From Memphis, Tn. to Liverpool

[ackimzey]

This is the contents of a small pocket notebook diary kept by J. Parvin Carter's (US Army - physician). It's not so profound as it is "human". I thought some forum members might find it interesting. The period covered is April 7 - August 18, 1918. Parvin is the older brother of Grover Carter (both are my great uncles) and were in private practice, along with a third brother, in Memphis, Tennessee when the U.S. entered the War. Parvin was assigned to a US hospital in Juilly, just north of Paris.

Ann

Parvin Carter, M.D. – Notebook

Date of departure from Memphis, April 7, 1918 for duty, Camp Greenleaf where I remained until July 21, 1918. Between the above dates I put in many hard days of drilling on Poe Field which was dry & hot. Left Greenleaf for Chatty[Chattanooga, TN.] on Sun., July 21st, 8:00 in a hard down pour of rain, 235 men strong, on a special train for out unit. We remained in Chatty until 10:15 a.m. then went on our way for Camp Merritt , N.J. The red cross women met us at most all important stops & served us with fruits, cakes, candies, ciagrettes [sic], ice cream, coffee & cigars. Knoxville was the first place after leaving Chatty that we were met by these women and we were treated very heartily & all were very appreciative of them.

Morristown was out next stop, found a new canteen but a good one and were given some very nice fruit & other eatables. Johnson City was out next stop, saw a very nice little city but no red cross canteen. Bristol, Tenn.-Va. was next stop & we remained there long enough for our enlisted men to take a plunge into the Y.M.C.A. The ladies were exceptionally nice to us there, everybody in town turned out to see us & spoke very highly of our unit. We had the most royal & hearty welcome here of any place on our entire journey. We arrived here at 7:30 & remained until about 9:00 p.m. by new time which changes here to eastern. Met a very nice young lady while here. We left here over the N & W and rode during the night in sleepers. Awoke next morning, July 22, at Charlottsville [sic], Va. From here we rode thru some beautiful country thru the historic state of old Va. until we reached Washington, D.C. about noon, where we stayed for a few minutes only. While here we were served hot coffee & rolls and other eatables. Saw Capital & famous Washington monument. We left here over Penn. Lines & passed thru Baltimore, Md. which is only 40 mi. from Wash. D.C. We stopped there for only a few min. but this was largest city we had passed thru on our way. Williamsport Del. was the next town of any size & here we saw the Del. river first. This town is noted for its large ship docks & we saw many large ones under construction and thousands of men at work here, mostly foreigners. The first camaflauged [sic] boats were seen here but from there on we have seen many of them. Only a short distance from here we pass into Penn. state and after a few min. ride we were in the city of Phil[adelphia] which is a real city & looks it. We were served ice cream here by the Red Cross women at station. We were only here for a few min. was just about sundown when we left Philly.

Trenton, N.J. was our next stop, this is a very old place, the capital of N.J. & on the Del. river. It was getting dark when we reach there & from here on there was not much to be seen except the lighter cities on the way. Train windows were all crowded with our boys & people along the entire route greeted them. Newark, N.J. is a large city and is only separated from Jersey City, N.J. by a stream that I can’t recall. Jersey City is just across the Hudson from N.Y. We stopped there for about 80 min. awaiting orders for the night as to where we would spend the night. Finally we were taken to outskirts of Jersey City& put on siding for the night. On the following day, Tuesday morning, we left over Erie RR for Kreskell [Cresskill], N.J. where we got off the train & walked up to Camp Merritt which is situated on a pretty large level hill one mile from station. This is a camp used all together for the purpose of equipping men for over sea service, its capacity is about 45,000. When we were there the weather was very hot & the dust was several inches deep. While there we occupied block #15, barracks L.L.21, which was a double decker, my room mate part of time while there was 2nd Lieut. Daschbach, a Penn. boy. While here saw several boys from down in Dixie who were classmates of Grover’s or mine in Memphis. We had our final oversea orders on Mon. night about 9 pm but they were for Wed., July 31st.

