A story by Mary D. Coyne from 1917-1919
Title on photo reads: Company C 14th Engineers (Railway) Rockingham Park, NH 1917
John Coyne is 6th on right from seated officers in center
John Anthony "Jack" Coyne was attending Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine when there was a request for volunteers to join the 14th Regiment of Engineers. While in college, family story is that he was spending much of his time selling clothing with his uncle, James Andrew Coyne (1880-1970). Jack was seemingly also active in the Theta Beta Pi fraternity, as shown in the photo below. As a result, his uncle Jim said that he was not doing well academically at Bowdoin although we do not know that for a fact.
Whatever the circumstances, he answered the call to join the Fourteenth Engineers who were looking for experienced railway men. He had been working off and on with his two Coyne uncles, Jim and Ed, who were railroad men. The recruits were to be sent to France where they would immediately be able to construct, operate and maintain a series of military railways behind French and British lines.
There were to be nine regiments:
11th New York; 12th St Louis; 13th Chicago; 14th Boston; 15th Pittsburgh; 16th Detroit; 17th Atlanta; 18th San Francisco; 19th Philadelphia
The Maine Central Railroad was charged with providing officers and men for Company "C" of the 14th and men were recruited from Portland Maine area. John Coyne, at the age of 22, was one of the original volunteers as noted in the Appendix of the book cited below. By June 1917, the companies were pretty much at full strength and the men were sent home while a suitable location was found to assemble them and begin their training. (1)
The location that was finally chosen was Rockingham Park in Salem NH. The park was originally built a few years before as a racetrack with extensive grounds, horse stables and covered viewing stands but it was an unsuccessful venture and most recently had been used as a fair ground. The first company to arrive removed all the seats from the grandstand and set up long lines of cots. John Coyne arrived with Company C on Jun 28, 1917 and received his assigned cot under the covered grandstand.
The existing kitchen under the grandstand was the kitchen, a former bar room became a club room, and with other accommodations Rockingham Park became a model camp. During training the men were marched along country lanes and interminably on the dusty racetrack with occasional passes to Canobie Lake Park or Lawrence MA.
Eventually uniforms and equipment began to arrive. However, since it was so early in the war, there was a severe shortage of everything. Uniforms came in a limited number of sizes so some of the taller recruits did not get uniforms until they left for France. The equipment was outdate—old model pistols without holsters, mess kits were obsolete, the haversacks had markings from the Spanish-American War, rifles were old .303 used in the Spanish war with 80 cartridges per rifle, no barrack bags to carry belongings.
Training began in earnest on July 2nd. Since most of the chosen officers were railroad men with little military training, they attended instructional sessions all day and evening and then were sent out to train the recruits the next day. Progress was made and the men left on Jul 25th by train for New York. The men were warmly greeted at almost every station they passed and arrived in Harlem in the early morning July 26th. They were marched aboard a barge and were towed down the East River, around the Battery and up the North River to Pier 60 where they boarded the ship, the Adriatic and traveled as regular passengers.
As the ship left the harbor, they had to be cleared through a net defense and the realities of war began. No lights at night nor open ports, no smoking or striking of matches on deck at night. At Halifax, Nova Scotia, they formed a convoy with three other ships and were escorted by the armed ship Orduna which was sunk by a submarine on a subsequent trip. When they left in early evening of August 1, they passed a British cruiser whose band played the Star-Spangled Banner to send them off.
Once leaving Nova Scotia, they entered a danger zone and many soldiers manned lookout posts while the ship zig-zagged a course across the Atlantic. As they approached the coast, a squadron of six small destroyers arrived as their escorts. August 11 they passed the southern end of Ireland and ran into fleets of mine sweepers and steered in circles until eventually putting in at Liverpool, England late at night. Next day was a train ride to Camp Borden in England where they learned that they would be in a parade in London the next day along with Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and South Afrikaners. In spite of their short training time, they put on a good show since they were all outdoor men and had good physiques. At Buckingham Palace they paraded before King George V and his mother, Queen Alexandra. The next day they crossed the channel to France.
