Lohman area farmer participated in six major campaigns of World War I

Lohman area farmer participated in six major campaigns of World War I

<p>Edward Linsenbardt was born and raised near the German-Lutheran communities of Stringtown and Lohman. He was drafted in World War I and served overseas as a messenger with an infantry division. Courtesy of Roger Kiesling</p>

Edward Linsenbardt was born and raised near the German-Lutheran communities of Stringtown and Lohman. He was drafted in World War I and served overseas as a messenger with an infantry division. Courtesy of Roger Kiesling

Edward Linsenbardt's grandparents departed Germany in the late 1850s and settled near Lohman, where they raised their 10 children on a farm in a community of fellow German-Lutheran immigrants. Edward's father, Julius, was too young to serve in the Civil War; however, years later, he watched as his son was called upon to fight in a war against a nation from which his family was hardly a generation removed.

Born near Lohman on May 16, 1896, Edward "Ed" Linsenbardt was barely 19 years old, single and working for his father on their farm when the United States made its official declaration of war against Germany on April 6, 1917.

Like many young men his age, he complied with the national mandate to register for the military draft June 5, 1917. Weeks later, he received official notice of his physical, followed by his induction into the U.S. Army and transfer to Camp Funston, Kansas, for his initial training.

In an oral interview in 1978, Linsenbardt explained his parents spoke predominantly German around the home. He noted, "(W)hen somebody (came that) you know, an English person, then dad spoke English, he spoke very broken, but at home everything went German."

Possessing a German surname while serving in the military of a nation at war with his grandparents' homeland, Linsenbardt recalled some of his fellow recruits occasionally cast statements intended as insults, referring to him as "a damned Dutchman."

In the early weeks of 1918, Linsenbardt was pulled from his training company and sent to Virginia, along with a group of soldiers needed to fill out the 3rd Division, which was making preparations to deploy. On April 6, 1918, he departed Newport News, Virginia, aboard the SS Great Northern - a passenger ship acquired by the military.

Assigned to Company H, 4th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Division, the newly trained soldiers of the division earned the nickname "Rock of the Marne." As noted in a history compiled by the Society of the 3rd Infantry Division, a battle occurring near the Marne River on July 15, 1918, helped forge Linsenbardt into a battle-hardened soldier.

"When flanking units retreated, then Division Commander, Major General Joseph Dickman, told our French Allies 'Nous Resterons La' (we shall remain here)," the society wrote. "This motto is on the 3rd Infantry Division's distinctive insignia."

Although the division was described as being successful in the battle, Linsenbardt explained the dangers of soldiering during this time.

"I went through six battles over there. I got six Bronze Stars and I didn't' think I would ever see home anymore," Linsenbardt explained during his interview. "I was a messenger. I didn't kill anybody, but I had to deliver the messages."

He continued, "I done a lot of crawling and running and some of the shells, they landed well twice it happened - a shell landed close by me and it didn't go off. Bullets I could feel the wind of them, you know, the machine gun bullets that give you the chills."

Linsenbardt remarked the closest to hell on earth he experienced in the war came during the division's participation in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. This offensive evolved into the deadliest campaign of the war for the American Expeditionary Force.

"According to records, the division sustained more than 16,000 battle casualties when the counting was completed on November 11th (1918)," noted "The History of the Third Infantry Division" published in 1988. During his oral interview, Linsenbardt said 14 soldiers out of his company of 250 survived the battle.

Before the armistice, Linsenbardt was frequently selected by his lieutenant to accompany him on patrols. At first, the Lohman soldier silently questioned why another messenger was not chosen, but soon discovered the officer's underlying motive.

"He wanted to know about my schooling and whether I could speak German and all of that," Linsenbardt said. "Some others (messengers), they were stronger and better qualified if they had got into a fight, (but) later I got to thinking - I have an idea he figured in case we would get captured by the Germans, I could help him because I could speak a little German."

After the armistice, the division became part of the occupational forces and eventually established post-war headquarters in Andernach, Germany. Military records indicate Linsenbardt departed Brest, France, aboard the USS Henderson on Aug. 13, 1919, arriving in Brooklyn, New York, 12 days later.

Receiving his discharge Sept. 2, 1919, Linsenbardt married the former Viola Schubert, of Lohman, two years later. The couple raised two daughters and spent the next several years engaged in farming land near the area where they had been raised.

Viola died in 1969 and was buried in the cemetery of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Lohman. Linsenbardt was 92 when he died in 1988 and was buried next to his wife.

Linsenbardt explained that he, like many veterans of the First World War, chose to remain silent about their service in the years after returning home.

"I didn't say much about my experiences over there as some of the people they didn't believe it," he said. "And I told one of them the last battle we (were) in, there was only 14 left. He said, 'I don't believe that.'"

Years later, when an acquaintance from Lohman asked Linsenbardt why he did not share stories from his time in the service, he responded, "I thought, 'What's the use?' A lot of folks will think I'm just lying, (although) some boys will (brag) about it."

Jeremy P. Amick writes on behalf of the Silver Star Families of America.