Bangor Daily News May 1, 1918
The First World War, then known as the Great War, is said to have resulted in 40 million deaths and when it finally ended in 1919 was optimistically believed by many to be the “war to end all wars”. Even the most jaded and cynical would not have predicted that twenty years later another war would kill twice as many and require renaming the ‘Great War” World War 1. The St. Croix Valley sent hundreds of soldiers across the Atlantic in the Great War, over 400 Calais men were drafted or enlisted, many saw combat in France and several were killed. The local community suffering the most were the Passamaquoddies which lost four young men from their small community while much larger Calais had only two men killed in action in France, but the fates can be cruel- the two who died were brothers, Fred and Harry Sherman.
Fred and Harry’s father, also Fred, was from Tower Hill in New Brunswick and in 1893 married Mary Wallace of Danforth. When Fred, Jr was born in 1895 the couple were living in St. Stephen and a year later Harry was born in Tower Hill but within a few months of Harry’s birth the couple moved to a home in Calais on the Hog Alley section of Union Street across from the railroad station. They eventually settled on a farm on South Street in Milltown.
St Croix Courier September 3, 1914
When the Great War began in August 0f 1914 our Canadian cousins across the border were immediately in the fray. Hundreds enlisted and were sent off to France to fight and sometimes die. The United States did not declare war on Germany until April 6, 1917. On April 11th Harry Sherman became the first Calais man to enlist in the Army. His older brother Fred had already served in the Canadian Army but on June 6th, 1917 he enlisted in the U.S Army at Augusta. Both were to serve in the 26th “Yankee Division”, 103rd Infantry which was comprised of the 2nd Maine and 1st New Hampshire Infantry. The Sherman brothers joined many other local men serving in Company I of the 103rd.
Xivray front France April through July 1918
In April of 1918 Company I of the 103rd took up position around the French town of Xivray, a hotly contested section of the front. In June major engagements along the front included one on June 16th, 1918, in which Fred Sherman was killed. The battles were widely reported in local and national newspapers.
According to division history:
“A third German raid was launched on June 16th against the sub sector held by the 103rd infantry at the village of Xivray-Marvoisin. Preceded by a heavy bombardment and dense barrage, a strong German force moved against the village and nearby trenches, but failing to get within our defenses, immediately withdrew, leaving many dead and wounded.”
It was at Xivray that the 103rd Infantry and Company I made a name for itself. The national newspapers reported the battle extensively, often leading with headlines like the one above.
Earl Boyd of Calais wrote a letter home in which he mentions Fred’s death:
We hated to leave the old town when we started for the front the first time and we have never been back there since. I have been on the front that you have read so much about, and which used to be known as the American sector. We lost our first comrade there, Sergeant Mitchell of Eastport. We were on different fronts, but I will just mention the worst ones, but they are all bad enough.
Perhaps you read about the scrap at Xivray. I read a great account of it in the Bangor Daily News. It was our company that the Germans attacked early one morning, and we drove them back. We lost some men, but nothing compared to the Germans, and we captured a lot of prisoners. That was the time Fred Sherman was killed. Xivray is not very far from Toul, a French city where I was at the hospital. The worst front that I have been on was the last one. I am sure you have been reading about the big drive that the French and Americans started in July.
The Calais Advertiser reported Fred’s death:
A Telegram received here announced that a Calais soldier, Fred Sherman, had fallen in action in France. He was 22 years old, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Sherman of Wytopitlock . When the call came for volunteers to fill the ranks of the National Guard, Fred left his work as a deck hand on the Henry F. Eaton and with his brother Harry Sherman went to Eastport and enlisted in Co I “Washington County’s own.” This company, now the 103rd infantry arrived in France in October. He is the third in the company to fall in action. He was a fine young man in every way and a good soldier. His sister resides here.”
