In A Machine-Gunner In France, Captain Ward Schrantz has written a detailed account of his personal experiences during a 22-month deployment covering his mobilization in the United States, his combat involvement on The Western Front, and his demobilization back to the United States during the First World War. Schrantz’s memoir was written with the goal of leaving a record of Company A, 128th Machine Gun Battalion (MGB), 35th Infantry Division’s involvement in the First World War.
Editor Jeffrey L. Patrick should be commended for compiling Schrantz’s unfinished memoir and adding research material from archival sources, newspapers, and other memoirs to produce a well-rounded account of the 128th MGB. Schrantz’s account was executed with minute details that highlight the sacrifices and hardships endured by the soldiers of Company A, and a general reader with limited knowledge of the 35th Infantry Division’s role in the First World War may not benefit as much from the elaborate detail left by Schrantz or the archival work added by Patrick. But this is ultimately a book about one soldier before, during, and after the First World War.
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