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Chapter 12:
With the A.E.F.
Over there, over there,
Send the word, send the word to beware
The Yanks are coming.
-- George M. Cohan
During his many years on the border,
Holmdahl managed to
be known and liked by many influential people in the
American Southwest. In February 1917, he began an
intensive letter-writing campaign to secure a pardon, and one of his
first letters was to the attorney general of the United States explain-
ing his actions. It was an ingenuous document, but not quite in con-
formity with the trial evidence. Also, in the letter Holmdahl gave
another indication that he had acted as an intelligence agent for the
Department of Justice. Perhaps that is why in the coming months
they treated him so leniently.
Washington, D.C.,
February 1, 1917.
The Honorable
The Attorney General
Washington.
Sir:
In reference to my application for pardon, following my conviction in
the
United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, on the
charge of having engaged in a conspiracy to violate the neutrality laws of the
United States, I beg to respectfully state that at the time of the
alleged offense was committed, I entertained no thought whatsoever of
violating said laws or any statute of the United States. The facts
in my case are as follows:
I was employed by General Benjamin
Hill, commanding the Carranza forces in Chihuahua and Sonora, to gather
confidential information for him along the border, the latter part of
1914. At that time General Hill indicated to me his desire that I
should come over to Chihuahua and take charge of certain of his troops,
with a view of attacking Juarez. Nothing was said by him to me
that these troops were to be recruited in the United States, and I
naturally assumed that they would be a part of his own command.
Meanwhile, the Carranza consul in El Paso informed me that he had
purchased a carload of ammunition and equipment, and there being no
embargo he was to dispatch the car to Douglas, Arizona, for the delivery
of its contents across the border. After the car had left, the
consul received information that the Villistas had planned to steal the
car at Mimbrios twelve miles from Columbus, and the consul sent me there
in an automobile to ascertain whether the theft had been accomplished.
I did not find the car and learned that the American Troops had escorted
the car through to Douglas, where it was delivered to the Carranzista
authorities at Agua Prieta. Prior to this incident, I met a
Colonel Valle, of General Hill's staff, at El Paso, who desired to send
some code telegrams relating to this matter to the Carranza
representative in Douglas, viz: Francisco S. Elias, but the
telegraph office had refused to accept them because Valle desired to
dispatch them collect. He inquired of me if I could send them for
him, which I did. I did not know the contents of these messages,
nor do I know them yet. It appeared from the testimony given in my
case that the Mexican consul, Jorge Orozco, and Victor L. Ochoa and Jose
Orozco, all of El Paso, had engaged the services of some Mexicans to
cross the border and join General Hill's forces. The testimony
showed that I had no connection with these men, and never saw any of
them. This was corroborated by the testimony of the two Orozcos and
Ochoa, and there really was nothing connecting me directly with the
enterprise. There was no testimony adduced showing any real guilt
on my part of showing that I had really conspired with any one to
violate the law.
Indeed, there was no proof that I
intended to accept General Hill's invitation to join him in Chihuahua,
and I am sure that a mere cursory review of the evidence will
substantiate my assertion.
I have never concealed anything
from the United States authorities on the border; have always been frank
in dealing with them, and have, as a matter of fact, from time to time
given them information of the most valuable character, as will be borne
out by General George Bell, U.S.A.; Major General Pershing, U.S.A.;
District Attorney Crawford, and Special Agent Stone of the Department of
Justice. I beg that the foregoing may be taken into full
consideration in determining my application for Executive clemency.
Respectfully,
(Sgd) E. L Holmdahl. [1]
To better press his case, Holmdahl temporarily moved to
Washington D.C. while an obliging Justice Department continued to
extend his bail and allow him to travel. [2] On February 17, Colonel
J.A. Ryan wrote, "I ... am always ready to testify to your good ser-
vice with me and the Expedition in Mexico ... Keep in touch with
me as I may need you if this matter breaks out either in Mexico or
Cuba." [3] On February 22, Holmdahl replied, "When war, or inter-
vention short of war, comes, either in Mexico or Cuba, or elsewhere,
I certainly hope to be among those to follow you." [4]
Earlier, Holmdahl had asked Jeff McLemore, a member of the
U.S. House of Representatives from Texas, to intercede for him and
on March 19 the Congressman sent him copies of two letters writ-
ten by his old boss. [5]
Headquarters.
