Fidem Servo
Some 80 years ago this month.
Original caption: “Christmas tree and Howitzers form the holiday theme of Battery C, 599th Field Artillery Battalion, Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Arkansas, Dec 1943.
“We guarantee Christmas spirit American style.” From left to right: Pvt. Lewis Cox, Pvt. Charles Dunnings, Cpl. Alfonso Swain, Pvt. Homer Lee Johnson, Pvt. Frank Black, Pvt. Alexander Jones, Sgt. Willie Wright, Pvt. Dumas E. Bennett, Pvt. Amos Smith, Pvt. Henry Bowman, Pvt. David Swayze, Pvt. John Coles, Pvt. Wesley Douglas, Sgt. Albert Sawyer.”
Signal Corps Photo 111-SC-167469. National Archives Identifier 148727112.
Note their M1 (M116) 75mm pack howitzers, a fine light gun that only weighed 1,400 pounds and remained in service through Grenada.
The “red legs” are outfitted in heavy M1939 wool greatcoats, M1 helmets sans covers, and M38 field leggings (spats). Besides the howitzers and a tripod-mounted M1919 under the tree, the cannon-cockers are armed with Great War vintage 30-06 caliber M1917 “American Enfields.”
Note the potbellied appearance and distinctive sights of the M1917s on this inset.
For reference, the 599th Field Artillery Battalion was part of the organization of the segregated “Buffalo Soldiers” of the 92nd Infantry Division.
Shipped overseas in September 1944, nine months after the above image was snapped, the 92nd fought in Italy in the North Apennines and Po Valley campaigns, frequently against crack German and Italian mountain troops, and are remembered in the book and film Miracle at St. Anna.
In all, the 92nd suffered no less than 2,997 battle casualties during its eight months in the ETO. At least 50 of them are still unaccounted for somewhere in the Italian countryside.
The 599th’s motto is Fidem Servo (“I keep the faith”)