This has absolutely nothing to do with playing bass guitar or the rest of the site. I just thought it was cool and I wanted to honor my grandfather.
The following are entries from my grandfather’s diary. I thought it was very cool to read.
It gives a perceptive as to what being in World War 1 was like for U.S. Air Service officers. Unfortunately, this is all of the diary we’ve been able to find so far.
My father also made a few observations and notes within the text.
New York to Berlin and Return
Diary of Lieut James Lyon Rubel, U.S. Air Service, R.M.A.
August 8, 1918 to December 15th
Written on the occasion of his visit to England and France with the Air Service of the United States Army.
Types of airships DeHaviland 4, Liberty Salmson, Salmson Radial, Spad, Hispano Suiza
August 8, 1918 After successfully arranging all details, said goodbye to John Poulin, Frank Johnson, Helen and Miriam. Climbed in a Taxi and went to Pier 52. Was assigned to cabin on the White Star Liner “Olympic.” Stayed on deck until about 2 a.m… Weather very hot and cabin uncomfortable. About 200 nurses on board, units 35 and 48.
(My Note: The Olympic was the sister ship of the Titanic, and had quite a history. Try looking her up on Google –World War I, troopship “Olympic” gets pictures and a lot more.)
August 9. Lifted anchor at 8 a.m. And started out of harbor. Many ships full of people waving and cheering. Passed the Statue of Liberty at 9:30. Picked up one destroyer as a convoy. Passed several balloons and many seaplanes. Escorted until sundown. Met a couple of fair nurses. Georgia Lord and “Mae” MacDonald.
August 10. On shipboard, nothing but water, nurses to look at. Found the nurses much more interesting. Had a band concert in the afternoon and evening. Put on guard duty in the hold. 4 hours on 8 off. Men very smelly to say the least. Address by Col. Sturtevant of the 149th infantry.
August 11. Clear day and good sailing. Food is excellent and service good. Three good cabin mates, one not feeling well. Getting a bit rough. Exercised in the gym and danced in the evening.
August 12. Weather a trifle cloudy, getting rougher. Georgia and Mae both sick. The aviators are all well. Band concert. Good crowd aboard, making a very jolly party. Guard duty getting rather obnoxious as a lot of the men are sick. Life boat drill every day.
August 13. Fair weather but boat pitching considerable and many sick ones aboard. Still feeling great and food is marvelous. Usual dancing and music. Moved a piano from the non-coms room and had an enlisted jazz band in the evening. Lt Col Hennessy very fresh. Tried to tell him where to get off, but little success. He’s one of those Military School officers.
August 14. Clear weather. Had gun practice with both fore and aft 6 inch guns. Very good shooting. Blew up the target in 3 hits. Usual music and dancing. Can’t say much for the nurse’s dancing.
August 15. Clear weather. Passed a ship at about 10 o’clock going west. Submarine lookout reported a barrel floating off starboard bow. After careful scrutiny, concluded to zigzag. No alarms.
August 17. Picked up by five American destroyers and a captive balloon. Very comfortable feeling. They were all camouflaged. No signs of submarines, although course changed considerable.
August 18. Sighted land dead ahead. Supposedly the Irish Coast. American destroyers left and four British took their place. Arrived in the English Channel and at 10 a.m. dropped anchor by the Isle of Wright. Training ships of all kinds in the air. Inspectors came aboard. Lifted anchor at 3 and docked at 6 p.m. One man on a ship in the harbor got so excited he threw his coat overboard. Stayed on deck until late with Georgia, Mae and a couple of other officers.
August 19. Left ship at about 11 a.m. and moved over to next dock. Got a pass and up Town for the afternoon. Very quaint town, Southampton, many pretty bar maids especially Hotel Royal. Moved to rest camp on outskirts of town. Slept on the floor which was very hard. Took in a vaudeville show at night.
August 20. Roamed around town till 4 p.m. then went down to our ship. Very small one with no sleeping accommodations for 2nd lieuts. Left at 8 p.m. escorted by a sub chaser. Clear moonlight night, but cloudy later which was fortunate. Uninteresting trip across except for tension. Slept in our life belts.
August 21. Arrived at Cherbourg 5: am. Docked at 7: a.m. and marched to Rest Camp. Food rotten. Regular British rations. Ran into Harold Bradley and Cyril Morton. Slept on the floor in tents. Bad water but good wine.
August 22. Left rest camp at 5:30 p.m. Marched to station. Strolled up the beach. Several good looking dolls joined. Many French children yelling “une pennie.” Train left at 8:00 p.m. Had usual 1st class French compartments. Sleeping very poor.
August 23. Traveling all day. Saw many German prisoners working on the railroads. Wish the French would put a man’s size whistle on their trains. Road bed smooth as glass. Arrived at Niort at 9:30 p.m. Went to Hotel de France and had lovely feather bed. Too soft to sleep on.
