Example Biography: World War 1 

When Harold Sincock was born on 15 December 1899, Republican City, Nebraska was about as rural a village as one could find on the Great Plains. Located on the Republican River, it sits just north and above the mid-point of the Kansas state line. It reached its population height in 1950 at about 600 people.

​

Harold’s father, John Franklin Sincock, was the town blacksmith. A tall sinewy man, he had lost one eye in a smithing accident by the time he was 27.  His parents were both from England and John had moved from his birthplace in Wisconsin.  In Nebraska, he had met, courted, and married Katherine “Katie” Bendel. Their first child, William was born two years before Harold, and Mildred was the youngest.

​

As soon as he was old enough, Harold went to work with his father in his blacksmith shop. Tall like his father at 5’11” with a medium build, ruddy complexion, brown hair and grey eyes, he made a good recruiting prospect for the military.  When Congress declared war on the German Empire on April 6, 1917, both William and Harold were ready to enlist; neither had seen the ocean and William joined the Navy while Harold enlisted in the Marine Corps on 15 April.

At that time, recruit training was conducted at Marine Barracks, Mare Island, California near San Francisco. Arriving on 17 April, Harold joined Company “C” commanded by a lieutenant, led by five experienced sergeants and comprised of 289 recruits from all the Western states. After learning how to ‘shoot and salute’ Pvt Sincock joined a complement of Marines transported by rail to Marine Barracks, Quantico, Virginia for duty.

​

There, he joined Headquarters Company, Base Detachment of the 5th Marine Regiment. The Fifth Marines embarked on the USS Henderson for the cross Atlantic voyage to France.  The Marines had thrown together the largest tactical unit in its history, the 4th Marine Brigade made up of the 5th and 6th Regiments, the 6th Machinegun Battalion and a headquarters company. This unit was a composite of old-time, expeditionary Marines, Marines stripped from ship’s detachments, a mixture of new recruits from Ivy League Colleges and blue-collar working families. They would be the first American troops to land in Europe.

​

The Fifth Marines were among the very first troops to disembark at what would be the main American port of the war: St. Nazaire on France’s west coast below the Brittany peninsula and also known as Base Section #1. With more troopships on their heels, the fledgling American logistics command needed to keep the troops flowing out of the port to make way for their successors. The regiment was moved by rail to Base Section #2, on 17 October. They commenced their field training with French advisors at Camp Genicart.  In December, they moved to Camp de Souge near the port of Bordeaux.  By this time, Private Sincock was attached to the 18th Company of the 5th Marines. (During World War I, Marine tactical units used numbers for their companies, while barracks and other formations used letters to distinguish them in written messages and diaries.)

​

To build up their endurance, the Regimental Commander conducted several marches between Camp Genicart and Camp de Souge. On the 5th of January, 1918, the regiment entrained and were transported to Damblain, a commune in the Vosges department of the Grand East in northeastern France. They were now in a staging area behind the French lines, still training and preparing to take charge of a section of the defense.

​

The commander of the 4th Brigade, BGeneral John A. Lejeune, had insisted, under the direct orders of the Marine Commandant, that the brigade would be deployed as a unit and not piece-mealed out to the French or American Armies. Pershing assigned the Brigade to the 2nd American Infantry Division. Every time he inspected the unit, he became further impressed by their training and discipline, and he held them up to his own army units as a paragon of military virtue. It was a foregone decision that when the exhausted French army began to break and fall back from their defensive positions on the Marne River in early June, 1918, that Pershing would call upon his most ready unit. To the critical break through point, Pershing ordered the Marine Brigade to defend the lines before Belleau Wood and when the attack halted, to clear the woods of the ‘Bosch’.

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Marines attacked with a ferocity the Germans had not witnessed since the early days of the war. By the second day of battle, the Marine Corps had lost more men than they had in the first 150 years of their existence.  On the 12th of June, Harold fell in action from a gas attack. Navy litter bearers evacuated him to a rear field hospital. Harold wrote home to his mother:

June 19th, Hospital (Having been gassed while in action.)

