNulty claimed that he must have more hours of sleep than the ordinary man because he slept more slowly and therefore required more hours of slumber.

        But it was not all sleep for the boys in the Ordnance, and many a meal found them absent from the festive board, and at the warehouse No. 1313 issuing equipment to the men who were always arriving and leaving when Custer was a replacement depot. But now comes the tragedy.  Someone in Washington must have had a grudge against the 329th, so ordered four 3-inch guns (in name only) shipped to us.  They were the most dilapidated pieces of destruction ever devised by man.  It was up to ordnance to fix them up. Many a weary day was spent in repairing and cleaning them up to make them look like something.  Then the batteries began using them for drilling purposes.  You can’t imagine what a bunch of green hands can do to a gun, unless you are on the repair end.  Finally they got used to the old things and got up nerve enough to suggest target practice.  More work—ordnance had to handle all the ammunition.   Well, they took the guns into a field, well behind a hill so that in case the guns did blow up they would not destroy Officers’ Quarters or Officers’ Mess.  Always an ordnance man going to take care of the "duds" and to repair the faulty pieces. It was at target practice that the boys of this regiment got all their muscle—the guns would never return to battery, so the whole gun crew would get on it and push.

        Then came the harness. (Oh, sure, the ordnance men handled that, too.)  It was worse than the guns. It looked as if it had been used in the Battle of Bunker Hill.

        Did they use artillery in that battle? Well, if it wasn’t there, it should have been.

        But at last came the new harness!  It was a joy to behold because, you see, we weren’t used to handling new stuff.  They didn’t have to threaten the supply sergeant to take this stuff, they just grabbed it as if it were a dream.

        Then came the new British "75's"—more work for the Ordnance to put them in condition. But we were glad to do it, because we knew we would not have to baby them along to keep them in good humor so the batteries could enjoy shooting them.

        Do you know anything of army paper work? There is where the Sergeant of Ordnance’s work comes in. It is the most intricate system ever devised for keeping one awake at nights, having to account for every nut, screw or pin ever received. In order to carry all the property on hand in the regiment at one time it takes a large set of books which has to be absolutely correct, because the Ordnance Department is the strictest when it comes to accountability. It is the Ordnance Sergeant’s job to see that everything runs right, from paper work to drawing, issuing and repairing materiel.

        But the big time came when we were to leave Custer to travel abroad for a visit with the French. Had to turn in all our guns, caissons, limbers, old harness, etc. They were shipped to Camp Taylor, an officers’ training school. We think they shipped them there to teach the officers to control their tempers.

        At Camp Mills where everyone is supposed to rest and get equipped, the Ordnance men again had to work overtime drawing equipment. As it was not issued to the batteries, it was up to the ordnance men to pack it and do the marking necessary for overseas shipping.

        The next time we see ordnance is in the little village of Messac, a quaint little old town, full of hard cider and wine. There they again make themselves useful, helping to dispose of the rations and supply their share to the fatigue details.

        The long, long trail to Cöetquidan was an unceremonious affair, the Ordnance hiking alongside of their warrior brothers, but when they hit Camp Cöetquidan and Vinegar Hill, their {rear} work began. They had a horror of being quartered in the same stable, it is told, that Napoleon had his horses in during his great war.

        They surely believed it because the boards that Napoleon’s horse kicked out were still out and the rats were above the ordinary in size and nerve. Half of the Custer freight did not arrive so they had to be re-equipped, also had to take some American equipment away and substitute French.

        Then came the departure to the front. Again they moved with the Supply Cook, and it was a proud outfit that boasted of the Ordnance Detachment being a guest. All was well until a little town called Domgermain was sighted. There the regiment stopped to square themselves with the records. They closed their eyes and turned in everything they could lay their hands on—all that the faithful little ordnance had worked on so hard to supply them with in their training. Again they moved and each move saw them nearer the final test. At Lagney the detachment split, the Ordnance Sergeant with five men going with regimental headquarters and first battalion and the Sergeant of Ordnance with four men going with the second battalion.

        Then came the monotonous work of supplying grease, oils, ammunition, replacement of defective equipment and damaged property. The ammunition was handled by the munitions officer, Second Lieutenant Ward L. Stratton. The scheme of handling the ammunition was simple and effective. Every battery was supposed to have a day and a half’s supply of ammunition on hand. Every day at 3:00 o’clock (in France, fifteen heuers) the batteries would make a report showing the amount of ammunition on hand and the kind. The munition officer would consolidate the report and make a report showing shortage which was taken to the division ordnance officer who, after approving, caused it to be sent to the ammunition dump, where the batteries would draw "ammo" that night. Many a good story could be told about the batteries drawing ammunition and taking it up to the guns under fire, but we will leave that for the batteries to tell.

        After the armistice was signed ordnance moved to Pont-a-Mousson with the regiment, where a good part of the ordnance equipment was taken away. That necessitated the equipment of the regiment anew, for it was thought we would go with the Army of Occupation, but on receiving orders to get ready for home the batteries had to turn in their own equipment, thereby relieving the ordnance of a good, big job.

        With most of the work over the boys are awaiting anxiously for their trip across the deep blue, vowing that if there was ever another war it would not be ordnance work for them if they could help it but, of course, everyone says that about their line of work and if Uncle Sam again called you would see the same ones running for ordnance work.

Ordnance Equipment

   The army of the United States was the best equipped army that fought in the war. The gigantic task of handling the equipment fell largely to the ordnance department. Each unit from a regiment up has a separate ordnance detachment which looks after the ordnance issue.

        Frequent changes in ordnance are necessary owing to variation in mode of operation, but to gain an approximate idea of the expenditure necessary to equip a regiment of standard issues only need be considered.  The fluctuation of prices precludes any possibility of certified costs for all times but a price list taken at random, which appears to be about the average in most respects, quotes the personal equipment for one man at about $28.00.  This includes in the greater part such articles as pistol, steel helmet, mess kit, canteens, pack carriers and first aid packets. To equip a regiment at full strength of about fifteen hundred men would cost $42,000.

        The light Field Artillery regiment is issued 294 single mounts.  Equipment for these animals, including such as saddles, saddle blankets, bridle, spurs, halter and stable blanket, is quoted at $78.80 a piece, totaling $23, 167.20 for the regiment.  For the draft horses, numbering 414, the harness and stable equipment for each pair costs $214.84, making a total cost of $50, 060.

        The necessary fire control instruments, equipped with the finest grade of lenses and requiring expert workmanship in construction represent a big factor in expenditure for equipment.  For operation at a battery commander's station a sissor telescope, an aiming circle or goniometer and other smaller instruments are used, which list at about $1,100.  Six such stations with two additional battalion stations and one regimental station (the latter equipped with a range finder) total a cost of $10,700.

        The greatest item of expense in outfitting a regiment of 75's for action is the guns with their limbers and caissons.  The French 75 mm. which was used by our regiment was adopted for the emergency on account of its superiority in many respects.  The advantages it held were largely due to the exacting methods in its manufacture, which added greatly to its cost, a section being quoted at $11,900.  Each of the six batteries has four sections and four guns, making a total in cost of $285,600.

        The cost of other rolling property such as wagons, kitchens and reel carts is conservatively placed at $23,500.  Carpenter's tools, blacksmith, wagoner and shoemaker's equipment figure about $1, 045.

        It must be remembered that by adding the cost of all these articles that only the cost of one, and the original, issue is known.  The number of replacements necessary depends on the sort of work the organization is doing.   In a strenuous campaign a complete re-issue might be necessary in two weeks, while in a garrison perhaps not until the ordnance styles changed.