Southern Department
Fort Sam Houston, Texas
March 11, 1917.
Honorable Jeff McLemore
U.S. Representative
Washington D. C.
My Dear Mr. McLemore:
With reference to your letter of
February 14th, setting forth the case of E.L. Holmdahl, I have fully
investigated the case and am now prepared to change my opinion.
It appears from the reports of the
investigation which I instituted that Holmdahl, was "more sinned against
than sinning," and insofar as his conduct on that occasion is concerned,
I am now willing to make recommendation for clemency.
This has no reference, of course,
to his services as a scout during the Punitive Expedition. While
he did some good work there, he did other things which were disapproved
by me.
Sincerely Yours,
(Sgd) Major General John J. Pershing
US. Army Commanding. [6]
And then Pershing wrote to the Attorney General of the Army:
I desire to recommend executive
clemency in the case of E.L. Holmdahl, charged with violation of the
neutrality laws on the Mexican border and sentenced to eighteen months
imprisonment. An inquiry into the facts of this case leads me to
believe that Holmdahl should not be held to more than a technical
violation of the neutrality laws.
Moreover, as a scout with the
Punitive Expedition into Mexico, he performed service which should
entitle him to the Government's consideration. I trust that you
will give this request such consideration as you may deem advisable. [7]
Pershing did not elaborate on his comment that "he did other
things which were disapproved by me." There are a number of pos
sibilities, including Holmdahl's failure to accept an assignment to
assassinate Villa. Pershing was possibly annoyed at the spectacle of
the three dead Villistas draped over the hoods of Lt. Patton's auto-
mobiles. Or he might have objected to a newspaper story that
claimed Holmdahl had hunted down and gunned down three Villista
officers responsible for murdering seventeen American mining engi-
neers who were taken off a Mexican train on January 9, 1916, and
summarily shot. [8]
General Hugh Scott, who back in the Philippine
days signed one
of Holmdahl's fitness reports and was undoubtedly aware of his
intelligence reporting to the U.S. government, probably also inter-
ceded for him. On March 16, Holmdahl wrote the U.S. Attorney in
El Paso asking for a sixty-day "respite" before reporting to
Leavenworth Federal Prison. The respite was granted. [9] In the
meantime the U.S. declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary.
On April 21, Mayor Tom Lea of El Paso
wrote to the U.S.
Attorney General requesting executive clemency and a pardon for
his old friend. "Athough he is a soldier of fortune," Lea wrote, "his
reputation is most excellent." The mayor added,
Holmdahl has been of very great
help and benefit to the Police Department in many ways. He asked
me to speak especially with reference to his arrest in El Paso some year
and a half ago, in which he was accused of a misdemeanor ... I know that
Mr. Holmdahl acted properly on that occasion, and resented an insult
from an anti-American. He was released without bond and acquitted
on proper bail. [10]
There was a note of desperation in a letter Holmdahl sent to
Frank Polk of the U.S. Department of State on April 30. He wrote:
... my application for executive
clemency ... only awaits your recommendation.
I have now exhausted both my
savings and my credit, and am two thousand miles from home, without any
means whatsoever ... begging your kind and early consideration. [11]
Funds exhausted, Holmdahl returned to El Paso, where he
began to blossom out as a raconteur of border adventures. Joe
Goodell, the owner of El Paso's Sheldon Hotel, described
Holmdahl as, "Sporting a black diamond ring on his finger, [he]
wore flamboyant clothes and attracted attention wherever he went."
Goodell said he provided the famous mercenary, gunrunner, and
scout with a free room, "Simply in repayment for his drawing power
and influence over prospective patrons." [12]
Holmdahl spoke
articulately in a clear voice, and when he
recounted some of his wilder adventures, he laughed. Sometimes,
however, the laugh was only on his lips; his eyes stayed cool. He
gave the impression he could be a good friend but a terrible enemy.
Above all, he was a soldier.