Harry Sherman did not survive the battle for Torcy and the vital roads which connected it important German positions
Within days of the battle at Xivray Company I of the 103rd Division was rushed to the Marne where one of the most pivotal battles of the war was to be fought. During what is known as the Second Battle of the Marne Harry Sherman was killed. The battle was Germany’s last big offensive, an attempt to end the war before more American combat units began to turn the tide inexorably against Germany. The allies however planned a counteroffensive at the same time. According to General Pershing the Yankee Division, of which the 103rd infantry was a part, acted as a pivot on the movement to Soissons, capturing Torcey on the 19th and reaching the Chateau-Thierry-Soissons Road on the 21st. It was in taking this road that Harry Sherman was killed on July 22nd. Division history describes the situation as follows: “By noon of July 21st the division reached the Chateau-Thierry-Soissons Road, where a brief halt was made prior to resuming the advance toward the Epieds-Trungny position and the more distant objective, the Jaulgonne-Fereen-Tardenois road.” Harry was killed in the successful attempt to take the road and prevent the Germans from reinforcing units under heavy pressure from other Allied units.
Private Benjamin Smith of Calais describes the battle in a letter home:
Our company was made up of true patriots, brave and fearless men and on account of their fighting ability was granted a citation. “We moved to Chateau Thierry, where we relieved the 6th and 6th Marines in Belleau Woods. The first town we captured was Torcey and 76 of us were billeted in the only house in the town that hadn’t been hit by shell fire. Private Harry Sherman of Calais was wounded here, and was struck in the leg and stomach, and died after reaching the hospital from loss of blood. His brother Private Fred Sherman who was also a member of our company. was buried alive with two others in a dug-out on the Toul Sector at Xivray. I helped to dig them out and we buried them with military honors. Both were brave soldiers and a credit to their parents and their Country. They were the only two Calais soldiers to give their lives in the great war.
Corporal Joe Murphy of Calais wrote home about the Sherman Brothers and others in the 103rd Infantry:
Jerrold McGarrigle, who enlisted with Company I, and who has since been promoted from private to 2nd lieutenant and is now attached to company I. 352nd infantry is a brave soldier, a man among men and deserves the promotion that has been awarded him.
Private Frank Lowther is another Calais boy with Company I who went through some exciting experiences and came out tip top.
Sergeant Ralph Brown, Company I, a Woodland man who also went through the thickest of the fray has won a great victory for himself. He is now attending officers training school and is in line for further promotion.
Touching on his comrades that have paid the supreme sacrifice he states the Corporal Albert Mercer of Company I, a Princeton man and his “buddy” was killed right near him on September 12th, the first day of the Saint Mihiel drive. An explosive bullet blew out his heart, closing the life of a brave and true soldier.
Private Fred Sherman Company I of Calais Maine was buried alive in a dugout when a big shell struck it during the battle of Xivray. His brother private Harry Sherman was killed in action during the third day of the Chateau Thierry drive. He was a member of my automatic squad. Both were brothers and brave soldiers, and a credit to their parents and the country they represented and for which they gave up their lives. They are the only two Calais heroes who paid the supreme sacrifice.
Fred and Harry Sherman’s parents moved to Wytopitlock before the war ended but Fred and Harry Sherman had lived most of their too short lives in Calais. A memorial service was held for them at the Baptist Church in Calais on September 28, 1921. Mayor Fowler of Calais, in a proclamation delivered at the service, said of the brothers:
“The Great War brought suffering, privation and anxiety to many families in Calais but only one family was called upon to mourn the loss of its sons in battle. Calais sent the full quota of its sons. On land and sea they did their full duty and all returned to us except two. The Sherman brothers in whose honor our American Legion post is named fell on the battlefields of France. They died in defense of the great principles on which our free nation is founded. Their bodies are now being returned from France, where they fell, for burial in their home city.”
Calais Cemetery
It wasn’t until a year later that their bodies were returned from France for a proper burial in the Calais cemetery.
For those interested I have attached the complete letters of Earl Boyd and Benjamin Smith from which I have quoted above.
