There is a monument at the corner of Gilman and Virginia streets in Harmar. It sits near busy traffic lanes, yet offers a serene view of the Ohio River. It was a gift of France, donated as part of the Northwest Territory Sesquicentennial Celebration in 1937-38 in appreciation for the service of the World War I Marietta College Ambulance Corps. On Oct. 17, 1920, the Ambulance Corps members were decorated by French military attaché General Collardet for their “noble service.” The solemn ceremony took place in Muskingum Park in the presence of college faculty and community members.

Twenty young men, primarily students from Marietta College and Miami University, had volunteered in 1917 to serve in the Ambulance Corps. Beman G. Dawes, Jr. organized the group with help from his father and others. The group received a rousing send-off by thousands of Mariettans on May 22.

They landed in France at Bordeaux bearing the first American flag carried by a military organization in WWI. They ended up driving trucks with ammo and supplies, not ambulances, yet the “Ambulance Corps” moniker stuck. It was strenuous, dangerous duty, often conducted at night.

Several letters from corps members gave fascinating views of their experience.

Donley Parr from Dayton wrote to his brother that the liner Rochambeau, which transported the men, was followed by German U-Boats. In the U-Boat zone of the Atlantic, “passengers slept on deck in chairs.” Luckily for them, they saw no submarines, but U-Boats sank the Mississippi which followed their boat. On landing at Bordeaux, no one greeted them; they had to fend for themselves at first. He described the country as “very attractive and beautiful…It’s wonderful to see the great (patriotic) enthusiasm for their cause. We in America do not appreciate what it means to be fighting for existence.”

H. Ellis Sibley wrote that they saw other Americans there. “A fellow named Hall knew friends” of the group. He went out yesterday and failed to come back … It is a pretty grim business … Today we (saw) part of the Aisne battlefield … barb-wire entanglements and trenches by the hundreds … We have heard big guns often.”

“The weather here is most peculiar to us … we roast during the day and nearly freeze during the night under three blankets … it rains frequently and our barracks leak!”

Sibley learned about the war first hand from men on the front. A Canadian soldier was on leave after 32 months. Physically he was OK, but “his nerves were shot.”

“Sherman was right,” Sibley observed, referring to Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s quote that “War is hell.”

Rutherford M. DeArmon said the corps members were treated well, including a seven-day leave after three months during which they toured Nice. His photos document the destruction wrought by German artillery. Orchards were “laid waste … houses shown in ruins, churches were not spared.” Other photos show “stacks of shells ricked up like wood” in public parks, and captured German planes.

The “Ambulance Corps”-turned-truck-drivers worked until mid-November 1917 when their enlistment ended. Many transferred to other American military units after that. The French recognized not only their dedication but their excellent work doing a difficult task – as unpaid volunteers.

For more information on the French Monument and the Ambulance Corps, scan the QR code.

David B. Baker is author of the earlymarietta local history blog.