Adding to Holmdahl's restlessness
was the news that his old
comrades were also back in harness. Tracy Richardson was fighting
in France as a captain in Princess Patricia's Own Light Infantry, one
of the elite regiments of the Canadian Army. [13] Sam Dreben, who
was to win renown as one of the most decorated American soldiers
in World War I, was a first sergeant with the 36th "Texas" Division.
[14]
As the American Expeditionary Force began to mobilize for
overseas duty in France, another old soldier from border days swung
into action. Major Sam Robertson, commanding officer of the
Sixth Reserve Regiment of U.S. Engineers, telegraphed
Congressman McLemore:
Won't you see the Attorney General and endeavor to get Holmdahl
pardoned at once. Regiment needs his services badly and he will be
more
valuable to his country in France than in prison. [15]
Robertson sent an identical telegram to Frank Polk at the State
Department. [16]
It took another month, but on July 13, 1917, Holmdahl, now
back in Washington D.C., was granted a full and unconditional par-
don by President Woodrow Wilson.17 He immediately went to
Washington Barracks and enlisted as a private soldier in the 6th
Engineer Regiment. When he took the physical, however, he was
disappointed.
The army medical corps physician, Lt. H.L. Taylor, found
Holmdahl unfit for service by reason of pain and limited flexibility
in the scout's right knee. This was due to shrapnel wounds received
in 1910. [18]
In a later army physical, Holmdahl was reported to have suffered
wounds in 1911-12-13-15-18. They included, "'so far as known',
shrapnel in right knee two, right shoulder, bullet two in breast, and
stomach." [19]
Adjutant General G. W Read fired back a message to the medi-
cal officer, stating, "Enlist that man if he has only one leg."
[20]
General Read followed up with a memo to the War Department
Adjutant General Files: "The Secretary of War authorizes the enlist-
ment of Emil L. Holmdahl, for the 6th Regiment, Engineers,
National Army, waiving the defects reported." [21] After nineteen
years, Holmdahl was again a private in the United States Army.
On July 21, Holmdahl wrote Senator Morris Sheppard, who had
helped secure his pardon, stating, "I will do my very best in the
Army to vindicate [your] confidence ... And at the very least I can
do is to sacrifice my life for a worthy cause." [22] On that same date,
in a more personal vein, he wrote Representative Jeff McLemore,
who, he said, had been "a soldier of fortune yourself," thanking him
for his help. A bond of friendship had sprung up between
Holmdahl and McLemore.
Holmdahl wrote,
I shall never forget, and at any
time that I can be of service to you or any of your friends, I will
fight to the last ditch ... Now that I am into it I shall try to live
down the reputation given me on the border, or live up to it and fight harder than ever.
[23]
Always friendly
with Department of Justice officials, Holmdahl
wrote James A. Finch, an attorney involved with his pardon applica-
tions, and received back a semi-humorous reply, stating, "By the way,
you are the only one so far who has ever gotten away with the stunt
you did. Please remember you have the good wishes of all of
us ..." [24]
Holmdahl reported to the 6th Engineers, later designated as
16th Engineers. Several day's after his enlistment he was promoted
to first sergeant. Two weeks later he, with his regiment, were on a
troop ship headed from France. Within weeks, Holmdahl was pro-
moted to second lieutenant and then quickly to first lieutenant. [25]
Even before combat units of the U.S. army went into action,
Holmdahl and his engineers were fighting as infantry alongside the
British.
For the raw Americans and even for a veteran like Holmdahl, the
Western Front was a horror almost inconceivable to civilized men.
British Prime Minister David Lloyd George summed it up when he
wrote:
When I read of the conditions under which they fight, I
marvel that
the delicate and sensitive instrument of the human nerves and the human
mind can endure them without derangement.
... troops are called upon to live
for days and nights in morasses under
ceaseless thunderbolts from a powerful artillery, and then march into
battle
through an engulfing quagmire under a hailstorm of machine
gun fire. [26]
The prime minister put it mildly. In the trenches of France there
was also the stench from rotting flesh and gases escaping from
bloated bodies left in "no man's land." There was cold food on
freezing days; toes turned black from soaking in putrid water; and
always the haunting fear of miserable and sudden death from
snipers, shellfire, mines, or poison gas. If there ever was glamor or
glory in war, it ended in rat-infested trenches on the Western Front.
