Document text
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Forms to be /iMed out for Each Interview
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
STATE New York City
NAME OF WORKER
FORMA
Circumstances of Interview
Levi C. Hubert
ADDRESS 353 West 118th St. Manhattan.
DATE November 28, 1938
SMUT III DID M y BIT FOR DEMOCRACY, --ANDREW JOHNSON
War experiences.
1. Date and time 07 interview
Afternoon of November 20, 1938
2. Place of interview
465 Carlton Avenue, Brooklyn
3. Name and address of informant
Andrew Johnson
405 Carlton Ave. Brooklyn
4. Name and address or person, if any, who put you in
touch with informant.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accowpanying you
5. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
A sitting room -bedroom kitchenette apartment in a three-story,
frame house on a street halfway between Atlantic Ave. and Fulton
St. War mementoes...a shell case, a gas makk, a helmet, a
Company picture taken at Camp Meade, Md. of Co. G. 368th Infantry
regiment...
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, for any of the forms, each
bearing the proper heading and.tha naliber to which the material refers.)
STATE
FORM C
Text of Interview (Unedited)
New York City
NAME OF WORKER Levi C. Hubert
ADDRESS 353 West 118th St. Nan.
DATE November 28, 1938
SUBJECT °I DID MY BIT FOR DEMOCRACY" --ANDREW JOHNSON.
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
The news came that every male between the ages pf 21-31 was
to go to one of the numerous Local Draft Boards set up in every part
of the country.
I registered with the Local Draft Board, Swarthmore, Pa.
on June 5, 1917 and was given a card with the number 1493. If this
number were drawn out of a large glass bowl in the Quarterz.master
General's Office in Washington, then I was told to report back to the
L. D. B. This was the beginning of nearly a year -long period of
reporting to one place or another, both in American and France.
All Sumer long I anxiously scanned the daily papers for
the list of numbers as published by the War Department. In September
I accepted a teaching job in Virginia, but had been there hardly a
month when 1493 appegred, so back I came to report to the Local
Draft Board and claimed exemption because I was the sole support
of my aged widowed mother and two sisters and a brother. Then, too,
all teachers were supposed to be exempt from military service.
But my claims for exemption were denied. I found out later,
that the chairman of the Local Draft Board, a coal yard operator
named Green, had summarily placed my name on the list of men to
go to war because he had exhausted the exemptions allowed mad was
compelled to fill out the quota.
A special train came through one day in October and I said
good-bye to my family and climbed aboard, with eight. other colored
man from my town. Every town the train passed through contributed
its quota of young men, so that when we reached Admiral, Maryland,
the train was crowded with wildly cheering, excited heroes -to -be.
Alighting from the train, we were told to line up andflllow
several military -appearing men. The contingent, composed of men
dressed in old clothes and carrying suitcases, straggled up the road
several. miles until we came to a cantonment called Meade, named
after a Civil War general.
Here we were lined up again, told to file into a large
mess hall where we found that the Army ate other vegetables besides
beans. After mess we lined up again for medical inspection, then
marched off to a supply station and issued Amy uniforms and equip-
ment. Dress Shoes and heavy bob -nailed field shoes, an O. D. tunic,
shirt, trousers, underwear, socks, a necktie, handkerchiefs, towels
and soap. Also two tightly rolled bindles of wool called spiral
puttees. This last almost made me quit the Army.
We marched back to some dormatories and were assigned a
cot, blankets, and told to report to the parade grounds after changing
into uniform.
The building I was in had about 25o men', and each one of
them was struggling with tunics with too -tight collars, or complaining
about too -large shoes, hardly any one had been lucky enough to get
a perfect fit. But every one was troubled. by the; spiral puttees.
How to get what looked like a roll of O. D. bandage wrapped around
one's legl That was the question.
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While we were engaged in typing, lading, and buttoning
these strange garments which go to make up a U. S. Army uniform, an
'orderly told us to fall in at the parade grounds. We did. And such
a sight. Imagine a thousand men, unused to Army life, gathered
eogether on a parade ground and told to stand at attention when coat..
collars were threatening to choke half of them into insensibility
and the other half were entangled in spiral puttees improperly
wrapped.
A group of 60 Negro officers stood to one side, each one of
whoa stood erect in freshly -pressed serge uniforms, Sam Browne belt
shining to match leather boots.
One officer advanced toward us several paces and read from
a paper. ."General Order. You men will comprise the 368th Infantry
Regiment of the Ninety -Second Division, U. S. National Army, composed
of drafted men from Eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.
