The Grandfathers. World War 1. PART TWO--ALBERT SESMA.

Albert Sesma. July 1918 — May 1919. Post-War to Death in 1936.

    I’ve come to realize that I could study the events of the Summer and Fall of 1918 and never be able to fully understand them, much less describe them. Still, the study of our three grandfathers' WW1 service has helped me understand it better. I also fully expect that as soon as I think I am finished, I will find some new records about the grandfathers.

   Officially, the United States military had been in Europe for a year and in combat since October 1917. For our grandfathers, their families, and all the millions like them, The Great War, the War to End All Wars — was life altering. The Great War killed millions of people. And killed the hopes and dreams of the millions who loved them. The altered lives of the survivors and their future generations can barely be measured.

   So here we go. The rest of the grandfathers' World War 1 Army service stories, as I know them right now as we approach the 100th anniversary of 11-11-18.

ALBERT SESMA

   At the beginning of July 1918, Albert Sesma must have been at or on his way to Camp Kearny in southern California. This is not recorded on any of the records I have, but we know he was with the 40th Division and we know the 40th trained at Camp Kearny.

Albert Sesma, undated photo.

  I requested Albert Sesma’s military records from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC of the National Archives) in 2012. At that point, I already had a photo of his gravestone that said he was a “Veteran of Foreign Wars.” I knew of this photo of him in uniform and had his WW1 registration card record from Ancestry (see previous post.) Over the years, I’ve acquired records about Albert such as census and city directories and even his death certificate. But today, I still don’t know much about Albert between his birth and his draft registration in 1917. 

Albert and Maria Sesma's gravestone. Santa Clara Mission Cemetery, Santa Clara, CA

   NPRC found and sent me Albert's final payment record which listed his “date of acceptance of enlistment or place of receipt of notice for duty” as June 26, 1918. Looking back, I’m tempted to be embarrassed that I didn’t pay more attention in 2012 to the notation that he was a private with the 115th Ammunition Train, 40th Division of the U.S. Army. The pay record also gave his service number but it didn’t seem to help with searching records. On the other hand, I don’t feel quite as bad now that I know the transport records I found in 2018 weren’t digitized and indexed until 2017. And therein lies a lesson about genealogy: Never give up.

Here's the final payment records I received. He is on lines 3 and 4. I've cropped and enlarged the images below. 

Albert Sesma, final pay record.

Cropped/enlarged portion of above page. Shows Albert as private with the 115th Ammunition Train and that he enlisted June 26, 1918 at Hanford, Calif.

Albert Sesma, final pay record. Mostly interesting because of his signature and to see his pay of $97.10

Cropped/enlarged section of above page.

The 40th Division Training and Albert's Movement to France

  The 40th Division was known as "The Sunshine Division." Their insignia was a golden sun superimposed on a blue circle. The 40th Division as organized in September 1917 was composed of units from the National Guard from various southwestern states — California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. Maj. Gen. Frederick S. Strong commanded the division from the time of its organization.

   They trained at Camp Kearny in San Diego. In classic family history irony, Mike and his family would live less than 10 miles away starting in 1959. I don’t think Albert’s son (Mike’s father Ramon Albert) ever knew his father had trained there. Camp Kearny would become the Miramar Air Station, shared at times by the Navy and Marines. The famous Top Gun training was located there — think of the movie “Top Gun.”

   After training at Camp Kearny, according to my research, the first units embarked for overseas on August 7, 1918 and the last units arrived in France on August 28th, 1918. Albert's transport sheets tell us he left Brooklyn on the "Briton" on August 15. My research indicates they usually landed at Liverpool, made their way by train to Southampton and then left for France. (These are hard to read here so I hope the cropped images will help.) 

Albert Sesma, leaving Brooklyn on the Briton, August 15, 1918, with the 40th Division, 115th Ammunition Train.

Cropped/enlarged top of above form.

Cropped/enlarged section showing Albert as Pvt with Company A, with mother Dolores as contact.

   The page below is sheet 5 of 6 pages of a "roster" of Company A, 115th Ammunition Train, 40th Division leaving Southampton aboard the "SS Charles" on August 24, 1918. Sheet 1 of the roster lists Caption Norman L. Myers who was captain of Company A and is also listed on transport sheets when Verne returns in 1919. The six pages for Company A list 136 names. Albert is on line 115.

Transport record of the SS Charles, August 24, 1918, leaving Southampton for France.

Albert Sesma, Pvt, Co. A, Dolores Sesma, Hanford, California

   Upon arrival in France the division was made a "replacement division" and was ordered to La Guerche (Cher) and became the 6th Depot Division. The division was then broken up and its personnel were used as replacements for combat divisions at the front. According to one source, Albert’s 115th Ammunition Train operated with the 65th Field Artillery Brigade and the Horse Battalion and Motor Section were detached further.   

   None of the various unit histories I've read have helped me figure out exactly where Albert spent his time between August 1918 and his return in 1919. However, both his outgoing and incoming transport records list him with Company A, 115th Ammunition Train, 40th Division. I noted that Captain Norman L. Myers is listed on both transport records. So it's possible that Albert was not used as a replacement in another unit. I found only four names of men from the 115th Ammunition Train when I searched the ABMC (American Battle Monuments Commission) site. Clearly they had lower casualties than some divisions, but even they had casualties. 

   I'll always wish I could find more, but I guess I'll have to be satisfied that at least we know he really did go to France; as his gravestone claimed. We can guess that as a member of an "ammunition train" he probably helped with moving ammunition to the front and then after the Armistice, they were likely tasked with "removing" it. Perhaps they assisted with transporting troops back to ships for return home. Without his personal records, it’s hard to say where Albert Sesma spent the time after arriving in and then departing from France. However, now that I have these transport records at least we now know he was in France. 

    According to the histories, most of the 40th Division returned home by February 1919 but for some reason the 115th Ammunition Train, and particularly Albert's Company A did not leave until June 1919. The transport record I found shows Company A left France from Bordeaux on the transport ship Scranton on 7 June 1919, arriving in Hoboken on 19 June 1919. It’s likely Albert took a train across the country to return to California. And thanks to the three pages received from NPRC, we know he made it to the Presidio in San Francisco to be paid and discharged on 30 June 1919. 

Return to the States transport record on the Scranton, June 7, 1919, from Bordeaux, France

Cropped/Englarged section of above transport record.

   Sometime after his return, Albert met Maria Chavez, probably in Fresno, California.  Their children Evelyn, Ramon, and Dolores were born in 1921, 1925, and 1927 in Fresno and San Jose California. Evelyn died in July 1935 from "acute rheumatic fever and septicemia" and then Albert died on December 25, 1936 at age 43 of “acute indigestion, acute cardiac event.” 

   It's tempting to think Albert may have died from a literal broken heart. For sure he left behind the broken hearts of Maria and his young son and daughter who were still grieving the loss of Evelyn. Somehow they carried on. Albert's son, Ramon Albert (Mike's father) would join the U.S. Navy in 1943 and serve for 34 years. He died in 1985. Dolores died in 1989. Maria was struck by a car in January 1959 and died from her injuries.

Albert Sesma, undated, with daughter Evelyn.