In this eyewitness account, Private Pablo Cortez, of Company M, 141st Infantry, described his experience at the front.
War Department rules required soldiers to read or write English in order to serve. The War Department created the Foreign-speaking Soldier Subsection (FSS) in January of 1918 to quickly teach recruits basic English and engage in Americanization programs. Most soldiers only received three months of training, resulting in many achieving only functional literacy.
Private Cortez combines broken Spanish and some phonetic English in his account. An English translation reads:
October 8, 1918
Pvt. Pablo Cortez when we went over the top. When they gave us [escomecies?] – and then when I started seeing that the Americans fell and also saw the Germans that fell. Further, I turned and no longer saw the corporal who I carried [llevaba?] ) and so we headed for a Sergeant of the same company.
End. This is everything [I saw]. Pvt Pablo Cortez
This document comes from a collection of “Personal War Experiences” that WWI servicemen were asked to write after their return from the front during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The men were personnel of the 36th Division – known as the Lone Star Division, formed from the Texas and Oklahoma National Guard – of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF).
