The Story of Roy Tharp
by Cecil E. Tharp

Clarence Leroy "Roy" Tharp was born June 5, 1894 in Greene Twp. Jay County, Indiana, son of Adolphus Pleasant and Viola (Longerbone) Tharp.

Roy's place of birth was on a farm about one fourth mile north of the little town of Blaine. The earliest of his memories was of this place. The barn was made of large hewn logs pinned together with pegs. He also recalled walking west about two miles to see the Martins, he played with his cousin, Oliver Martin, and thought Oliver's parents were mean to Oliver. As it was told to me, when Roy was about five years of age the family was living at Powers Station. At this place the house caught fire and the family was forced to hurry from the building to escape the flames. Their home which was located on the east side of town was totally destroyed. They then moved to Como staying there but a short time. Again they moved, this time to a farm he always thought of as his home during the years he was growing up. He called the farm, the "Farm on Days Creek" and sometimes the "Collin's Farm". The farm lay about two miles north of Ridgeville, the town he most often visited.

Roy is said to have attended school at the one room Days Creek School to the sixth grade, leaving school in that year. In those days a young fellow was expected to work, first for his father then for the neighboring farmers and at what ever might turn up to earn a little money. The father controlled the distribution of what ever earning there was. This would prevail often as long as the youth remained at his father's home. It was in these years that Roy established a good reputation as dependable and hard working which held him in good stead a few years later. Among the neighbors were his mother's sister's family the Shauvers, the Lays, a prosperous family of farmers and the old established Collins family. Roy stated that he had worked for all of them at different times including Redmans. When he was twenty one years of age he moved with his father to a farm north of the Mississinewa River west of Ridgeville, Randolph County, Indiana. By that time Roy had also worked in the Stone Quarry east of town where he among other jobs operated a Steam Shovel which was used to load the small rail cars that took the stone to the Crusher. The quarry was rather large and very deep. Even at this time Roy's father retained a strong hold on his life and earnings.

In 1916 at the Old Settlers Day picnic Roy met Rosemary Carder for the first time. at that time, Roy's best friend was his cousin, Harold Shauver. It seems Roy and Harold had gone together where they met Rosemary and her friends from Redkey. That day they became well enough acquainted to arrange to see one another again. From that time on Roy seen Rosemary as often as possible. On most occasions he drove a horse and buggy from the farm located one and one eight mile west of Ridgeville to Rosemary's home located about one and one-half mile south of Redkey, in all it was nearly a seven mile ride one way. The date would often be a visit at her home and other times they would take long rides with a horse and buggy belonging to Roy's Dad.

Rosemary was born at her parents home south of Redkey on November 25, 1899. Her father, John Abraham Carder, and her mother, Minerva Alice (Meranda) Carder had moved to the farm west of the Old Carder Homestead soon after their marriage in 1890 and remained there for more than forty years. Rosemary attended school at Halfway School which was perhaps less than half a mile west at the cross roads, where the school house set on the northwest corner of the intersection. Rosemary finished the eight grade here, graduating on the twentieth day of June 1916.

Roy and Rosemary's, first meeting was in the last week of August or first week of September, 1916. Rosemary was sixteen at the time and had finished her formal schooling. She had no thoughts of going on to high school which would have been an added expense for her parents. Possibly she could have gone with her cousin, Marietta.

Marietta Ritter was Rosemary's closest friend even though there were two years difference in their ages. Together they attended the eight years of schooling with their cousin Lucy Belle Carder, Lucy Belle was a year older than Marietta and a year younger than Rosemary. They were cousins, classmates and close companions. Marietta was the only one to complete High School at Redkey, graduating in April of 1920. She married Roy's brother, Ray Tharp on March 15, 1921. There were strong contrasts in the girls lives. Rosemary was the fourth child of Abe and Minerva Carder and the third of their daughters. It had been said that she was her father's favorite child. She had older sisters to help in the kitchen and housework. Rosemary was often helping her Dad do the milking and such chores that would be of help to him and her mother. Her mother preferred caring for the chickens and the working in the garden to housework. Marietta and Lucy were both the only child of their parents. They were their parents pride and joy being well provided with the niceties desired by young ladies of that time. Rosemary put things of childhood behind her in the summer of 1917.

