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There must have been some anxiety as well as anticipation about the future. The United States had declared war on Germany in April of 1917. I do not know whether entry into that conflict hastened the decision of our parents to marry. After their marriage Dad and Mother must have anticipated that they would be separated. There were quite a number of news items relating to visiting and attendance at various family gatherings between June and September of 1917.
Another member of our family was associated with the registration of men in LaMoure county. Will Sanborn who was married to mother's half sister Mae, had been appointed registrar shortly after the draft act was passed. It was his task to see that all eligible men were duly registered and made ready to be drafted for military duty.
On September 18, 1917 a rather large contingent of LaMoure county men were inducted into the service. Dad left from LaMoure with this group. Grandma and Grandpa and Mother as well as other members of the family were at the railroad station in LaMoure to see them off to war.
There were patriotic speeches and ceremonies at the departure. William Langer, at that time, Attorney-General of the State of North Dakota was present and gave a speech and shook hands with the newly inducted soldiers. It must have been an impressive event as reported in the Edgeley Mail:
(Headline:) "LAMOURE COUNTY HONORS RECRUITS FOR NATIONAL CONSCRIPT ARMY: QUOTA OF 48 DEPARTS YESTERDAY.
“Approximately 45 percent of LaMoure County's Quota for the First Draft Has Been Filled; 3 Fail to respond.
"Many people from all parts of the County assemble at LaMoure to bid Godspeed to the departing forty-eight conscripted soldier boys to be.
"Attorney General Langer Makes a Great Speech."
"He defends Governor Frazier and tells his hearers that they should watch the "Simon Pure" Patriots of the State instead of the Chief Executive."
"Many a mother's heart ached yesterday at LaMoure when the fateful hour for the departure of her son to take up his duties as a United States Soldier arrived. The waiting rooms and the depot platform were crowded with mothers, fathers, wives, sisters, brothers, sweethearts and friends who gathered to bid a last fond farewell to LaMoure County's quota of forty eight for the second call for conscripted recruits. The scene at the depot was pathetic. Everywhere could be seen little groups around a young man, sometimes several young men, upon whom was pinned a badge of honor. "Mother don't cry, don't worry about me, I'll be back someday. I can't stand to see you cry, mother. Brace up, let my last look upon your face vision a smile that will linger within my soul and buoy me when I am far away. Don't think of me as lost, mother. Some of us may never return, mother, but I know I will. You are doing your patriotic duty in giving up your son for the cause of Liberty, Mother. Are you not proud to tell that you have a son to lend to this great cause? Oh, mother, don't cry, for I can't stand it." Thus pleaded one of the young men as the train pulled into the station and as the tears began to roll down his mother's cheeks."
"There were tear stained faces in many of the groups. There could not help but be. One mother whose son went away almost collapsed as she walked away from the station with a younger son, too young to be conscripted. "I am proud of my boy and glad to know that he is going to serve his country so bravely but I can't give him up. Oh, why can't this cruel war end that our boys might be spared?" The scene was too much for the writer. As he walked away, hardened as he is, tears stole from the corners of his eyes."
"They are gone. May they do their duties. May the spirit that has guided the destinies of the United States and inspired this great nation to fight for God and right since the inception of its government follow these young men wherever they may be called, guide them to victory that will mean a permanent peace on earth and return them safely to the loved ones left behind."
"The following is a list of LaMoure county boys, who left yesterday for Camp Dodge, Iowa." Among them were:
Arnold J. Meili
Floyd W. Cofell
Arnold M. Boldt
(Edgeley Mail, Vol. 29, No. 46, September 20, 1917.)
Arnold J. Meili became a neighbor in Montpelier township during the 1920's and 30's. And Arnold M. Boldt married Aunt Elcy and became Dad's brother-in-law.
"Mrs. Floyd Cofell returned yesterday from LaMoure, where she has been with her husband, who was called in the draft." (Edgeley Mail, Vol. 29, No. 46, Sept. 20, 1917.)
