On June 28, 1914 one man with one gun and one goal would ignite a fire so filled with hate that it would take 16 Nations, 4 years, and over 6 million war dead to extinguish it. It would come to be known as

"The Great War."

The journey you are about to undertake is the story of a man who volunteered to enter the hell of trench warfare and leave his quiet civilian life behind. The dairy and letters for this work were written by him and transposed into a small book wrtitten by my father.

Taking it one step further, I will take you to the battles he fought in and try to explain what he was doing and where he was going. I will use his words and the words of others who are either historians, or veterans to explain the fight.

Pop faught in many of the battles from September to November. But the battle that caught my attention the most was an obscure battle that gets very little attention in the history books.

The battle of Blanc Mont.

More on that later.

On 11 September 1918 Ralph Richmond Matteson leaves Chatillon for his new unit.

The Fourth Marine Brigade

Joining the 6th Regiment, 83rd Company, 3rd Platoon, he will march from the railhead to the trenches and prepare for his first taste of combat. The salient at St. Mihiel.

After preparing his gear and getting settled he is told that he needs to be ready to move forward. Told to pack a combat pack, the Regiment moves out after dark and settles into their new positions just after 0300hrs. Now on the outskirts of Thiaucourt in old trenches not quite deep enough he receives a taste of what is yet to come. Machine gun fire and shrapnel help him keep his head low only a couple of hours before "going over". Looking through the trenches he sees an amazing site...men sleeping. Pop has a couple of cigarettes and the dozes off only to be awakened by an artillery barrage...our own.

At 0500 hrs on the 12th of September, leaving his trench, he readied for the attack. The artillery continued to form a rolling barrage that cleared the trenches and the bunkers in front of them. He couldn't help but to watch the shells burst. It is an amazing site. As he is watching this he says the shells start coming in to fast for him. I would assume that by the time to artillery got its shelling legs on the may have exceeded their per minute rate. I good crew based on the gun type could double their ammo output.

He started to have some negative vibes at this point. As he was moving towards Thiaucourt he started to have problems plugging in his bayonet. Trying to watch the enemy to your front while trying to attach a bayonet is a hard task while artillery and machine gun fire are trying to do you in.

"I thought I was a dead man...it took quite a while to fix my bayonet but soon found out the enemy didn't wait for the bayonet. Not while the going is good. Suprising how quick one learns to protect himself on the front."