You will now enter upon a training period which will fit you for
duty overseas."
So In October, 1917, the 368th was formed and I stayed with
that outfit throughout the war. The men in my barracks became Company
"0" of the 368th, and we had three second lieutenants, three first
lieutenants and our company Commander was Captain Queen.
Captain Queen sent for me the next day, the orderly who
gave ma the order told me to report to company headquarters. Ale
I came up the walk, I passed an armed guard standing in front of a
large flag, and he brought his gun to the ready and asked,
"Hey, buddy, where's your manners? Don't you know better'n
walk past the colors without saluting?"
He patted his gun suggestively so I turned toward the colors,
as he called it, and gave the only salute I knew, a Boy Scout salute
learned as a child.
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The guard looked at me rather disgustedly, and commented,
"You're in the army now and we'll make a soldier out of you yet."
I reported at the door and was sent to Captain Queen.
"You wanted to see me? I inquired. The captain cut in on
me "Soldier. When you are told to report to an officer, always
salute until recognized, saying "Corporal Johnson reporting, sir."
then stand at attention."
"Yes sir."
"I see by your draft board that you can use a typewriter.
I'm making you a company clerk, with rank of corporal. YOu'll
report to Lieut. Hinkson, in charge of headquarters platoon*. Dismiss."
I managed a credible salute, turned on. my heel and marched
out. In the Army one day and already a corporal. I went over to the
supply sergeant, drew my chevrons, and walked over to the barracks
where I commenced sewing them on. Then, feeling very proud of my
new rank, reported to he platoon.
This time I had everything right. I saluted as I passed
the colors, had a soldier point out Lieut. Hinkson, walked over to
hims.saluted and said, "Corporal Johnson reporting for duty as
ordered by Captain Queen, sir."
The Lieutenant gravely returned my salute, glanced at my
sleeve and said "Corporal, "You're dhevrons are quite new", he said.
I answered proudly, "Yes sir, Lieutenant."
"Well, they're sewn on upside down," he snapped, "Go to
the company tailor and have them adjusted properly."
We drilled in the morning and had our afternoons free. But
we were told to watch the bulletin board for special orders from
regimental headquarters. But as there were always plenty of officers
down there and we were required to salute eadh one we met, we stayed
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near our barricks or in the recreation hall.
One day, about three o'clock in the afternoon, nearly the
entire company was watching a ball game when someone shouted "Tenthun."
In the Army When an officer came around enlisted men, the first person
to observe the officer called out "Tenshun," and we stood at attention
until the officer said "At ease" or departed.
W. looked around and saw Captain Queen striding toward us.
"Why aren't you men on the parade ground?"
We looked around at each other, startled by the question.
Nobody answered.
"Didn't you see the notice for regimental review and parade
posted on the bulletin board?"
One brash fellow spoke up. "I was down there this morning
and didn't see any notice. It must have lust been tacked up."
Captain Queen, a former Regular Armyman with the 24th infantry,
sputtered, "Just put upl Why that notice has been on the bulletin
board ever since George Washington was on the police force."
We found out the notice hadn't been up quite that long
but it had been up for a week. And we were supposed to be reviewed by
a major -general. The major General, with his staff, had come from
another camp, our camp commander, a bandy_ and, quite a number of
officers, were assembled on the parade ground for a review and in-
spection which never came off.
Our Captain Queen had lust completed a course of instruction
at a fort at Des Moines, Iowa, along with a thousand other colored
men, all of whom were given commissions as captain, or lieutenant,
signed by the President, Woodrow Wilson, and which said that they
were 'officers and gentlemen'.
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Captain Queen had been a top sergeant in the 24th Regular
Army Regiment when they were stationed in. Arizona and chased the
Indians. His brother had graduated from the Officers' Training
School at the same time, but he was commissioned a lieutenant in
the machine gun detachment of our regiment.
Captain Queen was younger than his brother, the Lieutenant,
but the now outranked him. So the older brother, the machine gunner,
was compelled to salute his baby brother, the .captain.
I soon learned the distinction between an officer and myself.
I studied the Army Manual, The School of the Soldier, learned how to
clean and care for a rifle, how to execute "order arms" Without
smashing my toes. I learned the difference between a canteen and a
latrine. Being in the headquarters platoon, I was able to find out
news of impending troop movements. In fact, I typed the order cancell-
ing all leaves and ordering the men to report to the parade grounds
with packs and in full marching order.
We were reviewed and inspected and then marked direct to a
waiting train. Once on the train we were issued cards on which we
wrote, Am leaving for somewhere in France. Goodbye.
