“GRAVE RESPONSIBILITIES”

The time had now come for the Americans to take their place in the battle lines. On the night of October 21st, 1917, units of the First Division occupied the front line trenches ten kilometers northeast of Nancy, and Battery C of the Sixth Field Artillery fired the first American shot on October 23rd, while, on October 27th the first German prisoner was captured. The Germans, learning of the presence of American troops, broke the quiet of the sector with a raid. A sergeant and ten men were taken prisoners, and the first American were killed in action: Gresham, Enright and Hay.

 June, 1917.

-Captain Alban B. Butler

grave responsibility cartoon

Above: Grave Responsibilities, from Cpt. Alban B. Butler’s “Happy Days, A Humorous Narrative in Drawings of the Progress of American Arms 1917-1919”.
From the Col. Robert R. McCormick Research Center.