At the age of twenty three, Roy was ready to make changes in his life. Had the war in Europe and our involvement in it not been the prime concern of Americans, perhaps Roy and Rosemary would have married and settled down to housekeeping and started a family. It was not to be, their lives were not on so simple a path.

On April 6, 1917 the United States declared war on Germany. Few Wars had ever been more popular. The sound of the recruiter's drum, the bands, the speeches and the flag stirred the imagination of the crowds gathering across the nation to hear and be heard promoting our just, honorable, and most noble cause to wage a war that was to end all wars. In May the Selective Service Act was passed, that same month Roy was among the thousands to volunteer for military service. The War in Europe had been in progress for nearly three years, yet when the United States entered the conflict it was totally unprepared to supply materials and troops to take any effective action on the European Continent. Few if any foresaw the forth coming carnage on the battle fields of France. It would seem that Roy's action at the time was impulsive.

It was not the first time Roy had thought to alter his life's work. This seemingly admirable act was an unalterable step into the unknown. It magnified the awareness of life's uncertainty and the concerns his family and loved ones had for his well being.

Roy's enlistment record as it is recorded on his Discharge from the United State Army dated March 20th 1919, states that Roy enlisted May 9th, 1917 at Muncie, Indiana. I have heard no details of the occasion or of others enlisting at the same time from the Ridgeville area. He did not serve with men he had known before entering the Army.

There was little time to say farewell to his parents, many friends and Rosemary. With other newly recruited young men from the district he boarded the train which was to carry them to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. I am not sure the recruits knew their destination at the time they boarded the train. On the 12th of May Roy wrote post card to Rosemary and said they would leave Jefferson Barracks for Ft. Bliss Texas soon. On the 14th Roy wrote they were then on their way to Ft. Bliss which was located six miles from the Mexican border near El Paso, Texas.

Fort Bliss was the largest Cavalry Post in the United States. It was near the Rio Grande River which was the natural boarder between the two countries. Its military posture had for the past five years served to protect that border and capture the notorious Mexican bandit, Francisco Villa. In the spring of 1916 the whole of the United States Army and the National Guard was called out and mobilized along the boarded. Villa avoided capture by an invading column sent into western Mexico for that purpose, the invading troops were then drawn back to El Paso. the situation remained static for the next several months. Early in 1917 Germany, in the event of war with the United Stated, had stated a desire to aid Mexico in that countries retaking the territory lost to them in 1848. The initial reaction was one of added defense in this area even though Mexico was a neutral nation and remained so throughout the war.

The war effort was generally believed at that time to be of economic rather than military in character. No ship was available to carry troops to Europe, even if there had been troops to be transported. In the last 12 months a number of reserve officers had been trained and on May 15, 1917 a series of training camps were opened to prepare additional reserve officers to first be used as instructors in the organization of new divisions. The early enlistment in the army numbered 527,000 men. The first men drafted were not called up until September. When the original plan was developed in April there was no intention to send any troops abroad until March, 1918.

An urgent plea from France altered the cautious approach to commit troops. By July 4th units of the 1st Division marched in the streets of Paris under the command of General John J, Pershing. They were assigned to a sector between Belford and Verdun where they might do the least harm if ineffective. As pitifully as the nations military capability was the nation possessed the will and determination to become all things necessary to defeat the German army then on the verge of destroying the French forces on the European continent.

The train ride to Fort Bliss must have taken several days. Troop trains were notoriously slow and uncomfortable. As stated earlier strategic planning was re-evaluated with the objective of supplying troops for overseas duty as soon as possible. The newly arrived recruits had hardly time to learn the basic commands of soldiering when the unit was ordered to return to a training camp in the east. Roy had wrote to Rosemary in the 23rd of May stating he had just returned from a seven mile hike and was very tired. A week later, on the 30th, they were passing through Fort Worth, Texas on the return journey east. On the 31st they were passing through Little Rock, Arkansas. The train required 7 days to reach its destination at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. At Gettysburg a newly created U. S. Army Training Camp designated, the 60th Infantry was taking shape. It was a small part of the current plan to accelerate the war effort. The buildings were made up of wooden frame structures and were nearly all Mess Halls. The men were sheltered in large tents capable of sleeping about 8 to 10 men each. This was the place and the beginning of Roy's basic military training for overseas duty. The camp's personnel was made up of men with extremely limited military experience. On June 14th 1917, a few days after having arrived in camp, Roy having demonstrated early on an aptitude for soldiering was promoted to corporal and assigned to Company "B" of the 60th Infantry, when not actively training he was engaged in writing to Rosemary, regularly expressing a desire to hear from her more often.