We detrained at Hoboken. When we arrived darkness had fallen
and it was raining a little. In the drizzle we were marched, up the
gang -plank of a transport and told to stay below decks until we were
well out to sea.
The next morning Captain Queen sent for me. I had on a life
preserver, as did everyone else. The captain wanted the company
roster (list of men) as he was going to put us through Abandon Ship
Drill. When I came on deck I was able to see other troopships,
cammuflageed with vertical stripes and pursuing. a zigzag course,
convoyed by eight or ten destroyers.
The North Atlantic was cold and dismal. In fact, the whole
business was rather grim and uninspiring, but we reached Brest without
incident, didn't even have one submarine scare on the way over.
It was in Brest that I saw some colored soldiers wearing
red fezzes and tan uniforms, standing on one of the street corners.
One of the men from my company, who came originally from a small town,
crossed over the street toward them and inquired.
"Where can I get some eigfrettes in the Frog town?" The
red-fezzed soldiers glanced at him, spoke among themselves, then
turned to him and shrugged complete incomprehension.
I saw that my friend was becoming angry so I crossed over.
"What's the trouble, bud?", I asked.
"These big boys act like they don't want to have anything to
do with me. They're talking a lot of gibberish, won't answer my
questions."
I had a little trouble convincing him that "those big boys"
were FRENCH Africans, couldn't understand English and weren't trying
to be high hat.
Later on I ran into another bunch of Algerians who had been
at the Front and who carried around fingers from dead Germans.
We went into intensive training and after six weeks we marched
up to the town of Nancy in the Department of Douliards We marched at
night, rested in fields by day and noticed the almost solid lines of
truck headed toward the Front, and passed troops returning from a
tour of duty in the front line trenches.
In each squad, in addition to the riflemen there were grenadiers
who carried hand grenades. While we were marching we had the first
casualty in our company. A grenadier, a belt of hand grenades strapped
around his middle, stumbled and fell, the grenades exploded, everybody
who could, jumped into ditches or flattend themselves on the ground.
Total score, three dead and eight wounded.
Of the dead we buried two, but the third, the grenadier was
blown to bits, nothing left but a hole in the road.
We were in the Argonne Forest when the pig push started on
September 26, 1918 and we stayed in there five days, part of the time
we were shelled by our own artillery in support, the 349th Filed
Artillery Regiment. We had no battle flags, no shears to cut barbed
wire entaglements, our liaison men (runners with messengers) were
all killed or wounded trying to get through with messages.
Lieut. Hinkson, dressed in a private's uniform and carrying
Ivo
a rifle as well as a sidearm (automat) had stood up and shouted, "As
skirmishers, guide center. Deploy" when a machine gun, bidden in the
woodsocut him down.
.Enemy airplanes flew over us several times, dropping pamphlets
addressed to us. "Colored Americans. We have no quarrel with you.
We are .your friends. Throw dawn your arms and cover over to our side.
We will treat you better than you are treated in the South!:
But I don't remember a single case of desertion.
After the Argonne, we went up into the Vosges Mountains,
where it was rather quiet. We needed it for we had been cut up pretty
badly. Replacements (soldiers sent to a unit to replace the dead and
wounded) were sent us, and I was promoted to Sergeant. The replacement
were creoles from Louisiana. They spoke French and one became our
company interpreter. So soon every soldier picked up a few words of
Fre/1th.
One night I was on duty as Sergeant of the Guard and while
at Post Number one (the guard house) one of the sentries posted on
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the mountainside became frightened by a movement in the wooded
section and threw a grenade in that direction. Then he knelt and
when we reached him we could hear what was possibly the only prayer
spoken in French and English. His arms were outstretched and he
implored, um, Lord, save me. Come here and save me sitl vous plait,
tout suite.*
Armistice Day found us before Metz. We were waiting to
'storm a great walled city which would have cost us many men, as we
would have to cross a level plain about two miles long.
In December 1918 we were marched to Le Mons, the central
delousing plant of the A. E. F. Here we had our clothes taken from
us, and I lost my sweater which had been knitted for me by my girl
friend, we were plunged into baths, and when we cams out the other
end we were given clean clothes, and that was the end of the big
gray cooties which had been our constant companions.
Back to the mud of Brest mad here we embarked for home
near the end of February, 1919, and after staying in Camp Upton a
few days we were sent to Camp Meade, Maryland where on March 5, 1919
we were given a bonus of $60, an honorable discharge, and the 368t4
Infantry regiment became a part of history.