The Remains of Company D: A Story of the Great War

by James Carl Nelson

“Not since Flags of Our Fathers —no, make that, Not since Paul Fussell’s The Great War and Modern Memory —no, make that, Not ever— has an American nonfiction writer reached into history and produced a testament of young men in terrible battle with the stateliness, the mastery of cadence, the truthfulness and the muted heartbreak of James Carl Nelson in The Remains of Company D . I wish I’d had the honor of working on this book with him. But then, he didn’t need me.”---Ron Powers, New York Times bestselling coauthor of Flags of Our Fathers and author of Mark A Life “A beautifully crafted anthem to doomed American youth, James Carl Nelson’s The Remains of Company D is a must-read for World War I enthusiasts and those looking for a damn good war book.”---Alex Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of The Longest Winter and The Bedford Boys “War is always hell, but the unprecedented carnage on World War I’s Western Front was the stuff of nightmares. The American boys of Company D were on the front lines, and James Carl Nelson has combined previously unpublished first-person accounts, prodigious research, and vivid, you-are-there prose into one of the great books on the subject. This is a Band of Brothers for World War I.”---James Donovan, author of A Terrible Custer and the Little Bighorn—the Last Great Battle of the American West “James Carl Nelson’s book is a great contribution to AEF history. He has done an incredible amount of research in order to convey the experience of one group of doughboys...and to tell their story through their own words.….He reminds us that these long-forgotten battles of ninety years ago were as hard fought as any before or since, and that our country was well served by the young men who fought them. Get this book. It puts a very human face on the experience of Americans on the Western Front.”---Dr. Paul Herbert, executive director of the Cantigny First Division Foundation
Haunted by an ancestor’s tale of near death on a distant battlefield, James Carl Nelson set out in pursuit of the scraps of memory of his grandfather’s small infantry unit. Years of travel across the world led to the retrieval of unpublished personal papers, obscure memoirs, and communications from numerous Doughboys as well as original interviews of the descendents of his grandfather’s comrades in arms. The result is a compelling tale of battle rooted in new primary sources, and one man’s search for his grandfather’s legacy in a horrifying maelstrom that is today poorly understood and nearly forgotten. The Remains of Company D follows the members of Company D, 28th Infantry Regiment, United States First Division, from enlistment to combat to the effort to recover their remains, focusing on the three major battles at Cantigny, Soissons, and in the Meuse-Argonne and the effect these horrific battles had on the men. This is an important and powerful tale of the different destinies, personalities, and motivations of the men in Company D and a timeless portrayal of men at war.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War I, War, Military Fiction, Military History, American

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is how I imagined it all started. He was a journalist. Words being his profession, he read a lot of books. Readers like him (or us) at one point in their lives wonder if they can write well enough and lengthy enough to have a book published carrying their names as proud authors. The first problem, however, is what to write about. So he looked around him. There were his grandfather's few war memorabilia. His dead grandfather who had lived to more than a hundred, taciturn, seldom smiled, or talked to him. But he knew the old man fought during world war one. He just didn't know what exactly he did as he never talked about his war experiences. So this author decided this would be his book and started researching.


(Books like this seem to follow a formula: the writer retraces the path taken by the object of his investigation, going to places the latter had been, digging up archives, interviewing old people who knew some things about the dead, checking diaries, greying letters, old newspaper reports, anything which had something to do with his quarry. Old pictures seem to be de rigueur also.)


It was called as the Great War. It was great in all aspects of war, including in its stupidity. You know how it started. A minor potentate was assassinated and with this single death nations found reason enough to stage an orgy of bloodbaths across Europe which resulted to the death of millions, most of them young men in the prime of their lives. The manner this war was conducted even looked more foolish: the soldiers dug trenches, built fortifications and set up machine gun nests. They rain bombs on each other. On quieter days snipers shoot at those who make the mistake of peeping out of the trenches. One of these was the brilliant short story writer Hector Hugh Munro (aka "Saki") who, during that very dark morning of 14 November 1916 at the front was shot to death by a sniper after warning another soldier with his last words: "Put that bloody cigarette out."