The writer of the account does give us something of the intense personal feelings of people as they sent the young men off to war. Also it is interesting read the account of the statement made by William Langer. William Langer did not forget that affair with the recruits, for in 1934-35 when he was campaigning for Governor of North Dakota he came to Montpelier and gave a speech in Stott's Hall. Dad took me to that meeting, the first time I saw Langer. I don't remember anything of the speech. However, Langer did meet my father and in shaking hands reminded him of the meeting at LaMoure in 1917. Dad was a loyal supporter of William Langer. The greeting was about seventeen years later and was an incredible feat of memory or of very astute preparation for that meeting.
The official roster of North Dakota contains the following item: " Cofell, Floyd William, Army number 2,143,771; registrant, LaMoure county; born, Edgeley, N.Dak., Sept. 2, 1892, of Canadian-German parents; occupation, farmer; inducted at LaMoure, Sept. 18, 1917; sent to Camp Dodge, Iowa; served in Battery E. 338th Field Artillery, to Mar. 28, 1918; Ordnance Corps, 338th Field Artillery, to Mar 31, 1918; Ordnance Motor Instruction School, Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., to April 27, 1918; Ordnance Detachment, 338th Field Artillery to discharge. Grade: Private 1st Class, Jan. 10, 1918: overseas from Aug. 18, 1918 to Jan. 5, 1919. Discharged at Camp Dodge, Iowa, on Jan. 16, 1919, as a Private First Class." (Page 583, Vol. I.. Roster of the Men and Women of the State of North Dakota. In World War 1917-1918. Published by Authority of Legislative Assembly of North Dakota, Bismarck, 1931.
After they were married Floyd and Elizabeth lived on a farm south of Edgeley. I do not know the location of the farm. They had a series of visitors including Grandma Lawrence, Will and Mae Sanborn. Mae and Will Sanborn lived in Medberry where Will ran a general store and operated one of the elevators as a grain buyer. Mother often stayed at their house before her marriage. Aunt Edith Lawrence was teaching school in LaMoure County and was also a frequent visitor at the Sanborns. The Sanborns left Medberry shortly after the end of World War I.
There were several items regarding the back and forth visiting in the Edgeley Mail of this period. On August 23, Floyd, Elizabeth, Uncle Oliver Cofell and Gladys Mowry picnicked at Spiritwood Lake. That same week Grandma Lawrence arrived for a visit from Chatfield, Minnesota.
Participation in war related volunteer work began before Dad left for service. Members of the Edgeley branch of the Red Cross.
Mrs. F. W. Coffell, Oliver Cofell
(EM, Vol. 29, No. 44, Sept. 6, 1917.)
At the beginning, after Dad left for Camp Dodge, Mother continued to work as a nurse around Edgeley. She began to receive what she considered to be rather severe criticism from her in-laws. In those days nurses were in some circles victims of the imagination. The history of nursing gives some reasons, besides the work done by Catholic Sisters the only other group of people providing care to the sick and helpless were often prostitutes. At least part of this image persisted and I can remember hearing such comments in the 1930's and 40's. Since mother most often took care of patients in the home this brought some criticism. If the patient was a man and sometimes if the patient was a wife, the suspicion being that the nurse was playing around with the husband.
In mother's case the question was brought to a head by her taking care of some children who were ill when the mother was away attending a funeral in southern Minnesota. Her husband, however was home. Mother described this as follows: "Well it was several things. (That caused her to leave.) I didn't feel I was wanted there in the first place...Oh, Lizzie Farnsworth went down to Minnesota to somebody's funeral and Alice got sick while she was gone and she phoned and wanted me to come over. I went over there and she was pretty sick. I suppose she had the flu. I stayed with her all night. Of course, Ed Farnsworth was there. Your Grandma made some remarks, 'Suppose you'll be going down to camp pretty soon now..' I said well, I've been thinking about it. I think I should be with Floyd. She said~ 'Well, after staying all night at Farnsworth you'd better go.' I took the hint right away that she accused me of being intimate with him. Well Ed Farnsworth wasn't. ..1 wouldn't let him touch me with a twenty foot pole. Why then I went to Chatfield." (Page 4, Typescript of Interview June 17, 1976.)
