Furloughs have started...

According to the History Channel nothing of import is going on the week of June 23rd in 1918.

June 23, 1918
Dear Mother,
I rather expected a letter from you this week but the mail man comes empty-handed every day.

There’s nothing new around here. The sector continues very quiet – for which I’m not a bit sorry. The weather is clear enough but quite cool – much cooler than it is at home this time of year.

Friday marked the end of a year in the army for most of the Section so we celebrated with an extra-good dinner and a sort of party afterwards. I didn’t enjoy the party much myself because it made me think of the ones the gang used to have at school and likewise those we used to have at 193 Sterling Place, sometimes in the evening.

Our permissions, or furloughs, have started, though I don’t know just when mine will come. We get seven days, exclusive of travelling time, which makes a nice little vacation.

Somehow I can’t think of anything to write that will get by the censor. Keep me posted as to how Harry is making out. I’m interested.
Love,
Herb

Don’t worry. I’ve never felt better in my life.

Helen is Herb's first cousin, daughter to Uncle Will and Aunt Ada. We have some photos here.
Olive and Marnie are Herb's younger sisters, though I am still sorting through the nickname Marnie. I always knew her as Margaret.

From June 14th to July 15th, Herb is in Bussy le Chateau, Marne.



June 18th, (1918)
Dear Mother,

Everything is fine. We’re back on the line again – on active duty. I mean rather because this base is quite a ways back of the lines, even further than the place where we were first off – several months ago. The sector is very quiet. I hope it continues so because these sturing ? times are very hard on one’s nerves. We have very good barracks and are very comfortable, taking it all together. The weather’s been rather rainy lately – though not too rainy, and altogether I think the weather is cooler than it is at home.

I was much pleased to hear of Harry’s good luck in getting a good place and I do hope that he’ll be able to come through. I know he will if it can reasonably be expected of any one of his age and experience. The kid merely has backbone to go trailing down there there [sic] all on his own and I know he’ll do his darnedest. His only trouble is that he doesn’t say enough about himself. If he’d only loosen up and tell his troubles occasionally he’d be much better off. Tell him to be sure + keep in touch with Chas. I know that Chas will do everything he can for him, when he knows it’s the right thing to do, and I’m sure he can give Harry a lot of darned good advice if he’ll only go to him when he’s in trouble. Chas has been through the mill + and he knows what’s what. I hope Miss Pearsall can take him. I told you last week, did I now that I had had a letter from her.

I had Helen’s letter a few days ago. Tell her I’ll be writing her shortly.

How are the kids, Mother. I’ve been thinking a lot about them lately. Olive, I suppose, will be a young lady when I come back. And Marnie, how I wish I could see her and you all.

Several packages of magazines and things you sent have arrived this week and I’ve had a fine time catching up with current events in the U.S. the general tone of affairs looks better – more determined.

Don’t worry. I’ve never felt better in my life.

Your affectionate son,
Herb

On June 11th, the History Channel tells us this happened:

After several months of an aggressive German offensive on the Western Front during the spring and early summer of 1918, the Allies begin their counterattack, including an assault on June 10, 1918, by four French and two American divisions on German lines near the town of Antheuil-Portes in central France, some 45 miles from Paris.

Code-breaking by French intelligence at the beginning of June 1918 had allowed the Allies to prepare for a German attack in France that was to begin at midnight on June 7. The French launched their own massive artillery bombardment some ten minutes earlier, catching the Germans while they were still preparing for the attack. The Germans countered with an even stronger assault, firing 250,000 rounds of poison gas—including mustard, phosgene and diphenyl-chlorarsine—into the French trenches, incapacitating some 4,000 French soldiers and killing 32.

After three days of battle, the Germans had forced the French back to Antheuil-Portes. Winston Churchill, in Paris at the time coordinating Allied munitions, wrote to his wife on June 10 that "If the French cannot hold [the Germans] back on this sector, it is not easy to see what the next step on our part should be." The following day, four French and two American divisions launched a counterattack aided by significant air support as well as over 150 tanks. They successfully pushed the Germans back from Antheuil, taking more than a thousand German prisoners. A German attack west of Soissons on June 12 made negligible gains, and German Chief of Staff Erich Ludendorff called off the offensive that same day. The Allies continued their push, however, beginning a change of momentum that would gain force throughout the summer of 1918 and the final months of World War I.