And when these burrowing men of war wanted to have more deaths they charge en masse to their adversaries' position upon a long whistle while the other side mows them down with enthusiastic machine gun fire.


From the grandfather's younger pictures the reader will notice that he looked much like the author is now. He almost died during the war, but he did nothing spectacular. He trained, travelled to the war zone, positioned himself for assault during his first battle, charged when he heard the long whistle, was promptly hit by bullets, fell, left for dead, was found wounded but alive the next morning, treated for his wounds, sent home, raised a family, lived a peaceful, boring life, grew old and died in a nursing home.

His grandson couldn't squeeze as much drama from that life so he ended up poking into the lives of his comrades in his unit, Company D, those who battled longer, did more heroic things, died after scoring kills by the dozen, or who had lived long after the war like him.


Books like this have their fascination. One gets to stare at the pictures of long dead men, gets to know them, how they were then in the past one can only now just imagine, and then one wonders what life is really all about.

[Poppy || Monster Lover · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting storyline that the author put together of his grandfather’s and his grandfather’s company’s experiences in WWI. It was gruesome, depressing, horrifying; all things one would expect from a book on that war. It was also repetitive. How many times did he have to use the phrases “in the wheat” or “of course now I’ll never know”? It was also very clearly biased, but that’s hardly surprising given it’s written about a family member so I’m giving that a pass.

[Rob Maynard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've looked for a good World War I book for many years. Most were so dense or tedious that I gave up, relying more on poetry or novels to get a sense of that horrific time. James Carl Nelson gets to the heart of the American place in the war with this book, written as an homage to his late Grandpa, who was badly wounded in the wheat fields alongside the Paris-Soissons Road outside of Cantigny in June of 1918. James Nelson follows up on the AEF Company D infantry batallion that reflected in its diversity America filled with immigrants who returned to the 'old country' to serve their new country beneath a rain of Hun artillery and gas shells and bullets from the murderous Maxim guns.

The book follows the arc of the war from Company D's beginnings in the Mexican Civil War, then the run up to the draft and deployment in France. Very readable and heartfelt, not too obsessed granular detail of military movements. I'm actually buying a copy to give to a military history buff for Christmas, I enjoyed it so much.

[Lghamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story about ordinary Americans in the "final push" to defeat Germany. Nelson's grandfather fought and was wounded, and it was not until after the grandfather's death and Nelson's research into WHO Company D was and WHAT is did (includes Argonne) that Nelson truly understood the horror and its far-reaching effects. This guy interviewed family members, read newspaper accounts and letters to home, and even catalogued (decades later) some families' desperate measures to find out what happened to their "boys." Rollin Livick - tragic case in point - the family never knew. One peeve of mine - the author too many times returned to the "Paris-Soissons Road." Second pet peeve: while there are maps up front that illustrated Company D's battles, Nelson should have included some simple maps in the stream of the narrative. Fun fact: one of the US Generals, Conrad Stanton Babcock, was the grandfather of one of my husband's favorite professors in law school (Barbara Babcock.)

[KOMET · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this book 10 minutes ago and found it to be not only an account of the author's odyssey to learn more about his grandfather's service in the First World War with Company D of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division, but also a poignant and thoughtful portrait (through excerpts from letters) of several members of Company D who distinguished themselves in combat from Cantigny to the Argonne.

This book also offers a sobering insight on America's role in a long ago war whose relevance is lost on most Americans today.

[Dave Hoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an Infantry Company did in the "Great War" The author's grandfather lay almost dead in a wheat field in France, Oct. 1918, but lived with pains & haunts into his 90s. Find myself thinking will a grandchild, or great-grandchild of my father read the letters from France and then construct such a book about a horrible war (aren't they all) and my father's good fortune to sail for France as the war wound down. What research for the author's passion.

[Bruce]

This is a book written by the grandson of a soldier that served in Company D, 28th Regiment, 1st Division during World War 1 (yes, 1 not 2). The book looks at the lives of those who served, and many who died, during their time in action. It is a great read, and a good way to gain a new perspective on the literal hell that they went through.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it is just me but I got bogged down and had a hard time finishing this book. Before this book I read and enjoyed a World War I, so I picked up this one. It held my attention at first but then I struggled to pick it up again. Perhaps if the story just followed one soldier my mind would have stayed on it. Anyhow I got it done.

