After weeks of drilling and preparation in Chicago, the 13th Engineers finally headed to England in late July, arriving in England in mid-August 1917. Monday, June 18, 1917 Back to barracks 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, June 19, 1917 Routine, etc. Sunday, July 15, 1917 Nothing of interest all week long. Packing up. Wrote Cecil letter this morning….
If war is boredom punctuated by moments of terror, the weeks in Chicago definitely represented the boredom side of that notion. Interminable drilling and packing up, and on his mind every day thoughts of his girl Cecil. Mail call was the highlight, and the diary report often indicated whether EP had received a letter or…
The final call to all officers and men was issued on June 1, 1917, to report at the Municipal Pier in Chicago for active service, to begin basic training and to prepare for an early departure for Europe. Some of the men had arrived as early as May 25, and EP Dudley arrived about this…
On April 24, 1917, shortly after the US declared war on Germany, former French Prime Minister René Viviani arrived in the US as head of a commission to solicit US support for the war. He was accompanied by the famous Marshal of France, Joseph Joffre. The mission was initially met by Admiral Henry Mayo, commander-in-chief…
During the first two years of the war in Europe, President Wilson had carefully avoided making any commitments on behalf of the United States. He was careful, even, to avoid assessing blame, insisting that the war was a European matter that didn’t concern the United States, that our national security was not in danger. The…
I’m getting ahead of my story. In fact we need to go back a few years. In 1887 the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway began to build a 350-mile line connecting Chicago to Kansas City and on to the west coast. Railroad planners created towns along the new line at regular intervals so the…
The War That Was Never Supposed to Happen In early August 1914, the world stumbled into the most catastrophic conflict it had ever seen — not through careful planning, but through a cascade of half-measures, fragile alliances, and stubborn pride. The great powers of Europe had spent decades constructing an elaborate web of mutual defense…
This blog is about a man, a railroad, and a war. It is the history, one hundred years later, of EP Dudley’s experience in the 13th Engineers (Railway) during the First World War and covers the period 1917 to 1919. Edwin Paul Dudley Edwin Paul Dudley was born in Kansas City, Kansas in 1890. More…