George Rutherfurd's WWI Trench Art

I recently had a nice visit with my youngest brother, and the subject of our great-grandfather, George Rutherfurd, came up in conversation.  My brother is one of the few regular readers of my blog (thank you!) and shares an interest in family history.  We were admiring a photo of George and the 411th Telegraph Battalion, when my brother told me that he now owns one of George's souvenirs from his service in World War I.  Later, he sent me a photo of this unusual item.  It's a piece of "trench art" made from a shell casing.

I had never seen anything like this and had never heard of trench art.  What was this, exactly?  I consulted Google. On the website trenchart.org (which quotes heavily from Jane Kimball's book, Trench Art: An Illustrated History), I found the following description:

Pieces described as trench art have the following distinctly different origins:

1. War souvenirs collected by soldiers or non-combatants during the war and during the demobilization period and modified in some way to serve as a remembrance of the war.
2. Souvenirs crafted by soldiers during the war.
3. Souvenirs made for sale to soldiers by other soldiers or civilians during the war.
4. Souvenirs made by prisoners of war in exchange for food, cigarettes or money.
5. Mementoes of the war made by convalescent soldiers.
6. Post-war souvenirs made for tourists visiting the battlefields.
7. Post-war souvenirs made by commercial firms in trench-art style.

My brother was able to tell me a little more about George's unique piece of trench art and the engravings on the shell itself give hints as to its place and year of origin.

A Canon de 75 Modele 1897 in use in World War I. [source]

The shell has been hammered into a vase or tall drinking cup.  It reads, "1918 St. Mihiel."  As readers of this blog know, George Rutherfurd was one of the first Americans to enter the French town of St. Mihiel after it was bombarded by German forces in September 1918.  During his time there, he either bought or was given this piece of trench art.  My brother says he was told that the St. Mihiel villagers made this and other items of trench art with the shell casings that littered their town after the battle.

The bottom of George's piece of trench art is marked with the following information: 75 DE C MGM 449L 1/ USA.  I've been doing a lot of reading about the markings on shell casings to see what this might mean.  The best that I can tell, this is a 75mm De Campagne (or "field gun") shell.  It was almost certainly shot by a Canon de 75 Model 1897, a fast-acting piece of artillery commonly in use by the French Army and American Expeditionary Forces in World War I.  The letters MGM should refer to the maker of the shell.  I think this might mean it was made by Metropolitan Gas Meter Co., which was an English company.  However, it clearly says USA, so perhaps not.  If an expert on trench art happens upon this post, I'd love more information.

This image from WWI shows a mounted Canon de 75 Modele 1897 field gun in action. [source]

The people of St. Mihiel had experienced the full force of war and their town was heavily damaged.  Yet, whether out of the simple need to make money or the desire to transform something ugly into something beautiful, someone in St. Mihiel created this unique item.  It then traveled from France to New Jersey, through the Panama Canal, to San Francisco, to Los Angeles, and finally to George Rutherfurd's last home in San Diego County.  My brother now owns a World War I shell casing, nearly a century after it fell on St. Mihiel.

George Rutherfurd: Coming Home

This is the sixth post in a series about my great-grandfather, George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd.

George Rutherfurd

World War I was drawing to a close, but its biggest battle was still on the horizon.  George Rutherfurd and the other members of the 411th Telegraph Battalion were in eastern France setting up the communications network necessary to support the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.  Again, I'll quote from "Memories of the 411th Telegraph Battalion In the World War Here and 'Over There'" by C.H. Moore to illuminate George's experience.

On September 24th our Battalion began the construction of a ten wire lead from Bois Foucheres through Recicourt in a northwesterly direction to the edge of the Forest de Hesse, and by working every available minute of daylight, hauling and distributing material at night, had completed the lead to the edge of the forest which was just behind the German front lines during the night of the 25th.  (p. 107)

From there, the lines were extended to Avocourt.  All of this was accomplished on a very tight schedule and in challenging conditions.

