3 Minute History: Joseph William Guyton

1917 portrait of Private Joseph William Guyton.

7 June 2019

Detroit, MI, USA

Joseph William Guyton.

Private Joseph William Guyton.

These names have continued to appear over and over through various avenues of research I have been doing regarding World War I. Until a few months ago I had never put together how they relate to my home state of Michigan and even more local history in my hometown, Detroit. Then it suddenly clicked, thanks to Google Maps.

In 1917 Joseph William Guyton was drafted into the United States Army. A native of Evart, Michigan, Guyton spent most of young life as a farmer and well driller. Because he had a daughter, Olive, he could have opted out of service. However he chose to serve as ordered.

Newspaper clipping. 1918.

On May 15, 1918, Private Guyton's unit, the 126th Infantry Regiment was placed in combat operations along the front lines in trenches commanded by French forces in the Alsace region, which has historically alternated between French and German rule. At the time of World War I, this was German land. While manning a machine gun post, Guyton fired on Germans approaching his position. Shortly after midnight on May 24, 1918, Private Guyton became the first American killed on German soil in a 20th Century-World War.

As this land had been fought over between the French and Germans for centuries, the loss of American life to reclaim the region in the name of France, was widely celebrated. He was quickly buried in a nearby church yard and on the following day, the French Commander of the unit issued the following order during presentation of the Croix De Guerre:

Divisional Order No. 297 General Gamelin, Comannding the 9th Infantry Division, "The soldier, Joseph W. Guyton, of the 126th American Infantry Regiment, 'on guard in the first line was killed by a machine gun bullet. He is the first soldier of the 32nd American Division to fall fighting for the cause of right and liberty on Aiscian soil, beside his French comrades."

Michigan Historical Site marker. Evart, Michigan.

His name was relatively obscure in America as the toll of Soldier Dead passed 100,000 as 1918 continued. As the Graves Registration Service (GRS) processed and prepared remains for permanent burial overseas, or shipment back to the US, the sacrifice of Private Guyton became more recognized and his remains were isolated for special recognition. The willingness to step onto hostile enemy territory and die is not new in the world of war. But for a budding world power like the United States, stories and heroes like Joseph Guyton were important for building the nationalistic view of glory in death on the battlefield.

At a funeral in Hoboken, New Jersey honoring the remains of 5,000 Americans returning home for final burial, President Harding placed a commemorative wreath on Private Guyton's coffin. He spoke the following:

"In the name of the republic, I bestow this tribute on the casket of the first soldier who perished on the soil of the enemy...I chose it because I am offering the tribute to the one returned whose death on enemy soil marked the day when our civilization went face forward and the assault on our present day civilization knew it had failed. May 24, 1918, is the date on which the soldier was killed, and the name is that of Joseph W. Guyton, Comany I of the 126th Infantry, a resident patriot and hero of the State of Michigan of the United States of America." 

-President Warren G. Harding

Joseph Guyton Elementary School, Detroit. 1921

Private Guyton's body returned to the tiny town of Evart, Michigan for burial. Accounts of the time claim that more than 10,000 people showed up to pay their respects to him on June 5, 1921. That is an impressive hosting effort for a town of only 1,500 people! Guyton was laid to final rest after a tribute from his daughter Olive.

Joseph Guyton Elementary School, Detroit. 2019
Photo by Chris Monroe

While Private Guyton was celebrated in death, his name and legacy with the unfortunate distinction as the first American killed in action on German soil meant his name would be attached to a litany of public facilities. In his hometown of Evart the American Legion post and city park are named after him. Here in Detroit's Jefferson Chalmers Neighborhood, Guyton Elementary School was named after him. It opened in 1921 and closed in 2009. It is currently awaiting redevelopment.

I have driven by Guyton Elementary School more than a dozen times and never put the name with the well known man whose story I already knew. Schools and other public facilities are often named after historical figures with local or national recognition. These places are named after people for a reason and it is always interesting to learn the story behind the names carved in stone.

