I recently read news concerning Zonnebeki, Belgium. They are rushing to repair the nearly 12,000 head stones aligned in solemn rows of gloomy white. Beyond the walls stretches Flanders Field, serving as the stage of some of World War Ist carnage.
World War I centenary commemorations will take place between the years 2014-2018. The fields during World War I were steeped in blood, mud and iron. The stumps of burnt trees stood like charred matches as men and boys in trenches watched their feet rot and their friends die.
World War I broke out July 28, 1914. An estimated 10 million people died. But did you know there's more there than these graves still evident today almost 100 years after the battles?
Did you ever hear of the trenches of the "Trench of the Bayonets" or the "Devonshire Trench"? I didn't, but over 50 years ago, a teacher at the Ellendale School read and talked to her fourth grade class about this topic and made an impression upon one of her students
Do you remember your school teachers? All of them? Some of them? Special teachers?
My cousin, Jim Hanson of Clarks Grove, who went to school in Ellendale through fourth grade, can name all of his teachers, grade school through high school.
Jim has taken the time to investigate the stories that were told while he was in school. Jim, has has traveled overseas 17 times. Every time he has learned a little more. In between those trips, he studied more. Evidence of these battles still remains in artifacts and ammunition still buried and exploded lying in the battle fields.
Here is Jim’s story that has spanned 57 years.
“My 4th-grade teacher was Mrs. Anderson. (sorry, I don’t have a first name. In those days, teachers were addressed as Miss or Mrs.) She was perhaps in her late 50s, meaning she was born about 1900. We would do the standard 3-Rs from the textbook, but she taught much more than that.
She would take a few minutes each day to read from a book or just to talk with us about anything she found interesting. (Perhaps the original Whatever Comes to Mind!).
She had an appreciation for history, and many of her talks were of things that had a profound influence upon her life - WWI, the Bonus Army March on Washington, the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, women getting the right to vote, etc. Each of these personal stories gave kids an insight into the responsibilities of an adult and isn’t that what schools are supposed to do?
I recall how she talked about WWI - the horrors of trench warfare, artillery bombardment, the new machine guns, the carnage and what a waste it was. Rather than glorify the war, she gave us vignettes of tragedy and loss - the Trench of the Bayonets, Devonshire Trench, and America’s WW I hero, Sgt. Alvin York. For English class, she made us memorize poetry - In Flander’s Field about not forgetting the dead - Sandbergs I Am the Grass, which was about the futility of war - and lighthearted items like Pershing at the Front.
I belong to an ad-hoc group of history buffs. Every year, we try to visit a place that history turned a page - a great event in history. In 2001, we visited the Somme WW I battlefields in northern France. The carnage there was particularly bad, which included trench warfare and cavalry vs. the new mechanized warfare of artillery, machine guns, tanks, poison gas, flamethrowers and airplanes.
As a result, over 1,250,000 men were lost in a relatively small area. Over 200,000 simply disappeared. The explosions left no body to be buried.
I was determined to find some of the places Mrs. Anderson had told us about so long ago. I found the Trench of the Bayonets near Verdun, France (where another 1,250,000 men killed, injured, missing, or taken prisoner). Just as she had described, a company of French soldiers were poised to go over the top of the trenches and assault the German lines.
They had their long-barreled rifles, with fixed bayonets, slung over their shoulders. An artillery shell exploded behind the lines, caving in the trench. The result: they were buried alive while standing. The only thing protruding above ground were the tips of their bayonets - all in a row.
The French left them that way. The Americans, who were moved by the sight, created a marble monument over the trench. In 2001, seven bayonets were still visible. They have since rotted away; only the stubs holding them to the rifle remain. I couldn’t help but think to myself, “The old lady knew what she was talking about!”
On the Somme, I resolved to find the Devonshire Trench. During WWI, up to half of a company workforce, town enlistment or school class could enlist and serve together. The Devonshires had been at the front for several months, and couldn’t advance because German machine guns protected the German trenches.
The Devons had earned a short leave. Some took leave in Paris. Some went home to England.
They went through the usual round of parties in an attempt to forget the horror of the war. But, in the back of their mind, they knew that they would have to assault that deadly machine gun when they went back.