There was practically no where to go for diversion. The little town of Gettysburg had little to offer other than the National Civil War Battlefield near by. By August he was longing to see Rosemary.

The idea of her coming to Gettysburg and them marrying was the prime topic in his letters during late August. A letter written August 24th, 1917 proposed the idea that Rosemary and her sister, Maggie, come to Gettysburg and see him. It was soon clear that neither had train fare nor means for other expenses. After a frantic and difficult time Roy sent them train fare and promised money for Maggie's' return fare. The date was September 12th, 1917. Rosemary would not be eighteen years of age for another two and one half months, therefore before leaving home she received consent from her parents to marry Roy. Marriage was planned to occur at the earliest possible time after her arrival at Gettysburg.

They were able to rent a room in the home of Charles Lady located at 30 N. Franklin St., Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Roy's greatest problem became that of obtaining passes to be outside the camp's perimeter. They were married on his first weekend pass, Sunday, September 29, 1917, having applied for and received their marriage license and then having the Justice of the Peace, Jacob A. Appler, perform the ceremony before the day ended.

The next two and one half months Rosemary roomed and had her meals in the home of Charles Lady. His family consisted of his wife and two children, a son and a daughter. In the short time Roy and Rosemary had before Roy completed his training a close and lasting friendship developed with this family. Rosemary was fortunate to have their caring friendship during the many days Roy was unable to be away from camp. It remained an unending concern to arrange time to be together. On every pleasant Fall day possible hours were spent in strolling about the National Military Park with the ever present uncertainty of the time left to them. Maggie did remain with Rosemary for a few weeks but returned home while Rosemary stayed to the last moment in which there was a chance Roy would remain at the training camp and might receive a pass to be with her another time.

The last day Roy had with Rosemary at Gettysburg was on Saturday December 15, 1917. She seen him off on the train that day. The following day, Sunday, Ray arrived at Camp Merritt, Dumont, New Jersey, at 5 o'clock in the morning. Camp Merritt was in a wooded area and as Roy put it "it was in a no mans land" away from everything. The camp was near the Hudson River above the city of New York on the New Jersey side of the river. The same day Rosemary boarded the train for home.

Early in the month Roy's Company had been assigned to the 5th Machine Gun Battalion, 2nd Division. There were few if any units that were thought to be free from danger on the battlefield, but it was well known that machine gun positions were choice artillery targets, yet I have not heard that volunteers had been called for in forming the Battalion. They knew that in a short time the unit would embark on a troop ship for Europe.

On the 20th Roy had heard they were moving to Hoboken, New Jersey, a port at the mouth of the Hudson River. Then on the 21st he thought they would leave Camp Merritt on the 23rd. The move came much sooner than expected for they were on shipboard in the harbor at Portland, Maine about 200 miles north on the 24th of December that "I am on a large transport now, don't know just when we will leave, but sometime tonight I guess. One of the sailors said we were going to Liverpool, England". There were no letters keep by Rosemary if any were received by her during the following month.

The German U-boats had successfully operated in the Atlantic for over 3 years and their threat to shipping continued till the end of the war. A new approach to the problem was proving to have marked success in cutting the shipping losses during the last few months. Convoying a large number of ships proved extremely effective, no troop transport was sunk in the crossing to Europe during the war. When U. S. troops were transported whether in British or United States owned vessels every precaution was paramount to insure a safe passage.

