ONTHISDAY IN 1918
Monday, Aug. 5, 1918. A telegram received tonight at Irving Place confirms that Troy’s National Guard regiment has seen combat on the western front in Europe. Word reaches Mr. and Mrs. Frederick M. Manony from the federal war department that their son, Corporal Fred M. Mahony jr. of Company A, 105th U.S. Infantry, was “seriously injured in action” on July 28. The 105th is the former 2nd New York National Guard Infantry regiment. The Troy-based regiment was mobilized into federal service shortly before the U.S. declaration of war against Germany in April 1917. Cpl. Mahony served with the Second on border patrol duty in Texas in 1916, missing his Troy High School graduation ceremony. The Record reports that Mahony “held the distinction of being the only corporal of the command who earned his medal as a sharpshooter.” The telegram “is regarded as conclusive evidence that boys from the Hudson and Mohawk valleys took an active part in the present drive.” American and French forces are on the offensive after beating back massive German attacks earlier this year. “It is known that when the 105th left Spartanburg [S.C.] the command was entirely equipped to enter battle on arrival in France, even to trench implements,” our reporter writes, “The men had received such a thorough training at Spartanburg under the American and allied officers that it was deemed sufficient to carry them everywhere.
“Regimental officers were immediately sent into the trenches with allied troops on arrival in France and given a special course under the enemy’s fire and then sent back to their command. This was considered the final word in the regiment’s training.”
Soldier Letters Breathe the True Spirit
Sergeant Samuel Wise was The Record’s special correspondent from Spartanburg while the 105th trained there. His latest letters from France appear in today’s edition. “I would like very much to tell you where we are but this is against the rules,” Wise writes. He’s permitted to observe that “as we wend our way across the country we see many interesting things and we find much amusement at our halting places when we can mix with the soldiers of other nations. “It is a touching moment when we eat our dinner to see the little tots come running out to us with their cups for some of our soup, and although it means that the soldiers must go short still he seldom sees the little ones go away hungry.” Writing on June 16, Wise adds, “Everywhere we go the kids in the towns look to us for cigarettes and money as they think we are all millionaires.