Bangor Daily September 20, 1918:
From Earl Boyd to Parents
Interesting Letter From One of Co. I Fighters
CALAIS, Sept. 19
Mr. and Mr. William Boyd of North Street here received an interesting letter from their son, Private Earl Boyd of Co. I, 103d Infantry, who writes in part: We have Just come back from the front so we are all pretty tired, but we will rest for awhile now. The town we are in makes me think of home for they have church bells here that sound Just like our Methodist church bell and one that Is just like the cotton mill and it rings about the same time every night. We have been in this town about two weeks. Today is Sunday and It Is very warm. We have been having a lot of rain lately and it rained nearly all of June while we were at the front. We are living in tents and it seems like old times, like Augusta and Westfield. It Is the first time we have used tents since we left the States.
I cannot tell you how many times I have been in the front lines, but I will tell you some of the fronts I have been on and you have read about them. They never give the names of the companies in the papers. I was on what they call the Chemin Dos Dames front just before the Germans made the big drive and drove the French back and they took Soissons. a big French city. The time that I was not with Co. I, but on detached service with the Commissary Dept. I was in the city of Soissons all of that time and the Germans kept shelling it with their long-range guns all day and dropping bombs at night, so it was not a very pleasant place to be. I left there just four days before the Germans started to break through the lines. I went back to Co. I and I was some glad to get back with Alex Cook and the rest of the fellows.
We stayed in a village all last winter and the natives were fine people. We hated to leave the old town when we started for the first time and we have never been back there since. I have been on the front that you have read so much about, and which used to be known as the American sector. We lost our first comrade there, Sergeant Mitchell of Eastport. We were on different fronts, but I will just mention the worst ones, but they are all bad enough.
Perhaps you read about the scrap at Xivray. I read a great account of It in the Bangor Daily News. It was our company that the Germans attacked early one morning, and we drove them back. We lost some men, but nothing compared to the Germans, and we captured a lot of prisoners. That was the time Fred Sherman was killed. Xivray Is not very far from Toul, a French city where I was at the hospital. The worst front that I have been on was the last one. I am sure you have been reading about the big drive that the French and Americans started in July.
Our company was the first company to go over the top and we drove them about eleven or twelve miles before we stopped and we were some tired for we had to keep on the move day and night. Our regiment captured a lot of big guns and took a large number of prisoners. We did not go any farther but the companies that relieved us kept the Huns going and they are still retreating. I hope they drive them clear to Berlin. It was in this drive that Harry Sherman was killed, a brother to Fred.
They were both fine fellows and good soldiers. The French papers give our regiment and division a lot of praise and say they are great fighters. Everybody in the company has had a forty-eight-hour pass. Alex Cook and I went to Paris, and it Is some city. We could not see one-tenth of it in the day and a half we were there.
It would take a week at least, but we saw a lot and enjoyed our trip. While we were there we met Roy Sadler from Calais and he took us to his room and then showed us around. He was some glad to see us. Alex and I did not get lost more than a hundred times, but we always managed to get back to the place we started from, it makes It much harder to get around when you cannot speak French. I will tell you about some of the places we went to while we were there in my next letter.
It Is pretty near supper time for us over here but it Is about eleven o’clock in the morning to you at home. I wish that I could be there for dinner. If we can keep the Germans moving back, perhaps we can all be home soon
Earl Boyd
Letter from Benjamin Smith 22 March 1919
What Company I did in the war 22 March 1919
Veteran of Washington County Tells Thrilling Story.
CALAIS, March 20 Private Benjamin A. Smith who has had 17 months and two weeks of exciting experiences with the American forces In France and Belgium has arrived at his home in this city. He was a member of that famous Company I “Washington County’s Own,’ Company I 103rd Infantry.
In telling his story he says: “Enlisting May 2. 1917, I went overseas In September, landing at La Havre, France. We then moved to a training area at LeFleur LaGrande. Our company was first engaged at Chemin Des Dames where we were entrenched with the Germans about a half a mile away. They kept sending over their big shells with their compliments of mustard gas at different intervals. Patrols were sent out from both sides and there were some exciting moments I can tell you.
