The Remains of Company D

[Robert Dunlop]

Subtitled: A story of the Great War. ISBN 9780312551001. The author's Grandfather served in Company D, 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, AEF. John Nelson was wounded in the Battle of Soissons in 1918. He survived the war and went on to live a long life. Like so many other WW1 veterans, however, John Nelson rarely talked about his experiences in the war. After his death, the author set about studying his Grandfather's unit. What has emerged is an excellent account of an American infantry company that fought in four major battles: Cantigny, Soissons, St Mihiel, and the Meuse-Argonne. James Nelson tracked down as many anecdotal sources as he could, so the book is full of personal perspectives. For any American who wants to understand what a relative's experiences might have been like, this book would be a great starting point.

Robert

[Desmond7]

Robert - google Pritzker Military Library .. you can download a podcast of James Nelson discussing this book and his research. It may even be online as a video cast .. maybe You Tube search?

des

[Sapper Will]

I found this book to be quite powerful and informative. It was amazing to read about how the author was able to track down so many descendants of the men. My only major criticism is that the writing is often a little overwrought, especially as he describes, over and over again, the personal hell his grandfather went through crossing a road at Soissons. The style might turn off professional historians, but for anyone whose grandfather wore a tin hat and puttees, or who simply wants to know what it was like to be an American infantryman in 1918, the book is highly recommended.

[John_Hartley]

So, there I was. In a bookshop in Portland, Maine. And, unsurprisingly, I was browsing in the military history section. There was shelf upon shelf about the War Between the States. And shelves more about World War 2. And then I spotted a copy of Richard Holmes “Tommy”. It was there on the end of one shelf amongst little more than half a dozen books about the Great War. One of which was “The Remains of Company D”, by James Carl Nelson.

This is Company D, 1^st Battalion, 28^th Regiment, American Expeditionary Force, with which the author’s grandfather briefly served in the summer of 1918. Nelson recounts the history of the Company from its arrival in France to its disbandment in Germany in 1919. It was part of the 4000 strong attack at Cantigny on 28 May 1918, which, although small scale in British terms, marked the first proper offensive action by American forces. It was then in action at Soissons (18 - 22 July), St Mihiel (12 – 13 September) and Meuse-Argonne (1 – 12 October).

Nelson has been fortunate to be able to draw on a rich archive of personal accounts – official reports, later memoirs, newspaper reports and, perhaps most interesting of all, the letters sent home which are still with families that he managed to track down across the States. He has drawn not just on accounts by members of Company D, but has also brings in the accounts of men serving with adjacent companies, battalions, etc. He is, therefore, able to tell his story in some considerable detail using the men’s own words.

Nelson is a journalist and brings his craft to the writing of this book. It is an eminently readable story for anyone interested in the war – not just specifically American involvement. If I am to be mildly critical, it’s in some of his more wordy descriptions which are a bit assuming that “it must have been like this”. For example, describing the assault at Soissons where the men are “racing ever closer to the road, then up its west bank and across the hard-packed dirt bed strewn with dead and dying doughboy flotsam and then down again and a pause, perhaps, just a moment to catch his breath. And then it’s up again and dashing across another open field, lungs on fire and legs turning to lead.....” But, strip that away and you’ve got a book very worthy of your shelves – readily available from Amazon UK but seemingly only in hardback.

[Ken S.]

Both the PB and HC were remaindered some time ago. Amazon.com is selling the HC for only $1.30.