The train trip to base started in beautiful countryside but soon morphed into heaps of rubble marking villages, no trees or green grass, rusty barbed wire and old trenches hosting red, white, and blue wildflowers. Rumbling and flashing guns and airplanes dodging shells made them realize they were near the front.
Company "C" headquarters was at Pozieres where they worked on 'light railways' much to the disgust of the US railroad men. They scrounged the area for timber, and any other usable scrap. Railroad cars were made from packing boxes with a wheel at each corner. Material was available from disabled trucks, and scattered wheels and axles. Company "C" was going to spend the winter in tents but by arrangement they could reclaim material from uninhabited buildings in the destroyed towns, pull all the nails and build shelters. There were tons of salvageable material from the area where the battle of the Somme had been fought and most of this material was reused in providing material for the war.
On December 5, Company C moved by light railway from Abainville to Dombasle, a trip of 10 Kilometers, to take over the repair of a large number of tractors and locomotives out of service at that point. Subsequently in the dreariest, muddiest part of the winter, Company C built about 1000 feet of broad-gauge sidetrack in the ammunition dump at Rarecourt. On February 12, Company C was released from duty at Dombasle and moved by light railway to Abainville, where they occupied their time in drilling. It became obvious that the end must be near when the light railway spurs and lines began to be torn up and material evacuated.
In March 1918, the Germans increased their shelling, and the American 14th were left to run the railroads. April was rainy and cold and Companies "B" and "C" started constructing 10 miles of a new line from Fosseux Yard to Savy known as the "get-away" line. Towns were regularly shelled, and men had to scrounge for parts and materials. In July 1918, the regiment was moved to join the American army in the Marne area.
The troops moved around from place to place as American battle tactics changed. In September Company "C" was camped in Belleau Woods. On the 16th a member of Company "C" was killed and two other wounded by long range shell fire. On Oct 3rd, they left the Marne sector and marched to Abainville, where they stayed until spring of 1919.
John sent a letter to his sister Mary on April 6, 1919 expressing his fervent desire to return home. Transcription of letter shown below:
On Active Service with the U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters
Dear Marg (sister Margaret),
The official weekly dispatch says the long-forgotten 14th Eng'rs L.R are still at the old stand doing business. To say we are fed up is giving u slight idea of our inner feelings.
April 27th is probably the last day we will lose in France and I hope the ship don’t sink. It is possible according to our Col that we will be on the water by the 20th but judging from past experiences I’ll say it is quite improbable. I imagine you are tired of reading each week this same old line but I am also tired of writing it.
The weather now is corking we have sun almost every day and it doesn’t rain so much now.
I have written all the news so I’ll close. Love to all, Jack
This is only to prove I am still in France.
Finally, a telegram arrived requiring immediate compliance: Those of the 14th Engineers at Abainville (Meuse) were ready to move to Base Port for embarkation from Bordeaux. They left on the ship Dakotan April 17, 1919. On April 27 they debarked in Boston and after coffee with the Red Cross left by train for Fort Devens where they were heartily welcomed by family and friends.
What is not mentioned in the book is the fact that Company "C" was exposed to mustard gas (phosgene). John Coyne suffered physical effects later in life, that is, pain in his thorax probably from damage to his lungs. A friend of his, a neurosurgeon, operated on him to sever a nerve to relieve his pain. Unfortunately, other damage during the operation affected the motor nerves to his legs. As a result, he no longer could stand long periods of time to operate as an obstetrician/gynecologist so he spent the last years of his career as a diagnostician and apparently was noted for this skill.
ADDENDUM
John Anthony Coyne was a first-generation Irish immigrant. His father, Peter Coyne, arrived in Portland, Maine sometime in the 1850’s with his mother, Sabina Connor and stepfather Patrick Flaherty. Peter was only 14 months old when his father (Michael Coyne) died at the end of the Irish Famine in 1849. The Flaherty family moved to Island Pond Vermont where his stepfather, Patrick, worked to lay the railroad track from Portland, Maine to Montreal, Canada. As he approached school age, Peter was sent to live with his sister, Julia Coyne Smith, in Lancaster, NH, so he could attend school.