We held the line there for about 14 days when we were relieved and then we went to Soissons to a training area. We were then sent to Appremont Forest to relieve Co. G, which had been heavily engaged with the Germans there. This also proved a very hot place for us, and the Germans never let up shelling with their heavy artillery and their supply of deadly gas seemed inexhaustible. We lost a lot of men there and many were also gassed. “We moved from there to the Toul sector where we were ordered to relieve the 104th Regiment of the 26lh Division and were two days under a galling artillery fire.
It was here that the Boche received the surprise of their lives. They evidently thought that most of the boys had been killed in the trenches which they so fiercely shelled but we had worked an old Indian trick on them, and when they sent over 800 of the flower of the German army, the much vaunted Prussian Guards, we were there, ready and waiting. It was indeed a thrilling sight to see those Prussians advancing with yells that could be heard above the intense roar of the guns intent upon destroying us. We calmly waited until they got in our wire and then we opened up with our machine guns and automatics.
There were 160 in our little band, and we were bound to drive them back or die in the attempt. We were mostly Down East boys, and we were imbued with the spirit of “Give me liberty or give me death.” The way we mowed those Prussian Guards was terrific, their dead and dying plied up in stacks with some hanging on the wire. Into the maw of death they plunged only to be killed and beaten back. The battle lasted eight and one-half hours and when the smoke cleared away, we had lost 60 men with others wounded. The enemy’s casualties was ten to our one. “Our commander wanted a German for information, and I was sent out into No Mans Land and brought in a wounded non-commissioned officer upon my back; right along side of him giving him water was an unwounded German who readily surrendered and I also brought him in. He gave me his silver watch for a souvenir. He said that fifteen of his comrades had been shot that morning because they refused to fight against the Americans. It was during the battle at the Toul sector that our Captain Roger Williams demonstrated to us what real bravery in battle meant. The enemy sent their liquid flame carriers ahead. Captain Williams, who was one of the first to notice them, grabbed a rifle and boldly shot the first three liquid burning carriers. Always In the lead Captain Williams would say “Boys never retreat, remember every step you take is a step ahead and we will soon have them on the run.” He was a dauntless fearless man and always inspired us with renewed courage. We had two sergeants, promoted to lieutenants for bravery on the field. They were Sergeants George Potter, and Sam Brown of Eastport. They were always in the lead of their men and did not know what fear meant.
“Our company was made up of true patriots, brave and fearless men and on account of their fighting ability was granted a citation. “We moved to Chateau Thierry, where we relieved the 6th and 6th Marines in Belleau Woods. The first town we captured was Torcey. and 76 of us were billeted in the only house in the town that hadn’t been hit by shell fire. Private Harry Sherman of Calais was wounded here, and was struck in the leg and stomach, and died after reaching the hospital from loss of blood. His brother Private Fred Sherman who was also a member of our company. was buried alive with two others in a dug-out on the Toul Sector at Xivray. I helped to dig them out and we buried them with military honors. Both were brave soldiers and a credit to their parents and their Country. They were the only two Calais soldiers to give their lives in the great war. In capturing that town we did not meet with very much resistance until we got close to it and then we received a baptism of machine gun fire that seemed to come from every direction. We quickly wiped out these nests of death and when the town was well in hand, we captured 29 prisoners and the rest had been killed, wounded and had retreated.
One young German who was captured said that he was glad that he was taken prisoner so that he could go back to New York where his brother is after the war is over. At Chatteau Thierry we started the big drive in the afternoon, and we captured town after town that had been held by the Germans for over three years. We got the Boche on the run and kept him going for 14 days enduring every hardship. Unshaven, with our clothes wet and muddy and almost done out with fatigue, and hunger–we carried on victoriously.