The actual departure time from Portland Harbor is uncertain as Roy stated in a letter that he landed at Liverpool on the 7th of January and the crossing had taken 16 days. This would mean they sailed on about the 23rd of December, but it must have been as he stated in the letter of the 24th, they having sailed on the night of the 24th. Another time he wrote the crossing was from the 23rd to the 8th. It probably was the night of the 24th till docking on the 8th at Liverpool. He wrote in one letter "It is use to say we had a nice voyage over here. It was almost like a fishing trip, every thing was very quiet. There were seven ships came across, seven sub chasers met us six days out. I saw a couple of whales and several other queer looking fish. We landed somewhere in England then took the train to where we are now. The cars over here are about the size of cigar boxes but oh my they can fly. We were in box cars part of the time and almost froze". Several weeks later he wrote "we landed in England and then again in France". What it seems did happen was that the transport docked at Liverpool on the 8th and there the troops boarded the train which carried then from the west coast of England (Irish Sea) to the south coast and the English Channel where on the night of the 10th of January they boarded another ship for the channel crossing. It was a rough passage with high winds and waves making it difficult to stand on deck. They were landed at the French port of LaHarve on the morning of the 11th. They remained there in an English camp where they had very little food or shelter for two days.

The letters Roy wrote while on the continent during the next 10 months were heavily censored, as a rule he understood the censoring and wrote little that was cut from his letters. So from the time of his landing he did not write the location of his unit. After the fighting ended he tried to give a report of his experiences and where he had been. I am uncertain that he spelled the French locations correctly for I find his earliest named sites are not on the maps I have available. I do believe Bourmount he named was Beaumont which was about 15 miles north of Paris and about 90 miles east of LaHarve. From there he wrote they hiked to Nijon. there are a great many small villages in France that are not on the maps I have, Nijon does not appear. It may have been Nojon northeast of Beaumont about 35 miles, perhaps it was in hiking distance. At Nijon they stayed in an old barn.

A letter to Rosemary written on the 26th of January at Nijon, Roy writes an interesting account of his surroundings and the French people. "I had written several letters, I don't think you have received any of them. I know of three I wrote you that you never got, for they came back to me". "We are located some where in France in a little village and the people over here are almost one thousand years behind times. They still have the old horse power, threshing a load of grain one day and the next day run it through the wind mill to clean it, and the women, they have a big washing pond in the middle of the village and they all do their washing there by rubbing it with their hands". "All the people you can see is old men, women and children and they all wear wooden shoes". "Now I'll tell you how we live over here. We stay in barns and houses that the people are not using. I've got a real nice place believe me in a box stall of a barn with a stone floor and a little bit of straw to lay on, rather a hard bed". Then he writes of his landing in England, etc. and crossing the Channel which is quoted above. At another time of reminiscing he wrote of living in the barn and how he had learned to take his shoes to bed with him to prevent them from freezing, otherwise the shoes were nearly impossible to put on.

In all they were three weeks at this place, about mid February they were again moved nearer the front lines, Roy called the place Laffetel, I do not find it on the map, but it was in an area where they were to get additional training in trench warfare well behind the front lines somewhere north of Soisson and Chateau Thierry. It may have been near La Ferre which lay inside the German lines east of Nijon about 15 miles. They stayed in this sector until March 27, 1918 when the Battalion moved to the front in a French held sector. Roy spent his first night in the trenches on the 27th of March.

Several miles north in the Somme sector the Germans began their spring offensive to smash the British and French forces before the Americans could become effective. The battle began on the 21st of March, the German forces advanced 30 miles before they were stopped on April 6th.

On March 27th a second battle began south of Somme in the Soissons area. Later Roy wrote of the first experience he had under fire. "The second afternoon we were on the front I was ordered to take a squad that night and relieve a sector that the French held. Every thing went fine that night, but the next day things begin to liven up; the Huns begin to send those big G. I. cans over, but still I didn't pay much attention to them because I didn't realize what they were till the evening of April 1st about 6 o'clock. We found out that one had a direct hit on our outpost and killed one man and wounded another. One day the Huns fired gas shells and one dropped on his dugout that night, the dugout caved in and he got up to see what was the matter, when the boys found me I was laying behind the stove gassed but not seriously". "Hell went on for 42 days in that sector. I think it was May 15th when we were relieved". This battle was referred to as "Soissons". Roy wrote on May the 30th that they had been in the trenches for 45 days.

