When my grandfather, Verne Russell, left for France on February 27, 1918, he had already served one enlistment in the United States Army. He re-enlisted in late 1917. When he boarded the "Agamemnon" in Hoboken NJ he was a 24-year-old Corporal with Company C, Fifth Field Battalion, Signal Corps. The battalion arrived at Camp Merritt, New Jersey from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas on February 23rd, and left for Brest, France on February 27.
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| Photo of Verne Russell. From my mother's files. |
The Agamemnon ship manifest below shows Verne on line 196. According to records I’ve found, the Agamemnon travelled in convoy with the “Mt. Vernon” and the “America” along with the cruiser escort, the “Seattle.”
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Ship Manifest for the Agamemnon. February 27, 1918. From Ancestry.com: The National Archives at College Park, Maryland; Lists of Outgoing Passengers, 1917-1938.
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Below is a description of the journey from "History of the Third Division United States Army in the World War for the Period December 1, 1917 to January 1, 1919."
No special incident marked the journey, the weather being pleasant and the sea smooth. One member of company "C" died at sea on March 5th. On March 8th the cruiser "Seattle" escorting the convoy, fired on what was taken for a submarine, but which turned out to be nothing more than a sportively inclined porpoise. This caused a ripple of excitement, but it quickly passed, and the peaceful tenor of the journey was resumed.Saturday noon, March 9th, a fleet of ten destroyers picked up the convoy and escorted it to the port of Brest, France, whence it dropped anchor at 12.00- noon.The battalion disembarked at 12.30 P. M. March 11th, 1918, and marched to Pontanezen Barracks, Brest, France, where a rest of four days was granted to recover from the effects of the journey across the Atlantic, and for the men to recover their land legs, likewise to disengage themselves of any nautical language annexed on the long journey.
And, finally, here's a photo of the Agamemnon, found here: Via http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/1217300412.jpg
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Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken in 1918-1919, showing the ship in port. Donation of Terri D. Lewis, 2005. Naval Historical Center photo NH 103101
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I have written before about my grandfather, Verne Russell, and I hope to write more this year, about him and my other grandfather, Sam Adams, and about my husband's grandfather, Albert Sesma. They all served in the U.S. Army 100 years ago during World War 1. You can read my story about Verne Russell and the letter he wrote to his sister from a hospital in France in December 1918. Here's a link to that post.
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