FLOYD COFELL WRITES ABOUT CAMP DODGE LIFE
"The Edgeley Mail last week received a letter and a folder from Floyd Cofell who is in camp at Camp Dodge. The folder which pictures the life at Camp Dodge, the Y.M.C.A. building where the boys have concerts, witness shows, athletic exhibitions, write letters, read books and enjoy their recreation hours. He stated in his letter that most of the boys that came from LaMoure county would be sent south the latter part of the week. There are six hundred in the regiment in which he serves. There are six batteries to a regiment and from each battery there will be sent 600 men they will be transferred to Camp Pike.
All told, he said, 8000 men would leave Camp Dodge. He said that it was generally known that the remainder would leave soon.
He said some of the men had not got full uniform yet and that he did not know when they would get them. Some of the boys have just got their shirts and hat. Most of the boys have bought their uniforms. The boys cannot go to town unless they have a full suit.
At presents there are about 23,000 men in camp, he wrote, and most of the buildings are still empty. It is said that the camp will hold 55,000 men. Of the 23,000 men 10,000 are negroes from the south and still more are coming. He said he thought the next draft would start soon to fill the place of the men who are going away." (Edgeley Mail, Vol. 30, No.4, November 29, 1917.)
"Wm. Cofell of this city received word Monday from Otto (as I think it should have read Arnold) Boldt saying that he is now in training at a camp in Arkansas." (EM, Vol. 30, No.7, December 20, 1917.) I believe the reference above is to Arnold Boldt who had worked for my grandfather before being drafted. There may have been an Otto Boldt the name does not show up on the registration lists.
"Word from Floyd Cofell at Camp Dodge says that he leaves this week for some point in Illinois to take a draftsman's course. Floyd was the only Edgeley boy left in the camp, but the day he left some 2000 more men were brought in." (Edgeley Mail, Vol. 30, No.7, December 20, 1917.)
It is somewhat surprising to read the above information in the newspaper regarding the number of troops and their movement. It may be that it was thought such information would increase citizen morale since some of it was apparently sent out in brochures, etc. In the Second World War there were constant reminders for us about the dangers of providing any information that might in any way be of benefit to the enemy. I have many of the letters I wrote home to my parents and others and they provide very little information of military activity. Maybe people in 1917-1918 did not understand the nature of spy activity. It puzzles me also because persons of German birth, names or ancestry were sometimes subjected to harassment and assault during that war.
So mother went to Camp Dodge, Iowa and she got some kind of room or quarters and a job in a typewriter factory. She said she was given the task of separating typewriter parts into bins after someone had dumped a whole lot of different pieces in one place. She also said that she liked the work.
After Dad left Camp Dodge for Rock Island Arsenal mother returned to Chatfield and stayed with her Uncle, Eugene Nichols, whom she loved dearly. She did nursing duty in the Chatfield area. Mother later remarked: "Well, I was happy I was down at Camp Dodge with him. Then I went to Chatfield and stayed there until he came back. I worked for a doctor in Chatfield, I worked for both of them. " (Interview January 31, 1976.)
Dad spoke very little about war experience except that at Camp Dodge. One experience that must have touched him deeply while at Camp Dodge was about the hanging of a Negro soldier. The man had apparently raped a woman and was to be hanged. Dad said they marched the regiment or battery to the site of the hanging. Dad became ill and threw up when the man was hanged. I also remember that he talked about not having clothes and equipment needed for training as confirmed by the above letter to the Edgeley Mail.
So Dad did talk to us children about Camp Dodge and he had one of the big long pictures of his regiment that hung on the wall of our home. He also spoke of Rock Island Arsenal though he was not there very long. He also spoke about going overseas on the Leviathan, a ship confiscated from the Germans when the United States entered the war. I went overseas during September 1946, on The USS George Washington which was also confiscated from the Germans during the First World War.