A map of the battle lines during the Five Great Offensives of 1918" shows the advance of the German forces over running Soissons an another town north of it called Nojon. I suspect this is the town Roy had called Nijon. It would seem the 5th Machine Gun Battalion had been on the northern end of the Soissons salient (an outward bulge in the lines) caused by the German offensive begun March 27th and ended June 6th called the Aisne Offensive. It had caused the withdrawal of French and American forces some 15 miles on the northern end of the line and about 32 miles at the center of the salient which had reached the Marne River, a point beyond Chateau Thierry. The lines had held in the southeast sector at Reims. At the end of the German advance this salient had a front of nearly 40 miles in length.

The 5th Machine Gun Battalion was allowed to rest in the rear of the lines a few days until the Germans began another drive at the center of the salient near Chateau Thierry on the 30th of May, The French Commander called on Pershing for help, On the 31st the 2nd and 3rd America Divisions and a brigade of Marines went into action to support French colonial troops. The 5th Machine Gun Battalion was on the Chateau Thierry front on June 5th, Roy's 24th birthday, between the 6th and 25th the Germans were stopped and Belleau Woods near Chateau Thierry was cleared of Germans. Roy was writing again on the 21st of June "I've been under shell fire most all the time since the 27th of March. The first 10 days were pretty hot believe me. I was in where the Germans made their last drive (Chateau Thierry), there were many a boy last his life. It was awful sight, I had my machine gun blown all to pieces. I guess the gun was not manned at the moment for he told of no one being killed though he once mentioned a blast had thrown him into a trench.

Roy and the 5th Machine Gun Battalion was on the Chateau Thierry front for 15 days. Roy never told much of those battles as he says he was pretty absent minded as to all that happened at the time. When they were relieved (about the 21st) they were turned loose for three days.

They must have rested for several days and them Roy wrote that one night we were loaded on trucks about dark and the next night we found ourselves in Soissons ready to go over the Top in "No Mans Land". Roy was not sure how long they were there. In July (on the 15th to the 18th) when the German command made its last great effort to break through to Paris on the south end of the salient, 85,000 Americans checked the German assault. By July the 18th the German offensive was over and the Allies began a counter offensive to liquidate the Marne salient as the bulge was called in the lines around Soissons and Chateau Thierry. By August 6th this salient was wiped out.

Fresh American troops were pouring into the war zone every day, over one quarter million a month. On August 10th, Pershing for the first time was directed at the St. Mihiel salient protruding south of Verdun. The salient was wiped out in 36 hours and Pershing's force was directed to the Meuse- Argonne area between Verdun and Reims. This battle front was maintained by American forces till the German surrender on November 11th, 1918. Roy's unit had been pulled from the Soissons region and was in front of St. Mihiel on the 13th of September.

On September 13th, on the St. Mihiel front, the 5th Machine Gun Battalion was again engaged. Roy wrote of this occasion a few days after it took place saying in his letter to Rosemary, "September 1st. started for the front, marched 2 weeks to front, (as the crow flies this was about 110 miles) went over the top the morning of September 13, 1918 and I never, and I, ever put over such a night as I did that night. We started for the trenches the evening of September the 12th at 7:00 and it started to rain and it rained all night and cold O' my. We got to our point, its where we were going over the top, at 1:30 A.M. that night. And we stayed till five that morning all wet and cold and at five over the top we went, all got through without a scratch". This engagement was officially called the St. Mihiel Battle, September 12 - 18th.

The Western Front, 300 miles of battle lines, extended from British lines near Ostend, Belguin on the North Sea to the American and French sectors in the Meuse-Argonne fronts. The Allied offensives of September, October and early November fought and drove the weary but stubborn German army 40-45 miles to positions inside Belguin and to lines near the French-Belguin and French-German borders. The 5th Machine Gun Battalion was moved from the St. Mihiel sector to one a few miles north called Champagne. This was on the left flank of Pershing's Meuse-Argonne offensive directed to take the famous fortress at Sedan on the Meuse River. The Americas were before Sedan on November 7th when the German envoy crossed the lines requesting armistice terms from the French General Foch.

Roy wrote of the last battle he was in. "The next battle, September 29th, the morning we went over was the last and worst battle I was in. We went over the Top every morning for seven days and only 62 of use came back to tell the tale, and I think I got my share of the Huns. He stated he was sighted for the D.S.C. in that battle.

