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Private Frank McCay
WWI began in Europe in 1914 but the United States did not get involved until 1917. The US and Great Britain had long engaged in mutual trade; therefore, when Germany attempted to quarantine the British Isles, tensions developed and continued to escalate over a two-year period between the countries. On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war. They granted his request on April 6. The U.S. entered on the side of the Allied Forces: the United Kingdom, France, and Russia.
The U.S. sent more than 2 million soldiers to fight and around 50,000 to die in France during this time. Pendleton County sent roughly 400, nineteen of them dying. The armistice, more commonly known as the Treaty of Versailles, was signed by Germany on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, bringing about the formal end of the war. This date for many years was known as Armistice Day and is now known as Veteran’s Day.
Frank McCay was a young man, nearly 20 years old, when he enlisted. His father, Thomas, was a section foreman for the L & N Railroad in Falmouth. His mother was the former Elizabeth Farmer. Frank was born Francis Moulton McCay on 5 Dec 1897 in Remlap, Alabama. He enlisted in Co. A 2nd KY National Guards in June of 1917. This company spent early summer on guard duty along the railroad and were headquartered in Falmouth. A few weeks after he joined them, the company was sent to Camp Stanley in Lexington where they remained through the summer. The next stop was Camp Shelby, Hattiesburg, MS.
As with many of the young men from Pendleton County who wrote home, he complained of the boredom of training and camp life and was eager to meet the “Hun.” However, he also acknowledged that “the better the soldier is trained, the better chance he stands when he gets to the front”. Early in June of 1918, the long awaited order arrived. They weren’t told where they were going, but McCay had heard rumors that 10,000 troops were shipping out and he believed he was headed to France. These troops were part of the June Automatic Replacement Draft. They were to replace battle-weary soldiers who had been at the front and to fill in as troops in various regiments at the front were killed or wounded in action.
On June 10, 1918, the men of the Automatic Draft departed New York aboard fourteen troop transport ships, along with one battleship and an undisclosed number of submarines in a convoy to the shores of Europe. They first landed in England and hiked for five days through the country before arriving in Southampton. Here they wereimmediately loaded onto another ship that took them to Havre, France. Here, McCay was reassigned to Co. L Fourth United States Infantry. Three others from Falmouth were assigned to this company, also; Gus and Will Hardin (brothers) and McKinley Hamilton. Gus Hardin was killed in action at the Battle of Argonne Forest several months later.
A few days after arriving in France, Co. L was called to the front. They boarded a train and traveled non-stop for three days and nights eating hardtack and corned beef along the way. McCay expected a few days’ rest when they arrived. Instead, they were loaded into trucks and taken to the front, arriving there after dark. Again, this company was reassigned. On July 18, 1918, they became part of the Sixth French Army Corps and placed in the reserve lines at Chateau-Thierry along the River Marne.
McCay described what he saw the next morning as such: “As the first faint streaks of light appeared on the eastern horizon, we were all at attention. And what a sight met our eager eyes on the dawn of that beautiful summer day! We were in an open field, the ground was slightly hilly, and everywhere there were great shell-holes and furrows plowed in the soft ground by thousands of shells, great and small. Everything was ruin and chaos.” German troops were located just across the river. The newly-arrived Americans remained there for “several” days, held in reserve. They were shelled frequently, forcing them to stay in their foxholes much of the time.
The supply lines to the Sixth were broken, forcing troops to ration. They were without food and water for two days and nights. German troops often sent gas shells across the river at night while troops were sleeping. One night McCay was awakened by the smell and hurried to put on his gas mask. He also witnessed the capture of a German spy that sneaked into camp dressed as a French officer, killed two American officers, escaped, and then returned dressed as an American officer.
McCay’s regiment began advancing on the enemy on July 21 and continued until July 29, engaging the enemy at Laschimelles. From there they spent ten days in reserve near Ligny. His company went into camp at Bovilles. When ordered to the front in early September, the men marched at night and slept during the day hoping to keep German fighter planes and German ground troops from knowing their movements. In mid-September, they arrived at the St. Mihiel salient where they were held in reserve before being called up.
The next stop for McCay was the Verdun Front, also known as “the front of the front”. It stretched over thirty miles. Arriving on 29 September, McCay and his division relieved the 79th Division on the front line of the front shortly thereafter. One evening he and two other men from his platoon volunteered to get water. They collected the canteens and headed to No Man’s Land after dark. Crawling along, they soon found themselves behind the German lines. They slowly crawled back to their platoon without incident or water.
This was not to be the only close call Frank McCay had. After arriving on the front row at 1:00 am scouts were sent out. Soon after their return, the order came down that the men would “go over the top” at dawn. Eventually, a break came in battle and McCay was sent to deliver a message to another platoon. When he returned he got in a shell-hole with other men to wait and to rest. At that moment, several shells began landing around them. Some of the men jumped out and ran for better cover; McCay was not one of them. He believed that if the shell “had his name on it”, he would be hit no matter where he was. He and the platoon Corporal had just started to eat some bread from their mess kit when McCay was hit in his arm by a dud. His arm was shattered from the elbow to shoulder, hanging by a small strip of skin. He was transferred to Field Hospital #26 where it was amputated.
McCay married twice. His first wife, Margaret Bailey McCay preceded him in death in 1956. At the time of his death, he was married to the former Dolly Cooper, a widow and his late wife’s sister-in-law. Frank McCay died of a heart attack and was buried in Pythian Grove Cemetery at Berry, KY. He spent his post-war years as a farmer and apiarist on his farm in Harrison County.