The building of this lead across the old "no-man's land" north of Avocourt through the Forest de Montfaucon to the "water-hold" south of Montfaucon, constituted a task which tried our men to the very limit of physical endurance.  Performing the very hardest kind of work in lugging materials long distances over shell torn fields and woods heavy with mud and water, covered with almost continual rain, sleeping in recently evacuated German dugouts filthy with vermin and rats, living on scant food owing to difficulty in bringing up supplies, subject to scattering shell fire in the day time and air raids at night, these men accomplished results worth enough to be chronicled alongside of the many brilliant exploits further to the front in that long battle. (p. 107-108)

George was fortunate that his role as an officer kept him out of rat-filled trenches.  He often went ahead of other members of the Battalion, driven in a motorcycle sidecar, drawing out a route for the communications and relaying those plans back to the Battalion.  At night, he and his driver sought rooms in local villages and relied on townspeople to feed them.  Sometimes, they went through villages that had been reduced to rubble in battle.  In one of these towns, a church had been bombed.  George found a register of village marriages and births in the ruins, and took it with him so it would not be destroyed by the elements.  It took some years after the war ended to get it back to the village, but George managed to do so.  I like to think some French genealogists have been very happy to find that not all records from that area were destroyed in the war.

Telephone lines built by the 411th before and during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive

The Allied forces were victorious in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, and on November 11, 1918, Armistice was declared.  The members of the 411th were jubilant at the news.

A short time after the Armistice we were informed that the First Army headquarters was not going on into Germany and that after a few days work, completing work under way, we would be moved back into a rest area.  And shortly thereafter we started down the Meuse Valley to Verdun, the trip being made after dark.  We will never forget that trip; it was a bright moonlit night. The camp fires of troops resting for the night lighted up the landscape and completed the naturally beautiful picture.  It was the first time in over four years that the soldiers had had the privilege of fires at night and they were indulging it to the limit.  There was light aplenty without the moon, for on all sides the victory celebration was still in progress, and the shells and vari-colored flares lighted up the sky for miles and miles.  And everybody was happy; the old tenseness was gone; in its place was hilarious laughter and spontaneous raillery hurled at each other and passers-by. (p. 124)

Members of the 411th outside Verdun on November 20, 1919

The new headquarters for the 411th was established at Fravaux.  There, they settled into a camp life of drills and study, hoping they'd soon be sent home to America.  At Christmas, an elaborate dinner was served, followed by a musical performance, a film and a visit from Santa Claus.  The local villagers were invited and a good time was had by all.  In February 1919, the 411th was sent to a new headquarters at Montlouis, a small village just outside Tours, in the Loire Valley.  There, they worked to repair damaged telephone and telegraph lines in the area.  Finally, in March 1919, word came that the 411th was going home.

Some of the men of the 411th Telegraph Battalion

On April 10, 1919, the 411th Telegraph Battalion departed Brest, France on the U.S. Cruiser Charleston.  They arrived in Hoboken, New Jersey on April 21, 1919.  After an eight day stay at Camp Mills, they departed for California and arrived in San Francisco on May 5, 1919.  Nearly fifteen months after they had sailed to war, they were home.

George was about to meet his daughter for the first time.

George Rutherfurd: War and Fatherhood

This is the fifth post in a series about my great-grandfather, George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd.

George Rutherfurd, third from the right with fellow members of the 411th Telegraph Battalion

In the summer of 1918, George Rutherfurd and his unit, the 411th Telegraph Battalion, headed to eastern France to support communications at the front.  In "Memories of the 411th Telegraph Battalion In the World War Here and 'Over There'" by C.H. Moore, the author describes how the 411th moved into Chateau-Thierry in early August, after the American Army had pushed back the Germans.

On August 9th Company E and Headquarters moved to Chateau-Thierry, and at once engaged in surveying and laying out contemplated toll line routes from Chateau-Thierry north to Fare-en-Tardenois and Coulonge.  Part of the plan involved using abandoned German pole lines in this territory and French lead along railroad from Chateau-Thierry to Armentieres.  However, just as this work was under way, orders were received to move entire Battalion to Neufchateau.  This move consumed two days and was part of the great troop movement to the Toul sector in preparation for the St. Mihiel offensive. (p. 91)

While George was working hard to support the troops at the front, his wife, Julia Barrett Rutherfurd, gave birth to their first and only child in Los Angeles.  After George left for the war, Julia had returned to Los Angeles to live with her mother, Nellie O'Hare Barrett.  It was there that George and Julia's daughter was born, on August 10, 1918.  The new mother named her baby Julia LaVerne Rutherfurd, and sent a telegram to the American Expeditionary Forces office in London informing George of the birth.  The message said simply, "Girl the tenth. All Okay. Julia Rutherfurd."  What a mix of emotions that telegram must have brought George.  Joy at the birth of a healthy child; sadness at being absent during an important time.  He kept that telegram, folded into his belongings, until his return home.  George would not meet his daughter, LaVerne, for another nine months.