We left Camp Merritt Wed. morning at 6:30 a.m., 235 strong for Alpine Port which was 4-5 miles away on Hudson, we walked the entire way in four’s & reached Alpine at about 8 a.m. We had a few min. to wait for our boat which was to take us to the port from which we were to sail & while we were there the unit almost bought out a little peanut & candy stand on the foot of mt. where Cornwallis once had his Headqts. When we reached the Hudson there was a brisk wind from the north from a heavy rain we had had the night before. However, in a short time our boat came and we were off down the Hudson toward N.Y. On either side we were able to see many beautiful homes, also a number of Danish & Swedish vessels anchored in Hudson R. north of N.Y. We traveled from the north to south of Manhattan Island and then over to Brooklyn on east river where we debarked from the boat which brought us down the Hudson. On leaving the boat we were served hot coffee & doughnuts by red cross while some other troops were getting on board the ship we were to sail on. While here saw a good friend of mine in the person of Dave Mitchell from Chester Co. who use to play ball with me. He is a 2nd Lieut. in quartermaster Corps. We went on board ship about 12 noon, had lunch at 1 o’clock. We were given our state room before we went up the gang plank & I drew deck “B” room #53 on starboard side of ship and have in same state room two Dixie boys, Topscott from Search, Ark, & Hall of my own home city. We are very comfortably fixed considering we are in the army.

We left Port of Embarkation from Brooklyn, N.Y. Anchor Line #29 Medditerranian [sic] Service on board the “Mandingo” , a ship with some history attached to it, in that is was a British ship and is yet but was captured by Germans in 1916 near So. America & taken to Newport News, Va. & while there in harbor U.S. captured same when we declared war on the Huns, and since that time has made many trips across the Atlantic but not as a convoy for American troops. This is the first trip, on maiden voyage, as far as American troops are concerned. And the Germans are very, very anxious to capture or sink it.

We left the port in Brooklyn July 31st, Wed. afternoon at 4:45 p.m. Pulled out in the N.Y. harbor & anchored for night. Just shortly after leaving the Statue of Liberty on our starboard side, Maj. Smythe walked up to me & said, Well Carter it is goodbye America & I remarked yes sir, & hello, France. After we had anchored for night in N.Y. harbor we had our first dinner on “Mandingo” at seven o’clock p.m. Thursday morning we pulled out of the harbor, what we thought to be on our way over there, but just about noon we found ourselves back in the harbor again, opposite Long Island, N.Y. Soon after noon however we started eastward on our journey and within a short time we were out of sight of land. At 5 in afternoon of first two days we had boat drill with our life preservers on & everyone was assigned to a certain boat. Our boat is no.1 on starboard side & is supposed to hold 52 people. Thursday night was the first night most of us ever spent where we were not able to see land but we are all making it fine as none of our men have been seasick at all. However some of our enlisted men have fed the fishes a few times. Friday was a very quiet day, the sea has been very calm every [sic] since we left N.Y. & nothing exciting happened. However, we had our boat drill just the same. We were told that we were on our way by Nova Scotia & would reach there some time the next day so all were glad to hear of that as we knew something of Halifax. Sat. morning came & sun was shining bright for a while, then it became cloudy and in afternoon began to rain but not hard. Only lasted for short time but fog got so thick we almost had to anchor for a while but kept going, but very slow. Was not long until fog began to clear away & we were making our usual speed, about 12 knots. Along in the afternoon we had orders to have on our life preservers as there are some subs in this part of the Atlantic & our boat had recd. a message to that effect. So we all went prepared. About 4:30 p.m. land was sighted. We knew Halifax was not so awfully far away & our wireless operator sent a message we were on our way there & have a pilot ready to pilot us into the harbor.

So out some distance we took on a pilot who knew the harbor & he took our ship inside the locks for the night where we were anchored until 1:20 Sun. When we got into the harbor proper the town on either side was very beautifully lighted & could be seen for a distance away, but that was about all we could see at that time of night. Our boat has been darkened every [sic] since we left N.Y. & will be the rest of way over. At Halifax we also saw a train again & they sure did look good. Sunday morning came & the sun was shining great, nice cool wind was over the harbor & we were able to see for a distance, the city of Halifax looks to be a nice place from the harbor. This is the city that was so badly wrecked by an explosion of munition ship in winter time & then followed by snow storm & blizzard. The place where the explosion occurred can be easily seen from where we were anchored in the harbor. The place is still barren with exception of some debris that was left. We were able to get a paper here but was somewhat surprise to see so much about the French & British & nothing about our boys. But that’s all right, we will show them something when we get over there.