Chris

D-Day + 75 Years

June 6, 2019

D-Day + 75 Years

Detroit, MI, USA

On the left is the grave of Col. Ollie W. Reed. On the right is the grave of his son, 1LT Ollie W. Reed Jr. The elder Reed died 30 July 1944 during the Battle of Normandy. He never knew that his son had died 24 days earlier in Italy. Colonel Reed's wife found out about the death of her husband and her son on the same day. The family requested that they be buried next to each other. They lie next to each other in Plot E at the Normandy American Cemetery.
Photo by Chris Monroe

I have spent the better part of a month trying to put my thoughts about the 75th anniversary of Operation Neptune (D-Day Landings) and Operation Overlord (Invasion and Liberation of Normandy) in this blog space, but I have failed to press "publish." If you have read this blog before, you know I have a "no backspace" policy. I don't write for others to enjoy, but for me to have a place to freely release my (generally over-emotional) thoughts and to share a little historical insight with others. But I have found it hard for me to write this piece so freely.

As you know by now, I spent more than three years living in Europe, stationed in Germany with the US Army. As an avid and passionate student of history, the opportunity to travel among the scarred grounds of Europe's centuries of warfare provided endless opportunities for exploration. I spent weeks at a time traveling through every corner of battlefields young and old, learning everything I could. I would drive through the night for the opportunity to talk to a museum curator or to explore a field where there had previously been a machine gun bunker. But the greatest experience was talking to the men and women who were a part of creating the moments that changed the course of history. 

Flags of allied nations in Normandy. There were 13 countries
with troops on the ground on D-Day with financial and
logistical support coming from more than 25 countries in total.
Photo from Wikimedia

This years' D-Day commemoration is almost certainly the final large-scale numerical anniversary gathering of veterans of the Battle of Normandy. Those that were 18 years old in 1944 are now 93 years old. Yet thousands from around the globe are gathering this week in Normandy to recall their historic efforts, and honor the fallen. June 6, 2019 is not just an American commemoration. The Battle of Normandy was not only the largest invasion and liberation in the history of modern warfare, it was quite possibly the last time that a worldwide collection of nations formed a coalition for battle on moral and ethical principles above political objectives. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of politics in play, however the 13 countries with forces involved in the Invasion of Normandy, and the dozens more that provided support, were very much aware of the moral obligation to defeat the extremism of Nazi Germany.

I had the fortunate opportunity to travel to Normandy on five occasions. When I was not playing tour guide for visiting family or friends, I was exploring the areas beyond the tourist choked museums and flag-draped coastal towns. In these places I found incredible places and people that quietly keep watch over the Normandy battlefields and cemeteries.

American Servicemembers killed in the Battle of Normandy
during June and July 1944 are interred at the Brittany American
Cemetery near Saint-James, France.
Photo by Chris Monroe

On one of my trips to Normandy in 2016 I was introduced by a battlefield archaeologist to a friend of his, an 86-year-old French lady named Alice. She lives in Normandy, not far from Brittany American Cemetery. She spends most Sundays after church walking among the graves. During each visit she prays a rosary over the graves of three American soldiers, imparting prayers on their souls and their surviving families. She told me that she has been doing this for more than 40 years, because she was a young girl during the Battle of Normandy and she remembers the terror of the battle going on around her family's farm and their relief at the sight of Americans as their farm was liberated. When I crunched the rough numbers in my head, I realized this means she has prayed over every single cross and star in the cemetery as well as every name on the wall of the missing (4,908 total). She said her prayers were answered as a little girl and that she owes a debt of gratitude to every interred and memorialized American. I could not help but have a moment of emotion in appreciation for her patriotic passion and give her a hug. I don't know what happened to Alice after our 2016 encounter. But I hope she is living her best life in Saint-James. Vive la liberté!

Operation Overlord progression map. Despite getting on set on
the beach on June 6 1944, it was more than a month before they
established a secure foothold in Normandy. The city of Caen is
9 miles from the water, and was not taken until early July.
Illustration by VOX

On another trip I stopped by one of the most famous American war commemorations in the world, the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. I struck up a conversation with a man admiring a statue at the center of the memorial.He was an American World War II veteran named Jerome. He was originally from New York but moved to Vermont after the war. He was a radio operator who scaled the cliffs of Point du Hoc in support of the 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions. Unknown to Jerome, his brother (I forgot his name) had landed on Omaha Beach with the 1st Infantry Division, just a couple miles down the coast. His brother was killed while attempting to move off the beach. He reminded me that beyond June 6, many men died in the weeks that followed just trying to establish a foothold inland.