George and all the men at the front were very busy during the late summer and fall of 1918.  In September, the American forces launched an attack on the Germans at St. Mihiel.  This battle "was one of the first United States solo offensives in World War I and the attack caught the Germans in the process of retreating. This meant that their artillery were out of place and the American attack proved more successful than expected. Their strong blow increased their stature in the eyes of the French and British forces..." (Wikipedia)

In his book, C.H. Moore describes being one of the first Americans to enter St. Mihiel on September 13th, as they prepared to begin construction of telephone lines through the town.  However, George refutes this version of events in a testy, handwritten paragraph in the margins of the book.  He says, "It happens that I was in command of the detachment at Rupt and was waiting in St. Mihiel when C.H. and his staff got around to visiting the area."  However, the reaction of the citizens of St. Mihiel to their American liberators is not up for debate.

The civilians who were left in the town were absolutely frantic with joy; yesterday they were prisoners; today they were free.  They told many tales of their long exile during German occupancy and were loud in the praise of the Americans, calling them their deliverers and saviours; the food which had been supplied by the American Relief associations had materially assisted them.  French flags long buried in the bottom of trunks and other undiscoverable places were already displayed in almost every window.  On the way out of the village the members of our advance party met General Pershing and his staff on the way into the newly freed town. (p. 97)

American soldiers leave St. Mihiel after the victory there. (Public Domain)

There was no time to rest on their laurels.  The war was spiraling towards a deadly conclusion, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, and the 411th was soon moving into position to support American troops near Verdun.

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive... was a part of the final Allied offensive of World War I that stretched along the entire Western Front. It was fought from September 26, 1918, until the Armistice on November 11, a total of 47 days. The battle was the largest in United States military history, involving 1.2 million American soldiers, and was one of a series of Allied attacks known as the Hundred Days Offensive, which brought the war to an end. The Meuse-Argonne was the principal engagement of the American Expeditionary Forces during the First World War. (Wikipedia)

The end of the war was coming, but George and the men of the 411th were not aware that the Armistice would be so soon at hand.  They scrambled to set up the communications that the American Army would need at the front.

American switchboards were installed at many small headquarters, additional telephones installed, telegraph stations opened. It was also necessary to place telephone operators alongside the French operators to learn the location of the various lines, switchboards, etc.  The reader will please keep in mind that all this work had to be accomplished in eight or nine days, as the offensive was scheduled to start on Sept. 26th.  After whipping the lines of communication into shape, operating crews and maintenance crews were placed at the various headquarters and as much precaution taken as possible for everything to be in shape when the heavy load came. (p. 99)

To be continued...

George Rutherfurd: First Assignments in France

This is the fourth post in a series about my great-grandfather, George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd.

George Rutherfurd in France, 1918

After two months spent supervising quarantined soldiers at Camp Merritt, in New Jersey, George Rutherfurd rejoined the 411th Telegraph Battalion in France.  It was April of 1918.  The rest of his battalion had arrived in France a month earlier, landing at Brest and then, after a training period, continuing by train to the Loire Valley.  Company E set up their headquarters surrounding a large barn at St. Ettiene and Company D took over an old chateau at nearby Savenay.

Progress of the 411th across France, from Brest to Chateau-Thierry

Again, I will quote heavily from "Memories of the 411th Telegraph Battalion In the World War Here and 'Over There'" by C.H. Moore to describe the experience of the 411th in France.