Peter married Mary Ellen Malone of Lancaster, NH and they brought up their family on a farm in Maidstone, VT across the river from Lancaster, NH. His two oldest boys, Edward and James Coyne moved to Waterville, and worked on the railroad. They convinced their father, Peter, to sell the farm in Vermont and come to Waterville to work on the railroad as well. Son, John, was the youngest of the seven Coyne children born in Maidstone, VT.
Unfortunately, on the day before Christmas, 1902, Peter had a fatal accident in the railroad yards and died that afternoon. (2) Certainly a traumatic even for seven-year-old John. As a consequence, he was fathered by his brother Jim (James), worked on the railroad as a youngster, attended Bowdoin College for a year, served in WWI, matriculated at Colby College in Waterville, ME, graduated from Harvard Medical School and practiced at the Boston Lying-Inn Hospital.
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FOOTNOTES
1. Henderson, RG et al. History of the Fourteenth Engineers U.S. Army: From May 1917 to May 1919. Privately Printed, Boston, 1923, personal copy.
Also available https://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/collection/p15040coll5/id/1194/download
much of this description is paraphrased from this source.
Written by Mary Downey Coyne, Feb 2021, daughter-in-law of John Anthony Coyne, M.D.
2. Daily Kennebec Journal, Dec 25, 1902
DIED FROM INJURIES
Peter Coyne Killed by the Cars, Tuesday Afternoon.
Peter Coyne, aged 52, who resided at No 26 High Street and was employed as day car inspector at the Maine Central yard, was fatally injured in the upper yard, shortly after 10 o-clock Wednesday forenoon. He had been inspecting the air on a special freight train that was about to pull out of the yard for Bangor and having completed his work stepped out from between the cars directly in front of three cars that were being pushed back by shifter No 178. He was struck and knocked down and two of the cars passed over his body.
The injured man was placed on a stretcher and conveyed on a flat car as rapidly as possible to the baggage room at the passenger station and physicians summoned to attend him. Dr. J.F. Towne was the first to arrive and ordered his removal to the Stevens hospital where the necessary operations could be better performed. Drs. Goodrich, Bayer and Abbott also attended.
At the hospital it was found that the injuries had been very severe and that they must prove fatal. The right arm was so badly crushed that it had to be amputated, and there were numerous bad injuries about the chest and head. He died at 3:20 pm
Mr Coyne came to this city from Lancaster, N.H. a few years ago to enter the employ of the Maine Central. He had several sons and daughters, two of the former being employed as firemen on the road. He was very popular among all the men with whom he worked and the heartiest sympathy was expressed for his family among all the railroad men.
Obituary, The Coos Count Democrat, 31 Dec, 1902)
PETER COYNE. Again we are called upon to chronicle the decease of an old townman, Peter, Coyne, who died December 24th in Waterville, ME., from injuries received while doing duty as car inspector. The deceased was orphaned at the age of 14 months and lived with Matthew Smith and wife in East Lancaster until a young man, making his home in this town until 1888 when he moved to Guildhall, where he won the respect of all who knew him. For several years he was a member of the school board, and held about all the town offices, representing the town in the Vermont legislature in 1898. Through the influence of two of his sons who are firemen on the Maine Central at Waterville, he sold his farm and went there to live and finally got his situation which he had held but a short time. The deceased leaves a wife, four sons and three daughters to mourn their loss. One son and one daughter are at college. The remains were brought here Friday noon and High Mass was said Saturday. A large gathering of friends and relatives were present. The floral tributes were very beautiful. The family have the sympathy of all their friends. -Provided by Faith Kent, Lancaster Historical Society 1979.
Private First Class, John A Coyne
Enlargement from group photo
Map of France showing Hindenberg Line and location of the front line in July and November 1918.
Military Summary for John A Coyne, WWI, and important Military Source for Maine Veteran Information in WWI.
