Cited for gallantry during the Chateau Thierry drive, Sergeant C. Lyon Rogers had been recommended for a commission as second lieutenant and he was sworn in as an officer on October 28 after performing the duties of one for more than a month.
Relief by D Company, 103d Machine Gun Battalion was completed early on the morning of October 30, and the Company withdrew to a hillside south of Ormont Farm where it spent the day, and the following night moved to the place at the crossroads it had occupied before entering the line. Long range shelling of this position made rest impossible. Twelve mules were killed and seven wounded when a Hun projectile landed in the picket line, but Geer was the only man to suffer injury from the succeeding shells as the Company sought places nearer the top of the hill for safety.
Under way again, the Company relieved a group of French machine gunners on November 1 in the Bois des Caures, a kilometer northwest of Beaumont and slightly to the right of the positions occupied by it in the Ormont Woods. This was reputed to be a quiet sector and so it proved with the exception of occasional shelling when ration parties were due. One of these salvoes delivered against Lieutenant Nelson's post of command resulted in the wounding of Oscar Johnson and Bill Kennedy, the latter mortally. Kennedy had volunteered to aid in the distribution of rations and was struck at a time when his ordinary duties would have kept him out of danger.
Armistice rumors were numerous and convincing, but the invitation sent over by the Huns to become prisoners and end the fighting found no sympathy in the American lines. Many of the men were being sent to the hospital, suffering from gas, shell-shock and illness, but the largest percentage of these came from the replacements, who, although they had come to the Company fresh from training, failed to stand the rigors of the campaign as well as the men who had fought through nine months without rest.
Infantry raiding parties sent out to identify the German units in the line met with small success, but three prisoners they brought back were confident that the war would end within a few days as were all the French with whom the men came in contact. More reliance was placed in the reports from the latter, for the French soldier was always well informed as to probable events.
Meeting but weak resistance the infantry cleared the woods of Germans November 8, and it was during this operation that Lieutenant Rogers was killed by a machine gun bullet. He was in charge of two machine guns in the advance but had been asked to lead a party of infantry over the top and while organizing the men he met his death. His fearlessness had placed him as high in the esteem of neighboring units as it had in that of his own men. It was one of the doughboys who remarked that "he shouldn't have been a second lieutenant, but an infantry captain."
Advancing down the road in the direction of Ville devant Chaumont with the third battalion of the 102d Infantry, it was found that units on the right and left flanks had failed to keep up with the movement, so after consolidating the position, the men remained there during the night of the 8th and were withdrawn a half kilometer in the morning. The advance was taken up later in the day and continued through to the eastern edge of Champneuville woods, in the conquest of which Corporal Arthur Parmalee was wounded so severely he died that day.
The entire Battalion took up the march eastward on the 10th in support of the infantry. That night the doughboys were sent into Wavrille Woods to protect the flank of the advance. They were shelled heavily, but German dugouts and shell-proofs were as effective against Hun shell-fire as they had been against American bombardments, so the men rested comfortably until the next morning, when they were marched back to Beaumont, from which place, with the remnants of the third battalion of the 102d Infantry, they were ordered into the line to relieve the 101st Infantry. Reports had gained circulation that hostilities were to cease at 11 o'clock, but little credence was given them.
Orders were given out to begin the attack at 10:39 ceasing the advance at 11:00, but it was 11:03 before the formations were perfected and the men ready to start after the enemy. Three minutes before this the artillery fire which had been practically continuous for days and had reached its greatest intensity in this region not long before the final hour suddenly ceased and an almost uncanny silence prevailed. Far from being hailed by the men as the hour for which they had struggled through seemingly endless days, it was greeted silently. Neither American nor enemy soldiers exhibited joy when they knew hostilities were at an end, but, under the spell of a war, which had been the most exciting, most terrible thing within the span of their lives, they awaited the realization of peace.
Keeping well out of sight during the daylight hours the Huns gave an indication of their feelings at night by providing a pyrotechnical display which vied with a July 4 celebration in brilliance. Rockets, verrey lights and flares were used in profusion, but there was no intercourse between D Company and its enemies, for early that night heavy, unbroken sleep was the portion of all except a few infantrymen who were used in establishing an outpost as a guard against possibilities and the last night on the line was spent in that prosaic but profitable manner.