THE PULL OF WAR

Ernest Hemingway, Ambulance Driver

Well, Ernest,
We both knew this time was coming.

You're off to war!

In a flurry of bustle and preparing you've left family, home, and the familiar behind. In your eyes, another great adventure!

As you travel east by train, you write your grandparents, "We are at Cleveland and having a great trip. It is a fine bunch of fellows."

You continue by writing your parents, "We are having a great trip and the bunch is very good. There are 15 fellows from mostly New Trier and Evanston and they are a dandy bunch...At New York I am going to get a canvass water proof Duffel bag with a chain and lock to keep all my stuff in. The meals have been very good so far."

Your train journey ends with a letter to your grandparents, "We are stopping at a hotel in Washington Square and are being completely equipped and uniformed. New York is a beautiful (city). Everything is lovely. I don't know my overseas address yet."

Your brief stay in New York where you are staging for passage to Europe is marked by excitement, discovery and eager anticipation,"We are quartered here at a very nice Hotel in Washington Square. The heart of Greenwich Village. It is just a half block from 5th Ave. and the arch and right on the square...Our uniforms are regular United States Army officers' and look like a million dollars. Privates and non coms must salute us smartly."

You shared with your parents how you met up with your friend, Ted, "I met Ted all right yesterday and we are rooming together here. We have a bunch of dandy fellows in our unit and are going to have a wonderful time...We bummed around and went up in the top of the Woolworth Tower 796 feet - 62 stories high. We could see the camouflaged boats going in and out of the harbor and see way up the East river to Hell's Gate."

Hem, what were you thinking? You wrote your parents in a letter dated May 18, 1918, "Have decided against ye little choich around the corner temporarily. Much nicer to be engaged."

You mother lapsed into epiplectic worry and your father writes (after you wired that it was a joke), "Your wire explained the 'joke' which has taken five nights sleep from your mother and father... hope you have written your dear mother, who was broken hearted."

Hem, your parents are filled with concern for what is coming. However you seem to be simply full of love of the adventure! You write, "Cheer up Ye Old Pop for nobody gets my insurance save yourself... we sail Wednesday via France. Landing at Bordeaux. Go to Paris, and then to Milan. Were going on a rotten old tub on the French line... We are having a great time. Don't worry about me whatever you do and trust my good judgement."

Hem, you're 19 years old. Your world and life is about to change in ways you never expected. You write you father about getting engaged to Mae Marsh, the actress, "Miss Marsh no kidding says she loves me. I suggested the little church around the corner but she opined as how ye ware widow appealed not to her. So I sunk the 150 plunks Pop gave me in a ring so I am engaged anyway. Also broke. Dead... Any way my girl loves me and says she believes I am going to be a great newspaper man and says she will wait for me." When interviewed years later Mae Marsh would deny ever meeting you.

What is going through your mind? Is there fear, some desperation, the need for something to hold onto? Your life is morphing faster than you can keep up with. What acts of grasping at what straws unfold as you are pulled inexorably towards the killing fields of Italy?

You write your parents from shipboard, before landing, "According to the latest dope we are going right down to our headquarters after we leave Paris and then go right out to the lines. To take the place of the gang whose time is up. Our six months start from the day we start driving so it will probably carry us pretty well into the winter. Address me care of the American Consul Milano Italy, Italian Ambulance Service American Red Cross. Much Love Ernie."

Hem, your in the mix now! 


EVENTS IN EUROPE AT THAT TIME: May 28-29, 1918 - Troops of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division capture the village of Cantigny from the Germans and hold it. The American Expeditionary Force (AEF) is commanded by General John Pershing who is determined to maintain all-American fighting units, rather than parcel out American troops to the British and French armies. By now, 650,000 American soldiers have arrived in France, with the number growing by 10,000 per day.

You arrive in Italy following their lowest point and worst defeat. They are a battered nation who will carry the scars of this war for generations, never mind the resentment at not having been given what they felt they had been promised at the Treaty of London, and disappointment and resentment would fester for years following the disappointment.

EVENTS IN ITALY: In October 1917 came the disaster of Caporetto. In this battle, in fact a series of battles, the Italians had to fight the whole Austrian Army and 7 divisions of German troops. The Italian Army lost 300,000 men. Though the Italians had a victory at Vittorio Veneto in 1918, the psychological impact of Caporetto was huge. The retreat brought shame and humiliation to Italy.

You, dear Ernest are walking into the middle of a lit powder keg.