U.S. engineering units began arriving in France in early August.
They were the first U.S. troops to be sent to the front in response to
the urgent request from the British. The British forces desperately
needed trained railway personnel to construct tracks and aid in load-
ing British tanks in preparation for a fall offensive. Holmdahl and
his engineer unit were immediately assigned to aid the tank corps.
In October 1917, communists overthrew the moderate Russian
reform government that had succeeded the Tsarist regime. The
announced policy of the Bolsheviks was to seek an immediate peace
with Germany. This, the Allies believed, would result in a massive
shifting of German troops to the Western Front.
General Sir Douglas Haig, the British commander-in-chief,
planned to smash Germany's western armies before they could be
reinforced. At dawn on November 20, he launched a massive sur-
prise attack on the German trenches without the usual artillery bom-
bardment. Then, for the first time, Winston Churchill's secret
weapon, called the "tank," was used in large numbers.
The early British tanks weighed approximately thirty tons, were
more than twenty-six feet long and were armed with two six-
pounder cannon, four machine guns, and manned by a crew of six.
They had less than one-half-inch of armor plating, sufficient to
ward off rifle and machine-gun bullets, but they were vulnerable to
artillery. The "landships" could plough through barbed wire and
cross narrow trenches, while plugging along at a top speed of 4.7
miles per hour. Breakdowns were frequent and they had a range of
approximately twenty miles before they ran out of fuel.
To give them any fighting range at ail, they had to be transport-
ed by rail close to the front lines. Thus, the need for engineers to
construct roadways and lay train tracks. By mid-August elements of
three railway engineer regiments, including lieutenant Holmdahl,
were busy building standard-gauge and light-railway lines for the
British military.
Great secrecy was
maintained in the operation, with the tanks
parked in a hidden valley until just before the attack. Then they were
loaded on flatcars and hauled to the front lines, where they were
unloaded by the engineers. On November 20, more than 400 of the
lumbering behemoths surged across "no-man's land." They
smashed through the German barbed-wire entanglements, in some
areas fifty yards deep, and machine-gunned and shelled the enemy
trenches. They made a breech in the Hindenburg Line four miles
wide, captured 10,000 prisoners, 200 pieces of artillery and pene-
trated five miles deep into German defenses.
When the news of the breakthrough was first reported, all the
church bells in London rang. But not for long. It was all for naught,
because sufficient infantry reserves were not available to pour into
the breech and exploit the breakthrough. The German army quick-
ly recovered from the initial shock of the attack and reinforced the
broken sector. On November 30, they launched a counterattack
against the exhausted British and recaptured all the ground lost,
driving three miles deep into the British front.
The American engineers dropped their shovels, picked up their
rifles, and fought alongside the British infantry. Under heavy shell-
fire, they suffered many casualties, until their British allies finally
stabilized a defense line. [27] The British and German armies each
suffered more than a quarter of a million casualties for no discern-
able change in the stagnant Western Front. The American engineers
continued repair and maintenance work on the British railway sys-
tem, until in the early spring of 1918, when all hell broke loose on
the British sector of the Western Front.
By March, the
German army, after concluding a peace with
Russia, moved fifty-two divisions from the now-peaceful eastern
front to the west. The chief of the general staff, General Erich
Ludendorff, and the commander of the German army, Field
Marshall Paul von Hindenburg, decided they must strike the British
and French quickly before millions of American soldiers began
arriving. On March 21, under cover of a dense fog, they launched
a massive attack, hurling their entire reinforced armies against the
Allied lines. The British army, with most of its reserves used up
after four years of fighting, fell back in exhaustion.
On that date, Holmdahl and the 6th Engineers were quartered
at the town of Doingt, where they came under "very severe artillery
fire." The regiment was ordered to retreat to Chaulnes, the site of
a major supply dump. When they reached the dump on the morn-
ing of March 23, they were ordered to destroy all supplies stored
there, as the German advance was about to overrun them. Blowing
up everything but their backpacks and the trucks to transport them,
the engineers began a long retreat, until on March 27, they reached
a wooded area named Bois de Taillaux. [28]
There, they dug trenches alongside British infantry units under
the command of British Brigadier Sandeman Carey. Nicknamed
"Carey's chickens," as they were under his wing, the engineers pre-
pared for a "last stand" as the German army came close to breaking
the entire Allied line and winning the war.
