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The 305th Engineers, the battalion in which Warrant Officer Carl Henry served, according to Wikipedia history of the 80th Division, mentions that (in WWI) " The engineers were more often than not sent out ahead." Carl Henry often mentioned that Patton liked to send his desk officers into a town first, to draw out the snipers so he would not lose the "real" fighting men to ambushes.

Also from Wikipedia entry:

"During the Meuse Argonne campaign, the 80th Division was the only one that saw action during each phase of the offensive (three times). And they first earned their motto, "The 80th Division Moves only Forward!". The artillery of the Division boasted more days of continuous combat firing than the batteries of any other American Division. It is of interest to note that the 80th captured two Germans and one machine gun for every man wounded and one piece of artillery with gun crew for every 10 men wounded. Men of the 80th Division received 619 Awards and Decorations.".

Carl Henry letters are Copyright © Diana Mara Henry / dmh@dianamarahenry.com

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The originals of these documents are in the Carl Henry special collection at the Du Bois Library, U Mass Amherst.