Edward Wirt wrote this letter during World War I (1914-1918) when he was encamped in Bordeaux, France, awaiting assignment to a new unit. The one he was currently in, the 76th Infantry Division (“National Army”), was considered too poorly trained to be used intact. American troops had been in France since the summer of 1917, but the U.S. Army was considered so poorly trained that the French and British refused to send them into battle until June of 1918, when German offensives had depleted all their reserves. There are ninety letters from Mr. Wirt to Miss Bartlett in the PVMA collection, some of which are included on this site.
Wirt, Edward Roswell. WWI letter to Emily Gladys Bartlett. July 23, 1918. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l01-015/. Accessed on October 16, 2024.
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