Jesse P. Brown Sr. World War One Journey

The documentation and photos described below were taken from the archives of the National records (NARA), the Armed Forces Personnel Records in St. Louis, and the archives of the US Army 7^th Infantry division library including a history of the 20^th Machine Gun Battalion.

There is also an excellent facebook page devoted to the 20^th and I gained much information from it.

Jesse reported for basic infantry training on June 27, 1918. He received $88.90 in base pay plus $6.15 in travel pay. He was probably at Camp McArthur (named for Doug’s father) in Waco TX.

His brother Lon enlisted at the same time but was not in this unit.

After completion of basic training, Private Brown and his battalion took a train to Erie Station in Cresskill NJ and arrived on July 25, 1918.

One of these guys is Private Jesse Brown! Low hat.

They were marched to Camp Merritt NJ to in-process to their unit.

At Camp Merritt, Jesse was added to the unit’s roster. I attached the whole roster to show that some soldier’s jobs were “horseshoer”, and “saddler.”

On July 30, 1918, Jesse and his company marched to Alpine landing and boarded the ferry to Hoboken NJ

Where’s Jess?

Jess and over 13,000 soldiers boarded the USS Leviathan bound for Brest France

Passenger manifest of USS Leviathan (Jess #133)

He departed Hoboken NJ on the USS Leviathan on August 3, 1918 and arrived in Brest France on August 11, 1918.

Taken from a journal of a fellow soldier on the voyage.

The weather was rough and they were in constant fear of German U-boat attacks.

They did not get a destroyer convoy to protect them until the end of the trip.

USS Leviathan

Note: The ship started life as the German ship Vaterland but was seized from Germany at the start of the war. It was used to transport troops back and forth from Hoboken to Brest.

In September of 1918, a month after Jess departed, there was an outbreak of Spanish Flu in Cresskill NJ. Camp Merritt was overwhelmed. 578 people died, and the camp remained in quarantine for the rest of the war. Some infected men managed to get on the USS Leviathan. 2000 got sick on the voyage to France and 80 troops died. Some of the infected soldiers were on the fourth tier of bunks. The nurses could not climb up to treat them and the men were too sick to climb down. Some died in their bunks that way. If only we had Fauci back then!

In 1919 (after the war was over) there was a young US Navy crewmember on the Leviathan named Humphrey Bogart. Jess took the SS Great Northern back home but the Leviathan was heading back at the same time.

Jesse arrived in Brest to Camp Pontanezen on August 11, 1918.

The 20^th MGB took a train from Brest to Pont St. Vincent and arrived at 0600 hrs on September 29^th, 1918. They were then marched west in the pouring rain to nearby Lagney (near Toul, west of Nancy). The entire battalion remained at Lagney until 0800 on October 5, 1918, when they were marched to Bois L’Eveque. On October 7, at 0230, they were woken up and marched to Montauville (2km west of Pont-a-Mousson) to relieve the 349^th MGB of the 90^th Division. On Oct 8, the 7^th ID picked up the combat duties in the Puvenelle Sector.

Puvenelle Sector today (using Preny and Jauly as a reference)

They still find unexploded ordinance in this area!

On October 10, Jess and Company A took up a reserve position in Jezainville.

On October 18, Co A moved from Jezainville to the support position in Bois le Pretrte (just SE of Vilcey-sur-trey).

On November1, CoA moves north into the outpost position (the front lines) at Bois des Rappes.

On Nov. 4, CoA is relieved from the outpost position and the next day move into support position in Bois Gerard & Bois d’Heiche.

On November 10, CoA moved to Bois St. Claude

Company A geared up to launch a massive offensive into the town of Metz which was going to begin on November 11, 1918 at 2:00PM.

However, at 1100 that day, the armistice was declared and the guns went silent on the Western Front.

Note: Most of the “Bois” locations are best seen on the 7^th ID map highlighted in yellow

War is Over!

The entire 20^th MGB was assembled at St Jean on November 15 and remained there until January 20, 1919. They were tasked with efforts to locate and bury the bodies of the dead, salvage equipment, complete/update records. These duties continued until May 11, 1919, when they were ordered to make preparations to return to the United States. They departed by train through Neafchateau, Dijon, Bourges, Tours, and Lemans. It was spring in central France and the soldiers were enjoying life.

They arrived in Brest on June 7, 1919 to a much changed Camp Pontanezen

On June 11, 1919 at 6:00 PM, Jess and Company A boarded the USS Great Northern. The next day, the rest of the battalion boarded and they cast off for home. Jess and his Company entered New York harbor early in the morning of June 19, 1919 and docked in Hoboken NJ. Can you imagine sailing by the Statue of Liberty after all they had been through?

Jess # 131

From there it was back to Camp Merritt, and a train to Camp Bowie (near Ft. Worth TX) where he was honorably discharged from the US Army on June 27, 1919

Jess’s VA record