During these first days in France we were fortunate in having time and opportunity to learn a great deal about our new friends - the French inhabitants.  Withal we found them a very hospitable, open-hearted, courteous, kindly people.  they were particularly gracious to us Americans and showed us every consideration.  Much has been written about the French and their peculiar customs, but it was the good fortune of our outfit to receive universally fine treatment during all of our stay in the A.E.F. (American Expeditionary Forces), and the writer believes that much of this was due from the fact that we made friendly contact with them in the very beginning.  More will be said about this angle of our experiences as our story progresses, but the writer is sure that each of us will always affectionately recall the kindliness, the gentleness, and the good natured spirit in which these simple home folks of the valley received us.  Bowed down with four years of the horrors and griefs of war, as they were, they had not lost faith and were embued with that spirit of service to their country, which eventually helped more than any other one thing to bring victory about. (p. 54-55)

The first military assignment given to the 411th was to build a wire from St. Nazaire to Nantes, a distance of thirty-nine miles.  This was the beginning of a system of communication which would enable the various military camps to pass messages to each other and would greatly improve the transfer of supplies and information.  While the 411th had brought some equipment with them, they found that they had to borrow shovels, saws and similar items from the French villagers to fully begin their work.  Battalion members got to work putting up telephone poles and stringing lines.  They drove through the countryside in motorcycles with sidecars, sometimes having to ask permission of residents to put up poles on their property.  By April, when George re-joined the battalion, this first line was being completed, and communication centralized in the headquarters at Tours.  The 411th moved on to their next assignment, which they were delighted to find would take them nearly to Paris.

As an officer, George's role was to decide where the lines of communication would be routed.  He did not do the actual work of putting up the poles.  He rode in the sidecar of a motorcycle, with a lower-ranking battalion member driving him, as they traversed French roads plotting out the location of telegraph lines.  My Grandma said that George was frequently ahead of the forward troops and stayed in local farmhouses at night. During this time he developed a life-long fondness for the long cooking soups that resided on the farmhouse stoves and were shared with him and his driver.

In late May of 1918, the 411th moved north, camping overnight at the famous cathedral city of Chartres, and then arriving at their new camp in Versailles, at Camp Satory.  As they waited for an official resumption of duties, the men took the opportunity to visit the palace at Versailles and take a trip into Paris, which appears to have thrilled them all.  However, C.H. Moore describes the battalion as restless to get to the front and feel closer to the war.  Being near Paris provided them a glimpse of the action, however.

At this time it was almost a nightly occurrence for the Hun bombing planes to make air raids over Paris and the surrounding suburbs.  A very elaborate system of signaling devices of all kinds had been installed for the purpose of advising the inhabitants as soon as the outlying observation posts detected the Germans coming over.

On this particular night of our first experience, the "alerte" was sounded about 11:30PM;  the sky was immediately lighted with a great many searchlights weaving their shafts of light back and forth across the heavens in search of the Hun planes.  The anti-aircraft guns opened fire and the sky was filled with bouquets of fire from the bursting shells.  (p. 76-77)

George and the other men of the 411th were tired from long days of work and long nights of air raids, but they'd been given a critical assignment.

The job which had been assigned to us in this locality was an extremely important one and had to be finished in the very shortest possible time.  It consisted in the building of a twenty-four wire lead from a junction with the British lines at a small place called Ham to La Belle Epine, just south of Paris, a distance of approximately thirty-three and one-third miles.

This job presented many difficulties in the way of strengthening the French lead, building through forests, over canals, cable work through a half-mile railroad tunnel, private right-of-ways over property owned by Royalty, transposition problems in connecting with a different system of the British and constant delays and annoyances in obtaining the necessary material which had to be hauled long distances by motor truck.  Everybody in the organization was working from daylight to dark, as orders had been received that the work absolutely had to be finished no later than June 30th. (p. 77-78)

Just as this work was completed, the 411th got the news they had been hoping for.  They were being sent closer to the front.  The Germans were trying to cross the Marne and begin an invasion of Paris, and the Army was engaged with them at Chateau-Thierry.  George and the 411th were being sent to nearby La Ferte to construct a line from there to Chateau-Thierry and support communications at the front.

To be continued...

George Rutherfurd and the 411th Telegraph Battalion

George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd's journey to the battlefields of World War I with the other members of the 411th Telegraph Battalion was documented in "Memories of the 411th Telegraph Battalion In the World War Here and 'Over There'" by C.H. Moore.  As this is the best account of the 411th during World War I, I'd like to share some sections of the book that illuminate George's experience

The first chapters of the book describe the battalion's training period in Monterey, California.  The 411th was comprised of civilians from various telephone companies, and they needed a bit of whipping into shape.  Their days seem to have been devoted primarily to exercise and study, with a much-enjoyed hike through the nearby woods on Saturdays.  Here are some quotes regarding the 411th's training and their preparation for war.

