The Patriot Files :: Dedicated to the preservation of military history

On the 8th of November, 1864, at 2 o'clock A.M., Captain Turner, of the Sixteenth Iowa, Captain Strang, of the Thirtieth Illinois, Lieutenant Laird, of the Sixteenth Iowa, and myself, made our escape through the guard lines at "Camp Surghum," near Columbia, South Carolina, with a view of making our way to the gunboats near the mouth of the Edisto river.

Note: by Captain W. W. McCarty. 9225 Reads

Over the top

July 20, 1918
My own beloved wife
I do not know how to start this letter. The circumstances are different from any under which I ever wrote before. I am not to post it but will leave it in my pocket, if anything happens to me someone will perhaps post it.

Note: by Company Sergeant-Major James Milne. 8726 Reads

The Black Virgin

I saw her for the first time in 1969. Apparently my Vietnamese was not as good as I thought and the ride I had caught on a Vietnamese UH1D went to Tay Ninh instead of Tan Uyen where I was supposed to go. We had been in the air from Dinh Quan for about 30 minutes when I first saw her head rising out of the mist above the emerald green jungle.

Note: by Don Shacklette 12067 Reads

Battle of Midway

On 15 December 1941 I was detached from the U.S. Naval School of Aviation Medicine, Pensacola, Florida, destined to eventually join the crew of USS Yorktown. After a short cruise in USS Hornet and her plane guard USS Noa (DD-343) in the Atlantic, I drove across country by auto to San Diego and served briefly in Aircraft Scouting Force Pacific, Transition Training Squadron.

Note: by LT Joseph P. Pollard, MC, USN, Medical Officer on board USS Yorktown (CV-5) 11048 Reads

16th Tennessee Infantry

In 1861, when the war clouds obscured the sky I was a boy of 17, living in Tennessee. In common with all the boys of my age, whether living north or south I had the military spirit and at the first opportunity placed my name upon the rolls as a soldier, volunteering to fight for my native state. On the 21st day of May, 1861, I enlisted in company B, 16th Tennessee Infantry, under Col. Jno. H. Savage, and was sent to Estil Springs, on the N. C. & St. L. railroad, where we stayed a few days, and then went to Camp Trousdale, north of Nashville on the Louisville & Nashville railroad, near the Kentucky line.

Note: by Robert C. Carden, Company B, 16th Tennessee Infantry 19655 Reads

The First Battle of Ypres

I bade farewell to my right leg, and to my career as a soldier, outside a trench at Gheluvelt, near Ypres, on October 29th, 1914. In the First Battle of Ypres the British were out-numbered by seven to one. On the previous evening we took over trenches, not deep or elaborate ones, from an English regiment.

Note: by Sergeant J. F. Bell, 2nd Gordon Highlanders 12318 Reads

Defeat at the Marne, July 1918

"Tomorrow we shall march on Paris!" Thus we expressed ourselves to the commander of the Third Battalion of the French line Infantry Regiment No. 2, which, driven to the Marne by our briskly attacking grenadiers, was forced to surrender, 800 men strong, on the evening of May 30th.

Note: by Kurt Hesse, fighting grenadier regiment No. 5, 36th Infantry Division 10993 Reads

Green LT - USMC Version

True story (lots of them about). Was attached to Hq 1/13 near Division HQ at DaNang. LZ overlooked Dai La pass. To the right (northern side) were a bunch of OP's overlooking the area. I had Sgt of the guard one night and our Lt was sitting with me on top of a bunker taking in the evening / morning air. Beautiful clear night - sweating like a dog. About 1 or 2 in the morning a series of about 3 or 4 'flashes' up near the top of the hill.

Note: By Scott Mason 9339 Reads

It Was a Different Life

I got a very low draft number, so I was sure to be called. Instead of waiting to be called and being put into whatever anybody decided to do for me, I decided to try to guide my own destiny a bit. I enlisted in the Navy out of Floyd Bennet Naval Air Station, which was a reserve air station in Brooklyn, New York....I didn't want to be in the Army because I remembered all the stories and the movies about World War I were about people living in trenches.

Note: by Arnold Spring 9306 Reads

The Defense of Detroit

Sandwich, in Upper Canada, 13 July 1812 Sir-from the 5th July inst. the day of the arrival of the army at Detroit, the whole was employed in strengthening the fortifications for the security of the town, and preparing boats for the passage of the river. About one hundred regulars of the British army, and, from the best accounts I have been able to obtain, six hundred Canadian militia with artillery, were in possession of the opposite bank, and fortifying directly opposite the town; seven or eight hundred Indians were likewise attached to this corps.

Note: by Brigadier-General Hull, USA, letter to The Secretary Of War 10465 Reads

Our First Patrol

Over the years I have put most of the bad memories of Nam to the back of my mind and tried to forget them. Occasionally, one will come back. Any other time I would start out by saying Once Upon a Time or No Shit Man as I would make up a bullshit war story. But, this time I am going to start out by saying, to the best of my recollection the following did happen.

Note: by Larry Weisbarth, A 1/502nd Airborne Infantry, 67-68 10661 Reads

NVA In The Wire

Approximately August or September of 1967 on some mountaintop, somewhere around Tam Ky, Vietnam. I'm here as a squad leader with Delta Company, 4th of the 31st, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, supposedly to support the Marine Corps in "I" Corps.

Note: by Patrick (Beanie) Camunes, D\4\31 196TH Lt. Inf. Bde. 9166 Reads

Exercise Tiger, 28 April 1944

More lives were lost in one exercise practicing for D-Day than during the invasion of Utah Beach on 6 June 1944. That rehearsal was called "Exercise Tiger." Planning for the greatest amphibious operation in history required many such exercises, each designed to test the readiness of plans for the invasion of Normandy and the efficiency of the troops. Duck, Fox, Muskrat, Beaver, and Trousers preceded Tiger, and Fabius followed. Each was larger than the last, and the later ones used live ammunition.

Note: by LT Eugene E. Eckstam, MC, USNR,a medical officer on USS LST-507 13021 Reads

War

The night is so dark you can hold your hand in front of your eyes and can't see it. We have relaxed somewhat. Templeton is fast asleep. I learn later that he can sleep standing up. It was years later that I realized that was his way of escape from all around him.

10126 Reads

Letter, Capt. Robert C. Van Vliet of the 10th U. S. Infantry

I am not quite sure where Major Eskridge’s wound is so do not guess at it. V.

Shrewsbury N.J.
July 14, 98
My dear Mrs. Helmick,
I have been sent home with a broken leg to get ready for Puerto Rico. I am not writing this to tell you about myself, but about the rest of the reg’t, which I know will be good news to most of you.

Note: The 10th U.S. Infantry took part in the action at San Juan Hill, on the far west end of the line. 9169 Reads

Who would best command "The War on Terrorism"