August 24. Train left at 7:00 for St Maixent. Arrive St. Maixent at 8:00 Taken to barracks in truck. Ran into several of the old crowd. Had dinner at the Cheval Blanc. Very fine meal. French certainly know how to cook.
August 25. Nothing to do. Ordered a suit for liberty. Prices very reasonable. Dinner at Cheval Blanc. Ran into a Deke from Lafayette 1st Lieut Uhr. Had just returned from the front. Received orders to go the Issondum. Left that evening at 7 p.m. Arrived at Poitiers at l0 pm. Had hot chocolate and bread at the hotel. Took Paris express at one. After cursing out the French railroads, young lady on my left said: “you Americans are not used to riding way are you” (the end of a perfect day, will be more careful of my language in the future)
August 26. Left Tours at 5 a.m. arriving Vierzohn at 7 a.m. Had breakfast at Hotel. Took train for Issondum at 12 Arrived 2 p.m. Looked the town over. Arrived in camp via All American railroad at 6 p.m. Reported and was assigned to duty. Wrote to Tommy. Ran into Sid Peters, Leon Tuck, Jim Grady, Pete Winship and Joe Pagees.
August 27. No orders. Rested all day.
August 28. Ordered to field 7. Arrived there at 7 a.m. but did not get up. Tommy came over to see me. Looking fine.
August 29. Received 30 minutes dual instruction on De Havilland 4 with Liberty, a fine motor but very weak ship. Solo’d for two hours, made 6 successful landings Commended by instructor Returned to main field at 7 p.m.
August 30. Nothing to do. No orders
August 31. No orders
Sept 1. No orders
Sept 2. No orders. Went into town. Visited Café D’Aviation. Beaucoup of fair damsels. Had a delicious steak at the Del Monico.
Sept 3. No orders
Sept 4. Ordered to Colombey-les Belles. Left Issoudun at 5:50 p.m. arriving Vierzohn at 8: 00 p.m. No food to be had. Took the American Express at 2 a.m. Found a would be birth and had an excellent sleep. Real American porters.
Sept 5. Still on the train. Not much food to be had. Quite rainy, but no bad riding. Won 500 francs at Blackjack.
Sept 6. Arrived in Chaumont at 10:00 a.m. Had a delicious dinner at the Hotel de France. Bought beaucoup food and took the train for Neufchateau at 3:30 p.m. Arrived Neufchateau 8:00 p.m. Found a bed in a French Hospital and had a good night’s sleep.
Sept 7. Breakfast in station. Arrived Colombey les Bells at 9:30. Several nurses in the compartment. Very interesting girls. Took a truck and landed in Colombey. Ran into Uhi, Peters, Wells and several others. Assigned to 24th squadron with Peters and Wells. Left at 5:00 p.m. arriving Gondreville at 8 p.m. Assigned to barracks. Met a Lt. Dillon from Chicago.
Sept 8. Fine lunch in squadron. Ships not yet ready to fly. Lt. Hill C.O. Mighty fine chap.
Sept 9. Day of rest. Not feeling well.
Sept 10th. Bad headache, cold and general disability.
Sept 11th. Feeling worse.
Sept 12th. Feeling better. Took a flight with Cottrell. Scared me half to death.
Sept 13th. Took my first ride in Salmson. Lit Cottrell as observer. Scared him half to death.
Sept 14th. Went over the lines with a mechanic. Scared him green as well as myself. Got well “Archied.” (Archied means shot at with anti-aircraft guns.)
Sept 15. Over the lines with 91st in formation of 5, was forced to return on account of bad motor.
Sept 16. Started over with the 91st in formation of 5, got as far as Conflans and was forced to turn back. Much Archie fire, but no Boches. (Boches was slang for Germans.)
Sept 17. Went to Nancy, ran into John Young. Returned next morning. Pretty fair town but badly bombed. Had a raid that night, but no hits.
Sept 18. Test flight in Ship 13, altitude 5000 meters.
Sept 19. Off duty. Went to Nancy with Tuttle, had a good meal, bought about $5.00 worth of candy, saw a movie, and returned.
Sept 20. Test flight, motor poor, only 4700 meters. Wells made Flight Commander.
Sept 21. Rainy. Sent Mae Carty to the Hospital with a bad case of pneumonia. Lt’s Bradfield, Goodfellow, Durand and Clarke failed to return
Sept 22. Ferried to Wavencourt two ships. Very poor field, just behind Verdun. Went into Bac le Duc. Not much of a town.
Sept 23. Took a trip up to Verdun to look over the sector. Lt Farrell my observer. Weather poor, very cloudy. Verdun looks to be shot to pieces. Just a network of holes. Souilly very plain, has large white concrete taking off T.
