LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - JANUARY 28, 2018 Leo Mooney’s Gas Mask by Lynne Belluscio I knew that there was a box of things from World War I in storage, so I went looking for it and brought it downstairs. Inside was a metal mess kit with a knife, fork and spoon, a canteen, and a sealed first aid kit, a pair of boots – the soles had holes, a belt, and a canvas pack with straps and pockets and flaps. I learned that these packs were totally worthless. When they were filled, it was impossible for the solders to maneuver in the cramped quarters of the trenches. And they really weren’t a pack as much as a “wrapper.” Ev- erything would be wrapped up like a package, but when the soldier needed anything, he had to lay the pack down and unfold it and get out his socks or blanket. Even though they were impracti- cal, the army used them in World War II. But the trea- sure in the box was the can- vas bag and gas mask. The canvas bag was the clue to who owned all the stuff in the box – Leo Mooney. He had written his service record on the outside of the bag. I sent a photo of the bag to Terry Krautwurst who has been helping with the WW1 exhibit and he shared infor- mation about the 27th Divi- sion: ‘Most were assigned to British command for most of the war and fought primari- ly in Belgium and the Som- me area straddling Belgium and France. The Hindenburg line battle was an incredibly bloody one for western New Yorkers. On the day of the attack, seven Genesee Coun- ty soldiers were killed out- right and another three died of wounds. Leo Mooney’s unit was literally in the mid- dle of it - at the center of the attacking first wave. All four of Company I’s officers were killed. Of the 108th Regiment at least 192 died that day and about 600 were wounded. The descriptions of the fighting are boggling. Mont Kemmel refers to the Ypres/Lys offensive in Bel- gium a month earlier. The 108th lost 30 men including Leo Fiorito who was killed by an enemy bomb and who was also a member of Leo Mooney’s Company I. (The LeRoy American Le- gion chose Leo Fiorito and George Botts as the name- sakes of their post.) The gas mask was in pretty tough condition. Both eyepieces are broken and the charcoal canister has rusted away. Gas attacks were one of the horrors of WorldWar I. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t the Germans who first used gas on the battlefield, it was the French in 1914. This was in violation of the 1899 Hague Peace Conven- tion which prohibited the use of gas in battle. The French offensive wasn’t particularly effective, but soon the use of gas escalated. According to some historians, gas nev- er proved to be a decisive, battle-winning weapon but without question, poison gas became one of the most feared experiences of the war. There were several types of gas used. At first, it was tear gas, which was an irritant and forced men out of the trenches. On April 22, 1915, at the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans used deadly chlorine gas for the first time. Instead of using artillery shells, the chlorine was released from storage cylinders and allowed to drift with the wind across “no man’s land.” The results were catastrophic for the British, French and Canadi- an soldiers. In September 1915, the British retaliated at Loos in France, with gas attacks. Chlorine gas reacted with moisture in the throat and air passages and formed an acid that burned the pas- sages and victims suffocated. An American chemist, James Bert Garner discovered chlo- rine could be subdued with activated charcoal made from natural fibers such as found in walnut shells and peach pits. This spurred community drives to save peach pits for activated charcoal. In 1916, theGermans began using diphosgene. A year later, in July 1917, the Germans began using mus- tard gas. While phosgene accounted for the majority of gas casualties during the First World War, the use of mustard gas represented one of the most significant ad- vances in gas warfare. Mus- tard gas is a vesicant that can burn any exposed skin, eyes, or other tissue, unlike other poison gasses that primarily affect the victim’s lungs. The fact that mustard gas also took longer to dissipate than other types of war gasses - sometimes injuring soldiers who came into contact with the chemicals even days after demployment - added to the difficulty of protecting sol- diers against it. Gas masks only protected the face. Mus- tard gas burned any exposed skin, even through clothing. Ed Mooney stopped by today and I showed him his father’s things. I even found his father’s trenching tools – a shovel and pick. Ed said that he remembered his father having terrible night- mares, and waking everyone up. After the war, his father worked at the LeRoy Post Office. Ed said his father had survived two gas at- tacks and he wondered if the lasting effect of the gas hadn’t contributed to his fa- ther’s death. He said, that he knew that his father, once in a while, would have a drink with some other veterans, and they would share war stories, but his father never talked about the war with his family.