Dad never spoke to me of any of his experiences while he was in France except that he drove truck. I remember only that he spoke of driving his truck to the port and getting on the boat in Bordeaux, France. There might be a reason Dad was reluctant to talk of war experiences. The best information I have was that received from Gordon in June 2001. Carl Joseph Lee who was a farmer near Montpelier told Gordon that our father hauled ammunition and artillery equipment near to the front and that he transported bodies back to the rear. Carl Lee was in the 338th Regiment. He was a sergeant in D Battery and dad was in E Battery. Their overseas service dates are almost identical and their discharge dates one day apart. They knew each other as long as I remember. (Data from the Roster of Men and Women of the State of North Dakota. Ibid.)
The above paragraph may give a clue in regard to a couple of poems that dad saved over the years. These poems with some others were clipped without date or publisher. In the group there was one poem with part of the paper dated November 14, 1918. Dad must have clipped it after returning home. The dated poem entitled "When The Kaiser Called Up Hell," is not included here. The two poems included here take on a good deal more meaning in view of Carl Lee's statement to Gordon.
"THEN WE'LL COME BACK TO YOU.
Some day, when screaming shells are but a dream
That vanished with the dawn of better days,
When Love and Faith are really what they seem,
And Treachery is lost in fleeting haze;
When each sweet day recalls a noble deed,
Wherein a blinding flash plays not a part,
And Truth at least has sown the godly seed
That springs in trust and Joy in every heart:
Some day, though it be farther down the years
Than ever mortal gazed or planned ahead,
When we have made them pay for all your fears,
And squared accounts for comrades who have bled;
When we can feel that storms of Greed and Lust
Will nevermore engulf our skies of blue;
When you can live and know each sacred trust---
And not till then---will we come back to you."
Corp. Howard H. Herty,
1st Army Hq. Reg.
I watched you slog down a dusty pike
One of many, so much alike,
With a spirit keen as a breath of flame,
Ready to rise and ready to strike
Whenever the fitting moment came;
Just a kid with a boyish grin,
Waiting the order to hustle in
And lend your soul to the battle thrill,
Unafraid of the battle din
Or the guns that crashed from a hidden hill.
I watched you leap to the great advance
With a smile of fate and its fighting chance,
Sweeping on till the charge was done;
I saw your grave on a slope of France
Where you fell asleep when the fight was won;
Just a kid who had earned his rest
With a rifle and helmet above his breast,
Who proved, in answer to German jeers,
That a kid can charge a machine gun nest
Without the training of forty years.
I watched the shadows drifting by
As gray dusk came from the summer sky,
And lost winds came from beyond the fight,
And I seemed to hear them croon and sigh:
"Sleep, little dreamer, sleep tonight;
Sleep tonight, for I'm bringing you
A prayer and a dream from the home you knew.
And I'll take them word of the big advance,
And how you fought till the game was through.
And you fell asleep in the dust of France.
Author unknown.
Dad also disliked the "Limeys." He wanted to get back home. It was also mentioned that he was sick, (probably the flu) when he arrived at the port of embarkation on the way home. He must have been terribly sick on the ship. He returned to the United States on the "Pocahontas" and landed at Newport News, Virginia. There he must have been placed on a troop train and transferred to Camp Dodge, Iowa where he received his discharge.
After his discharge early January 1919, according to mother, Dad met her at Chatfield and he did not look very well. I could not find any item in the Chatfield papers regarding Mother and Dad's reunion. How long they remained in Chatfield after his discharge is not known. They must have returned to Edgeley but there is no mention in the Edgeley Mail about their return. This seems very strange in terms of first returning troops marching down Broadway in New York City. It also seems strange in view of the intense patriotism (?) that supposedly motivated people in that era. I suspect that returning soldiers went pretty well unnoticed for another reason and that the country suddenly found itself occupied with concerns about the Flu epidemic and not about returning soldiers.
