The Division shipped out to France on August 8th, out of the Brooklyn Harbor
bound for Liverpool, England. Frank was in France in mid August and the Meuse
Argonne Offensive was about to be under way. When October 8th slid by with
all the intensity and violence no man could truly prepare for, Frank was now
a member of an elite group. He would forever be remembered as a surviving
member of what is referred to as "The Lost Battalion." His experiences as a
runner for Company H's commander Lt. William J. Cullen in the Argonne Forest
were both intense and brutal. He would be running messages to the 77th
Commander, Major Charles Whittlesey, this one in particular is worthy of
mentioning.
This written documentation of Frank's exploits on October 3rd, 1918 puts into
focus how he performed during the bleak days in the Argonne. I enjoy how
Frank enters into the chaos of the moment.
Still, more men were continuing to pour into the wounded area when Private
Frank G. S. Erickson, Lt. Cullen's primer runner, came tearing up with a salute
and message from Lt. Cullen.
The message that Frank delivered to Major Charles Whittlesey reads:
The Boche (Germans) attacked on the left flank and were driven off by our rifle fire.
They attacked me in front with trench mortars and caused a number of causalities.
Lt. Griffin is injured. Please send a Machine Gun to help out on this flank and some
more men, also one officer or good non-com.
Lt. Cullen
The Lost Battalion, the name given to the nine companies of the United States 77th Division
of the American Expeditionary Force, consisted of 554 men that were surrounded by German
forces in the Argonne Forest in France between October 2nd through the 8th of 1918.
Roughly 197 were killed in battle and approximately 150 went missing in
action and or were taken prisoner. Only 194 remaining men walked out alive.
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, also known as the Battle of the Argonne Forest,
was a major part of the final Allied offensive of World War I that stretched along the
entire Western Front. It was fought from September 26, 1918, until the Armistice on
November 11th, 1918, a total of 47 days.
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was the largest in United States military history,
involving 1.2 million American soldiers, and was one of a series of Allied attacks
known as the Hundred Days Offensive, which brought the war to an end. The battle
cost 28,000 German lives and 26,277 American lives, making it the largest and bloodiest
operation of World War I for the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), which was commanded
by General John J. Pershing.
