[Illustration: Capt. Colonna and Lt. Foulkes at Camp Dix, 1918.] THE HISTORY OF COMPANY B, 311th INFANTRY IN THE WORLD WAR. Edited by B. A. Colonna with contributions by David Gardenier, Charles Peter, and Tracy S. White. Statistics compiled by Bert W. Stiles. FREEHOLD, N. J. TRANSCRIPT PRINTING HOUSE, 1922 COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY B. A. COLONNA AND B. W. STILES. INDEX Page Introduction 5 Chapter I--Madison Barracks 6 Chapter II--Camp Dix 7 Chapter III--The Cruise of the “NESTOR” 11 Chapter IV--The English Sector 16 Chapter V--The American Sector 32 Chapter VI--St. Mihiel and Limey Sector 40 Chapter VII--Meuse-Argonne 67 Chapter VIII--Flavigny-sur-Ozerain 74 Chapter IX--Homeward Bound 76 Alphabetical Roster of Officers 81 Alphabetical Roster of Enlisted Men 83 Classified Rosters 108 Number of Officers and Men by States 111 Lists of Casualties 112 Decorations 114 Extracts from General Orders No. 6 115 INTRODUCTION You, my comrades of the past two years, for whom this history is written, know that I have but small gift of expression at any time, and least of all for the things closest to my heart. At your request, however, made when we parted for the last time, I am writing the story of our company. I shall do my best to put down everything as it occurred, so far as my knowledge and memory will serve; and I trust that if the matter is true, you will overlook crudeness in the form. “Company B, 311th Infantry”--Only a letter and a number? Only one company out of the hundreds in the National Army? Yes, to outsiders; but to me, and I trust and believe to you, Company B was a living and vital being, composed of part of what was best in each of us. Its official life was twenty months; in that time it was born, grew to full strength, was trained, travelled some 7500 miles, fulfilled its destiny--fought, suffered, lost; and finally returned to its birthplace and was mustered out. But the spirit of B Company is still with each of us, and not a man but has carried away more than he gave. Relatively, B Company was a very small part of the army. But to us, it was the army; just as we shall always think of the war in terms of St. Mihiel and the Argonne. We have heard of the Marne, Ypres, Verdun, Chateau Thierry; but every man sees the war through his own eyes.