Information taken from Harrison W. Foreman and Davis W. Chester's The Story of the First Pioneer Infantry.

Mustered into Federal Service for the First World War in July of 1917, the 1st New York Infantry was redesignated the 1st Pioneer Infantry by order of Gen. Guy Carleton, commanding officer of the Provisional Depot for Corps and Army troops. Pioneer battalions would consist of soldiers with experience in woodcraft, carpentry, hunting, and scouting. According to the US Army, Pioneers should travel at the head of formations “to clear a passage for it through woods or other obstructions, improve roads, make bridges and generally do any minor engineering or construction work that may be necessary.” (6)

At the time of its designation, the 1st Pioneer Infantry was facing a hard winter at Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina, where at one point the temperature dropped to only eight degrees above zero. The troops spent this winter in unfloored tents and outdoor mess halls. Pioneer training was delayed that winter due to epidemics of mumps and measles, forcing the regiment to be placed in quarantine.

On July 1, the regiment began its journey for Europe traveling by train to Camp Mills, New York. It then left for Hoboken and departed for France aboard the transport, Mount Vernon on July 8. The regiment disembarked at Brest on July 18 and left for LaFerte-sous-Jouarre on July 24th. Finding the rail station at LaFerte bombed, the regiment marched for Nanteuil-Saacy and was attached to Gen. Liggett's First Army Corps.

On July 27, Company C was ordered to LaFerte where it spent several weeks organizing engineer stores. On July 30, the majority of the regiment boarded trucks for or marched to the Marne valley where they were for the first time exposed to artillery fire. The regiment was primarily employed with road repair, and F Company at Goussancourt sustained several casualties from strafing and bombing attacks by German aircraft.

On August 18, the regiment joined in the Aines Offensive and advanced through shell fire to Arcis-le-Ponsart. During the offensive, the regiment cleared pathways for the infantry and repaired roads all while under rifle and machine-gun fire.

After the Aisnes Offensive, the 1st Pioneer Infantry joined the 3rd Corps to concentrate for the upcoming St. Mihiel Offensive. It camped at Souilly, a village twenty kilometers southeast of Verdun. The concentrated battalions camped in the woods to avoid enemy detection so as to not give away the location of the next offensive. On the night of September 13, the regiment marched for the woods of Sivry, and American guns began the offensive’s preliminary bombardment at 11:30 that night. In the dark hours of the morning of September 14, the regiment assembled in the woods between Germonville and Vigneville. Zero hour was at 5 AM.

At Zero hour, the regiment advanced with the infantry to Bethencourt. Following the advance, the troops lifted rocks by hand to repair shattered cobblestone roads and General Drum later said that “every handful of stone they put in was worth a hundred bullets.” (27) In addition to rebuilding the roads, the pioneers were tasked with keeping them clear of congestion, at some points pushing broken down trucks into ditches and threatening uncooperative drivers “at pistol point.” (27) Frequent rain hindered repair efforts and exhausted the men, many of whom contracted pneumonia and later died.

The 1st Pioneer Infantry’s next objective, on November 8, was to assist the army’s crossing of the Meuse River. Company C guarded the pontoon bridge at Doulcon and E, F, H, K and Headquarters Company repaired the rail line running up the west bank of the Meuse to Dun, which they did under enemy fire. While doing this work, H Company was the victim of a booby trap; the retreating Germans had left a cache of explosives inside a shelter in Brieulles with a timed detonation that killed seven and wounded ten.

The 1st Pioneer Infantry Regiment was concentrated around Dun on November 11 when the warring nations signed the armistice. Its battle casualties from the war numbered one hundred and ten, and forty seven men had died of disease. These numbers represented one third of all American pioneer infantry battle casualties in France.