I had the privilege of having letters from my book read on Mike Chuna's "Battles of the First World War Podcast."
Listen for the emotions of the men as he reads from these journals. Mike reads the passages, placing the listener in an open field in France, facing the Devil in the woods. My grandfather, Andrew A. Capets, rarely talked about the war. I found his commanding officer's journal stored away in an archive in California, brought the words back into the light of day and discovered a very intimate story of survival. To understand why I enjoy researching and writing about local history, listen to Mike narrate this story. Had it not been for these gentlemen who served with my grandfather, putting their thoughts down on paper, I would never have learned about this harrowing event in our family history.
“We moved up about one kilo without being shelled much and dug ourselves in some 500 yards in front of the German front lines. We were in a wood and had one infantry in front of us. We barely got ourselves out when the devil went loose in the woods.” Quote by Minard Hamilton, Company C, 313th Machine Gun Battalion, 80th Division AEF, Bois des Ogons, October 4th, 1918
Lt. Minard Hamilton, Camp Lee, VA
Sgt. Charles Ray training at Camp Lee, VA