This is a special time of remembrance. I had a great uncle, Carl Schmidt, who served in the American Expeditionary Forces in France, 35th Engineers, Co. K, 4th Battalion, in 1918. When they landed in France they were bivouwaced in a rain-soaked field for days, and he developed pnuemonia and was sent to a field hospital. When visiting officers learned that he had worked as a welder at Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, he was reassigned to a special detachment of engineers who worked the train shops that kept men and materiel moving by train to the front. He made it home and I knew him growing up as a kid in the 60s and early 70s, and once interviewed him about his war experiences for a high school history project. He passed in 1975.
I have been thinking of him often as the centennial approaches, and recently found a treasure trove of old pictures and postcards from France that my grandmother (his sister) kept. They are very special.
Regards,
Bob