We left Halifax with 19 large convoys & two sub chasers. Some of the convoys were loaded with Canadian troops while others were Americans. There were about 30,000 in all and the ships followed each other out of the harbor but later in afternoon they began to separate & have been going along side by side since Sun. afternoon. The two small sub chasers left us Sun. night but we have left a destroyer & some other boats well gunned. We saw land Sun. afternoon last about 4:30. Since that time have had a very pleasant voyage as the sea has been very calm all way. While we were in Halifax harbor Sun. morning we had drill boat exercises & our boat was lowered to the water &all got in. We climbed down ropes & ladder & I have a big blister on middle finger of left hand now from going down rope. We had church service Sun. morning & night and all that could attended. One of our enlisted men was left at Halifax for treat. as he had pleurisy with effusion, also one with 334 aero squadron was left there too with a case of measles. I was officer of day for our unit Sunday and Sun. night. Maj. Smythe had to oper. upon one of our boys for app. with some very crude instruments but patient is doing nicely. Friend Topscott spent 1.50 for candy for Hall & me while we were at Halifax.

Monday, August 5, 1918 was a very pleasant day for our trip. The day was beautiful, sea calm and none sea sick. Most all on board amuse themselves by playing games of different kinds, making music on some of our instruments, etc. In afternoon we passed an American freighter going toward N.Y. We were some distance away but was able to see stars &stripes thru field glasses. Mon. night just after dinner while out on portside of boat we could see the different ships signaling to one another but it was like greek to us. Monday night we had a dance in main lounge room for hour & half. Our boys furnished all the music. Since Sun. we have been required to wear life belts at all times. We have sitting up exercises each day on ship port side. This is given to both officers and enlisted men daily.

Tuesday, August 6, 1918. We woke up on this a.m. with a cool rain falling, not very hard however and did not last very long. The sea was a little more boisterous then it had ever been before since we left N. Y., but it was not bad at that. Waves continued thru out day & grew worse nearer night as they have been doing every [sic] since we left. Tues. has been the coolest day we have had since being on sea. Most all our men in good shape with no one sea sick. The usual routine is gone thru with daily Prayer service each day at 12 noon, tea at 4 p.m. every day which is very much characteristic if British people. Sitting up exercises, card games, checkers & music of many varieties occupy the day while dancing & concerts usually occupy the time at night. Las night we had a “Mock Court” which was very interesting but a little long. Characters will not be mentioned as don’t know all of them. Failed to note in a few previous days before that the nurses were not allowed out on deck of boat any more after 9 o’clock at night due to fact that some of nurses and officers were getting to be a little to [sic] loving. Letter writing & evening games are all that happens some days.

Wednesday, August 7th. On getting up today after walking out on deck found out that it was cloudy & heavy wind was blowing & same continued thru out day with a gradual increase in the drop of temp. Before getting out of bed today we noticed more movement than previous morning & after getting up found out we could hardly walk as the boat was rocking so badly and this continued thru out the day. Many begin to feel like they were going to be sea sick but so far think all have made it all right. The sea has been pretty rough all day and weather is somewhat cooler, otherwise everything is normal. Got hair cut on ship today. Started growing mustache today.

Thursday, August 8th. Last night which was Wed. we had the worst sea we have had since we left N.Y. The ship rolled from side to side as tho it would turn over & was very bad night for sleeping. Some of the fellows slept all night with their clothes on. The night was cold & cloudy & a very high strong wind was blowing and the waves roiled up so high that they looked like mts. on the sea. Thurs. was a very rough day but don’t seem to be so bad in day time while we can watch the waves break & roll. Two of our ships were behind for a portion of the day but finally caught up in the afternoon. The day in forenoon was rainy & dreary but along about noon began to clear off & the sea became more calm than it had been. Some few of the boys were absent from their meals for first time but not so very many sea sick. The day was passed in the usual routine.

Friday, August 9th. Last night was not so bad a previous one but the boat had some nice rocks just the same. Friday morning came with the sun out but did not last long as we had the hardest rain since we have been out this a.m. but did not last very long and the sun came out again. The day has been pretty chilly, overcoat on deck feels very good. Topscott, one of my room mates is sick today but me being officer of the day for entire ship he has gotten very good treat[ment]. Mg. Sulph. in large doses being used & this afternoon he is much better. Base 57 held officers’ meeting today & read some of the rules for debarkation. Several enlisted men now suffering from sea sickness, one case of pneumonia. Appendix case of last Sunday night is doing fairly well at present time. Regular daily routine about same.

Saturday, August 10th. was a very beautiful day, the sun was out very bright and one could hear all around over the deck the following , How would you like to be on Main & Madison? Imagine the answer. Sea was fairly calm all day but along in evening the sea always begins to get a little rough. Nothing at all exciting happened on this day except one could hear some fellow kidding another about subs. But so far we have not seen any. Had a pretty nice picture show Sat. evening given by our navy nurses on ship. Everyone seemed to enjoy it very much and we have some clever girls old maids in the crowd. Otherwise everything was as usual sea scenery.