Their commander, Capt. Martin, made maps and even paper mache models to try to figure out how to take the machine gun. Even so, they were convinced that with their exposed position, it would be a slaughter.
Saying goodbye to loved ones, they went back to the war and occupied the trench. The command to advance came as expected. The whistle blew and they went over the top as ordered.
As they expected, nearly every man was killed, all 135 of them. Following the custom of the day, they were buried together in unused portions of the trenches. It became a British rallying cry.
The Devonshires held this trench. The Devonshires hold it still!
I looked for markers to find the Devonshire Trench, to no avail. I asked the locals. Each tried to help, but had no idea where to find it. My traveling companions wanted to go back to the hotel.
I offered to take them back and continue alone. They stayed with me. We finally found the little cemetery on a hill behind some trees. A wooden plaque said “The Devonshires held this trench, the Devonshires hold it still!” Once again, Mrs. Anderson had been right all along!
I went over to France again last year with other friends. This time, my wife, Maryalice, went with me.
This time, I had done more research. I checked British battle accounts, and hand-drawn maps of the area. If the cemetery was a trench, we should be able to find the continuation of the trench in the woods.
Sure enough, we could make out the depression marking a silted-in trench. We returned this year in late March. Maryalice, my brother Bob, and Victor and Kellie Mrotz went with us. After more study of old maps, I was able to pinpoint the position of the German machine gun that cut down the Devonshires.
Since the grass was not yet growing, we went artifact hunting in the embankment in front of the trench and the fields alongside. Victor unearthed the hilt of a Trench Sword fighting knife (usually carried by British officers - all three of the Devonshire officers were killed.) Bob came up with the find of the day, an 8 mm German machine gun bullet found near the Devonshire trench.
According to both German and British records, the only machine gun in that area was the one that cut down the Devonshires. It was like a "cold case file," - 97 years after the incident. Fifty-seven years after I first heard about it, we solved it.
Mrs. Anderson was proved right again, 57 years later! Who knows what information a teacher imparts? A lesson that stayed with me and brought to life 57 years later - and 4500 miles away from Ellendale!
To be continued next week...
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Birthdays and anniversaries:
• Thursday, May 23rd: Stephane Paul Martin, her 4th; Will Richard Utpadel, his 6th: Ilsbeth Wayne, Jeanne Simonson, Melissa Shaunce, Burton Borchert, Orville Langlie, Karen Quam, Rodney & Peggy Sorenson, Duane & Janice Morreim, Jeff & Sara Miller, Rebecca & Tim Brekke.
• Friday, May 24th: David Christensen, Merlyn Swearingen, Marlyn Swearingen, Reta Draayer, Nina Widlund.
• Saturday, May 25th: Dakota Matthew Kath, his 8th: Riley Dean Disher, his 6th; Jack Harpel, Jackie Johnson Miller, Jim Pichner, Cara Christensen, Valerie Peterson, Richard Fetterly, Bill Nechanicky, Rick Miller, Deb Parks, Paul Reese, Troy & Kelly Utpadel, Dave & Barbara Van Gorkom.
• Sunday, May 26th: Jeff Wayne, Roger Wangsness, Natalie Hanson, Jim Cummins, Jennifer Beaber, Jeremy Beaber, Melissa Redmon, Karey (Kalakian) & Chris Shearman.
• Monday, May 27th: Eileen Bergland, Lisa Hanson, Steve Jepson, Shane Callahan, Stacy Wobschall, Rev. Beaber, Theresa Kasper, Rick Loven, Carolee Broitzman George, Tracy Marcus, Lisa Hanson, Steve Jepson, Michael Butler, Steve & Karen Quam, Megan & Joel Cooper.
• Tuesday, May 28th: Sara Beth Carlson, her 3rd; Lily Lee Olson, her 3rd; Madalyn Kehne, Madison Catherine Knudson, Susan Schmidt, Marie Fowler, Rick & Jenny Loberg, Gerritt & Kathy Molenaar.
• Wednesday, May 29th: Brent Peterson, Deb Farr, Odean Otterson, Gene Pederson, Mark Butler, Ross Lein, Colin Quimby, Rod & Sandi Serdahl, John & Susan Oolman, Lily & Jerry Neitzel.
May your special day blossom with many reasons to smile!
