Jesse Leon Hurd

Jesse Hurd had a long career as a logger, but in this post I want to focus on his time in the military and showcase the photos he took during that time. His is an unusual story of military service. The photos were all pasted into an album and they do not seem to have been placed chronologically, nor were any of them labeled.

On October 2, 1917 four months after the US had declared war on Germany, Jesse, age 22, traveled from Buckley, Washington to enlist in the US Army at Fort Lawton in Seattle. He joined the 20th Engineers, which as a division of Forest Engineers became known as the “American Lumberjacks in France.” He had been working as a logger in the mountains of Washington state since about age 13, mostly in Pierce County northwest of Mount Rainier.

“We were the biggest regiment in the world, we were unique in military annals. We were not recruited hit-or-miss, nor gathered in by the numbers. Every man had to prove that he was qualified for responsible duty when he joined and God knows his proofs were put to the test when we got across.” –Twentieth Engineers, France 1917, 1918, 1919 (my apologies, the book has no page numbers)

He arrived at St. Nazaire, France with the second movement of forest troop transport on November 28, 1917. The foresters travelled on the Madawaska, a steam powered ocean liner captured from the Germans and quickly put to use as a troop transport. Within two months of enlisting, he was working in the softwood forest of the Vosges region of France.

Jesse Hurd Soldier's information file card from the Washington State Archives
Soldier information card, Military Records. Olympia Washington, USA: Washington State Archives.
Madawaska on the water 1917
Public domain image from Wikipedia of the USS Madawaska

There was potential danger to Jesse’s camera during the trip across the Atlantic, but it seems to come through alright:

“One incident on the voyage is worth remarking. Heavy weather was encountered south of Land’s End, and during the night the breakers succeeded in battering in a hatch cover and inundating several troop spaces. As one F Co. veteran narrates: “There was no panic among the men, but the confusion among the mess kits, shoes, clothing and equipment was terrible. Every time the vessel rolled, a roaring tidal wave raced across the decks, carrying everything before it, and bringing up with a bang against the side. All hands spent the next day in salvaging operations.”

Twentieth Engineers, France 1917, 1918, 1919
Map image from the book Twentieth Engineers, France 1917, 1918, 1919
Map image from the book Twentieth Engineers, France 1917, 1918, 1919

The 20th Engineers marched across France from the coast. Jesse’s battalion headquarters was near the upper right of the map above, at the fortified town of Epinal, on the Moselle River. He was in D Company, also called Company 4. He quickly rose to the rank of sergeant.

“Co. D (the 4th Co.) left St. Nazaire on the long journey to Lorraine and landed three days later at their permanent camp, Granges, seven miles from the front lines in the Luneville sector. Here they built a mill and established a logging camp, working under the added zest of proximity to the enemy. The outfit was more than once under fire, and hardly a man in the Company but took an occasional A. W. O. L. excursion into the lines.”

Twentieth Engineers, France 1917, 1918, 1919
World War 1 Soldiers marching through snow in France
Image from a US Government publication called American Armies and Battlefields in Europe from the chapter called “American Operations on the Vosges Front”

The mission of D Company’s battalion was to build a mill and then cut and process trees to produce railroad ties as fast as possible. Other lumber was also produced to build structures required by the Army to feed, house, and provide medical care for its soldiers. The mill was steam powered, run by burning sawdust. There was pressure to do the work as quickly as possible, danger of bombardment, and a lack of food.

Man standing in snow in France in about 1917
The Vosges, France. Photo by Jesse Hurd
stone bridge over Vologne River which has snow on its banks
Vologne River. Photo by Jesse Hurd
Two forestry soldiers in the Vosges mountains in France pose in light snow near cut logs
The Vosges, France. Photo by Jesse Hurd
Men work in a dense forest with a mule team to move logs
Stacking and skidding logs with mules, Vosges Mountains, France. Photo by Jesse Hurd
a row of world war I army tents stand along a path made of sawdust
Army tents and the sawdust path through camp. Photo by Jesse Hurd
A soldier stands with tents in the background.
A soldier stands with tents in the background. Photo by Jesse Hurd
Men heading uphill to skid logs. Photo by Jesse Hurd
Softwood logs wrapped with a chain in a forest
Chained logs ready to skid. Photo by Jesse Hurd
a timber framed building under construction
Photo by Jesse Hurd

This may be the mill building under constriction. Local mills were used initially until the 20th Engineers were able to set up a larger sawmill that had been transported to France from the USA.

Mill building with pile of sawdust on the right in front of the smaller shed.
Mill building with smoke stack and pile of sawdust on the right in front of the smaller shed. Photo by Jesse Hurd
Six men in US Army uniforms pose near a shed with steam engine machinery inside
Stationary steam engine near the narrow gauge track. Photo by Jesse Hurd
Eight men pose near of a stationary steam engine with a large cylindrical burner and smoke stack near a set of narrow gauge railroad tracks
Another view of a stationary steam engine near the narrow gauge tracks. Photo by Jesse Hurd
Mill building built at the camp in the forest
Mill building built at the camp with both logs and cut lumber. Photo by Jesse Hurd
five men pose in front of a tree with axes and a crosscut saw
Photo from Jesse Hurd’s album.

