Wartime: What the 4th Engineers Did in Europe

My great-uncle, Jack C. Sullivan (born John Cyril Sullivan), enlisted in the Army on 4 June 1917 into an engineering corps at Vancouver, Washington.[1] The 4th Engineers trained there and then at Camp Green in Charlotte, North Carolina.[2] They were assigned to the 4th Division in 1918. The regiment saw battle at Aisne-Marne (summer 1918), Battle of Saint-Mihiel (September 1918), Meuse-Argonne Offensive (Fall 1918), and in Alsace-Lorraine (November 1918).[3] Jack served in Company E, and according to a discharge record, Jack was gassed on August 5.[4]

I have been collecting information about his service. His service record was one of many that burned in the fire at the National Archives in St. Louis in 1973, so I have to find substitute records to fill out his story. A book was written by members of the 4th Engineers and printed in Germany at war’s end. It is Columbia to the Rhine: Being a Brief History of the Fourth Engineers, and their trip from the Columbia River, in the State of Washington, to the Rhine River in Germany. Very few men are named in the story, but the back of the book lists all the men who served in the 4th Engineers. Jack was discharged as a sergeant.[5]

First-hand Accounts

On Fold3, there are first-hand accounts written by officers who served with the 4th Engineers. Some excerpts are as follows:

Captain Arnold B. Skoien, commanding officer of Company E, wrote,[6]

“Company E had a marvelous record of service ‘from Chateau Thierry to the Vesle River’ especially at the Vesle, where the role of Infantry Combat assumed a large portion of their time, as well as pontoon bridge construction, was their fighting grit tested.”

“From Luxembourg Dump, Company E worked forward on roads, night and day, helping wagons, rucks, and cars through mud, around shell craters and over damaged bridges. Especially at cross-roads did the men under the writer’s command work through heavy shell fire to keep the army on the move.”

At the Argonne, “shell torn and turned over again until trenches were swallowed up in chasms. . ., and barbed wire entanglements had been dealt with like confetti. . . Marching over Dead Man’s Hill and Hill 304, where the German army began to taste defeat several years before, Company E went out into No Man’s Land . . . constructing a road. . . .It was a fearful job to make a road out of shell holes, blasted trenches and masses of barbed wire entanglements. . . With sandbags, pick and shovel, the men began to grade an emergency highway, guided by the compass and practical eye, filled with utter contempt for any Boche whizz-bangs, and inspired by the big mission of the Fourth Engineers, the writer directed his men in their work forward.”

Hill 304, from Columbia to the Rhine, 137

After the Armistice, the 4th Engineers became part of the occupying army. Their responsibility was to maintain the roads. Second Lieutenant Ernest Thran reported,

“On the extended march Company E accompanied the advance guard of the 8th Brigade to meet all engineering problems such as mines and traps or supervision that might arise. Constant credit is reflected upon the Fourth Engineers by the daily responsibilities invested in their command.”[7]

There are a few more personal accounts, which I am thankful for. These are courtesy of Memorandum, Chief of Engineer’s Office, American E.F., dated November 20, 1918, to submit a report of their personal experience in the AEF from departure from the US up to writing their report.[8]

Further Research
At a used bookstore, I bought two books about World War I: Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America by Jennifer D. Keene and America in the Great War by Ronald Schaffer. I also have the book, Combat and Construction: U.S. Army Engineers in World War I by Charles Hendricks.

I am always on the lookout for any supporting information that can help tell the story of Jack’s military service during World War I.

#52Ancestors: Week 46: Wartime

This is my eighth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe. I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

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[1] Veterans Master Index Card, Jack Cyril Sullivan, 568973; “United States, Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3MH-J7SY-5 : accessed 9 Nov 2025), IGN 105306936, image 227 of 6005; Veteran’s Affairs, National Archives, Washington, DC.

[2] Columbia to the Rhine: Being a Brief History of the Fourth Engineers, and their trip from the Columbia River, in the State of Washington, to the Rhine River in Germany (1919). For a copy, see Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/columbiatorhineb00unitrich).

[3] “4th Engineer Battalion,” The Army Historical Foundation (https://armyhistory.org/4th-engineer-battalion/ : accessed 9 Nov 2025). This organization is the official fundraising organization for the National Museum of the United States Army.

[4] Montana military service card, Jack C. Sullivan, 568973, Anaconda, Montana; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3M1-L36D-M : accessed 9 Nov 2025), IGN 008462206, item 3, image 659 of 903; originals housed at Montana Historical Society, Helena.

[5] World War I Enlisted Men Final Military Pay Vouchers, 1917 - 1921, Multi-name final pay voucher, no. 202, 6 Aug 1919, Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming, Capt P.O. Kowalski, quartermaster, p. 4, line 1, Jack C. Sullivan, Sergeant, 4th Engineers.

[6] “US, WWI, Officer Experience Report,” 4th Engineers, A.B. Skoien, Captain, Commanding Company E, pp 1-2, imaged, Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/image/272049516/skoien-a-b-page-1-us-wwi-officer-experience-reports-aef-1917-1920 : accessed 9 Nov 2025).

[7] “US, WWI, Officer Experience Report,” 4th Engineers, Ernest Thran, 2nd Lt, Co. E, p 1, imaged, Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/image/271934444/thran-ernest-page-1-us-wwi-officer-experience-reports-aef-1917-1920 : accessed 9 Nov 2025).

[8] As stated in the report of Captain Oswald A. Gierlich, 4th Engineers, US, WWI, Officer Experience Report,” 4th Engineers, p. 1, imaged, Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/image/274448716/gierlich-oswald-a-page-1-us-wwi-officer-experience-reports-aef-1917-1920 : accessed 9 Nov 2025).

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