After receiving numerous requests for copies of the Third Battalion history, and after Sergeant Major Robinson had written two sets of five copies each on the typewriter it became evident that if every man who wanted and deserved a copy of the history of his battalion during the late war, secured one this history would have to be printed. After a great deal of thoughtful discussion Lieut. MacRitchie, former Battalion Quartermaster and Lieut. Charles F. Hurlbut, formerly of the 84th Company, both of whom have been with the battalion throughout the major portion of its history, convinced me that the history not only can be printed and put out in convenient form but that it is really a duty that the custodians of the battalion records owe to the members of the battalion.

With this thought in mind Lieut. MacRitchie, Lieut. Hurlbut and myself formulated the plan and prepared to put it through. A preliminary canvass of the men aboard the Wilhelmina disclosed the widespread desire for copies of the history among the present members of the battalion. It is only reasonable to suppose that it will be equally well received by the other members of the Battalion who came home ahead of us.

A history of this kind, to be of value, must be as accurate as the exigencies of war permit. This accuracy has been reached chiefly through the continuous and untiring efforts of Captain David Bellamy, former adjutant of the Battalion, who worked unceasingly to make the operations report after each engagement as accurate and complete as humanly possible. As the history is largely a collection of these operations reports our debt to Captain Bellamy can be easily seen. The first operations report for the period from June 1st to August 10th, was written by Captain Bellamy and corrected and edited by Major Sibley. The next report covered St. Mihiel and was also written by Captain Bellamy, who wrote the report for Champagne before he was evacuated to the S. 0. S. with an advanced case of Influenza. After the evacuation of Captain Bellamy it became my task as his successor, to write the report for the Argonne—Meuse and fill in the connecting matter and brief report of the return and demobilization of the battalion. The data for this I secured from my personal diary, from the Battalion file of orders and from records kept by Sgt. Ray E. Babcock, the Battalion historian.

This work is concise, has no elaborate descriptive matter, and may appear to be unnecessarily cold, but it is believed that the plain narrative with accurate dates, hours and places will be the thing most desired in the years to come, and that memory will supply the cloak to cover these naked facts.

To Major Berton W. Sibley belongs the credit for the supervision of the first operations report covering as it did the two largest operations the battalion ever participated in. This ground work served as a standard upon which all later reports and the history itself were built and the entire work is dedicated to him.