Gas Pains
Tom grew up in Milwaukee, bartended in Wauwatosa in the '70s and moved here in 1984.
Commentary, observations and musings about the outdoors, life in general and maybe Tosa politics and personalities will be the order of the day. He savors a lively debate as much as terrific cooking.
Les Terribles
Hostilities had already ended seven months earlier with an armistice agreement between the Allied nations and Germany. It went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918 - Armistice Day - is generally regarded as the end of the war to end all wars.
World War I or The Great War came to an official close with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919.
In 1938 Armistice Day became a legal federal holiday. A day to remember veterans of The Great War and honor the cause of peace. Peace was short-lived because in 1954 - following the second world war and the Korean conflict - Congress changed the name of the holiday to Veterans Day.
Since today is Veterans Day I want you to meet Herman J. Schmidt. This is Jill's grandfather. He died in 1967 but he's been a topic of conversation amongst the family inasmuch as his dog tags (army identification tags) surfaced recently.
Doesn't look very menacing does he? Nevertheless, private Schmidt consorted with Les Terribles. Literally translated as The Terrible Ones. This moniker was earned in The Great War by Wisconsin's 32nd Division - the Red Arrow Division. Army National Guard.
The 32nd was the first U.S. Division on German soil during World War I. Famous for advancing where other units failed they were the first allied division to breach the vaunted German Hindenburg Line.
The 32nd conducted combat operations in three major offensives, engaging and defeating 23 German divisions. They captured more than 2,100 prisoners and gained twenty miles. They repelled every German counterattack. They never yielded any of the ground they gained. Not a yard.
When the French Commander - General de Mondesir - observed the tenacity of the 32nd in sweeping the Germans from their positions in the face of incredible odds he was heard to say: Oui, Oui, Les soldats terrible, tres bien, tres bien!
Les Terribles. The nickname stuck and became official. The Division's insignia - a line pierced with a red arrow - memorializes the fact that the 32nd Division penetrated every German line of defense that it faced during World War I.
I've never served in the military but have had the privilege of being acquainted with some of The Terrible Ones. Both living and dead. My great uncle Edward Lauer served with the 32nd during The Great War. He survived the torpedoing and sinking of the SS Tuscania on his trip to France. When he got to France he was wounded in a gas attack. Talk about a streak of bad luck. He survived the war to become a successful home builder in Tosa. My father - Howard Gaertner - was a sergeant in the 32nd Division for a period of time after the Second World War. And I have a hunting buddy - a captain in the Wisconsin Army National Guard - that completed a tour in Iraq. All of them - Les Terribles. And coincidentally Tosans.
Herman Schmidt survived The Great War. I am told he suffered from the after-effects of a gas attack for the remainder of his life. Nevertheless, he married and raised a family. He operated a corner grocery at 21st and Garfield. He even ran for the office of Milwaukee County Sheriff after WWII.
Those Terrible Ones are pretty solid in civilian life.
About those dog tags I mentioned earlier...
Learn more about the history of Les Terribles here.
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