“Went over the top to mop up the woods. Met resistance and dug in.” (Diary, 11/26/1918)

Joseph A. Schweizer

War: World War, 1914-1918 Branch: Army Unit: Company A, 303rd Ammunition Train Service Location: United States; England; France; Belgium; Europe

Little is known about Joseph Schweizer, beyond the brief details of his service that he recorded in his diary. In short, stark sentences, he reports his unit’s movements and notes artillery barrages, objectives captured and numbers wounded and killed. Though his tone is dispassionate, the frequent notes of artillery, machine gun fire, casualties and trips “over the top” make clear that his experience was anything but uneventful.