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THE BORDER COVENANT - a novel
Griffiths in World War I
Morris in his foxhole in 1918
Camp
Morris (seated) and his
mates in hospital
All four of the Griffith boys born in Poultney Vermont registered for
the Draft in World War I but only Morris and Richard, the younger two,
actually served. Generally men with families were not allowed to go
into the Great War.
MORRIS GRIFFITHS
Morris was one of four Griffith sons born in Poultney Vermont as first
generation Americans, and joined the Army in World War I to fight with
his British cousins. Morris was wounded twice. Once a German tree
felled a tree on him and he was shot through the hand while trapped
under the tree. The second time was at the Meuse Argonne offense, Oct 3
1918 when he was machine gunned while trying to go through the barbed
wire to attack the German line. He served as a Private in L company of
the 307th infantry, and had he not been wounded probably would have
been part of the company to rescue comrades of K company, known
as the 'Lost Patrol'. The Lost Patrol successfully reached their
objective which got them cut off from Morris's company, 'L' which took
major casualties and stopped short of their objective. Morris was
nursed back to health against all odds by his future wife, British Army
nurse Hilda Robinson from Liverpool. He never received a pension.
There are other colorful stories about Morris. He used to ride in a
horse and buggy with his three brothers from Poultney Vermont to
Granville, New York, about 8 miles, where they would get drunk and
cause a ruckus in a notorious bar. Once, Morris was jailed after a high
speed buggy race from the New York police ended in a crash right before
he escaped over the border into Vermont. The brothers used to ride the
buggy over to the tavern, get drunk, and then tell the Horse to go home
while they fell asleep in the carriage, and woke in their barn the next
day.
Morris died of cancer. BELOW: Left, Morris and Hilda, possible wedding
picture and Right, Morris in Uniform. The pictures are from photocopies
of the originals
RICHARD GRIFFITHS
The Pictures below are photocopies of WWI photos of Dick Griffiths in
Uniform. He was Morris's brother, and he was a WWI plane mechanic,
possibly the Sopwith Camel. He is Top Left in the first picture and Far
Right in the second. The original pictures are with another family
member