This is the statue I was admiring when I met Jerome.
It is appropriately named "Spirit of American Youth
Rising from The Waves.
Photo by Chris Monroe

Jerome told me he had cancer and wanted to come visit his brother's grave for the first and last time before he died. I was unsure what to say to this man. I had simply struck a conversation about the beautiful sculpture at the front of the pond, and now I was face to face with a hero of this battle. Again I was overcome with emotion. Noticing I was struggling to keep myself together, he commented on my US Army Veteran hat, changing the subject and asking about my military service. In my mind I'm thinking "EXCUSE ME!! You are 100 times the bad ass Soldier I could ever dream of becoming. I am not worthy to even shine your boots, and yet you want to learn about me!?" Jerome's honor exemplifies everything that his generation embodied. They went to do a job and they did it without expectations of praise or parades. 

Every June we provide praise and thank them endlessly for their sacrifices 75 years ago. We must make sure though that we thank them not just in words, but in actions. We have to live every day as a nation embodying the ideals of freedom and liberty that they fought for. If we do not, then what was the purpose of their sacrifice?

"You are the pride of our nation, you are the glory of the republic, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts." - President Trump, 6/6/2019

I am thankful for the opportunity to have met Alice and Jerome along my travels. I will share some more stories of Normandy soon. Every single trip to Normandy was special for me and I am still itching to go back again soon. There are many stories that deserve to be told. I would love to continue to meet the people who had a firsthand account of the history as it happened in June and July 1944.

Chris

There are 9,388 burials at Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. 307 of these commemorate "Unknowns." There are an additional 1,557 honored on the Wall of the Missing.
Photo by Chris Monroe

Precious Few: WWII Vets Dying, Their Stories Will Not

This former school building served as the home of Supreme Headquarters
Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), commanded by GEN Dwight D.
Eisenhower. It was in this building that the German delegation offered
unconditional surrender to the American and British, ending hostilities
major hostilities in WWII. Surrender to the Soviet Union followed on May 8.
Photo by Chris Monroe

7 May, 2018
Detroit, Michigan

I have spent a lot of time recently writing about World War One, as the world is busy honoring the 100th anniversary of the end of combat this coming November. But today and tomorrow mark the final days of World War Two in the European Theater, 73 years ago. So I decided to take a few minutes to give my thoughts about the rapid loss of personal connection to this war.

It is the reality of the linear way in which we understand time. Generations pass, and with it go the memories and the stories both told and untold of another generation. It just so happens however, that the generation we are losing at the fastest rate now is of the finest. Tom Brokaw called them "The Greatest Generation." This title would be hard to argue. The oldest generation living today in our country managed through the great depression, fought against tyranny and fascism during WWII, and came home to work in cities like Detroit and Chicago, developing a great concept called "the middle class" along the way. They forged a character of unquestionable integrity based on experiences in epic economic, political, and military battles that dwarf the "crises" we often complain about in our world today.

Grave marker of  CPL Frank Buckles, the last American
 veteran of WWI in Arlington National Cemetery.
Photo: Wikipedia

It is not uncommon for war veterans to live incredibly long lives, and outlive the public familiarity with the war in which they fought. In 2011, Frank Buckles died at the age of 110 years old. He was the oldest surviving veteran of WWI. He lived 93 years beyond the end of the first conflict that featured airplanes and tanks. In the last decade of his life, as people found it hard to believe that anyone remained from this seemingly ancient conflict, interest arose in documenting the first hand accounts of his experiences in WWI. So three times after his 100th birthday, he was recorded as part of the Veterans History Project, giving his first hand account of the years 1914-1918.

Now, as we recognize the 73rd anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe and later this summer in Asia, it is hard not to look forward to two years from now: the 75th anniversary, or the 80th anniversary in 2023. How many from the WWII generation will remain? What are we doing to document and learn from their experiences?

