Trench Coat by Gamage
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)
Comprising the latest improvements for overseas -The Trench Coat ‘De Luxe’!
The Stars and Stripes
Articles from The Stars and Stripes
Trench Coat by Barker
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)
Yet another action-posed advertisement for an officer’s private purchase trench coat. The Great Military Outfitter, John Barker and Company, stepped up to the plate during the crises of 1914 and began to produce the famous ‘Kenbar’ trench coat:
Every detail so necessary for the most strenuous wear in the trenches is embodied in this excellent coat. The collar can be worn in four positions. The sleeves are made with reinforced elbows, and the skirt is cut full and fitted with cavalry gusset.
The American Indian as Sniper
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)
You will see that during the First World War it was not beyond the editors of The Stars & Stripes to indulge in ethnic stereotyping from time to time and, to be sure, they exploited that privilege in the attached article (Yank Indian was Heap Big Help in Winning the War) yet regardless of this fact, the performance of the American Indian soldiers on the Western Front got high marks for a number of valued military skills from many of the French and British officers who came in contact with them. It was not simply their ability to shoot well that inspired the praise, but their nocturnal instincts while patrolling in the darkness of No-Man’s-Land as well as a unique sense of bravery.
The article is rich with a number of factoids that the Western Front reader will no doubt enjoy; among them, mention is made of German women serving in combat.
A Trench Coat by Thresher and Glenny
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)
Let the word go out here and now to all stylists and fashion journalists as well as all the other assorted fops who like to play fast and loose with the language; we know who you are and we know your game. The term trench coat will not suffer the same abuse as the word Martini. Both have clear, lucid definitions; there can be no such thing as a chocolate Martini and those actors in the movie The Matrix were not wearing trench coats (they were wearing frocks). A quick waltz through this section illustrates well the characteristics shared by all Great War trench coats: they were double-breasted (although it is said single-breasted did exist), they must be belted, and they must be cut like a sac, and they must have wrist-straps. Raglan sleeves, storm patches and billows pockets were all optional -and most important: there were NO D rings, those were added later.
Remembering Cantigny and Chateau-Thierry
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)
Monday, June 2 (1919), was a holiday in the 2nd Division in the bridgehead on the Rhine. The anniversary of the battle of Chateau-Thierry was observed. It is just a year ago that infantry and Marines of the 2nd Division were thrown against the Boche on the Paris-Metz road near Chateau-Thierry, and from that moment on the Americans were in continual fighting until November 11.
The U.S. Sixth Engineers and the 1918 March Offensive
(The Stars and Stripes,1919)
When the Doughboys began arriving in France the infantry and artillery were kept in the rear areas and taught the necessities of World War One trench warfare. This was not the case with engineering units of the A.E.F. who were dubbed noncombatants and dispatched hither and yon to attend to those duties deemed appropriate for men with such training. The U.S. Sixth Regiment of Engineers were rebuilding roads on the Somme when the German army came across no-man’s land on March 21, 1918 (a.k.a. Kaiserschlacht: the Kaiser’s battle) and they were quickly ordered to go in support of a nearby British regiment. These engineers were the first Americans to come under German fire and their story is told here by Private E.P. Broadstreet, who was there.
The experiences of the 108th Engineers (Thirty-Third Division) during the Argonne campaign is also told in this article.
Another first-hand account of that day can be read in an interview that appears in this book: Make the Kaiser Dance
Private Abian A. Wallgren: Cartoonist
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)
If there was any mascot who best represented the staff of the old Stars and Stripes, it would have been their primary cartoonist (even though he was a Marine), Abian Wallgren; who went by the name, Wally.
This cartoon was from his on-going series, Helpful Hints
C’est la Guerre
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)
One of war’s many, many sad stories. This one concerned a German mother living in Coblenz during the American post-war occupation and how she came to realize that her son would not be coming home.
Sioux Code-Talkers of the Great War
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)
The Navajo code-talkers in the Second World War are well-known, but not so terribly well known were their brothers the Sioux, and the similar contributions that they had made just twenty years earlier in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.
Supplying the A.E.F. in Siberia
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)
Special woolen coats and breeches and underwear, long mufflers, worsted socks and long stockings, gloves and gauntlets are other things which are being issued to the Doughboys in Russia. Alaska Yanks are said to be right at home in their new surroundings, although they complain sometimes of the heat.
An additional article is attached concerning the supply of medals that had to be shipped North; reading between the lines, you will get a sense that much gallantry was expected…
When the Doughboys complained, they complained heavily about their uniforms; read about it here.
Something Was Lacking in the Slang of the Doughboys
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)
The American poet Carl Sandburg once wrote words to the effect that Slang is language that takes off its coat, spits on its hands, and goes to work – a very soldierly description it was, too. That said, an anonymous Journalist from The Stars and Stripes examined the casual lingo muttered by the Doughboys in France and surmised that a
universal slang in this man’s army is as hard to find as universal peace in this man’s world.
Perhaps it was all due to the fact that we weren’t in that war long enough to make it our own.
America’s First Trench Raid
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)
An account of the first all-American trench raid of the First World War. The correspondent noted that the raid, which took place in the Loraine Sector, spanned forty-seven minutes from start to finish.
The participating unit was not named.
The U.S. First Division at Cantigny
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)
The battle of Cantigny (May 28 – 31, 1918) was America’s first division sized engagement during the First World War; George Marshall would later opine that the objective was of no strategic importance and of small tactical value. General Pershing was hellbent on eradicating from the popular memory any mention of the A.E.F.’s poor performance at Seicheprey some weeks earlier, and Cantigny was as good a battleground in which to do it as any. Assessing the battle two weeks after the Armistice, Pershing’s yes men at the STARS AND STRIPES wrote:
But at Cantigny it had been taught to the world the significant lesson that the American soldier was fully equal to the soldier of any other nation on the field of battle.
An article from THE NEW REPUBLIC recognizing that 1914 marked the end of an era.
Three Articles on the Old Campaign Hat
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918 – 1919)
These three articles from THE STARS AND STRIPES of W.W. I reported on the U.S. Army Campaign hat which was a well-loved uniform item and most Doughboys were pretty choked-up to see that it was going to be replaced by a piece of millinery as slovenly as the overseas cap.
The Paper Had a Second Anniversary
(Stars and Stripes, 1919)
“The Stars and Stripes has grown like a mushroom. In one short, crowded year it has become one of the
Doughboy Uniforms: Breeches vs. Long Pants
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)
It has officially been decided that the A.E.F. has grown up and must now wear pants.
A 1919 order appeared in THE STARS and STRIPES indicating that the era of army-issued olive drab knee breeches had passed and soon all American Army personnel would be issued long pants:
Experts have decided that the breeches legs shrink when wet and impede the circulation, and it is assured that the kind that he used to wear in civilian life will not cause the Doughboy cold feet…
To supply the A.E.F. until August, 2,500,000 pairs of pants have been ordered, and these, which will cost only nineteen cents a leg more than breeches did, will be of better quality than the latter.
A New Uniform Regulation for the NCOs of the A.E.F.
(Stars and Stripes, 1918)
In an attempt to save money, the U.S. Army issued an order that N.C.O.s were to wear chevrons on one arm only.
The Tailoring System for U.S. Officers
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)
This U.S. Army uniform regulation announced in the September 13th, 1918 issue of THE STARS and STRIPES helped to put British, French (and later German) tailors to work on the uniforms of U.S. officers:
According to this plan, each Quartermaster depot will have a tailoring system through which the officer can buy his cloth and then be fitted and outfitted on the spot. At each depot, civilian labor will be contracted and the officer need pay for only his share of the labor cost.