"Most of our dead were buried - some in the valley 1 kilo south of Fey-en-Haye."

[World War I]: [Texas]: Scheu, Fred H.:

[Manuscript Journal Kept by Fred Henry Scheu, a Texas Soldier in Training and Then Serving in France During the Final Year of World War I].

[Various locations in the United States and France: 1917-1918]. [60]pp. of manuscript entries. Contemporary pocket notebook, 5.25 x 2.5 inches, with a small collection of news clippings and a few ephemeral items laid in. Moderate wear and soiling, as expected, hinges cracked but holding. Good. Item #4995

A manuscript journal and daybook maintained by Corporal Fred Henry Scheu (1895-1974) during his training time in Oklahoma and his wartime service in France during the latter period of the First World War. Fred Scheu was born in Fayetteville, Texas to German immigrants Fritz and Alwine Scheu, later of Malone, Texas. At the time of his enlistment and for a long period after the war, Scheu was a clerk and station agent for various iterations of the Santa Fe Railway in Texas and Oklahoma. Scheu hailed from a large family himself, but after marrying Ida Christine Ender Scheu, the couple had just two children, Idaleene and Fred Scheu, Jr. Scheu passed away in Temple in 1974, and is buried in Waco Memorial Park in Robinson, Texas.

Fred Scheu enlisted in the Army on February 26, 1918, and was discharged just a little over a year later, on April 16, 1919. Between those two dates, Scheu served in training at Camp Travis, Texas and Camp Mills, Long Island as a private in Company B of the 343rd Machine Gun Battalion. Scheu and his unit disembarked from Brooklyn, New York on June 20, 1918, headed for Liverpool. They served in various camps in England before crossing the English Channel and serving in numerous locations in France from early July until the end of the war and well after, departing Brest, France in March 1919. Scheu's journal opens with a detailed, six-page timeline of his service from his enlistment until the end of his service in France, which provided the preceding information.

Scheu's journal is not written in the traditional mode of a diary, but rather in a few distinct sections which together paint a picture of his service in the war. The main record of his service is memorialized in an eight-page section titled, "As Days Rocked By." This section is similar to the timeline described above (also titled by Scheu "As Days Rocked By"), but includes more detailed information on his time in France, including some mentions of engagement with the Germans. Dated entries are brief but closely written without line breaks; a typical example of a few consecutive daily entries, which take up just seven lines, reads: "9-24-18. Arrived front lines near Pagney and Preney[?] west side of Moselle River 4:15 AM. 9-25-18. German counter attack at 5AM. 9/26. Caught in German box barrage from 11AM until 5:20PM." Another sequence reads: "10/30/18. Arrived in woods large hill about 2 miles N-W of Romange. Fired barrage after barrage at 4:30AM. 10/1/18. Over with 360 Inf (Co K) Advanced 6 kilo to near little village St. Gerey[?]. Heavy MG fire. 11/2/18. Advanced from St. Gerey[?] 4 kilo to large hill. Little piece of shrapnel from shell that hurt Cpl. C.C.J. hit my foot." Scheu's timeline continues in much the same manner through the end of the war ("Armistice signed 11/10/18") and beyond, when he remained in France on guard duty and hiked and trained across the country. In addition to Scheu's detailed timeline, he writes a similarly-detailed page on his experiences during the "Second Battle Argonne" in October 1918.

Scheu also includes a detailed seven-page account of a portion of his service, entitled "Dedicated to the service Griesencourt France 9/20/18." He initials the ending of the account, "F.H.S." The account reads like it was written to be read aloud. It begins, "We came here today to be deloused 'Bath' after being relieved on St. Michel front. Most of our dead were buried -- some in valley 1 kilo south of Fey-en-Haye." Scheu then provides a much more detailed account of his battle experiences in September, expounding on just a short portion of his timeline over the course of the remaining six pages. He recounts "enemy shells falling at intervals," "an enemy plane flying real low," details the death of Captain Dryson of Co. A ("He set down beside a tree himself where he was killed when a shrapnel bursted in the tree and a piece came down hitting him in the head"), and other stark details which took place amid the intense battle. In the course of his narrative, Scheu reveals that he was "in charge of Intelligence Section 'Runners.'" After a slightly more detailed account of finding out that Captain Dryson had been killed, Scheu ends his account on a rather forlorn note: "Where do we go from here -- Boys where do we go from here."

Peppered throughout the journal, Scheu also includes other information about his service, including a detailed listing of other members of Company B of the 343rd ("Members My Organization Co B 343 MGBN"); several pages listing which American military units were present in Europe (with another list totaling up the troop count of twelve company and division units of infantry, artillery, medical units, and more); a few basic morning reports surrounding the Battle of St. Michel; a page listing "Headquarters Troops Landed by Division;" three pages of notes on the history leading up to the war; and more. In addition to the wartime content, a few pages at the front of the journal were utilized as an address book before the war; among the entries is "Miss Ida Ender," whom Scheu would marry in June 1919, shortly after his return from France. A brief but nonetheless detailed account of one young Texas man's service during the final months of World War I, with much to mine for historians and scholars alike.

Price: $1,500