October 3, 1918: Don Martin, sick, returns to Paris

On Thursday, October 3, Don Martin was on his way to Paris, a very sick man.

Somehow he wrote his daily dispatch for Paris on October 3, perhaps while in transit to Paris. It was published in the Paris Herald on Friday, October 6.

Germans Attack Americans

After Crying ‘Kamerad!’

(Special Telegram to the Herald)

By DON MARTIN

WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES, Thursday

Scores of instances of alleged German atrocities on the field of battle are heard but it is seldom that one is printed because the United States authorities have ruled that no atrocity story may be published until it is verified. Here is one which has been verified.

During the fighting in the Argonne forest the Americans attacked the abri of St. Louis, one of the strongest local entrenchments in the forest. The Germans waited till the Americans were about 100 feet from the abri and then one hundred of them came out and offered to surrender. They threw up their hands and the Americans accepted their plea, and as the Germans advanced the Americans paid little attention to them. Presently the Huns put down their hands and hurled a deluge of hand-grenades on the Americans, inflicting severe casualties. The Americans thereupon attacked the Germans still resisting in the abri.

The Germans shelled many points along the American front last night and early to-day. The shelling reached proportions of a barrage at five o’clock this morning and the American reply was very intense. Patrols were active along the entire front. A Boche observation plane tried to take photographs over the line this morning. The Americans attacked and forced the Huns to land, the observer and pilot were unhurt and were made prisoners.

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October 14, 1918: Don Martin’s funeral service in Paris

A funeral service for Don Martin was held in Paris on Sunday, October 13, 1918, at the American Church, rue de Berri. The New York Herald published this report on Monday, October 14, 1918. MANY FRIENDS AT CHURCH SERVICE FOR DON MARTIN Simplicity and Sincerity of Character of “Herald” Writer, Theme of Dr. Goodrich’s Sermon Funeral services for Don Martin were held yesterday afternoon in the American Church in the rue de Berri. They were simple and impressive. Before the pulpit rested the coffin, over which was spread the American flag. Floral offerings were arranged around it. Flat against the wall behind the pulpit were two American flags and the tricolor, and on either side were standards of these two emblems. Uniforms of the United States army predominated in the gathering of 200 persons composed of friends Mr. Martin had known for years at home and friends he had made in France. The depth and beauty of character which drew these old and new

Welcome to Don Martin blog on Armistice Centennial Day

Welcome to the World War I Centennial Don Martin daily blog, on Armistice Centennial day, November 11, 2018. Don Martin was a noted war correspondent reporting on the American Expeditionary Forces in France in 1918. Regrettably he died of Spanish influenza in Paris on October 7,1918, while covering the Argonne Forest offensive. He missed the joy of the Armistice by a month. Beginning on December 7, 2017, this blog has chronicled each day what Don Martin wrote one hundred years earlier – in his diary, in his letters home, and in his multitude of dispatches published in the Herald newspaper, both the New York and the European (Paris) editions. The blog, for the several days following his death, recounts the many tributes published, his funeral in Paris and his trip back to his final resting place at his home in Silver Creek, New York. To access the daily blogs, click on the three red lines at top right, then in the fold-down menu, click on Archive. There are 316 blogs from D

October 17, 2018: Final Salute to Don Martin, Soldier of the Pen

We have reached the end of the Don Martin World War I centennial memorial blog. Starting on December 7, 2017, this daily blog has chronicled, in 315 postings, the remarkable story of my grandfather’s contribution to the Great War. This blog was possible because of the availability of my grandfather Don Martin’s diaries and his letters to my mother, and his published writings in the New York and Paris Herald. We have followed him from leading political reporter of the New York Herald at the end of 1917, to head of its London office in January-March 1918, and then to France as accredited war correspondent covering the American Expeditionary Forces, based first in Neufchateau, then in Meaux, Nancy and finally for a few days in Bar le Duc. And then, his final return to his hometown in Silver Creek, New York. Don Martin has given us a full and insightful, if grim, picture of the Great War, as witnessed by the American war correspondents. We have seen

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