Man to the left of the crosscut saw in the photo above may be Jesse Hurd. Chainsaws were not widely used for timber until the mid to late 1920s.

a group of men pose near a truck with the emblem of the 20th Engineers on the front. a very long log is loaded on the truck. a team of horses or mules stands to the right
Vehicle with emblem of 20th Engineers on the front. Photo by Jesse Hurd

The long log on the truck may have become the pole for one end of a long-line setup.

Diagram of long-line setup from US Dept of Labor
a group of men work at the landing of a long-line logging setup.  One man holds a set of calipers.
Landing of a long-line. One man holds a set of log calipers. Photo by Jesse Hurd

Jesse had worked on long-lines in Washington before he joined the army and helped set up this system in the Vosges.

Logs at this camp were also moved via narrow gauge railway.

a faded sepia toned photograph shows a narrow guage track coming down a hill that has been clear cut except for two trees.
Narrow gauge track coming down a hill with cars in the foreground. Photo by Jesse Hurd
view looking down a forested hill to a valley below. narrow gauge track is in the forground
Narrow gauge track at the top of a hill. Photo by Jesse Hurd
Blurry black and white image showing narrow gauge rail engine
Blurry image showing narrow gauge rail engine. Photo by Jesse Hurd
Moving short logs by horse and wagon. Photo by Jesse Hurd
Moving larger logs by truck. Photo by Jesse Hurd
Another view of the narrow gauge railroad cars used for moving logs. Photo by Jesse Hurd.
Stacks of railroad ties near a railroad
a man in US Army uniform walks near a track with railroad cars. men are moving cut lumber in the background

Cut lumber ready to be transported by railway; Photos by Jesse Hurd

a soldier sits on an unusually large piece of cut lumber
Huge piece of cut lumber. Photo by Jesse Hurd

At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ended. Jesse Hurd had enlisted almost exactly a year earlier. But the end of the war didn’t mean that the 20th Engineers were finished. The men did get regular leave again, and chances to travel a bit outside their camp. They kept working however, because lumber was still needed for rebuilding of roads and railroad tracks in France and also there was a long wait to get a boat back home. Jesse still had another 7 months in France. Eventually, he embarked from Pouillac, France on May 7, 1919.

A group of young men sit inside a building under flag decorations.  Many of them are reading newspapers.
Reading the news from home and possibly celebrating the end of the war with festive decorations.
Photo by Jesse Hurd.
two soldiers pose on an ice skating rink.  in the background, children skate and two large buildings of a town are beyond that
Skating in the village; possibly the village of Granges. Photo by Jesse Hurd
a snowy street in a village in France
Village in France, winter of 1917 or 1918. Photo by Jesse Hurd
An American soldier posing with a donkey hitched to a sleigh.  two french soldiers look on smiling
American soldier posing with mule hitched to a sleigh, possibly in Granges. Photo by Jesse Hurd
a street in a French village with bomb damage
Photo of bomb damage, possibly in the town of Granges. Photo by Jesse Hurd
a very underexposed image of soldiers near stacks of what appear to be shell casings
This is probably a photo of stacked shell casings and possibly some unexploded shells near the front line.
Photo by Jesse Hurd
village cemetery in France with stone crosses and mountains in the background
A village cemetery in France. Photo by Jesse Hurd
three men stand in front of an empty pedestal for a statue with the word "Wilhelm" engraved on it.
Photo by Jesse Hurd

The Vosges Mountains were in the disputed territory of Lorraine, which Germany had annexed before the war. In the picture above, American soldiers stand in front of the base of a toppled statue of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Emperor of Germany during World War I. Wilhelm II abdicated on November 9, 1918, two days before the Armistice was signed.

a group of soldiers and civilians stand under an awning along a French street.
Somewhere in France, probably after the armistice. Photo by Jesse Hurd
A group of French women and girls posing with two American soldiers
American soldiers with local women and girls in France. Photo by Jesse Hurd
a man wearing a hat stands next to a covered buggy
Probably a military transport. photo by Jesse Hurd
An American soldier poses with three Frenchmen near a dog hitched to a small cart.
Dog pulling a cart. Dogs were used during the war sometimes to pull machine gun carts. Photo by Jesse Hurd
three Frenchmen, each leading an ox team, walk down a road in a valley with a farmhouse in the distance as an American soldier looks on
Frenchmen moving ox teams. American soldier on the right. Photo by Jesse Hurd
Photo by Jesse Hurd

The ship in the photo above looks like it could be the Martha Washington, Jesse Hurd’s ride home across the Atlantic, but it also may be a ship he could see from the Martha Washington. Jesse Hurd arrived in New Jersey, on May 28, 1919, where he received an honorable discharge.

References:

http://www.20thengineers.com/images/ww1-20thEngineersBook.pdf

https://www.abmc.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Section7.pdf

https://coffeeordie.com/fighting-foresters/

https://foresthistory.org/digital-collections/world-war-10th-20th-forestry-engineers/