HENRY
JAMES JONES
Yaphank
305th Machine Gun Battalion
Henry James Jones. Photo from the Veterans of Foreign
Wars post at Medford.
Henry
James Jones
305th Machine Gun Battalion
Private 1st Class
Yaphank
Henry James Jones was one of eight children born to John
and Maria Jones of Yaphank. Their home was on the hill
overlooking Mill Road, just west of the Veteran's Place.
The Jones' seventy-five acre farm ran from Mill Road to
Gerard Road on the north side and past Carman's River on
the west. Growing up, Henry attended the one room
schoolhouse in Yaphank.
In October of 1917, Henry Jones was drafted into the 77th
Division of the United States Army. He did not have to
travel far: the newly erected Camp Upton was only minutes
away. After months of training, Jones was assigned to the
305th Machine Gun Battalion, which was part of the 77th
Division. The unit proudly marched down 5th Avenue in New
York City on Washington's Birthday. His was the first
unit to leave Camp Upton for France.
On
March 29, 1918, the troops embarked on the ship,
Megantic, a White Star Liner. Twelve days later, the
battalion arrived at Liverpool in England. The men then
boarded trains to Dover, overlooking the English Channel.
The
men were hurriedly loaded onto a boat; after crossing the
Channel, they arrived at Calais, France. From there, they
were sent to La Panne for additional training.
The
305th Machine Gun Battalion was assigned to the 39th
Division of the British Army. The 39th had the job of
preparing the battalion for combat, which included
training the Americans in such things as gas mask
procedures and using the Vickers Machine Gun.
Members
of the British 39th Division teaching the Americans to
work with machine guns.
After
completing their training, the battalion moved to the
Lorraine Sector. This was a relatively quiet sector, and
the men were able to prepare for the combat they would
soon see. The machine gunners were issued Colt 45
automatic pistols and spent time in the trenches. They
began to work with a French machine gun called a
Hotchkiss. It took some time, but the men became
accustomed to and grew to like this gun that they would
take into combat. The men also quickly learned the sound
of the Klaxon Horn, which was used to warn them of a gas
attack.
On
August 5, the men of the 305th packed into railroad cars.
As the train rolled away, the cars roared with the words
of an old song, "Where do we go from here, boys,
where do we go from here?" The young men soon
learned that "here" was the "hell hole of
Vesle," as it became known to many.
The
next day, Jones and his battalion were loaded onto trucks
and transported to the front. They reunited with other
elements of the 77th Division en route to a place called
Chateau Thierry. The 77th was relieving the badly
depleted United States 4th Division, which had pushed the
Germans across the Vesle River.
On
August 11, nearly all the men attended a church service
where, somewhat prophetically, the men sang, "Nearer
My God to Thee." After this, the men made their way
to the river in valley of the Vesle. The Germans occupied
strong positions on the hills across the river. As
daylight faded, the men pressed on, passing the lifeless
forms of men and horses. When they approached the river,
they set up their machine guns. No system of trenches
existed, so each man dug a hole to conceal himself from
the enemy.
Despite
being well concealed, Jones' battalion suffered
casualties from German machine guns the next day. For
four days, the troops endured constant machine gun
strafing, artillery fire and dreaded gas attacks. Some
men described the mustard gas as smelling like crushed
onions. On August 16, the 305th Machine Gun Battalion got
some relief from the repeated gas attacks: other members
of the 77th Division were sent in so Jones' battalion
could recuperate.
A
week later, the 305th was sent back to the line to
prepare for the push to drive the Germans out of the
valley. The push began when the 77th artillery began to
blast the hills occupied by the Germans. Jones, as part
of Company B, went "over the top," as the
barrage ended. The Company crossed the river and made its
way up the hill. They settled into the trenches formerly
occupied by the Germans, and kept the enemy away.
The
men were pulled out of the line on September 14 to
prepare for an advance that many hoped would end the war,
the Battle of the Argonne Forest. This would be the
greatest battle of the war. The Argonne Forest was
thirty-nine miles of heavily wooded deep ravines, abrupt
ridges, and thick underbrush. This was a place that
Julius Caesar went around and Napoleon avoided; now,
however, the Americans were planning to go straight
through this ominous forest.