The hour of reveille was 5:30 AM and we used to wonder as we stood in line rubbing our eyes and finishing dressing why it was that the Army persisted in doing calisthenics in the dark instead of waiting for daylight to come.  But, after all, those early mornings setting-up exercises in the crisp, foggy air of the early day, probably did more than anything else to harden us and get us ready for the strenuous work of the future. (p.21)

Telegraph classes were formed at this time and about 25 men from each Company were selected to take up the study of telegraphy.  These classes were separated into different sections, depending upon the ability of the men to receive 2, 8, 10 or 15 words per minute.  After having studied Morse Code for about one month and having become rather expert in the use of it, advice was received from the War Department that only Continental Code would be used.  This was rather a setback for the class, but they studied hard and it was not long before the sound of the Continental Code could be heard every morning from 10:30 to noon as if  a dispatcher's office was going at full tilt. (p. 23)

We were to experience many anxious days of waiting while in the Army, but the last two months at Monterey were absolutely the hardest and most tiresome days.  We felt that we had had enough training and were raring to go, especially as new bulletins began to pour in during the Fall of 1917, telling of the Americans' active participation in affairs on the other side of the Atlantic. (p. 29)

In this photo, my Grandma made note of George's location in the second picture from the top.

Monterey had, in the seven months' training period, become just like home to the men of the Battalion - married men had moved their families to live there; many men had married since coming, many more were on the point of proposing and all had made many friends. Preparations for departure were hastily made, tearful good-byes said and on January 18, 1918, the "411th" started on the first leg of their journey overseas. (p. 29-31)

George was one of those men who had married since beginning his training.  He and Julia Ellen Barrett were married in nearby Salinas on August 18, 1917.  They shared five months as newlyweds in Monterey before George shipped out to the war.

On January 18, 1918, the men of the 411th Telegraph Battalion boarded a train to San Francisco. They made a stop at the Ferry Building and then continued on to Fort Mason, on the waterfront, where they boarded the ship Great Northern.  However, they were startled to realize they'd also be transporting some unexpected cargo on their journey.

The next morning, a detail of three officers and ten soldiers boarded a large tug boat and went to Angel Island; little did the members of that detail realize the nature of the trip as no information had been issued concerning it.  Imagine their surprise upon arrival at Angel Island Dock to find four hundred thirty-five German alien prisoners of war.  All had looked forward to a most delightful ocean voyage through the Panama Canal, but here we were face to face with several hundred Germans who were to be guarded and convoyed to an Atlantic port.  All day was consumed in loading the Germans, searching their baggage for possible infernal machines, weapons, etc., and placing them in quarters aboard.  Anchor was lifted at five-thirty PM Thursday, January 24, 1918, and just as dusk was gathering, the ship poked her nose through Golden Gate out into the Pacific. (p. 32-33)

The Great Northern took the battalion and the German prisoners through the Panama Canal, where they lost one American soldier, Frank R. Emery, to illness.  They continued on to South Carolina, where they unloaded the Germans.  From there they sailed to Hoboken, New Jersey, and reported to Camp Merritt, where they prepared to journey on to France.  However, there was a setback.

The stay at Camp Merritt was occupied in refitting the organization with clothing and other necessary equipment for overseas duty.  Many inspections were necessary, and all were in constant dread of something happening to prevent our early departure.  There was an epidemic of contagious diseases, and a very alarming scare seized our Battalion when some thirty-five men were quarantined on account of contact with a suspected case of diphtheria.  Their confinement only lasted about forty-eight hours when it was decided they had not become infected.  All were happy again, as it was rumored we were to embark Monday, February 18th; and then when this rumor became an order, measles broke out in a barracks where two sections of Company E had been quartered.  They were quarantined and had to be left behind.  Lieutenant Geo. R. O. Rutherfurd was detailed to remain with them and proceed at the earliest possible date overseas. (p. 36)

George and the thirty-five sick men from his company would not join their fellow soldiers in France for two months, in April 1918. 

To be continued...

George Rutherfurd, Part 2

George Rutherfurd

Not long after moving to Los Angeles in 1913, at the age of seventeen, my great-grandfather George Rutherfurd accepted a job at Pacific Telephone and Telegraph.  This decision would change the course of his life several times.