Sept 24. Took another trip for familiarizing. Looked sector over thoroughly Went up as far as the front lines and back. No aerial activity seen.
Sept 25. The big day. Received my fist real baptism of fire. Covered our entire sector making 220 k in German territory. Little anti-aircraft fire. Ran into a Hun formation of 14 ships at altitude of 4600 meters in the vicinity of the forest of Spincourt. Lt. Farrell dropped off the Hun on my tail, saw him go down in a spin, never has been confirmed. He probably landed safely Lt Witeside with Pete also dropped one, never confirmed. Lt Higgins with Hall was shot in the arm. The bullet going through the terrell, through his arm and into the gas tank. Never was glad to see Verdun in my life. Archies opened fire after Huns left us, but shooting was poor. Some trip and glad to be back.
September 26. Went a short way over in about 5 kilometers. Visibility rather poor. Saw no signs of Hun machines but beaucoup of Archies. Plastered them all around us. Am getting used to it now. All returned safely.
Sept 27. Weather fair, very high clouds. Took new ship up on test flight, reached 5,000 feet. Clouds were 1000 feet thick. Lt s .Wells and Peters reported missing. Found they got lost and landed at Chattillon. Can’t afford to lose them as Hall and I would be the only pilots left in the flight. They returned in the afternoon with beaucoup cigarettes. Claimed to have reached an altitude of 6200 meters.
Sept 28. Rained heavily, heavy mist all day and impossible to fly. Discovered a fireplace in my room and have had many callers since. Requested each caller to bring his own wood. Went into Bar le Duc. Rotten town, nothing to be had
Sept 29. Started over, but motor went bad and had to return. Can’t seem to locate the trouble. Couldn’t get over 3200 M. The number is 13 but believe it’s lucky. Rained in the afternoon.
Sept 30. Very bad day. No rain but very wet and cold. A number of new observers reported. Werliner, Selleck, Nolan, Michaels, Lokey and Casey. All good scouts. Have had several of them up.
October 1. Started over with lieutenant. Lokey. Couldn’t keep up with the formation. They ran away from me. Very cloudy and observation useless. Returned to field without getting over.
October 2. Test flight with Red. Went up to 5000 meters. Clear above but hazy and cloudy down below. Did a couple of Immelmans to try out alignment of wings. Flies well.
Oct 3. Over the lines with Lokey at 3000 meters. All kinds of A.A.s but no signs of enemy aircraft. Followed our line about 5 kilometers in. Too hazy to be able to see anything.
October 4. Test flight today in #13. Can’t get it up over 4700 M. Will have the motors changed. I’m through with it. Will have #10 tomorrow. Had a good entertainment in one of the hangars this evening. Margaret Mayo, Elizabeth Brice, Lois Meredith and two fair comedians. Lois is the prettiest thing I’ve seen in years. Enjoyed hearing Elizabeth sing her old songs. (Photo of Lois is attached)
Oct 5. Over the lines. Very cloudy, little information. Rained in the afternoon. Do not believe we will get much information this month unless the weather clears.
Oct 6. Test flight in the afternoon in #10. Went to 18,000 feet. Breathing was rather difficult and I thought my stomach was about to blow up. Decided it was best to return. Brought a new ship over from Bayonne in the afternoon. Seems to be in good condition. Lt. Friersen of the 91st failed to return. Had a talk in the evening by Major Reynolds on esprit de corps. Received 8 letters today. 6 from mother. One from Marg and one from Claire Foslen, the latter very unexpected.
Oct 7. Partly cloudy. Started over to drop propaganda. Went in to Grand Pre and Buqancy, had it sticking all over us. They welcomed us with all kinds of anti-aircraft barrages. Flaming onions, high explosive shrapnel, machine gun bullets, and tracers. Some barrage. Formation broke up and we lost them. Observer notified me, we were heading north. Immediately turned, got above the clouds and headed for home. They archied the cloud but we fooled them 5 or 6 spads got on our tail, but immediately left as soon as they recognized us. Got home safely, but it was exciting while it lasted. Beginning to detest the Archies more than Huns. They worry me.
Oct 8. Tried to go over but couldn’t get off the ground. Found a broken oil lead and had to have it repaired. Peters reported missing did not return and have had no word Roe and I waited until 11 o’clock. Believe he is lost and at some other field.
Oct 9. Very foggy this morning. Received orders to Souilly for verification work. Peters returned at 2 p.m. Had a forced landing not far away but was unable to get in communication with us. Arrived at Souilly at 3:30 pm. Some of the boys immediately given missions. Riley and Kessler did not return and no word was received up to the time we went to bed. Had dinner at the 90th. John Young is here. They are doing infantry liaison. Best meal I’ve had in some time. Good crowd of boys and good spirit and spirits.