SSU 647 loses a man

It's been two months since we've seen a diary entry from Grant Willard--the last one was on May 19, 1918. Was it the war that kept him from recording his experiences? Not at all; he was simply out of paper! 

Grant wrote his diary on 5½ x 8½ inch, narrow-ruled notepaper. It is actually ledger paper—the right margin on both sides of each sheet being divided in red ink into two columns for bookkeeping purposes. When his supply ran low in May 1918 he asked his mother to send him more, which finally arrived at the front in July. He wrote in graceful legible cursive.

In this diary entry, Grant recounts in detail the horrific death of one of his comrades. Tod Gillett was a doomed man: on June 14, 1918, his ambulance was destroyed by a direct hit while it was parked at base; five days later Gillett was killed by another direct hit on a replacement vehicle.  

Monday, July 15, 1918:

Much has transpired since last writing in this book almost two months ago.

Our headquarters has shifted from Vignot to Lagney, a small town, near Ménil-la-Tour. We have excellent quarters here and are sufficiently exclusive to make life in the army worth living. There are few Americans in town and except for the many and numerous foolish calls sent in by the 26th Ambulance headquarters we are left pretty much to ourselves. But the 26th has gone now. They thought they were going to Château-Thierry and as near as we can find out from letter received from them that is where they are now. We made many friends among them and had it not been for some of the officers in our service we would have been glad to go with them. But we are left to break in a brand-new division (the 82nd) on this front. 7 new men have been sent us bringing our total up to 44 men. 15 new cars and 12 men from the 82nd have been attached to us temporarily for training--so we have a pretty good-sized camp now. Since this new division has come in with a division of French to train them the whole sector has become tranquil and peaceful as it should be and was until the 26th cut hell loose.

Gillett in his first destroyed ambulance.

June 14, 1918: the Boche staged another raid on Xivray[-et-Marvoisin] instead of Seichesprey and made things very uncomfortable for everybody back as far as Ansauville. They penetrated the town of Xivray, but were forced back by the 103rd boys who put up a good fight. The Boche retired with heavy losses to their former lines, but didn’t stop shelling Rambucourt, Beaumont, Mandres and Hamonville and even Ansauville until after the 26th had departed. On the morning of the 14th Beaumont and Rambucourt and the road between were particularly heavily shelled. In the yard at Beaumont we had four cars hit during the day, but as luck would have it no one was in or near them. Tod Gillett’s car suffered a direct hit knocking it out completely. The other three motors were left intact and were not irreparable. The whole section worked all day and all night of the 14th evacuating the wounded from Beaumont and Rambucourt. Rambucourt was in the 103’s territory and should have been covered by them, but the same old story -- they had cold feet so 647 did their work for them while they stood back and took the credit.

June 19, 1918: the Boche raided Jury Woods, but were driven out. We suffered again. The road between Beaumont and P.C. Condy ( a 1st aide station on the Flirey road) was under very heavy shell fire during this raid in an endeavor to silence the batteries which line the road. A call came in from P.C. Condy for a car while the shelling was very heavy. King at Beaumont (a very particular friend of ours) took the call and told them he wouldn’t send a car down until after the shelling had ceased. They said it was an emergency and they had to have a car immediately.

Ambulance in which Gillett was killed.

It was Tod’s turn out. He got there alright and loaded up with three slightly wounded. On the return trip the car was hit--Tod was killed and his aide escaped injury except for a general shake-up. Two of the patients were killed and the third escaped further injury. A runner brought the news in to Beaumont and Jack Swain (Tod’s best friend and college chum) together with Richardson (one of the boys in the Beaumont dressing station) crawled down to Tod through a very heavy barrage. They crawled down a ditch with the shells passing over their heads and breaking on the batteries and dugouts directly across the road. Then came a temporary lull in the shelling giving Jack and “Rich” enough time to get Tod out and the other two boys. Tod died immediately. The shell had lit under the right front wheel of the car sending a piece of éclat through the right side of Tod’s neck almost severing his head. “Dud” Mills, Tod’s aide, was on the side of the explosion, but escaped. C’est la guerre! Jack and Deveraux Dunlap were particularly hard hit by the accident, having known Tod for so long. They were immediately called off post and Luyx and I were sent up to replace them. Tod’s body was held for us as a special favor to us--thanks to Lieut. Comfort at Beaumont.

Gillett's grave in Arlington National Cemetery

June 20, 1918: I carried the body to Ménil-la-Tour where he was put into a zinc cask purchased by Jack and Dev. at Toul and the funeral ceremony took place that afternoon. The boys were pretty lifeless for several days as Tod was a great favorite with us all. Big, tall, mammoth hearted Florida boy that he was! King broke down completely because of his sending Tod out. We have had many nice notes from King since the 26th has gone. A French school mistress living next to us in Lagney was particularly nice to us during our hard times. She donated many flowers for Tod’s grave and has kept it freshly covered ever since the ceremony. She has looked after us all like a mother. I wish there was something we could do for her.

(N.B. On a trip to Ménil-la-Tour in 2010 I tried to find Gillett's grave in the churchyard. I didn't find one so I went so far as to ask the staff at the village hall if there were any record of an American having been buried there in 1918. There was none. As it turns out, Gillett's remains were removed to Arlington National Cemetery sometime after the war.)