On
September 25, Jones' battalion set out to relieve weary
French troops. After waiting in trenches, the Americans
began their advance at six o'clock, zero hour. Jones and
Company B, weighed down with machine guns, tripods,
ammunition and backpacks, found it difficult to keep up
with the infantry. Nevertheless, they crossed "no
man's land" and ventured into the infamous Argonne
forest.
The
Americans saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war in
the Argonne. Forced into a ravine by devastating enemy
fire on September 26, Company B made their way out only
to face deadly machine gun fire, hand grenades, trench
mortars and snipers. Many members of the company lost
their lives that day. Fred Harris, a friend of Jones, was
the only survivor of the squad that he was leading.
Despite such losses, the battalion continued to press
deeper into the Argonne. Finally, after weeks of
fighting, they pushed the Germans out of the forest.
The
305th Machine Gun Battalion finally got relief on October
18, when the 78th Division arrived. As the men of the
305th gathered at a camp near Florent, they were shocked
to see how many of their friends and fellow soldiers did
not make it out of the Argonne Forest. For ten days, the
men spent their time at camp cleaning the machine guns
and drilling. They received new uniforms and got some
much-needed rest. The men were in high spirits, feeling
like the war was nearly over. In the evenings, each
company took turns entertaining the rest of the battalion
by putting on shows or singing songs. The men eagerly
anticipated receiving three-day passes before returning
to the front, but then news came that all leaves and
furloughs were cancelled. The men took this news hard;
they were being sent back into the line for what would be
the last push of the war.
Marching
through the night, the men made their way back through
the Argonne Forest to their last positions. The road was
littered with dead German soldiers, machine guns and
other equipment, all evidence of the terrible struggle
that had taken place.
On
the night of October 31, Company B took its position near
the top of the hills outside St. Juvin. Henry Jones was
assigned to the machine gun with a friend, Fred Harris,
and two other men, Privates Fitzgerald and Siff. At five
o'clock the next morning, November 1, their Lieutenant
gave the order to go over the top.
The
gun crew went over in the face of terrible shellfire.
Crawling along the ground, they made their way forward.
In an instant, Jones was killed when a shell hit near the
squad. Clement J. Burger also of Company B, made this notation in his
diary.
November 1, 1918
In the morning of we met the enemy (at Champsuelle) and proceeded to dig
in. Our gunner Henry Jones was killed when a shell fell in our midst at
6:00 am.
Machine gun firing at two Germans who are attempting
to set up a machine gun on the road to Champigneulle.
305th Machine Gun Battalion, 77th Division. St. Juvin, Ardennes, France.
Nov. 1, 1918
This final push did, however, end the war: the
Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918.
Henry
James Jones was buried in an isolated grave outside of
St. Juvin. His body was later moved to the Meuse-Argonne
American Cemetery at Meuse, France, in 1922.
Aerial
view of the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial.
In
June of 1930, Henry's mother, Maria Jones, visited her
son's gravesite as part of the Gold Star Mothers
Pilgrimage, a U.S. government program that paid the
travel expenses for mothers and widows whose sons and
husbands were killed overseas during the war. The Jones
family had the option of returning his body to America,
but they chose to leave him alongside his comrades in
France.
Gravesite
of Private 1st Class, Henry James Jones.
The
Jones family placed a monument to Henry in the Yaphank
Cemetery. The monument was made from a stone at Yaphank Lake. As a young
boy, Henry Jones was fond of jumping off this stone into the lake. His
family thought it to be a tribute to his memory. Shortly after the war ended, the Veterans of
Foreign Wars post in Medford named their post in honor of
Henry James Jones.
The
Jones family continued to live in Yaphank. Henry's father
John served Brookhaven Town for over forty years as a
polling place inspector. He also served the Yaphank
school district as a trustee or clerk for more than forty
years. Many "old-timers" still remember his son
Tobe (David), who operated an apple orchard on Mill Road.