Dear Mother: I thought I would drop you a few lines to let you know that I am in the hospital and I am only slightly gassed and will be out in a couple of weeks.

​

I was in the trenches 16 days; we sure had some hot time with the Dutchmen.  We made a drive over a 20-mile front and gained four miles, but we lost lots of men.  My company had 71 men left after the drive, out of 250. 

The Americans sure have the Germans scared.  I got three of them, so am willing to be in the hospital.

This is certainly a nice hospital and they sure treat me fine here and plenty to eat. 

​

I got a new uniform the other day and it is a dandy.  I am going to have my picture taken and will send you some soon.  I have not heard from you for a long time; the last letter I received from you was Apr. 8th.  From you loving son, Harold Sincock.

​

The numbers Sincock quoted were exaggerated but not by much, the unit diary logged 126 members of 18th Company wounded and 26 killed in the battle.  Still, there were enough casualties to make the unit non-combat effective. The replacements were making their way up from St. Nazaire, and the 18th company and 5th Marines replaced the holes in their ranks with the replacements. Meanwhile, they tried to prepare them for the next action coming within days.

​

For Pvt Harold Sincock, it would be a series of Base Hospitals beginning with Army Field Hospital #16 and movement steadily further behind the lines. By 24 August, he was at Base Hospital #45 at Is Sur Tille (near Dijon) when his tonsils became infected. He remained in hospital while his old company and regiment participated in the campaign against the St. Mihiel Salient. Over 1.25 million soldiers and Marines fought in the largest battle ever enjoined by America.

​

When the armistice went into effect on 10 November, Pvt Sincock was sufficiently recovered, to join the Casualty Camp (or CC) located at St. Aignan. Here, he joined other replacements being forwarded to the frontline units. But those units were closely trailing the retreating German units to take station inside the designated occupation areas. On 6 January, 1919, Sincock caught up with the 5th Marines in Rodenbach, Germany, a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Initially assigned to Headquarters Company and despite his actively serving and being wounded in the Regiment’s first battle, he was initially greeted as a new member of the Regiment and assigned to two and a half months of mess duty. On the 9th of April, he joined Company “E”.

​

Occupation duty involved a lot of posturing – moving troops around to ensure that locals felt the presence of the allied forces and remained pacified while various social, labor, and communist factions jockeyed for hegemony in the fragile society left leaderless after the departure of the kaiser. In June, Company “E” marched from Rodenbach to Oberraden, then to Strassen, and on 30 June returned to Rodenbach.  Meant as a show of force, the march ensured that the Germans felt their presence.

​

Now eager to return home, the Americans began their withdrawal. On 17 July, the Regiment left Rodenbach, arriving at Segendorf, Germany and entraining for France. Two days later, they arrived at Brest. For five days they remained at Pontanezan Camp at Brest waiting their ship.  At 4:30 PM on 25 July, they embarked on the USS George Washington.  The trip home took nine days, and Sincock with the Fifth Marines landed at Hoboken, New Jersey, and were shuttled to Camp Mills, Long Island, NY on 3 Aug. They remained there until 8 August when they entrained for Quantico. Almost immediately upon arrival, the Marines went to the range to requalify on the rifle. Pvt Sincock fired sharpshooter with his 1903A3 Springfield rifle.

​

At the same time as he received his last shooting badge, Sincock was also handed his discharge papers. With his obligated service over, he caught a train for Sedgwick, Colorado where his family had relocated in his absence. His brother, William, was there to greet him. William had been assigned to the USS San Diego Armored Cruiser (ACR) 6, operating on the East Coast. She had escorted several convoys to Europe during the war without losing a merchant ship to enemy action. In July 1918, San Diego’s luck ran out when she hit a mine laid by a German U-boat off the coast of New York. Nearly 100 sailors had been lost with the only US capital ship to be sunk in World War I. William swam away from the disaster and a lifeboat from a rescue ship picked him up.