Sunday, August 11th. was a very beautiful day & made us all think of home. The sun was out bright & warm but from the morning & evening services we could not tell it was Sun. because the days all seem alike on the ship. Had a very good morning service at 11 my navy chaplain & was a large crowd at meeting. The evening service was led by Chaplain Brown and was enjoyed by all. The day passed by very quietly & most all enjoyed the scenery from decks in afternoon & up to 9 at night. Otherwise day passed as usual.

Monday, August 12th. was a fairly beautiful day, sun was out most all day & in afternoon the new moon was easily seen in clear sky. Today was made sad by the death of one of our enlisted men, he died of pneu[monia] after a very hard fight of several days. This is the second death on trip but was our first. We are now in the heart of danger zone & some are beginning to feel a little uneasy but we are expecting some chasers & convoys tonight. So far we have not seen any subs but expecting to hear of some at any old time. The time was changed last night and we are now six hours faster that home time but don’t notice any difference. Life boats were all put in shape today & were lowered to first deck ready for emergency use but thank goodness we haven’t had to use them yet. We are still having our daily boat drill & now going to bed with all our clothes on. Had a dance tonight most likely the last one we will have before landing. All precautions are being taken now, more than ever before. Some of our officers are on guard everyday & night now so if anything happens they may be of some help to our men who are in the holes of boat.

Tuesday, August 13th. We were nearing our port at Liverpool more every day and on Monday night we were met by some of our own sub chasers & destroyers from Liverpool and all were glad to see them when we got up Tues. morning as so much talk had been rumored that we were in such a danger zone. When we were expecting the chasers early Tues. morning one of my room mates who had to get up for some business early came back to state room & called me to see the chasers as tho a sub was in sight & we were to be sunk the next minute, he went on back thinking I was scared but me having on my clothes went on port side & saw the chasers & then came back & laid down again. Not long he came back & tried to make out like he wasn’t trying to fool me but they really were out there. Hall, our other room mate was on O.D. duty & he had to sleep in the Hosp. so in case anything happened he could see that the sick were all taken care of & could get out in case of a sub. The day was very quiet & pretty after a heavy fog cleared away in the early morning and we went thru the regular daily routine of doing nothing same as all the previous days.

Wednesday, August 14th. came and we were still some ways from our longed for port but with all our chasers we felt very safe but we had anticipated seeing land on the day but we made a different route than we had expected & so we were disappointed again. It was claimed by the ships crew that a couple of subs were sighted in the afternoon of this day but I tried hard to see them but was not able to do so and don’t know whether we were being kidded or not. They were supposed to be allied subs but it seems as tho they were taking some big chances out there. All our baggage was taken out of holes on today & that looked good to all. On Wed. night we had our farewell dance as that was to be the last night on board ship & all were glad as the trip was so long due to the large convoy that was along. However think some of the old hen nurses were sorry as they would not have some of the fellows to love them up after we left for a while at least. On last night on ship my room mates & self slept with our clothes partially off and we made it all right as nothing happened.

Thursday, August 15th. The first thing we heard on getting up was that during the night at 2 o’clock subs were sighted & we were in great danger but think it was the same old bull we had heard all the way over & there was nothing to it. Most all on ship were up early on today as land was to be seen from starboard side in distance and it was more that welcomed by all as it had been several days since we had seen any. When our ship had gotten out of the channel into the Mersey river all the ships formed in a straight line & went that way until we were all in the harbor because there are mines laid all about the harbor. When we had reached the harbor we were able to see Liverpool & Cheshire in the distance with a large tower on the side of Cheshire. We were anchored out in harbor until about 4:45 when we pulled into the docks. We arrived in Liverpool about noon & remained on ship until 5 p.m. when we unloaded & got all our men together. Then we walked up thru the city in fours for about 4 mi. to an American rest camp. On the way we saw more dirty women & children than most of us had ever seen before & all of them were wanting American cents. We arrived at Knotty Ash about 8 o’clock & were assigned tents for night, seven of our boys were in one. Then we washed our dirty selves & prepared for supper. When we had had supper we took a walk but see all the beer gardens closed at 9:30 so we had to go back to camp. No sooner than we reached camp a 2nd. lieut. was there with orders for us to be ready to leave the next morning at 10:30 for South Hampton, Eng. which is in the extreme southern part of England on the Eng. Channel. So after we found out we had to leave next day we all went to our tent & retired for the night between blankets which felt as tho we were sleeping on Kukle Burrs.

