The naked cold eye of Fritz

Jack B. Kendrick

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1895, Jack Boyce Kendrick was a car salesman in St. Albans, Vermont, before the war. Much like Grant Willard and others, Kendrick wanted to help the Allied cause in Europe and so applied early in 1917 to be an ambulance driver with the Norton-Harjes service. He served in N-H Section 11, and enlisted in the U.S. Army on September 12, 1917. Originally a sergeant first class, he was promoted to second lieutenant and took over command of SSU 649 just before the Armistice. He was decorated with the Croix de Guerre for his service in France.

In 1919 Kendrick was a relief worker for the Red Cross in the newly reconstituted country of Poland. Back in the States, he worked for the U.S. Customs Service. He died in 1966 at the age of 70 of prostate cancer.


Wednesday, October 23, 1918:

Was sleeping soundly this A.M. when Kendrick came in and woke me up saying, “Come up with me and take some pictures of dead.” Well, I was booked for post at 12:30 anyway so I dressed and we started up.

Got to St. Juvin (an advanced post) and found that the roads had been pretty well cleared of all dead. In the town was a long line of about 50 American dead ready to be buried, but we passed on up to the end of the village and started out upon a road unused by vehicles up to now because it is exposed to the naked cold eye of Fritz. We hadn’t gone far before we got cold feet and turned around. Four stretcher bearers came along bearing a dead body and they advised us “for God’s sake” to get the car off that road. Jack took a picture of them and we rode back into town stopping to take a picture of the long line of dead. Jack surely is strong for the gruesome. We talked with the chaplain who said they were getting things pretty well cleaned up until another push starts here. After taking a few more pictures of ruins, dead horses and the like we went back to the farm where we were to relieve the boys on post. 

St. Juvin, 2008

After dinner the rest of the relief came (Wilder, McEnnis, Signor) and the shift was made. We had an easy 24 hours on duty, the easiest I have had up on this front. Over Verdun way there is very heavy artillery firing and it is rumored that our boys are advancing to relieve the pressure on this sector. Anyway, there isn’t very much artillery action here now compared to what there was a few days ago. Many guns are coming up and I expect that we shall soon be in another push. No signs of the division being relieved so we are taking advantage of this present lull and are overhauling our cars five at a time. I expect to go in for repairs soon.