[Janet Goodrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly moving book of The First World War. I love history but often find history books too academic/dry. This book tells the story of what happened to real soldiers during the war.

I can't recommend it too highly.

[Jacqueline Elsner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liked this book a lot. I listened to it on audiobook, which added to the momentum and emotional impact. I take my hat off to the author.for his research, as an act of love to his WWI veteran grandfather.

[Sunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bring WWI up-close and very personal. What a terrific tribute to one's grandfather.

Updated review on my review/blog at:

www.bookinwithsunny.com/posts/the-rem...

[David Allen Hines · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, the author, who has written several books on the Great War, tries to trace the history of his late grandfather's World War I army company. Like many if not most veterans of the Great War, his grandfather had never spoken of his experience in the war to his family and all they really knew was that he had been grievously wounded in the stomach and had somehow survived in the age before antibiotics to treat wound infection, an event he celebrated every July, the date of his wounding, until his death at age 100. And his family never asked him or perhaps knew better than to ask.

The author did an incredible amount of research, tracing the history of Company D, 28th infantry regiment, First Division, from its creation to the battles it fought in in France, all of which were among the most horrible: Cantigny, Soissons, and the Argonne forest that concluded the war. The author was able to find out not only some about his grandfather, but also several other officers and men of the company and relates their stories also. The regiment and company experienced huge amounts of deaths and casualties. Unlike today when almost every soldier is accounted for, many soldiers simply vanished, literally blown to pieces, or their hurried burial sites lost. Many of the soldiers of the Great War suffered from what today we would call PTSD, in their time they called it shell shock.

Unlike many books on the war, this book is not about battles or strategy or politics but is rather the personal experiences of a number of men in specific company, most of whom met their doom crossing a small road during an offensive operation. This book gives you an excellent feel for what an average company of soldiers would have experienced. Sometimes it gets maddening, as the soldiers are sent on what is clearly hopeless attacks, but that does not mean General Pershing was wrong to have ordered them to demonstrate to the allies and the enemies America had arrived and was operational. In fact, America quickly ended a stalemated war. Unfortunately the "peace" President Woodrow Wilson then negotiated was as disastrous as the war itself.

Any student of Great War history or any reader interested in understanding what the average front line American solider experienced from 1917-1918 will benefit from reading this well-written, well-researched, well-conceptualized book.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The men of Company D went through hell. I can’t imagine how those men were feeling, up and over into withering machinegun fire, gas attacks and shelling. The sheer number of lives lost and the fact that many of the dead were not even found is staggering. Others came home and dealt with physical and mental wounds for the rest of their lives.

Each man of Company D had their own reasons for going to war. Some went because of ideas of patriotism, some just for the job, others simply didn’t want to miss the fight. Kind of like today, a group of individuals who became an Army and a unit of soldiers. They were scared, but they still went over. It is said that in spite of all of the individual reasons for joining the war, in the end soldiers simply fight for their fellow soldier. That is evident from the story of the men of Company D as they fought from Cantigny to Hill 263.

Mr. Nelson spent a great deal of time researching this book. Starting with his grandfather’s records, then looking at national archives of the unit, then to the Company D unit history. He then tracks down the family members of the men his grandfather served with in Company D. That was interesting by itself. A common theme emerged. A relative fought in the war but generally kept his stories to himself. And then the records passed onto a relative who knew there was something to be preserved. Conversations led to the recreation of the history of some of the men of Company D during the Great War.

Its humbling that these men went to war and also that some of their family are keeping their legacy alive.