Cider

This past fall folks at VPR - Vermont Public Radio - were talking about the apple harvest in the region. They ended the discussion by saying that the area around Lake Champlain could turn in to the Napa Valley of Ciders. My little brain got spinning....! Wouldn't that be a hoot?! I mean the area where I go is totally economically depressed and something like cider making could be wonderful for the area.

Not since our forefathers were downing it by the tankard has hard cider been so sought after. The appeal is obvious: Fermented and barrel aged like wine, ciders are food friendly and offer flavor profiles ranging from dry to sweet, with citrus, floral, and oaky notes to boot. And the best cider comes from lesser-known breeds. “You can’t throw in Granny Smiths and call it cider,” Stephen Wood of Farnum Hill Ciders told Food & Wine. “You have to use bitter apples.”

(Taken from the 12/31/14 edition of The Week Magazine.)

I learned from Michael Pollan in his books about how all apple trees are grafted because planting apple seeds does not result in a tree bearing the same fruit as the seed it grew from. Isn't that fascinating? Just imagine the possibilities!

Picturesque La Noblette....

Herb is writing from La Cheppe, France, outside of Reims. He is at the Camp de Noblette. I took this following image from Wikipedia:

Could this be the stream Herb mentions?

Miss Pearsall must be the landlady at Herb's apartment at 193 Sterling Place in Brooklyn.

Nothing is popping out at me in my research on Google about the BT Company; sorry to be of no help there.

Remember we found Tom Nial here.

We learn that younger brother Harry has a bad heart? Did we know this from before? And the Shermans are Herb's Aunt and Uncle from Troy, NY.


June 11th (1918)
Dear Mother,

I’m afraid I’ve missed several writing days but we’ve been moving around so much and so fast that it’s been impossible to write. I sent you a card last week – the first opportunity I had to get anything in the mail.

As I told you there we were mixed up in a big action and for more than a week we had a pretty lively time of it. However we pulled through in pretty good shape. Though we lost some cars + most of us had to abandon at least part of our surplus clothing. We’re back in rest camp now in a big pine grove and it certainly seems fine to settle down for a while with no fear of being ordered out any minute. There’s a nice little stream nearby so we can enjoy the luxury of frequent baths after having gone duty longer than I’d like to say.

We’ve had only one mail for a long time – but it brought me several letters from you. I had also a letter from Miss Pearsall. It seems that all the old gang in 193 is over here now. She’s looking forward to a big reunion and says that there’ll always be room for us all if she has to eject a few of the present occupants.

I had a letter from Chas, too. He’s putting things into shape because he expects his 2A classification will call him out pretty soon. They’ve had to move his department to larger quarters again and he says for me not to worry about after the war – what with the way things are going with him. He’s been very busy, of course, on the 3rd loan, in fact, he was the principal author of the B.T. Co. pamphlet which was adjudged the best one presented. He sent me a copy of it + it certainly was a sweet piece of work.

You gave me Tom’s address in one of your letters so I shall write him this week. Remember me to Mrs. Nial.

I’m sorry Harry is doing nothing. I don’t like to interfere any further, but I do think that if Uncle Will can still get him something in the Arsenal, he ought to take it. In times like these, every one ought be working. At any rate, he ought not be worrying about the future, now. I’m not – and I’ve got more reason than he. If he can get a job within his strength, he ought take it. If the salary is at all reasonable and not worry about whether he likes it or not. I don’t believe anyone can expect to be settled into a permanent line of work at his age. At any rate, anything ought be better than being home. On the other hand he ought not enlist. No one with a bad heart ought to be in the active service.

I suppose the Shermans are on Easy St. now. It’s nice that Will is doing so well and I hope he keeps on.

