Hugh D Wise III - The Little Lead Soldier: World War I Letters from a Father to His Son

AS A CHILD, I KNEW THAT ON THE SHELVES OF MY parents library was a leather-covered, bound unpublished book entitled The Letters of a Little Lead Soldier in the World War. It was written by my grandfather, who had been a regular army colonel in World War I. He died in 1942, six weeks before I was born. Like my father, I was named for him. The book held typewritten letters from a toy soldier that had been given to the colonel by his six-year-old son, my father, who had asked the soldier to write him of his upcoming war experiences. I can only imagine what my grandfather thought of receiving such a tender and innocent request as he prepared for war.

Other than an occasional glance, I ignored the book, even though it held a hallowed status in the eyes of my parents. Perhaps I was tired of hearing about the derring-do of dead ancestors when I was trying to make my own way growing up, then through law school and as an adult. When my parents died, I selected the book as part of my inheritance. By that time, I had become interested in what Colonel Hugh Douglas Wise had to say about one of the most calamitous events of modern history.

I started by reading the typewritten letters in the book, without being aware of the importance of some handwritten lettersthat I had also inherited. Those had been carefully tied into packets secured together by cross-hatched string, and sometimes red ribbon. I doubt that the packets had been opened since the time when they were first read until I did so. The elaborate, ritualistic packaging suggests that the letters were to be treasured, preserved, and reread at a later time, as I have done.

Some of the packets contained handwritten Little Lead Soldier letters which my grandfather, at a later time, had typed and bound into a book. The neatly folded letters in the packets were etched with precise penmanship flowing from a fountain pen onto good stationery, quite special considering wartime limitations. The colonels energy, through his surrogate, the Lead Soldier, surges through to the reader.

Because of the problems of sending mail from the battlegrounds, many of the letters were probably sent in batches, and some may never have been sent but were later personally delivered. I like to think of my grandmother reading out loud those that were addressed to my father. There were booms and bangs to amuse my father and his two young brothers, along with the deadly seriousness of war, hopefully beyond the comprehension of that young audience. I think that you and I were also an intended audience.

Although plenty of action, guts, and glory are recounted, especially toward the end, the letters also thoughtfully describe the beautiful French countryside and, at times, a serenity quite the opposite of the frenetic activities of battle. They show insight, imagination, and, sometimes, whimsical philosophy. They also depict the mindset of a totally dedicated warrior, bent on saving the world. He did help do so, at least for a short while.

Much has been written of the tribulations of the privates in the World War I trenches, and the lives of the generals have also been fully described by themselves and others. The colonel lived some of each style. He commanded the 61st Infantry Regiment that numbered up to five thousand soldiers; sometimes he was housed in baronial luxury, other times he slept in the trencheswith his men. He was the target of gun and artillery fire, grenades, bombs, and gas. The letters are a narrative of that mans experience, which included being awarded the prestigious French Croix de Guerre for heroism.

The colonel spent much of his time in and around the picturesque French Vosges Mountains which border Germany and Switzerland. In lively style, the Lead Soldier described the Vosges trench warfare in terms of deadly games of no ultimate consequenceexcept to the casualties. When finally out of those trenches, he verbally sketched the large-scale battles of St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne with their massive brutality. The picture that he drew was more vivid than what I found in the history books that I read for background to this volume.

I became interested in what drove my grandfather to become who he was. Among the packets of letters that I inherited were those of my grandfather to and from his wife, Ida, my grandmother. The Little Lead Soldier did not tell of my grandfathers and grandmothers personal burdens. I am able to because I learned it from these intimate letters. They gave me a greater understanding of the pain that my grandfather endured, not only for the cause he fervently believed in, but also for his own fulfillment, and how my grandmother had to take care of three young sons while worrying about her husband and struggling when his salary was delayed.

I found that the Little Lead Soldier was a fickle scribe, not always reporting all that he saw or heard. I decided to put the letters into the context of what was happening outside the observation of either the Little Lead Soldier or the Colonel. In spite of setting out to be a disinterested reporter of events, I could not avoid inserting my own thoughts. I doubt that my grandfather would agree with some of those ideas. I wish that I could converse with him, but now I know some of his thoughts, as he expressed them. Mine come from hindsight and no personal experience; I was not there. I do not advocate the position that the war to end all wars should not have been fought. Germanmilitarism had no place in a civilized world, but I question the leadership on both sides that led to so much death in the final months of the war when the outcome had already been determined.

World War I encompassed the globe and consumed millions of young lives over five horrific years. This is the story of a little boy, his father, and a toy soldier that would see that boys father safely home.