The only names that I could find in the Edgeley Mail who returned to Edgeley were Uncle Oliver, Doctor Greene and one other. This it seems to me almost strange. There were others who served but no mention was made of their return in the local newspaper.
There were some strange things going on at that time. The first item that indicates that our parents had returned to Edgeley was found in the Edgeley Mail, in the month of June. "Floyd Cofell, who has been employed in the excavating of the Kipp basement, was temporarily put out of business Tuesday, when one of the horses took a notion to kick. The young man received a blow on the side of the head, cutting quite a gash in the scalp. He was fortunate in not having to suffer more severe injury, but it was bad enough." (Edgeley Mail, Vol. 31, No. 32, June 19, 1919.)
I do not remember anyone ever speaking of the above injury, which seems strange in a family that reviewed all injuries and sicknesses with diligence and care. It may be that I was not listening.
There were several others who were inducted from the Edgeley area. There was Oliver Cofell who was Dad's younger brother and Arnold Boldt who was later to marry Aunt Elcy. Rex Sanborn who was mother's half cousin. Also Henry Salzsieder who was Dad's cousin. There may have been others who were related in some way. Uncle Walter and Uncle Willard were about to be inducted when the Armistice was signed November 11, 1918.. Dad and Uncle Oliver went overseas at about the same time The notation says Oliver leaving for Europe on the eleventh and the Dad on the eighteenth of August 1918. (From The Official Roster of North Dakota Soldiers, Sailors and Marines, page 583.lbid.).
Among the strangest was some of the slanderous propaganda directed at the returning soldiers. Today it is really hard to assess perspective held by some patriotic persons in this country. Some of the people who did not join the services joined groups to protect the home front. An example follows:
"SLANDERS U.S. SOLDIERS
MINNESOTA "SAFETY" BOARD ISSUES UNWARRANTED ATTACK UPON RETURNING HEROES
Claims That Minnesota Federal Soldiers Are Deserting Rapidly Brings Forth Indignant Denial from Washington.
St. Paul, Minn. --Open inferences of.-- the Minnesota Public Safety Commission, that Minnesota soldiers are deserting or may desert, have drawn from the general staff of the United States army, an emphatic denial of such a condition. To infer that Minnesota soldiers are deserting is snapping at their heels and doing them a great injustice, Minnesota citizens feel.
"Minnesota in the War," official publication of the Minnesota Public Safety Commission, in its current issue, makes this charge which has been proved to libel our soldiers:
"One of the serious difficulties attending upon the problem of remobilization of the military is the camps at home, is the rather common tendency to desertion. Now that the fighting is at an end, many of the boys are apt to jump to the conclusion that it is no longer necessary to observe military order or yield to the restraints of discipline, and seize the first opportunity to get away and make a beeline for home."
"As a matter of fact, the plans of the war department for well regulated demobilization are being crippled in their execution by the desertions from camp."
"The general staff authorizes the statement that there is no considerable number of desertions in excess of that which always marks periods of idleness in the army, and says it is not interfering with demobilization in any particular extent in keeping the record of men who desert." (Edgeley Mail, Vol. 31, No.9, Thursday, January 9, 1919.)
The preceding item expresses some dominant concerns of a group of people who did not fight the war. One may suspect they were a group of people who felt they controlled not only the ideology of our society but had paramount insight into the intention of others. They may have been deeply impressed by the Russian Revolution of 1917 part of which came about because of the rebellion of Russian soldiers.
Many if not most of the soldiers and sailors of World War One came from the sons of laboring and farming people. I would suggest that those who were members of the Minnesota Safety Board did not.
In contrast to the above, Edgeley gave a Ball for the returning veterans. I do not know that Dad and Mother attended. This Ball was organized to honor the men who served from the Edgeley area was reported in the Edgeley Mail June 5, 1919 so the party must have taken place on June 2nd or 3rd.