Don’t worry whenever there is a break in my chain of letters. All it means is that the mail system is a bit jumbled up. At any rate it certainly doesn’t mean that anything has happened to me. If there were any bad news you’d get it fast enough. I’m fine – never felt better in my life.

Love to all,
Herb.




The History Channel came up with this for me - about an hour away from where Herb is writing this letter.

Battle of Belleau Wood begins

The first large-scale battle fought by American soldiers in World War I begins in Belleau Wood, northwest of the Paris-to-Metz road.

In late May 1918, the third German offensive of the year penetrated the Western Front to within 45 miles of Paris. U.S. forces under General John J. Pershing helped halt the German advance, and on June 6 Pershing ordered a counteroffensive to drive the Germans out of Belleau Wood. U.S. Marines under General James Harbord led the attack against the four German divisions positioned in the woods and by the end of the first day suffered more than 1,000 casualties.

For the next three weeks, the Marines, backed by U.S. Army artillery, launched many attacks into the forested area, but German General Erich Ludendorff was determined to deny the Americans a victory. Ludendorff continually brought up reinforcements from the rear, and the Germans attacked the U.S. forces with machine guns, artillery, and gas. Finally, on June 26, the Americans prevailed but at the cost of nearly 10,000 dead, wounded, or missing in action.

Without a Scratch

Herb and the 580 are in Saint Martin d'Ablois and they are attached to the 13th Division (French). They had been attached to the 71st Division, until May 26th.

June 5, 1918
Dear Mother,

We’ve just had a taste of the real thing for a few days but are out of it now. I was pretty well scared several times but pulled through without so much as a scratch. I can’t write a letter because I am way behind in my work and must catch up.

With love to all

P.S. Please call up Karolyn and tell her I’ll write as soon as possible.


In between the two letters the Ambulance Corps has moved quite a bit:



I have only just now learned how to embed google maps in to my blog. So good; so helpful.

Fine Weather has been let loose

The 580 is in Pernant, Aisne from May 16th thru the 23rd. Pernant is just outside of Soissons, France.

May 20 [1918]
Dear Mother,

I’m a couple of days behind schedule this time but no wonder. We’ve been moving around quite a bit and I lost two days somewhere. I was sure it was only Friday when as a matter of fact it was Sunday.

At least the fine weather that they have been saving up has been let loose. For four or five days it has been fine, though perhaps a bit too warm – absolutely clear, cloudless days with a temperature that must push 85 or 90 degrees pretty close.

As I said before we’ve moved, but where, why or how we’re going I don’t know. We’re now in a small town awaiting orders – an ordinary billeting-place, dirty and dusty and about as uninteresting a place as one could imagine. That’s not all true, at that, because there’s an aviation station not far away and one can frequently see planes going through all sorts of stunts, right over our heads.

There’s a good sized town not very far away so I managed to get over there yesterday to buy some things I needed. I went around to see the cathedral which had been shelled by the Boches. What a sight. One part of it was quite intact but the other was half battered down and all the walls were all scarred with shrapnel. Next door was something quite funny from one point of view – a house with only the front wall standing and on that a sign ”Apartment to let”.

There are several American sections of ambulance men near here and I saw quite a few fellows in the town but no one I knew.

The mail man has been using me bad lately but I’m hoping he’ll do better.

Your affectionate son,
Herbert

At last, a new kind of antibiotic

Taken directly from the Week Magazine - January 23rd edition....

For the first time in nearly three decades, scientists have uncovered a new class of antibiotics—a potential game changer in the war against infections that do not respond to standard drugs. Over decades of exposure, many bacteria have evolved to become resistant to existing antibiotics; these “superbugs” now cause 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths every year. Up to now, researchers have had little success developing new antibiotics. Nearly all antibiotics are derived from naturally occurring bacteria that produce their own antibiotics to kill off rivals. These bacteria are generally found in soil, but the problem has been that they won’t grow in laboratory conditions. So researchers at Northeastern University developed a device that may finally allow them to access millions of “uncultured” bacteria as a source of potential antibiotics. The device is filled with tiny chambers that allow bacteria to be isolated while still growing in their native soil, enabling scientists to trick them into being “domesticated.” Of the 25 antibiotics they discovered, one, called teixobactin, proved to be highly effective in treating certain types of pneumonia, tuberculosis, and the staph infection MRSA in laboratory mice. Because of the way the new antibiotic works—by breaking down microbes’ outer cell walls—researchers believe it could be decades before any resistant strains emerge. “Here is an antibiotic that’s essentially evolved to be free of resistance,” lead author Kim Lewis tells BBC.com. He said the discovery—which may take five years to bring to market—will provide “a promising source of new antimicrobials and help revive the field of antibiotic discovery.”

