UAH Archives, Special Collections, and Digital Initiatives

Transcript of the World War I diary of Archie Duncan Shannon.

Item

Dublin Core

Title

Transcript of the World War I diary of Archie Duncan Shannon.

Description

Archie Shannon was a farmer who served in Company G of the 1st Pioneer Infantry in World War I. Shannon was born in Limestone County, Alabama on November 19, 1891, and at the time of his draft registration on June 5, 1917, he lived in Ardmore, Tennessee. Shannon reported for military duty on September 18, 1917 and entered training at Camp Pike, Arkansas.

This diary covers Shannon's experiences in the U.S. Army from July 1, 1918 to July 7, 1919. He describes his journey to France and details everyday life as a soldier, especially the discomforts of life on the front in both the Marne and Verdun sectors. Shannon discusses bathing and sleeping arrangements, gas masks, air raids, and the terrible sights of war-torn France while repairing roads and burying dead soldiers. Shannon includes descriptions of his involvement in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, noting the continuous shelling, gas attacks, and miserable weather conditions. He also describes his company's reaction to the Armistice, writing, "Many happy hearts in our company everyone seems to take life anew."

Shannon spent the rest of his World War I service in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany, and he returned to the United States on July 7, 1919. A list of soldier names and hometowns is recorded in the back of the diary. Shannon died on May 20, 1969 and is buried in Gatlin Cemetery in Ardmore, Alabama.

Date

1918
1919

Temporal Coverage

Spatial Coverage

Argonne (Forest)
Marne (France)
Rhine River Valley

Source

Archie Shannon World War I Diary
University of Alabama in Huntsville Archives, Special Collections, and Digital Initiatives, Huntsville, Alabama

Provenance

This item is digital only. It was generously loaned by the owner to UAH Archives, Special Collection, and Digital Initiatives for digitization.

Language

Rights

This material may be protected under U. S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S. Code) which governs the making of photocopies or reproductions of copyrighted materials. You may use the digitized material for private study, scholarship, or research. Though the University of Alabama in Huntsville Archives and Special Collections has physical ownership of the material in its collections, in some cases we may not own the copyright to the material. It is the patron's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in our collections.

Citation

Shannon, Archie Duncan, “Transcript of the World War I diary of Archie Duncan Shannon.,” UAH Archives, Special Collections, and Digital Initiatives, accessed December 8, 2024, http://libarchstor2.uah.edu/digitalcollections/items/show/14501.

Transcribe This Item

  1. shannon_transcription.pdf