The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that nearly 400 WWII Soldiers die each day, with less than 400,000 remaining in all from the 16 million (nearly 1 out of 8 citizens) that served during the war. There is a very good chance that there will be very few WWII veterans to see the 80th anniversary in 2023. That means that there is precious time for us to engage with them about their experiences, and record their stories.

My Mother-In-Law often asks me if I ever get tired of war documentaries.  It is quite an understandable question. In fact I frequently do get bored with them. Many people call the History channel the "Hitler Channel" because for years they aired the same WWII content over and over again (and it seems that now they have given up on history all together)! But it is thanks to many of the more recently documented stories that we are getting new accounts of heroism from WWII. These new perspectives open up new avenues for discussion and study of the events of that period. Many who survived the war took their stories to their graves out of respect for those around them who died. It is often after their passing that correspondence discussing their experiences, or their family's recollections of discussions with their patriarchs, that spawns interest anew.

But there is another dynamic at play here. As much as I love a well researched original documentary, I have been very critical of Hollywood's portrayal of war. I can hardly watch depictions of the Global War on Terrorism (Iraq/Afghanistan). I have seen the inside of war and the depictions on the silver screen are usually either grossly over-exaggerated or focused on the wrong points in their story lines. However, the Hollywood depictions play an important role in telling the public about the stories of the men and women that have the guts to volunteer to go to war. Even if they may be exaggerated, it gets people thinking and talking about the wars and the people that played a role in them. The story of Desmond Doss was known among many history gurus and Army veterans like myself. But it was not until it received critical acclaim in the award winning film "Hacksaw Ridge" that the average American heard or cared about the very real events portrayed in the film. Similarly, although everyone knows about D-Day, it was Stephen Spielberg's depiction of the events in Saving Private Ryan that spurred so much interest in the amphibious assault on the beaches of Normandy that a new visitor center was opened by the American Battle Monuments Commission.

Whether it is through dinner table discussions with a WWII veteran in your family or circle of friends, or if it comes through internet research, books, and movies...I highly encourage you to learn something new about a veteran of WWII. There are stories out there that need to be told. I suggest starting with We Were There (Available on Amazon). World War II was not just about Pearl Harbor, Hitler, or The Holocaust. For every major name or battle or story line, there are human beings with a story to tell. I bet you would enjoy listening to a couple of them!

Chris

Digging Holes to Modern Warfare

Yorkshire Trench and Dug Out Ypres, Belgium
The development of rifles and machine guns led to trench warfare. This lead
to developments of aircraft and tanks as the war raged on.
Photo by Chris Monroe

25 April, 2018

Detroit, MI, USA

Perhaps one of the reasons World War I is somewhat forgotten in our minds today is the result of the slow pace of battle. The Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War lasted just 3 days and contained enough points of historical significance to fill volumes of books. During World War II the famous Battle of the Bulge lasted just six weeks. By comparison many of the battles of WWI played out over the span of several months or years. Often, they never had a clear outcome as much as they just fizzled out after a stalemate. The reality is that without the ability to delineate a neat and orderly timeline for historical events, we tend to lose the ability to commit to memory the names of people and places that make history happen. So, what caused the slow pace of battle during WWI? Two words: modern warfare.

For 200 years prior to WWI, land armies across Europe fought each other in roughly organized lines of ranks and files. In fact, terms like "front line" and "line infantry" come from this outdated style of battle. Literally people lined up in rows and exchanged volleys of musket fire with their enemies just yards away. Sounds fun, right?!?

To the front-line infantryman, the result of advancements in barrel rifling in the late 1800's increased marksmanship. In addition to the improved range, new rifles with breach loading capabilities meant that soldiers could fire more rounds in a shorter time. This was the single biggest advancement for the foot soldier in more than two centuries. However, it also meant his enemy was just as lethal, and as a result there was a need for more protection. Whereas the line soldier had previously relied on the inaccuracy of his enemy to stay alive, now he had to find reliable protective cover. The advancements in these individual weapons also lead to increased lethality of crew served machine guns. Over the previous 50 years, the development of more reliable machine guns led military strategists to look at protective measures as a means of survival.