I find it fascinating everything that is being discovered about bacteria and our health.

Vitamin D

It seems to me that more and more is being learned about the effects of Vitamin D on the body. During the warmer periods I try to sit outside in the morning soaking up sun before the sun gets too hot/strong. Neighbors think I am crazy and that I am exposing myself to skin cancer, but I believe in the benefits of sun and I do see a dermatologist on a somewhat regular basis....

Low vitamin D levels can increase the risk for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. U.K. researchers studied more than 1,600 adults and found that those with vitamin D levels below 50 nanomoles per liter—the minimum healthy level—were up to two times more likely to suffer from dementia than those with higher levels. “We can’t say anything about whether people should be supplementing, because that’s beyond the scope of what we looked at,” says study co-author Iain Lang, “but these are exciting and suggestive results.”

This quote was taken from the 12/31/14 edition of The Week Magazine.

The Reinhard Ratje Siedenburg Story

I have no photographs of Reinhard Ratje, unfortunately.

Nothing definitive is really known about Reinhard Ratje Siedenburg except that perhaps he was born about 1807/8 in Bremen, Germany. The names of his parents are unknown.

One assumes, based on the birth location of his children, that he met and married Sophia Dorothea Hotlzman in Bremen, but the place and year are unknown.

By 1826, only roughly 18 years old, it appears that Reinhard Ratje is already a captain of a ship, the Anna Augusta on route to Bilbao, Spain. Based on several passenger and crew lists, perhaps Reinhard did a route between Bilbao, Spain and Bremen, Germany.

Again, based on the birth of his first known child, we assume that Sophia and Reinhard married around 1840 in Bremen.

Their first child, Ratje was born in Bremen around 1842. Two years later Reinhard was born July 10, 1844 in Bremerhaven, Germany. In another 18 months, the third son, George Ratje, was born on January 12, 1846 back in Bremen.

In 1847 we have a certificate of Arrival in London for a Ratje Siedenburg.

According to the Naturalization form in the Common Pleas Court of New York County, Reinhard arrived in the Unites States on December 21, 1866. Based on a passport application of his son Reinhard, Reinhard, Sr. arrived with at least this one child. We do not know if his wife is with him.

For some unknown reason, Reinhard Ratje waited approximately 26 years to become naturalized – which occurred on February 25, 1892. At that time he indicates that he is a merchant living in New Brighton, Staten Island. His friend Charles Keutzen of Stapleton, Staten Island functions as his witness.

We do not know when Reinhard Ratje dies or where he is buried.

Bio Fuel

Another interesting story in The Week magazine's December 5, 2014 edition... This time about bio fuel, but different than the use of animal dung to generate methane for cooking and heating in India and Kenya. I have been occasionally following a young Brown University graduate who moved to Kenya to build bio fuel tanks for farmers - can't remember the name of his company or web site at the moment, very frustrating. (On 2/26 I now remember the name of the company - Takamoto Biogas.)

In any event, this is what I found and thought I would share with the universe:

Taking the No. 2, after a British company unveiled a bus powered by human poop. The 40-seat Bio Bus runs on gas generated by decomposing garbage and sewage generated by people in the area, “including, quite possibly, those on the bus itself,” said a company spokesman.

Come on, you have to admit, this is brilliant. Gross, but brilliant. Now if only we can get over our healthy aversion to our own waste.... I know we need to find it disgusting so that we did not eat where we pooped as an evolving organism, but now that we know so much more about our gut and the role bacteria plays in our health, using a waste product to fuel our ability to get round town, that's pretty good.