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Reminder: WWI Dispatch newsletter becomes monthly in September 2019
This issue of the World War I DISPATCH is the last weekly issue of the newsletter. The publication is transitioning to a once-a-month format. The first issue of the new monthly newsletter will arrive in the middle of September, sent to the same distribution list as the weekly publication has been for the last three years. If you’re a subscriber now, you’ll continue to be one going forward. Not a subscriber yet? Sign up here to receive every issue.
Torrington, CT student returns from World War I archaeological dig in France
Alan Carpenter often looks for buried artifacts in Cobb Cook Park in Hibbing, MN using his metal detector. It’s something he does for fun, but he and his partner Jim Kochevar also return lost items. Last spring, Carpenter made his most important discovery, a World War I dog tag found buried under at least 6 inches of frost. “At first I didn’t know what it was, I thought it was some kind of token or something until I got home and rinsed it off, then I seen the United States Marine Corps on it,” said Carpenter. With Kochevar’s help, this past Memorial Day Carpenter figured out the dog tag belonged to Anton Bernhardt, a World War I veteran, and former Hibbing police officer. Click here to read more and watch video, and find out how the family of the World War I soldier was reunited with the dog tag in August after it was lost for 80 years.
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From the World War I Centennial News Podcast
WWI Now: Daniel Basta on the “Ghost Fleet” of Mallows Bay
War in the Sky:
Mark Wilkins on Pilots and PTSD
In August 12th’s edition of the World War I Centennial News Podcast, Episode 135, (originally aired in Episode 66) we heard from writer and historian Mark Wilkins on the high incidence of shell shock, or PTSD, among WWI pilots. Held up as fearless and daring, these men cracked underneath the extraordinary danger of their occupation. In his research Wilkins uncovered many letters written by the pilots themselves that illustrate the toll aerial combat took on their psyches. Click here to learn more about PTSD and the effect it had on WWI pilots, in their own words.
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Episode #137
American Legion Post #43: Revitalized and Relevant
Episode #137
Host – Theo Mayer
- 100 Years Ago: Headlines last week of August 1919
– Host | @ 02:15
- Born in the Month of August
– Dave Kramer | @ 09:05
- Remembering Veterans: American Legion Post 43 Revitalized
– Fernando Rivero & Lester Probst | @ 14:45
- Articles & Posts: Dispatch Newsletter
– Host | @ 32:55
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A man is only missing if he is forgotten.
Monday’s MIA this week is Private Pietro ‘Peter’ Pacifici. A native of Morello, Italy, Pietro Pacifici came to America in 1906 and settled in Jefferson County, New York. He was drafted into the service at Watertown, NY, on 22FEB1918 and sent into Company A, 308th Infantry Regiment, 77th Division, with which he trained at Camp Upton Long Island before going overseas in April, 1918. He served all through the campaign in the Vesle Valley that summer with distinction and without incident, even though Company A was frequently under fire and took considerable casualties.
In September, 1918, A/308 was assigned as one of the “point” units leading the 308th into the Argonne Forest, alongside Company D. The summer on the Vesle had been hard on the 308th as a whole, and as they were preparing to enter the Argonne, a large draft of replacements were sent forward for the regiment (1,250 of them), and Company A received their fair share. Among them was a young Private from Washington State named Lee McCollum (who would later go on to write the popular book “History and Rhymes of the Lost Battalion” about his experiences in the Argonne). On the night of September 25th, 1918, as Company A was preparing to move up to the front lines for the jump off the next morning, McCollum found himself assigned to carry a heavy bag of hand grenades. Nearby was a fellow with a strange accent, complaining about the clumsy stretcher that he had been assigned to carry. It was Peter Pacifici. McCollum did not hesitate to offer to exchange loads, feeling the lighter, and far less lethal, stretcher would be a much more welcome burden. Pacifici, used to such loads as the grenades and knowing from experience how welcome they would soon be, readily agreed and the two swapped responsibilities just before the unit moved out.
About a half an hour later, as they were treading forward through the rainy, dark night with artillery flying overhead, McCollum heard an explosion up ahead. Everyone was sure it was return fire from the Germans. Then the cry came back for stretcher bearers forward and McCollum and a pal rushed up. What they found was a rude introduction to the war; Pacifici had tripped and one of the grenades in the bag he had been carrying went off, setting off the rest and blowing him and several others to bits. McCollum carried back one of the wounded.
At the time of the accident, the company was about 1 kilometer north of the hamlet of La Harazee. What remained of Pacifici was buried on 01OCT1918 next to the trench in which he was killed by Chaplain Lockhart of the 53rd Pioneer Infantry. Despite coordinates for the burial being reported at the time and the grave having initially been marked by a cross, when searchers went to locate it after the war, nothing was ever found. Pietro Pacifici remains missing on the battlefield to this day.
Want to help us make an attempt at locating Pacifici using today’s technology? Then consider making a donation to Doughboy MIA at www.usww1cc.org/mia. It takes only a moment and your tax deductible contribution will help us make a difference for Pacifici, as well as helping us make a full accounting of ALL of our US MIA’s from WW1 and keep these lost men from being forgotten. Remember: A man is only missing if he is forgotten.
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Arthur O. McNitzky
Submitted by: Dave Jahn {American Legion, Department Texas, “Arthur O. McNitzky” Post 71, Adjutant}
Arthur O. McNitzky was born around 1890. Arthur McNitzky served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1918.
Story of Service
Arthur Othello McNitzky was born on March 28, 1890 in Denton, Texas to Gottfried August McNitzky and Emma Matilda Mentzel McNitzky of Germany. According to family researchers, August McNitzky left Breslau, Germany on 30 June 1874, traveled to Hamburg, then to Hartlepool, England, where he boarded a ship which arrived in Quebec, Canada on 9 July. His line of business was cobbler, but he could not make a living there because of the shoe factories already in existence. He went to Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Texas, and Mexico.
His travels cost more than the trip from Germany to Canada; his clothing and tools were stolen, and for a year and seven months he was sick (possibly malaria). He was working in Dallas and on 30 May, 1878, two banks broke in Dallas in one week and he lost $200 in the First National Bank. He said he felt like killing himself. He walked from Dallas to Denton because there was no train. He was one of the first German to come to Denton.
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Royal Canadian Legion, US Branch #25 