We travelled so fast that the food -supply trucks could not keep up to us and when they did we certainly did justice to what they handed out. One pretty French town in which the Germans were strongly entrenched was greatly admired by the French who revered the historic buildings and famous landmarks. It was here that several companies of French and Americans were unable to capture the town and were driven off with a heavy loss of life with many wounded. The French did not want the Americans to shell this town, but Captain Williams who was ever mindful of his men and who valued lives more than the sentiment attached to a pretty historic village insisted that the town be shelled before his men would be sent over.
He was congratulated by General Cole upon his good judgment, and the French were informed that no troops would go over unless they were preceded by artillery fire. At 3 o’clock our big guns opened up and the village was literally blown to bits. The Germans were caught in our maelstrom of death and destruction and paid the price. Not a whole building was standing and there were hundreds of machine guns with their gunners dead beside them. We were relieved by the 42nd (Rainbow) division which wrote “Victory” in letters of blood upon the now historic battlefields of France and Belgium.
After our rest period we went in for the St. Mihiel drive where it was comparatively easy going. We lost a few men in this drive, on account of the poor marksmanship of the Germans, and their willingness to cry “Kamerad, Kamerad. “Private James Driscoll, a well-known Calais boy was my comrade over there and we went through some tight places, and by his coolness and bravery lives to enjoy the freedom of Democracy, whose ideals we fought for over there. They like all the rest of the brave men of Co. I 103rd Infantry, deserve all the words of praise that can be said by a grateful people.
+ By the way I came very near, not getting over there to go through the big show, because I was rejected from Co. I the day before they sailed the examining physician said I had a bad heart. This, however, did not discourage me because I was bound to go over.
They sent me to Depot headquarters. I secured an absent without leave slip, and went again looking for Company I, which I knew had sailed. An officer told me that my company had left but that I would have to go over with the 104th, which was leaving the next day. I lost no time in connecting with that regiment and landed safely across to France. They discovered the ruse but concluded that they could use me and put me in the cook tent for a while, and afterwards transferred me to my original Company I Infantry, where I am glad to say 1 was able to do my bit.
I would not take a million dollars for my experience and I wouldn’t care to go through It again. Private Smith received a citation for blood transfusion. He bravely gave one quart and a half of his blood in an effort to save the life of his Buddy Sergeant Murphy of Connecticut. Sgt. Murphy died and was burled with full military honors due a brave soldier.
I had some very narrow escapes and I thought more than once that I would never see home again, he said. One particular occasion I was knocked flat to the ground from the concussion of a big shell and the wind was squelched completely out of me, and after what seemed a long time, I finally recovered my breath. Another time a piece of shrapnel struck me over the heart and penetrated through a package of Bull Durham tobacco, and through my clothing grazing the skin. – feel that I owe a lot to that friendly Bull Durham.
Letter from corporal Joseph Murphy company I 103rd infantry January 1945
Jerrold McGarrigle, who enlisted with Company I, and who has since been promoted from private to 2nd lieutenant and is now attached to company I. 352nd infantry is a brave soldier, a man among men and deserves the promotion that has been awarded him.
Private Frank Lowther is another Calais boy with Company I who went through some exciting experiences and came out tip top.
Sergeant Ralph Brown, Company I, a Woodland man who also went through the thickest of the fray has won a great victory for himself. He is now attending officers training school and is in line for further promotion.
Touching on his comrades that have paid the supreme sacrifice he states the Corporal Albert Mercer of company I. a Princeton man and his “buddy” was killed right near him on September 12th, the first day of the Saint Mihiel drive. An explosive bullet blew out his heart, closing the life of a brave and true soldier.
Private Fred Sherman Company I of Calais Maine was buried alive in a dugout when a big shell struck it during the battle of Xivray. His brother private Harry Sherman was killed in action during the third day of the Chateau Thierry drive. He was a member of my automatic squad. Both were brothers and brave soldiers, and a credit to their parents and the country they represented and for which they gave up their lives. They are the only two Calais heroes who paid the supreme sacrifice.