| | SERGT. GUSTAV L. SCHULTZ
Serial No. 2,026,604
Frankenmuth, Mich.
Previous to joining the army, Sergt. Schultz was an instructor of deaf and dumb children in a State institution. He was slow of speech and perhaps acquired this in teaching his charges.
He was not in the army long before his natural traits of leadership asserted themselves and won for him a sergeancy. Taking a keen interest in soldiering, he attended practically every form of artillery instruction at Camp Custer. During the practice firing of the English field pieces Sergt. Schultz was Signal and Instrument Sergeant, and was occupied in this capacity overseas until we left for the front. At Coetquidan he attended the School of Liaison and was in charge of all the specialists in the Battery. He instructed the B. C. detail in the use of the gynenometer and other instruments, which increased the vision and made sure the range of our guns. One morning in particular, while he was in charge of the regimental detail of men attending the School of Liaison, an amusing incident occurred. Sergt. Eddy was ill this particular morning; and Sergt. Schultz, being next in command, took charge of the forty or fifty men for the school and was marching them at ease along the road toward the school. Trucks were passing, which made it necessary to sometimes crowd to one side. Who should also be placidly walking along the side path, with his books under arm, but Colonel Hopkins! The men had to let trucks pass and swung over to the side next the Colonel, crowding him off the path. He immediately called “Halt” and demanded to know of Schultz “Why do you allow your men to crowd a commanding officer?” The Sergeant seeing the situation, promptly gave them the command “Left Oblique” and so relieved the Colonel of too much company, and then at a little distance gave them the command “At Ease.” This afforded the men an incident for humorous smiles all day.
In the absence of the First Sergeant, Schultz took command, and this the boys were always glad of, as he was not a martinet as to duty.
At the Montauville position Schultz uncomplainingly and quietly performed his duties as Section Chief while he was already suffering from trench fever. He would not admit he was sick but the Captain perceiving his condition, ordered him on leave to Aix Les Bain. Returning to the Battery at Pont-a-Mousson, Sergt. Schultz acted as our First Sergeant while Sergt. Housel was confined in the hospital at Toul.
In stature he was tall and of large frame, with a big-hearted sympathy for his comrades. He was intensely loyal and a lover of justice. He had the faculty of putting himself into the proper adjustment in his relations with the superior officers and in commanding the respect and confidence of every man in the Battery. His adaptability was never wanting. He was always eager to learn and to impart his knowledge to others.
He has written a comprehensive story of his observation of army life in the following:
THE ARMY AS I FOUND IT
“After I had received my notice to report to the courthouse at Saginaw, Mich., at 1:00 p. m. September 18, 1917, and take an examination for service in the U. S. army, I answered roll call the first time at 5 o’clock the same date and the next morning we boarded a train for Camp Custer. We had quite a lively bunch, as they always are, and we arrived at camp at 4:00 p. m. We all got off and were marched up a steep bill to the old receiving station and from there I could see part of the camp, which was only half finished at that time. We were all put in different sections and then assigned to any branch of service we desired. As I didn’t know anything about army life, I just took what they gave me, but I got fooled later on, for the first thing our officers told us was ‘the artillery rides.’ I know better than that now. Well, I was marched with a bunch of fellows to Barracks No. 399, and there I found out that I belonged to Battery B, 328th F. A., 160th Brigade, so that was straightened out all right.
“The first thing we got when we arrived was two blankets, one mess kit, stick and a bunk, and Captain Bogle told us that the bunk was our home and if anybody else sits down on it to throw him off. We tried it several times and it always ended in a scrap.
“The first couple of days we didn’t do much, except right-face, then left-face and about-face and keeping step while marching. We also had physical or sitting up exercises, which seemed quite interesting to me from the start. We also had the law read to us about deserting or disobedience, etc., and I was wondering what was meant by ‘As the Court-Martial may direct,’ but I found out soon enough and never got into trouble.
“After a week or so we received our uniform and our first pair of bob-nailed shoes. They were quite an article of war to me, and are yet. We had quite a nice field to drill in and also marched
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in review in Battery formation, and there is where I first heard of Colonel Hopkins. He was out there every morning on horseback watching us drill and we never could get the lines straight enough for him.
“In the same field we later started to make gun pits and underground dug-outs. We used nearly everything we could lay our hands on and had quite a time cutting down trees and carrying them almost one-half mile, then cut off what we wanted and carry the rest back again. When we got all through with it we installed a buzzer and sent messages over it with the International code. They put me on as operator, but I couldn’t hardly distinguish dots from dashes. Anyway, Colonel Hopkins seemed to be delighted with the work he had gotten out of us the last four weeks we worked on the dug-outs. Later on we started some new gun pits of a different style, but didn’t get very far with them, as the cold weather caught us before we had them finished.
