[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text
version below transcribed directly from audio]
They were more than 150 miles off the coast of New
York, bound for the North Atlantic and onto France, when then they knew they had to
return to shore. A piston rod in the ship had broken. The repair could not be
completed at sea. And so back to the pier, they went. It was November, 1917.
When they set sail for France a second time, a fire broke out in the ship's
bunker. The damage could not be repaired at sea. Back to the harbor, they went.
On December 13th, they launched a third time. One soldier,
Lieutenant Lewis
Shaw, wrote to his mother, "This letter will be delivered when the War
Department hears of our safe arrival. Keep busy and well, for we have lots of
good times coming."
And so, they sailed on through cold rain.
They were soldiers, volunteers.
And they were incredible Americans.
As the rain turned to snow, an English tanker drifted into them by accident. It
tore metal plates off the side of the soldier's ship. Determined to get to
France and take their place in the Great War, the soldiers refused to turn back.
Instead, in 10-degree weather, they used slings to lower themselves down on the
side of the ship to make repairs.
And they kept going.
Vigilant about enemy submarines, the soldiers slept in their uniforms. They wore
life vests and they ate supper at 3:30 p.m. because they couldn't burn lights
after sundown. Not even cigarettes were allowed.
Just before Christmas Eve, the men gathered for a makeshift church service. As
they sang hymns, the verses from onward Christian soldiers echoed through the
ship: Hell's foundations quiver at the shout of praise. Brothers, lift
your voices, loud your anthems raise.
Members of
the New York National Guard's 369th Infantry Regiment — the "Harlem
Hellfighters" — pose for the camera, circa 1919.
On Christmas, seven Allied destroyers met the ship to escort the soldiers to
France. They arrived on New Year's Day, 1918. As is noted, fighting under French
command, they wore the Horizon blue helmets of the French Army.
But these men were exceptional Americans.
They sewed badges on their olive-colored uniforms. On each one was the image of
the rattlesnake, the 369th Infantry Regiment. During the American Revolution, it
was Benjamin Franklin who
said that the rattlesnake captured the temper
and conduct of this new Republic: "She never wounds 'till she has generously given
notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the damage of treading on
her," he said.
And so the soldiers were named the Rattlers.
Through valleys and over ridges filled with gas and smoke, they forged ahead.
They faced the enemy head on. They faced him at point blank range. They faced
him amid bullets and shells raining down.
They were exceptional Americans; so they pushed on.
"I thought their shells had messed us up a good deal," Sergeant Robert Collins
said about one of the enemy's attempts. "But man, you should have seen what
we'd done to them. When our machine guns got through with them, they looked like
a bunch of Swiss cheese."
Of such men, Captain William Hayward observed, the first thing I knew -- "The
first thing I knew was there was nothing between the German army and Paris,
except my regiment; but that was fair enough because there was nothing between
us and Berlin, except the German army."
One German admitted, "We can't hold up
against these men. They smile when they kill; and they will not be taken alive."
The enemy grew so frustrated and frightened of these American war fighters that
their high command offered a reward of 400 Marks to any German who captured
one of them alive. They never succeeded, not one.
And if you understand World War I, you understand how incredible that is.
One night, when it looked as if the enemy had cornered a few of those American
soldiers, they could do nothing but surrender, they thought, and become
prisoners of war.
Sergeant William Butler of Maryland charged out of his trench.
He shouted and fired his rifle as he rushed the enemy. He killed four of their men.
The Americans escaped.
Warriors, all.
"Soldier Routes 20 Germans" was the headline in the New York papers. "I guess I
just ran amok," Butler said.
In 1919, more than a quarter of a million Americans turned out to cheer the
soldiers' homecoming in the streets of New York. They had served nearly 200 days
in continuous combat. Think about that: six months in some of the most ferocious
fighting you can imagine -- did not give an inch.
Along those city streets, in the shop windows, on the banners, and on the lapel
buttons of the citizens who paid their respects there was an image, the
rattlesnake:
The symbol of the men we honor today, as the
Harlem Hellfighters;
the symbol of these soldiers who were the bravest of Americans.
Soldiers assigned to the 369th
Infantry Regiment band stand at rest as they wait to march up Fifth
Avenue in New York City during a parade held to welcome the New York
National Guard unit home, Feb. 17, 1919.
We ought always thank Almighty God for such men.
And may we honor them forever, especially because they were not honored in their
time.
Original Audio, Video, Images of Regiment Source:
Defense.gov
Image of Insignia Source:
alchetron.com
Text Note: Descriptions under
Regiment images quoted verbatim from source
Audio Note: AR-XE = American Rhetoric Extreme Enhancement
Video Note: Color adjusted and frame interpolated from 30fps to
50fps. The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)
visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.
Page Updated:
9/4/25
U.S. Copyright Status:This text, audio, video = Property of
AmericanRhetoric.com.Images of Regiment = Public
domain. Image of Insignia = Fair Use.
