WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MAY 20, 2021 25
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
Military housing for offi cers at Camp Upton in Yaphank in 1919. Courtesy of the Queens Borough Public Library, Archives, Thomas R. Bayles Photographs
aft er being badly burned over most of his body with
mustard gas.
That August, he was guiding a squad of men from a
shellhole and had to remove his mask. Upon returning
to headquarters, they had to cross a creek that was
apparently badly contaminated with the poisonous
gas. He was the only member of the squad to survive
the trip.
Private Joseph Kuehn Jr., of 349 Grove St. in Ridgewood,
was killed in action on Sept. 29, 1918. He was
inducted into the Army in May 1918 and assigned to
Camp Upton; aft er a month, he had been sent to Camp
Meade for further training, then shipped overseas
aft er a week.
Sergeant William Wundersee’s father had a
butcher shop in Ridgewood, and aft er his father died,
he went to work as a clerk in Jahrsdorfer’s butcher
shop on Woodward Avenue.
Wundersee died in the Argonne Woods on Oct. 18,
1918. He had left for Camp Upton on Sept. 30, 1917, and
because of his background was assigned as a mess
cook. He was then sent to Camp Gordon in Georgia
for six weeks of training before being sent back to
Camp Upton, then assigned to the front in France in
April 1918.
One of the best local accounts of the war front came
from Private Edward Kaiser, assigned to Company K
of the 106th Regiment. He wrote a letter to his brother,
George, from France, and the letter was published in
the Nov. 8, 1918, issue of the Ridgewood Times.
Private Kaiser mentioned that he had some close
shaves, one of which occurring the fi rst time he went
over the top of the trench. He and another fellow were
in a shellhole when a shell landed about three feet
away from them; it kicked up the dirt, but neither of
them were injured.
For two days and nights, his post was a machine
gun position in a shellhole in front of their lines.
Everything was fi ne until they were relieved and
had to make their way back to the lines. At that time,
the Germans opened up an artillery barrage that
lasted an hour and a half.
“We got out okay although the shells were falling
around us,” Private Kaiser wrote. “We then went into
the reserve trenches for three days, and I think it was
worse than the front lines. When you are in reserve,
you have to take rations to the front lines every night,
and it is a rather dangerous job. We took about a
thousand prisoners, mostly very young or very old.
They gave us trouble with their machine gun nests.
We found some of them chained to their guns.”
Some local troops received many honors for their
service.
First Sergeant Herman M. Sell, of 171 Decatur St.
in Ridgewood, received the Distinguished Service
Cross for bravery. He was in Company A of the 306th
Infantry Regiment of the 77th Division on Sept. 6, 1918,
at LeCendriere Woods. Six runners had attempted
to carry a message to the battalion commander and
none had gotten through.
Sergeant Sell was assigned to the task and was
able to get through and return with valuable
information.
Sell was draft ed at Camp Upton on Sept. 30, 1917,
and left for France the following April. Prior to his
World War I service, he previously served eight
years in the U.S. Navy.
In December 1918, Corporal Christopher Spor returned
home from France on board the Leviathan.
He lived at 472 Wyckoff Ave. in Ridgewood and had
been a member of the 71st Regiment before being
transferred to the Fighting 69th Regiment.
Spor was a regular Army man and saw action
along the Mexican border when the U.S. Army was
attempting to capture Pancho Villa.
During World War I, Spor saw action at the Battle
of the Marne, Champagne, Chateau-Thierry, St. Mihel
and Argonne. He was wounded at Argonne and had
to be carried nine miles back to a base hospital. He
wound up being blinded four days from exposure
to mustard gas.
At the Battle of the Marne, he received the Legion
of Honor Medal for bayonetting and shooting nine
enemy troops.
From the Feb. 14, 1985 issue of the Ridgewood Times
* * *
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“Our Neighborhood: The Way It Was” that you would like
to share with our readers, please write to the Old Timer,
c/o Ridgewood Times, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361,
or send an email to editorial@ridgewoodtimes.com.
Any print photographs mailed to us will be carefully
returned to you upon request.
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