In 1910, there were two telephone companies servicing Los Angeles, Pacific Telephone and Telegraph and Home Telephone and Telegraph Company. These companies merged in 1916 and became known as the Southern California Telephone Company.  George was a bright and ambitious young man.  While he hadn't had the benefit of a college education, he went above and beyond at the telephone company and moved up in the ranks rather quickly.  My grandmother, LaVerne Rutherfurd Smith, told me the following story about her father's work at the telephone company.

My father went to work at the telephone company and did a lot of extra studying about what made a telephone work.  He was once on a night shift and there was an emergency because the circuits weren't working for some reason, and he was able to go and fix it because he'd just read about it.  He was promoted quickly.  He was a general manager of a district that included Hollywood and the nearby area when he was thirty years old. 

The first two ways that the telephone company would change George's life became apparent early in George's career.  In his first years there, while working at the switchboard, he met his future wife, Julia Ellen Barrett.  Julia was working as a telephone operator when George met her.  They had much in common.  They were both the eldest of five children, working to help support fatherless families.  George adored Julia, whom he always called by both of her names, Julia Ellen.  They married in Salinas, California on August 18, 1917, shortly before George shipped out to fight in World War I.

Julia Ellen Barrett in 1917, while she and George Rutherfurd were dating.

The second way that George's choice of employment would impact his life became clear as the United States drew closer to entering World War I.  The United States Army convened a unit of telephone and telegraph operators, the 411th Telegraph Battalion.  This unit was created for a specific purpose: to lay cable in front of advancing troops in Europe and ensure that military units could effectively communicate.  While this was not a safe job, it was far safer than the assignments of most soldiers in this war.  World War I is known for its trench warfare and brutal battlefield conditions.  The official tally of American dead in World War I is 116,516.  It's very possible that George's life was spared due to an assignment that kept him out of the trenches and off the front lines.

One of George's fellow officers, C.H. Moore, wrote a wonderful book about the 411th, entitled "Memories of the 411th Telegraph Battalion In the World War Here and 'Over There.'"  At the beginning of the first chapter, he recollects how the battalion was formed.

Very shortly after war had been declared The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company issued a Bulletin announcement that a Telegraph Battalion was to be organized, enrollment in which was to be composed entirely of employees.  The Bulletin also announced that The Telephone Company would pay to individuals accepted by the Government for service in the proposed Battalion the difference between their pay at the time of entering service and the government pay, for a period of at least one year.  Applications for enlistment were sent to all portions of the Company's territory, comprising the States of California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and part of Idaho.  The question as to "where to enlist" for men in the telephone and telegraph service was immediately answered by this plan, as it not only offered a field where the technical ability and knowledge of telephone and telegraph men could be best utilized in serving their country, but also presented the opportunity of becoming affiliated with an organization composed of men who had been trained to think along the same lines, thus at once establishing a bond of fellowship and comradeship.

George registered for the draft on June 5, 1917, two months after the war began.  An interesting detail can be found on his draft card.  It states that George had prior military experience, having served four years in the Wyoming National Guard, ranking as a first lieutenant.  George was only seventeen years old when he left Wyoming, which would have made him thirteen at the time of his enlistment.  Currently, you would have to be a high school senior to join the National Guard in Wyoming.  I'm unsure if the rules for enlistment were different in the early 1900s or if there is some other explanation for this assertion.

On April 6, 1917, the United States entered World War I. George joined the 411th Telegraph Battalion in Monterey, California on June 29, 1917 for training.   Julia moved to Monterey with George, and two months later they were married in nearby Salinas.

Just a small piece of a panoramic photo of the 411th Telegraph Battalion.  George is third from the left.

George and the other members of his battalion left San Francisco on January 24, 1918 on U.S. Steamship Great Northern and traveled via the Panama Canal to New York.  On February 18, 1918, they departed New York on U.S. Steamship Covington, bound for France.  George would be gone nearly a year and a half.

George headed to France.

To be continued...

Magdalene Barrett

Magdalene Barrett

I would like to preface this post by stating that I’m sure others in my extended family will know more information about Magdalene than I do. This will be only a brief profile of my great-grand aunt, but I would love to hear from other family members who can share more details about her.