Friday, August 16th……………

At this point the notebook ends with many pages yet blank.

[ackimzey]

....A picture of Parvin Carter (left) and Gover Carter (right). There is nothing on the picture to indicate where the picture was taken but the only time the brothers saw each other was when Grover was given leave to visit Paris in Sept. of 1918. Also Parvin has his mustache in this picture.

[CGM]

Thank you! I'm always interested in what it was like to 'be there' and that includes everything from leaving home onwards. (Wish I could read that sort of detail about my Grandad's journey from Australia.)

CGM

[ackimzey]

I do feel blessed to have Grover's diary and Parvin's notebooks. I knew Parvin as he lived until 1967 and my family would visit Tennessee every summer. Alas, as a youngster the subject of WWI wasn't often discussed.

Ann

[old joe]

A fascinating account of the journey that thousands of our ancestors and relations made.

I'm glad that Parvin made it through the war given the tragic loss of Grover in the final weeks of the war.

Regards,

Joseph

[tipperary]

Interesting read thank you for posting.john

[Guest Kitala]

Hi Ann,

I found this post because I was researching Dr. Parvin Cater. My father, Parvin Luna, was named after Dr. Parvin Carter who delivered him in Memphis, TN on October 24, 1924. In fact, my Grandmother named him Parvin Augusta Luna and told Dr. Carter that she was naming him after him (Dr. Carter) and Dr. Carter filled out my Dad's original birth certificate as Parvin Carter Luna and it had to be changed when my Dad went into the Navy during WWII.

I named my oldest son who is 16 after my husband and my father with Augusta as my son Geron's middle name. My son has ALWAYS wanted to change his middle name to Parvin and when my father was recently diagnosed with leukemia and on Hospice Geron said - even if y'all won't let me change it I'm going to do it when I'm 18 so I would really like you to let me do it now so that I can share it with Papa. So we did all the paperwork and now he is

Geron Parvin Eatherly. I thought that your family may be interested in knowing that Dr. Parvin Carters name lives on in our family.

We live in San Antonio and I see you are in Houston so we are close as well.

I hope this isn't an inappropriate post on here.

Thank you for your time!

Kitty Eatherly

Oh - another addition. My father has 5 brothers and sisters and the 2nd born (also delivered by Dr. J. Parvin Cater) is named James Cloyse and my mom and I feel confident that the James is for Dr. Carter as well since no one in the family was named James. We have NO idea where the Cloyse came from.

[ackimzey]

Hi, Kitty,

What a small world it is. Actually, the "J" stands for Joseph. It was his father's name and his father was also a doctor. After the war Parvin continued to practice medicine in Memphis. As a child when we visited Tennessee I remember visiting his office which was on Riverside Drive. I think he passed away in 1967. Thank you for posting.

Ann

[ackimzey]

Kitty, if you want more details on Parvin's history just send me your email by using the forum's personal messaging system and I'll be happy to share.

Ann

[Fattyowls]

Ann

I'm fascinated by your post which I'd not seen before. My paternal grandfather would have been working on the Liverpool docks as a ship's carpenter during the period Parvin describes in his diary. He may well have seen the ship dock and may even have seen him disembark. I suspect he would have seen a large part of the AEF arrive during 1918.

On an incidental note the tower on the Cheshire side of the river Mersey that Parvin describes is likely to be the New Brighton Tower which stood from 1898 to 1919 on the point of the Wirral peninsula as his ship approached. I'm attaching some images of it. It fell into disrepair during the Great War and had to be demolished but the Tower Ballroom was a major attraction until it burned down in 1969 if memory serves. It had a sports ground and gardens attached, with it's own football (soccer) team and the site was used for storage by the US Army in WW2. A small note of trivia is that the Beatles played the Tower Ballroom regularly in their early career; indeed it is second only to the Cavern Club in the list of most played venues. Little Richard and the Rolling Stones also played there.

Pete.

[ackimzey]

What great views. Thank you for sharing. The forum members have added so much depth in my appreciation of the documents I was so fortunate to inherit.

Ann

[Fattyowls]

On 25/10/2014 at 18:13, ackimzey said:

What great views. Thank you for sharing. The forum members have added so much depth in my appreciation of the documents I was so fortunate to inherit.

Hi Ann, I'm in the process of writing something about dazzle ships on the Mersey with particular reference to USS Leviathan; one of whose crew was a certain H. Bogart. Would it be ok to quote Parvin's account of arriving in Liverpool? I am sure other members of the forum would like to read the account which I still find fascinating.

Hope all is well with you,

Pete.