[Joe Harrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

A generation before the Band of Brothers, the ordinary men and boys of American went to France. In this emotional tale nominally of Company D, 28th Infantry, 1st Division, often expands to cover the entire division.
James Carl Nelson knew little of his grandfather's experience in France. He rarely spoke of it, but for many years retired with his wife to be alone on July 19 of every year. After John Nelson died at the age of 101, his grandson wanted to know more. After researching hundreds or thousands of letters and other documents, he prepared this masterful narrative of the doughboys journey from everyday America to the battlefields of Cantigny, Soissons, and Hill 263 in the Argonne.
Through his descriptions I came to know and even love these men who through bravery, dedication, patriotism and/or fear faced machine guns and artillery day after day. Many never returned, those that did were never the same. Some to this day remain "missing after recent action." Or like company commander Captain Soren Sorenson, survived only to die in a motorcycle accident (rumored to be an ambush) in Germany in 1919. Equally heart rending are the stories of families left behind, some never knowing what became of their loved ones.
Kudos also to Ray Porter whose reading for Blackstone Audio was how I experienced the pain and horror of the Great War.

[Richard Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admired the research conducted by the author to reveal long forgotten correspondence of common WWI soldiers and the war's calamitous effect on them and their families, even for those who survived. However, I gave three stars rather than four because I didn't care for the author's writing style. I found it to be disjointed without a consistent storyline thread. The repetitive reportage of names and hometowns of soldiers killed and wounded along with minutely detailed battlefield descriptions grew tiresome and difficult to follow. Nevertheless, upon reaching the final page, I think the author did accomplish his purpose in revealing the pointlessness of war, World War I in particular. The individual stories of soldiers in which appeals to patriotism and national pride is contrasted against the utter pointlessness of war as a means to settle differences. And yet twenty years later, it started all over again, the lessons of the past forgotten.

[Keli · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is the story of war told through the story of men, which is how it really should be. Though James Carl Nelson might not list all of the men lost, most of have been name, and when possible, we learn of where they died and how. This is the story of the cost, the real cost, of war: human lives.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great historical account of the first world war written from letters from the soldiers of Company D.

[Helen Colby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because of a personal connection. Very sad, horrible in places, the futility of war. So many wasted, young lives.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. The courage and dedication of these brave men who fought in the 'Great War' are impressive. I am impressed with Nelson and his writing style. This is a great book.

[Chris Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good introduction to WWI from the perspective of a country boy Army private who survived the Somme. Interspersed with generational views of the war then, and now.

[John Trinder · Rating 1 out of 5]

A great history of WW1

I loved it excellent in the history US Army first division in World War One. Nielsen brought every character alive in your mind

[Tomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very poetic story of one company in WWI; this book brings the horror of war to light.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook and it’s one of the best WWI books I have read or listened to.

I can recommend this book.

[Walter Maier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very in depth study of some specific units and battles near the end of WW1.

[Len Knighton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book giving grim stories of battles in the final 18 months of the war, including the battle in the Meuse-Argonne region.
If I had written nothing else about this book but the sentence above, most people would assume that the book is about World War Two and the Meuse-Argonne battle would be the BATTLE OF THE BULGE.
The American public, generally speaking, has next to no knowledge of World War One, except, perhaps, that it ended at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the day Americans commemorate as VETERANS DAY. We might also remember it as the war that was fought in the trenches.
THE REMAINS OF COMPANY D is the book I've been hoping to find for many years: a book that tells the nitty-gritty story of The Great War. Admittedly its focus is only on the time America was in the War; there was a lot of misery before that.
James Carl Nelson's book is a book inspired by his grandfather, who served in Company D and was wounded on the Soissons Road, July 19, 1917. But this is about more than just one family. Nelson writes of many of the families represented by the doughboys who went OVER THERE in the summer of 1917. Some of these families celebrated the return of their boys from action; some grieved the deaths of their sons, brothers, and husbands; others were tormented with uncertainty, not knowing whether their loved ones were alive or dead.
And then there are the stories of the soldiers. Some died in action, some died later because of their wounds or disease from the battlefield, others lived short lives after the war, and still some others, like John Nelson, lived a very long life.
If you read this book, you'll remember some of them, like Marvin Stainton. Author James Donovan described this book as the World War One counterpart of BAND OF BROTHERS. If so, Marvin Stainton is the Major Dick Winters of this story.
One final note: the final two chapters, particularly the penultimate chapter, are beautifully written, a masterpiece of prose.