The French Croix de Guerre with bronze star was given to him for his bravery, coolness, and initiative under a violent fire of artillery and machine guns, giving a splendid example to his men. It was his first action after he was promoted to Sergeant on September 27th, 1918. It would appear that advance from September 29th to October the 5th had been small hard fought gains at Somme Py, near the Hindenburg line, where Roy distinguished himself on the 5th of October. The location was a defensive front the Germans had established and held since 1914 and where the French and American battle lines had broken during the 1918 German offensive. It would seem that both the French and German armies had dug a great many parallel trenches on their fronts which gave both armies great depth in their defenses.

Company "B" must have lost half its men in these engagements. The battle torn Company was withdrawn from the front to recuperate not long after the Somme Py engagement, probably two or three days before the 9th of October as the offensive drove through to the Aisne River on that date and the Champagne hills and the over running of Blanc Mont Ridge in the path of the advance was well behind them on the 9th.

A letter Roy had written on November 9th stated he was then in School for officers training, earlier he had a three week course on the machine gun, he felt he would not have to return to the front as the war was thought to end soon. It ended on the 11th. Roy said he felt well but was tired and said perhaps it was because he had done so much since March and had so little to eat.

Roy was sent to an Army Candidate School with the intention of receiving a commission. His mailing address on November 9th, 1918 was: Sgt. Clarence L. Tharp, 17th Co. 5th Bn., American Candidate School, American Expeditionary Forces, La Valbonne, Ain, France. The Candidate School was near a town in east central France and north east of Lyon in the direction of the Switz border. He had a weekend pass in Lyon, he thought it was very expensive at 2 dollars a meal and 5 dollars for a room for one night. He had written this on the 28th of November, 1918 some time after he had been in Lyon. With the war ended he then had but one thought in mind and that was to return home.

The Americans had fought well and had made the victory possible. We had paid a very old debt to the French, one in which their presents had been equally decisive in 1781 at Yorktown.

It is probable that Roy wrote many letters in December of 1918 and in January of 1919, but many have been lost in the mail. It is not clear when Roy left the Candidate School. as soon as the war ended thousands of American soldiers were returning to the States and discharged. Hundred of thousands marched into Germany as an occupying army, many were held in Casualty Camps for rest and treatment. A letter that failed to be delivered and was returned to Rosemary dated February 7th 1919 and addressed to Roy at 1210 Casual Co., Le Mans, France was stamped on the envelope "not here". His earliest presents there is indicated by a pass he brought home dated December 22, 1918 which was issued to him at Le Mans. Le Mans is about 110 miles southwest of Paris and as many miles north or southwest to the coast. It seems he spent at least six or seven weeks idling away the time there.

Roy left French soil about the 1st of February 1919 aboard a troop transport. The ship was an unbelievingly long 30 days in making the crossing, docking at New York on March 1st, 1919. On March 1, 1919 at 4 P. M. Rosemary received a Day Letter (Telegram) from New Jersey City, New Jersey to: Mrs. Clarence L. Tharp, R R 1, Redkey, Indiana. "Arrived safe in New York. Feeling fine. Will write later". Camp Upton, Clarence L. Tharp Date: 3-1-1919 8:10 AM. He then moved up the Hudson River to Camp Merritt, New Jersey.

Roy mailed a letter March 6th stating "I think we go to Camp Sherman Sunday. Seen Ray. On March 8th, Camp Merritt Casual Co., 229. "I expect to be home by Sunday, March 11th" later "Will not get home as soon as I expected". On March 15th, Camp Sherman, Ohio. "Arrived here in Camp about two hours ago. Can hardly wait to get discharged". I think the nearest route for me will be to go to Columbus, Ohio and take the Penn. R R to Ridgeville. Will stop to see the folks and then come to see you". March 19th. Roy had heard from Rosemary saying she was sick with the Flu. Roy writes, "I think it will be best for you not to meet me at Ridgeville. You stay home till you are well. I'll be over just as soon as I can, I'm not afraid of the Flu". Roy was discharged on March 20, 1919. The letters stop and few details have came down in written form since.

INDIANA BOOK OF MERIT

VOL. 1V, PUBLISHED 1932, page 728 Randolph Co., Indiana THARP, Clarence L.