Martha Magdalene Barrett was the only sister of my great-grandmother Julia Ellen Barrett. Known as Magdalene, she was born on February 17, 1897 in Granite City, Illinois. She was the second of five children born to Albert Patrick Barrett and Helen “Nellie” O’Hare. After a move to Pennsylvania in 1906 and the death of her father in 1910, Magdalene, her mother and siblings settled in Los Angeles, California.

With her dark hair and sweet smile, Magdalene was the beauty of her family. In 1917, at the age of twenty, she married Lawrence Gilbert Cook. On July 24, 1918, their only child, Lawrence Gilbert Cook, Jr., known as Gil, was born in Los Angeles.

On September 12, 1918, Lawrence Cook enlisted in the military. The United States had entered World War I the previous year. His draft card lists Magdalene as his wife and their address as 3088 Eighth Avenue in Los Angeles.

In 1920, according the US Census, Magdalene was living with her mother, Nellie Barrett, her son Gil, and her three brothers. Her occupation was listed as being a telephone operator at the telephone company. On the census form, Magdalene is noted as being married, although her husband was not living with her. World War I had ended in June of 1919, but Lawrence and Magdalene had not resumed living together after his return from service.

Sometime in the early-to-mid 1920s, Magdalene and Lawrence Cook were divorced. Magdalene, like the rest of her Barrett family, was a Catholic, but the divorce effectively separated her from the church.

Magdalene remarried Robert “Bob” Leslie Rutherfurd. Bob was the half-brother of Magdalene’s brother-in-law, George Roscoe Rutherfurd, husband of her sister Julia. Magdalene and Bob’s daughter, Patricia “Patty” Mary Rutherfurd, was born on May 16, 1928, making her ten years younger than her half-brother, Gil.

The family eventually moved south of Los Angeles. In 1934, Magdalene, Bob and the children were living in San Pedro, and then in 1935 they were living in Wilmington. In 1940, the census shows them in Long Beach.

On February 27, 1941, Magdalene’s son Gil enlisted in the military. The United States entered World War II on December 8, 1941, and Gil served in the 436th Bomber Squadron, stationed in the South Pacific. On October 28, 1943, at the age of 23, his plane went down near Burma and he was killed. Magdalene was informed that her son was missing in action via a telegram, and it took many months before she learned the circumstances of her only son’s death. I will discuss this further in future blog posts.

Magdalene died on March 5, 1970 in Sierra Madre, California. She was the grandmother of eleven children born to her daughter Patty.

A Poppy for George

George Rutherfurd on his way to France, January 1918

As I walked around San Francisco today, I saw many people wearing small, red poppies clipped to their clothing. The poppies were being handed out to mark Veterans Day (and Remembrance Day, celebrated by those in the British Commonwealth).  I did not know where the tradition of using a poppy to commemorate veterans originated, so I turned to my friend Google and was quickly educated. The poppies are a reference to the flowers that bloomed on the battlefields of France during World War I. They are mentioned specifically in this poem about the battlefields of Flanders written by John McCrae in 1915.

In Flanders Fields

"In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields."

I thought immediately of my great-grandfather, George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd.  He was in France during World War I, serving with the 411th Telegraph Battalion.  Having been a telephone company employee in Los Angeles prior to the war, he was assigned to the 411th and tasked with laying telegraph lines ahead of advancing troops in France. A former member of this battalion, C.H. Moore, later wrote a book entitled, "Memories of the 411th Telegraph Battalion 1917-1919: Here and Over There." I am privileged to own an original copy and will be transcribing its contents and talking in depth about George's military career in later posts.

George Rutherfurd is third from the right in this photo.

In 2004, I traveled with my parents and my Grandma (George's only child) to France, and we drove through the Champagne-Ardenne region of northeastern France, out to the Belgian border, seeing some of the areas where George had been during the war. If you have never been to this part of France, it is sobering. You can feel the weight of history here. One military cemetery after another stretches as far as the eye can see. The town of Verdun, site of a major battle and enormous loss of life during the first World War, has so many war memorials that I lost count of them. In places, the ground is still pocked and misshapen, whether from bombs or trenches I couldn't be sure. To be able to see this landscape with my own eyes inspired me to come home and learn more about George and the war he fought in.

On Veterans Day, I wear a poppy for George, and for all our veterans.  May we remember their service and their sacrifice.  May we also pass their stories down to our children, so they are never forgotten.