​

William and Harold went to work in their father’s blacksmith shop trying to pick up their lives where they’d left off before the war. Having seen much more of the world and of life than he could have imagined, Harold, after only a few months, took the train to Omaha and re-enlisted in the Marine Corps on 12 March 1920. Three days later, he reported to Marine Barracks, Brooklyn Navy Yard to join the Marine Detachment aboard the USS North Dakota, BB-29, a dreadnought battleship which had been commissioned ten years before.

​

Because the ship was at sea and on the way for a port visit in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Sincock joined the Barracks headquarters and was put on special duty as chauffeur to the Barracks Commander and then became his orderly responsible for personal duties such as running messages to subordinates and maintaining his quarters and uniform. On the 12th of April, he joined the 60th Company of the barracks and received a Bronze Victory Button for his WWI service. (It should have been silver indicating he had been wounded in action.) The company commander promoted Sincock to corporal on 26 April 1920.

​

On the 6th of May, he was cited for neglect of duty, to wit “Failing to call the cook at the proper time: for which warned.” His performance continued to spiral downward: eleven days later he ended up in the Naval Hospital until the 20th of June.  According to General Ordinance #100, his stay in the hospital was considered due to his own malfeasance and the 34 days spent there would be considered “bad time” and added to the end date of his enlistment.

Two weeks after his hospitalization, he was finally transferred to the North Dakota’s Marine Detachment. He came aboard as a prisoner-at-large, restricted to the ship until his issue which led to his hospitalization was adjudicated. Whatever the outcome, he maintained his stripes and carried on as a non-commissioned officer. From the 25th of September to the 2nd of October, he was at the Rifle Range at Camp Upton, Long Island requalifying on the rifle. The North Dakota left port on 8 December for a three-day sea trial.  Cpl Sincock was awarded his World War I Victory Medal on 16 December. 

​

With the holidays ended, the North Dakota departed on 5 Jan 1921 for an extended cruise to South America. She transited the Panama Canal and anchored at Balboa on the 17th for a five-day stay. Between 22 and 30 January 1921, the North Dakota steamed south to Valparaiso, Chile. After the port visit, she returned to the Brooklyn Naval Yard.  Cpl Sincock requalified as an ‘expert’ rifleman on 14 April, and he took furlough from 17-31 May while the ship was in the Boston Naval Yard. In July, the North Dakota returned to Brooklyn, and on the 12th, Corporal Sincock extended his enlistment by one year in order to receive a new set of orders to attend the First Brigade’s Signal School which at that time was at Cap Haitian, Haiti. At the time he departed, North Dakota left port  to observe  the joint Army-Navy bombing tests, where the ex-German battleship SMS Ostfriesland and cruiser SMS Frankfurt were sunk in an air-power demonstration – a significant precursor to the development of Naval Aviation.  He embarked on the USS Henderson on 27 July and two days later, the Henderson set steam arriving 11 August.  After joining the Brigade Signal Company, Sincock was dispatched to Cap Haitian under instruction as a radio operator. While there over the next three months, he was awarded his Wounded and War Certificate.

​

However, a crisis was brewing in Nicaragua. The Marines had intervened there several times since 1909, and the latest conflagration arose when a Legation Marine shot and killed a Nicaraguan policeman in December.  The First Brigade was tasked with putting together a detachment of Marines to support the American Legation.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

                              USS Nitro (AE-2)                                                               Marines Marching Through Managua, 1931

                

Cpl Sincock was pulled out of school on 22 January and transferred to the Marine Detachment of the American Legation Guard, Managua, Nicaragua via the USS Nitro (AE-2) – an ammunition ship. This detachment was organized at the MB, Port au Prince, Republic of Haiti, on January 30, 1922 and joined from several disparate organizations. It sailed for Corinte, Nicaragua.

​

The crisis was quelled and the augmentation force remained in country until June, 1922. The Marines stood post, patrolled around the legation and in April completed annual rifle qualification. Cpl Sincock qualified marksman that year. Instead of returning to the First Brigade, he returned to Hampton Roads, Naval Operating Base, where he received orders to report to the Marine Corps Expeditionary Force at Marine Barracks, Quantico, Virginia. His new company, 15th Company, Sixth Marine Regiment were already in the field at Camp Harding, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1-5 July 1922.