Yorkshire Trench. Ypres, Belgium
The hole in the steel plate allowed a British
sniper to stay protected while firing.
Photo by Chris Monroe

The answer to the need for more protection was right below their feet. The seeds of trench warfare were planted in the American Civil War and the Crimean Wars, where earthen barriers and hastily dug trenches were used to protect personnel. As lines were drawn along the Western Front in World War I, trenches became not only a means of protection and survival, but at the same time a pretty good measure of certain death.

The first WW1 trenches were linear systems simply designed to get a soldier out of the direct line of fire. Howeve, with more accurate artillery fire thanks to standardized shells and improved mathematics, soldiers were no longer safe just by being underground. So, if you got out of the trench you would be shot. If you stayed in the trench you could be blown up. What's more, both sides decided to use chemical weapons along the western front. On April 22, 1915 chemical weapons made their introduction. The use of gas canisters first by the Germans, then by the British lead to all hell breaking loose in the trenches. More than 90,000 died and more than 1 million were injured due to the use of chemical weapons during WWI. Not so fun fact: A Belgian Army lab currently disarms 5 gas shells a day recovered from the remains of the western front. They currently have a 30-year inventory of shells to disarm!

Yorkshire Trench. Ypres, Belgium
This system of "duckboard" helped improve conditions in the
trenches. In addition to allowing water to flow under the
boards, the upside down A-frame helped support the walls.
Photo by Chris Monroe

As the war progressed engineers developed more sophisticated designs for trenches. Instead of straight lines, the trenches were designed to absorb artillery blasts. By building a series of curves and cutbacks, soldiers could survive an incoming attack thanks to the walls absorbing the majority of the impact. Protective rooms with seals to prevent against gas attacks were built. Some trenches were build with duckboards to allow water to drain underneath. In the end more than 25,000 miles of trenches were dug along the Western front. They stretched from the Northern coast of Belgium all the way down to Switzerland in the South.

With the perfect development of the airplane, wars will be only an incident of past ages. -Edward Burhart, Mayor of Dayton Ohio, 1909

As with all great civilian engineering achievements, it is the goal of the military man to bastardize the invention for the purpose of killing. Call it advantageous engineering. WWI saw the first use of the airplanes and gasoline motorized vehicles for fighting purposes.

In 1905, only two years after the Wright Brothers' first flight of a fixed wing aircraft in Kitty Hawk North Carolina that they contracted with the US Army for airplanes to be built for observation and surveillance. When WWI began it became clear very early on that the increased firepower of modern armies would rule out the effectiveness of conventional horse mounted cavalry. In 1914 a French pilot used a machine gun mounted on the front of his plane to take down a German reconnaissance plane. From there the rest is history. The weaponization of aircraft was fought by many, but ultimately could not be stopped. One could argue that aircraft development happened faster than any other field of development in modern warfare.

Great Britain and France were the first to build the massive machines of war that we now today call "tanks." They are so named because in an effort to keep their real use a secret, the British claimed that they were actually mobile water tanks.  In reality they were designed to move across the dreaded no mans land between the trenches and take out the enemy on the other side. However, the need for the tank to develop was far ahead of the actually ability of the technology and designs of the time. On 15 September, 1916 tanks went in to battle for the first time. Although they were effective in combat in no mans land, the tank would not make it's truly triumphant appearance in major conflict until World War II.

Somme American Cemetery. Bony, France
Even helmet technology advanced during World War I. This
is a stylized America helmet dating from 1917.
Photo by Chris Monroe

It was the slow pace of the war with a lack of steadily moving armies that makes our minds struggle to pay attention to WWI. But it was this stalemate that lead innovators to look at what it would take to make it in to the enemies trench. One could argue that the inventions in modern warfare that resulted from the dragging battles of 1914 to 1918 are still having a great impact on our world today. We are constantly in an arms race for bigger and faster and more expensive military machinery. Whereas battlefield tactics won wars in past generations, now we look to win wars with technology. This is another example of World War One's continuing impact on our current state

of world affairs.

Chris

Notes:

-To learn more about Trench construction check out this blog post.