By telephone, messenger, flag signals, and military police patrols,
Carey rounded up a motley group of non-combat units required to
fight like Guardsmen. There were labor battalions of middle aged
men, electricians, truck drivers, cooks and bakers, stragglers, plus
fifty stray cavalrymen. And, there was Lieutenant Holmdahl and his
railroad engineers. [29]
Some of the men were armed with rifles; others only had pistols
which were virtually useless. Fortunately, there was a British
machine-gun school several miles behind the lines. These guns were
brought up to the "chickens," although few of the men knew how
to operate them. Enter Holmdahl. With a decade and more of
using rapid-fire weapons in combat, he blossomed as an instructor
for both British and American troops.
It was in that moment of desperation that General Sir Douglas
Haig made his famous declaration:
Many among us now are tired.
To those I would say that victory will belong to the side which holds
out the longest ... There is no other course open to us but to fight it
out! Every position must be held to the last man; there must be no
retirement. With our backs to the wall, and believing in the
justice of our cause, each one of us must fight on to the end ... [30]
For six days the "chickens" poured a scythe-like stream of bul-
lets at wave after wave of German troops attacking their makeshift
trenches. They held against "continuous assault" until April 3, when
they were relieved by fresh British combat units. Their tough
defense had prevented the German artillery from pushing on to a
point where they could have shelled Amiens, a vital railroad center
which kept the entire British army supplied with food and muni-
tions. A U.S. army report stated "their sudden desperate stand ...
robbed the Germans of complete victory." [31]
General Haig, a man of few compliments, later wrote:
I am glad to acknowledge the ready
manner in which American engineer units have been placed at my disposal
... and the great value of the assistance they have rendered ... British
and American troops have fought shoulder to shoulder in the same
trenches, and have shared
together
in the satisfaction of beating off German attacks. [32]
As the German attacks began to lessen, Holmdahl's unit was
assigned to work with an Australian corps rebuilding bridges until
June 10, 1918, when they were assigned as divisional engineers for
the Third American Infantry Division. On July 14, while
Holmdahl's Company F was constructing defense works on the
Third Division front near Chateau Thierry, the Americans suffered
a heavy artillery bombardment, followed by a strong German attack
on the morning of the 15th.
The attack was beaten off, and a week later the Americans were
ready to advance. Holmdahl's company, in preparation for the Third
Division assault on July 21, constructed two footbridges across the
Marne River. The following day, after the Americans had attacked
and advanced, Holmdahl and his men spanned the river with a pon-
toon bridge built from captured German equipment. [33] On July 30,
1918, Holmdahl was promoted to Captain. [34]
After the bridges were built and the American advance contin-
ued, the engineers were "engaged as infantry support." They con-
tinued fighting until on August 10, when they were relieved and
moved to a rear area where they rested and refitted. Holmdahl was
assigned to the Engineer School at Longre, France to train newly
arriving American troops. On November 23, after the Armistice
ended World War I, he crossed the Atlantic and was assigned to
Camp Leach, Washington D.C. [35]
Holmdahl's World War I records were lost during a fire at the
Federal Documents Depository in St. Louis, along with much of the
documentary evidence of his World War I service. In an interview
given to the Los Angeles Times in 1967, Owen W. Miller of Hermosa
Beach, California, who served with him in the 6th Engineer
Regiment in France, recalled:
He was quite a mystery man.
The rest of us were construction men but he was obviously a soldier of
great experience. Later he transferred from the engineers to a
combat regiment. [36]
According to his nephew, Gordon Holmdahl of Dublin,
California, "Uncle Emil returned from France with a stomach full of
shrapnel." [37] After more than one year on the firing line, Holmdahl
had more than fulfilled the vows he made to those who had
arranged his pardon. He promised to serve his country well during
the war, and he did.
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