During the early 1920s, the Expeditionary Force at Quantico would reenact major campaigns of the Civil War force marching troops for conditioning while the officers conducted staff rides to examine the exigencies that led to decision making at critical points of the campaigns.

​

From 6-12 July, the 6th Marine Regiment maneuvered its way back to Quantico. After clean up and inspections, Cpl Sincock took a few days furlough.  Upon his return, he was transferred to the 74th Company of the 6th Marines. The following day, he travelled with a contingent up to Sea Girt, New Jersey to an important interstate rifle tournament that the Marines would officiate.  Sincock served as a marker and scorer. Upon his return, he served in the 73rd Machinegun Company and back to the 18th Company.  On 2 Oct 1922, he extended his enlistment for one year from 19 April 1923 to 19 April 1924. His character was marked as excellent and he was recommended for a bar to his Good Conduct Medal.

​

As a condition of his extension, he returned to Marine Barracks, Boston Navy Yard. However, two days later, he was awarded 20 days restriction for leaving the guard room without permission from proper authority while on duty. From 19 October through 27 December, he was in the US Naval Hospital Chelsea Massachusetts for reasons not inferring malfeasance. He returned to full duty on 18 December, but just 9 days later, he was in trouble again. He was awarded one week restriction for “failing to comply with Post Regulations while on duty as the Corporal of the Guard, Main Gate.”

He had obviously developed a drinking problem which came to a head on 30 Jan 1923, when the muster rolls record, “Under the influence of intoxicating liquor upon return from liberty for which awarded D(eck) C(ourt) by CO. The following day, he was placed on PAL (prisoner at large) duty status awaiting trial by Deck Court for the offense. A deck court was convened by the Commanding Officer of a ship or naval station, or by any officer of the Navy or Marine Corps who is authorized to order a summary court-martial or a general court-martial. The purpose of a deck court was to try enlisted personnel for minor offenses which, however, warranted greater punishment than the Commanding Officer was empowered to impose. Punishments included reduction in rank, up to 20 days confinement on bread and water or diminished rations, and deprivation of liberty.

​

Sincock was sent to the Marine Barracks at Annapolis for his Deck Court. Surprisingly, he was let off easy with the loss of pay of $20, about 2.5 weeks pay at the time. Upon return to Boston Navy Yard, he went straight into the Naval Hospital at Chelsea for two months determined not to be caused by malfeasance. He returned to duty on 1 May and two days later, he was in trouble again for absent over leave (late to work) by an hour and a half. The commanding officer awarded him another 10 days of restriction.

​

From 1-14 June 1923, he was detached for duty at the Rifle Range Wakefield, Mass, target practice; on the 14th he qualified sharpshooter and was awarded his badge the same date. However, he got further into trouble at the rifle range when on 4 June he was “AOL from 7:00 am to 12:00 noon 6 June for which awarded 10 days restriction by CO.” That apparently was the last straw, and Cpl Sincock was transferred back to Quantico, on 19 June.

​

There, he joined 45th Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 4th Brigade. On the 8th of August, he marched in the funeral procession for President Harding in Washington, D.C. The Marine Corps Expeditionary Force Fall Maneuvers commenced on 27 August. Through the month of September, the Regiment marched and camped at Remington, Culpepper, Rapidan, Gordonsville, Cobham, Charlotteville, Hillsboro, Bessie City, Camp Coolidge , Ft. Defiance, Spring Hill, Camp Denby (New Market), Edinburgh, Willow Grove, Winchester Castlean’s Ferry, Purcellville, Goose Creek, Prospect Hill, and Washington, DC. An exhausted regiment fell into their barracks at Quantico on 7 Oct 1923.