“One day Lieut. Harvey called me out of the bunch and told me to take charge of the Battery and give them any kind of a drill for the next ten minutes. I felt my knees rattle like Rip Van Winkle’s, and didn’t know whether to go ahead or not, but I drilled them and got out of it all right.
“When I got my notice that I was promoted to Corporal, I had to sew on my chevron and I just had them on a day when I had to rip them off again and sew on three stripes. I was sent to the School of Fire with Corporals Vigneron and Leonard, who are now both Battalion Sergeant Majors.
“During January we had all kinds of experiences trying to qualify in receiving and sending semiphore and wig-wag, standing on a five-foot snow drift when about 10 below zero. We had quite a time trying to keep warm in the school room. Once a day we went out to draw a panoramic sketch and later on position sketches. We almost stuck in the snow while pacing off the distance from one point to another. We finished school in a fair shape and the last week we done some firing with the old U. S. 3-inch gun. The officers had quite a time trying to get on the target and many of them got killed (meaning disqualified) for giving the wrong commands.
“Later on, in April, I went to some Motor School, as we were supposed to be motorized and learn all about truck driving and finding faults. I got a great deal of good out of that school.
“About that time we also started in with gun drills and firing instructions for the whole Battery, and the first time we fired we made a very poor showing and had to drill afternoons on Wednesdays and Saturdays until we fired again, and also got complimented by Major Dougherty. Our last firing we done was on the night of July 2nd, and we used tracer shells and were again complimented by the Captain, now Major Zimmerman, for accuracy and speed, and that finished or qualified us for going overseas. July 9th the camp was quarantined and July 16th we pulled out for Camp Mills, which is on Long Island, and was made up of mostly tents at that time. Black sand was blowing over us most all the time, so if we wanted to eat our meals we had to eat sand and all. We had inspection of equipment twice a day. One day we drew all our overseas equipment in the afternoon and worked till late at night getting everybody equipped and the next morning we turned in all we drew the day before. Then in the afternoon we drew it again and got just nicely started when the order came again to cancel all recent orders, so at last they got settled and knew what they wanted and we were checked up by the Colonel. One day he called out the article he wanted, we held it up in our hand, the officers saying, ‘check.’ As soon as they had us all checked over the Colonel commanded ‘put it away.’ That was a great afternoon and nobody has forgotten it yet.
“We were right close to the Hempstead Aviation Field and the aviators furnished some of our amusements. On July 29th, at 6:30 a. m., we left Camp Mills, boarded a train, which took us to Hoboken, where we boarded a ferry and rode to Jersey City and went on board the Mauretania at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. The next day we started our trip for France at 7:00 a. m. From then on we didn’t see very much more than sky and water till August 5th at 8:00 p. m., we sighted the coast of Ireland and the next day we found ourselves in the Bay of Liverpool. We had to wait for the tide to come up before we could land. I walked the gang-plank at 1:10 p. m. August 5th and hiked out to Camp Knotty Ash, where we stayed over night and the next morning we boarded a train and rode across England to Southampton, where we stayed two days, then went on board the American side-wheeler Narayansett and made a dash across the English Channel. We arrived safely at 6:00 a. m. at Le Havre, France. Hiked to a rest camp again on the 11th of August at 11:00 p.m., boarded a Cheveaux 8, Hommes 40, side-door pullman train and rode for about two days and got off again at Messac. We pitched tents near a small river, had a nice swim and some of the boys had a good taste of French wine and found out that there was quite a kick to it. The next day we hiked to Bain de Brataque and stayed there for about ten days, then hiked to Camp Coetquidan, where we arrived August 24th. I was sent to a Telephone School and later on was made Sec. Chief. When we received our 75s we had reveille at 4:00 a. m., got out on the range at
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6:00 and fired the first shot around 8:00 (but that’s army style—I got over that long ago). We left that camp for the front on October 24th. We rode on the train for two days and unloaded again at Dongermain and from there went up to the front, closer and closer and took up our first position October 31st, at night, where we stayed a few days. Then we moved up a little closer west of Montauville, where I fired my first shot at the Germans on November 6th, exactly three months after we arrived in the A. E. F.
“Sorry to say, I went on a pass November 7th and that was all the taste I had of this great war, which came to a sudden end November 11th, and all that I am waiting for now is to get back home safe and sound. Improved in ambition, keenness and nerve and having seen a good part of (who said sunny) rainy France, I can’t say that the army has spoiled me, for it has done the opposite.”
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