[Kayeb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that I don't think is meant to be enjoyed per se...and I didnt finish it. However, the story/history of this company d as the author researched it is quite compelling. Without ever being able to know some of the reality, he has still recreated a plausible story of war in the trenches. He takes time to describe the landscape, and is artistic and chilling in the ways he sets a scene of war and young men, blood and face to face death for in some cases a matter of inches...... were we better off when war was so face to face rather than missles and such from afar? Clearly many of the current deaths are still at close range, but rarely it seems, across the typical enemy lines. Bottom line....no matter what horrors, wars continue

Haunted by an ancestor’s tale of near death on a distant battlefield, James Carl Nelson set out in pursuit of the scraps of memory of his grandfather’s small infantry unit. Years of travel across the world led to the retrieval of unpublished personal papers, obscure memoirs, and communications from numerous Doughboys as well as original interviews of the descendents of his grandfather’s comrades in arms. The result is a compelling tale of battle rooted in new primary sources, and one man’s search for his grandfather’s legacy in a horrifying maelstrom that is today poorly understood and nearly forgotten.

The Remains of Company D follows the members of Company D, 28th Infantry Regiment, United States First Division, from enlistment to combat to the effort to recover their remains, focusing on the three major battles at Cantigny, Soissons, and in the Meuse-Argonne and the effect these horrific battles had on the men.

This is an important and powerful tale of the different destinies, personalities, and motivations of the men in Company D and a timeless portrayal of men at war.

[Dave Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine narrative of a quickly dying company, Cantigny, Soissons (where it's soul was cut out), Meuse-Argonne all in short order. Better than 4 stars and well written but I can't put my finger on why it didn't grab me enough to be a 5 star book. Not a first person account may be why, it leads to a lot of speculation (although not hidden as fact) by the author. There was a lot of research included here to dig up (mainly letters) of first person accounts that were woven into the story. Probably what I crave is so rare from the Great War that beyond the handful of well written first hand accounts available it has to be pieced together like this. There were some great anecdotes included. Charles Senay about the company after replacements in the field for those that started together "We were never again the tireless coherent irresistible soldiers who turned the tide of the war at Soissons. Our dead and hopelessly wounded were irreplaceable" Frank Groves about the Armistice "There was no singing, no shouting, no laughter. We just stood around and looked and listened. Worth reading.

[Topher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was also tempted to choose "post-apocalyptic" as a shelf for this one too. This is a WW I equivalent to "The Things They Carried". It tracks the fate of Company D of the 28th Bn (part of the "Big Red One" - which I somehow missed for the first 275 or so pages) through three different campaigns in WW I. There was incredibly high mortality rates associated with these missions. In some ways, this seems to almost be the war in which the individual suffers the most. Prior to this, automation has not really kicked in, after this automation and technology are better understood and used for defense as well. During WW I, we see extensive use of gas, the introduction of machine guns, etc, and the start of the dehumanization of war. It's also one of the last times where people just turn up missing, and unknown soldiers are left behind in abundance.

[Laura LeAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book about Company D, 28th Infantry. My great-grandfather served in this unit (though he is not discussed in the book because his injury came so early in the war, and there is some confusion about which unit he was really in in the military rosters/rolls) and I found this book to be an excellent resource in understanding his experiences during that horrific time, even if he was only with the unit until February 1918. He was injured and in a hospital by February and then returned to the United States, serving the duration of the war, at a veteran's hospital in Oteen, NC and going on a speaking tour for the Speaker's Bureau, raising funds for Liberty Bonds. Anyway, the book was excellent in giving the human stories of the soldiers followed throughout.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was a certain fascination in hearing the author's steps in putting this story together from a combination of public and original sources. And at the close, the agonies of the loved ones left behind without knowledge of what had happened to their particular doughboy in his final moments, or indeed what had become of their remains. I had just finished watching a documentary in a few parts about how the "Great War" kicked off a century that has still not fully seen the resolve of what came out of the demise of the Austro-Hungarian empire - altogether very Eurocentric. This work also alludes to how little the Europeans saw as the US contribution to bringing that war to a close. The author's story does, I think, a fair job of giving the lie to that viewpoint.