We were with the soldiers in France, cut off almost entirely from the outer world. One morning the word was flashed through camp that a whole regiment of Pioneer Infantry had arrived. “What are Pioneer Infantries?” everyone asked. Many answers were volunteered but none very satisfactory. This ignorance was not altogether our own fault. We had heard no mention of pioneers in those first days of mobilization before we left the United States. Our “continental editions” of the New York Herald, London Times, and Chicago Tribune were just about as meagre of information as they were of size. True, friends sent us magazines and papers, but in those days they rarely reached us. So we asked—“What are Pioneer Infantries?”
All were quickly at work preparing to receive the newcomers. An addition of three thousand men meant extra work. Reams of paper and thousands of envelopes had to be prepared for easy distribution, because writing material was the very first demand of the soldier landing on foreign soil. Above all other pressing needs was the need to write the folk back home that, “I got over all right.” Not only were letters hurried home, but the hands of the Y folk were quickly filled with messages to be cabled. Extra gallons of chocolate had to be made and canteen supplies enlarged; special “information bureaus” set up; money made ready for exchange and other details arranged for prompt service.
But as we worked we also wondered about these new soldiers. The word “pioneer” embodied a wealth of courage and daring, so that long before the 807th rushed our hut that September afternoon, we had woven about them all the wonderful dreams of their achievements at the front that it is possible for a woman’s fancy to fashion. And, although they never had all the chance we had dreamed for them, they did not fail us. Wherever an opportunity challenged them, they triumphantly answered it, as attested below:
HEADQUARTERS, 807th PIONEER INFANTRY,
M. T. C. Reception Park, 714,
Bourg (Haute Marne), France.
A. P. O. 714.
April 26, 1919.
General Orders No. 2.
1. The commanding officer takes pleasure in publishing to the command the following letters received from General Headquarters, American Expeditionary Forces, relative to participations of the 807th Pioneer Infantry in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. It is desired that this order be published to all troops, and that proper recognition of the same be made on all records pertaining thereto. It is the intention of the Commanding Officer to present this ribbon when the regiment has again assembled. Service ribbons as prescribed, will be forwarded as soon as received.