​

Sincock’s problems continued. On 11 October, he was charged with theft and assault on a person of the Naval Service in a public fight on a public highway on 9 October. This time authorities remanded him to the Post Prison where over the next three months, he waited trial by Special Court Martial. The convening authority finally released him from confinement without trial on 21 December and restored him to duty. He was immediately transferred to the 45th Company, 5th Regiment, and on 2nd of January, the 45th embarked on board the USS Henderson at Quantico. On the 3d, they arrived at Naval Operating Base, Hampton Roads. From the 4th to the 15th, they were enroute to Colon, Panama, Canal Zone. The unit disembarked for exercises at Coco Solo, Balboa, and Cristobal, Canal Zone before sailing for Culebra, Puerto Rico. In February they established a field camp at Camp Cole, Culebra. On 5 March, the regiment embarked aboard the USS Henderson and sailed for Quantico arriving on the 9th.

​

The rest of the month was spent cleaning and repairing equipment, inspections, and administrative time. Cpl Sincock’s enlistment was coming to a close. In an article, in Leatherneck Magazine dated April, 1924, the author expected Sincock to reenlist for the West Coast, but this time he didn’t ship over. This time he’d had enough soldiering. Despite all his issues on this second enlistment, the Marines in his company thought highly of him, and his final muster roll recorded that “Corporal Sincock was discharged at expiration of enlistment, character Very Good.” Although his service was less than distinguished, Cpl Sincock had served during a very interesting time in Marine Corps history. He left the Corps with a bountiful of stories and tattoos on both forearms. He was what the next generation of Marines would call “the Old Breed”.

​

Eight months after he returned to Colorado, he married Viola B. Patterson in Denver on 27 December 1924. The marriage does not seem to have lasted very long. Harold moved on to Los Angeles, California where he earned his living as a steel worker. In 1940, he was living alone in Parker, Shasta County, where he was a steel worker on a railroad.  In the 1940s, he married his 2d wife, Pauline.  Initially, they lived in Santa Cruz, California, but by 1950, were working in San Jose. Pauline was 40 by this time, and it is very likely they did not have children. They later lived in various areas of Los Angeles County. 

 

On 7 May 1955, “memories of 1917-18 were recalled and an inspirational lesson on Americanism was given at a special ceremony sponsored by the Joshua Palms Post No. 2924, Veterans of Foreign Wars, of Victorville in connection with the Play Day held by the grammar school. Four Veterans of the World War received official honor decorations in the impressive ceremony. Veterans Patrick Sullivan, Harold Sincock, and Emmet Madden were decorated with the Order of the Purple Heart for wounds received in action, and Charles Scurlock was cited for distinguished bravery with the Silver Star award.”

​

Pauline and Harold left California for Henderson, Nevada in 1975. Harold died there on 9 Nov 1989, the day before the Marine Corps' birthday. He was one of the very few WWI gassed veterans who lived into his 90s.  He was interred at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City, Nevada. The following year, Pauline rejoined him there.

 

 

Sources:

Findagrave.com

Nevada, U.S., Death Index, 1980-2012

U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010

U.S., Veterans’ Gravesites ca. 1775-2019

1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950 United States Federal Census

U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007

U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014

U.S., Index to Public Records, 1950-1993

U.S., Index to Public Records, 1994-2019

U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

US Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1917-1924

Colorado, Roster of Men and Women Who Served in World War I, 1917-1918

Colorado, County Marriage Records and State Index, 1862-2006

U.S., National Homes for Disabled Volunterr Soldier, 1866-1938

California, U.S., Voter Registrations, 1900-1968

U.S., World War II Draft Cards for Young Men, 1940-1947

U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995

U.S., Phone and Address Directories, 1993-2002

Franklin County Tribune (Bloomington, Nebraska) · 25 Jul 1918, Thu · Page 2

Leatherneck Magazine, April 1924

The San Bernardino County Sun (San Bernardino, California) · 8 May 1934, Tue · Page 14

Santa Maria Times (Santa Maria, California) · 23 Jul 1955, Sat · Page 8

Wikipedia: “Rodenbach, Germany” “Santa Maria, California” “World War I Victory Button”