Sorry, this installment is short. Probably should have included it with the last one, but here goes:

Pinky kept making supply runs through July & into August & September while the war waged on. Weather began to change & in October, it cooled considerably & began to rain.....& rain....& then it rained some more.

On October 31, 1918, Pinky received the biggest surprise of his life. His sergeant walked up to him & several of the other muleskinners & told them to get their gear & rifles ready & report to the 1st Battalion. The Supply Company would now be a part of the Meuse-Argonne offensive & they would be a part of the 1st regiment of the 6th Marines.

It took Pinky 7 months, but on November 1, 1918, the "hullaballoo" for him would finally begin.

Into the jaws of Death
Into the mouth of Hell

Next up: The fighting & writing begins.

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AusAg32,

There's also a song called "Coney Island Baby" that was a hit in the late 20's. Disney may have been playing that tune.

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Yeah, I heard renditions of both "Coney Island Baby" and "Hot Time" when I was at DisneyWorld last year.

Was funny because you could see a couple of random Ags in the crowd perk up for just a moment whenever Coney Island Baby got started lol. Myself included.

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My wife and I live just outside of Orlando, and have Disney passes. We are there maybe once or twice a month, and I still do this whenever that comes on.

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Going there again this year (she wanted a longer stay for our anniversary at the end of June)--if you see a big black guy in Aggie gear getting dragged around Epcot or something by a short little white gal, gimme a "howdy" lol.

Early November brought cold weather to France and Pinky & his fellow Marines dug "foxholes" to protect them from enemy fire. Hunkered down in the Argonne Forest, Pinky's 1st mission with his unit was to help take down a German fortified area called Barricourt Heights. The Germans knew that the Americans were coming and lofted many rounds of explosives & gasses in an effort to thin out the troops. After many hours of bombardment, Pinky & several other of his comrades slowly begin to crawl up a hill in a dense fog a little before dawn but the fog lifted & the Germans picked off many of the Marines. It was a furious battle, but the Allied forces wanted that ridge more than the Germans did and once overtaken, the Germans either ran away or surrendered on the spot. Without this reinforcement, the enemy retreated to their next fortified town, about 5 miles away. Allied progress was being made, but during this battle, Pinky had lost his 2 best friends that he had bonded with since basic training as a Marine. As you can imagine, this upset Pinky very much.

The next day's weather was once again cold & damp. The rain, along the rapid advancement of the allied forces made it impossible for the "kitchen on wheels" to keep up. Except for hardtack, there was almost no food to eat and no place to get dry. These circumstances, along with the loss of a couple of his comrades that he had be platooned with didn't help enlighten Pinky's mood....everything on Pinky's body was wet except on the inside of a little oil pouch. In it Pinky kept his most valuable possessions....& in that oil patch were some letters from home. It was a miserable day & it was miserable weather. It was so miserable that my Grandpa had to think of something other than the situation that he was in. If he thought of his 2 best friends, I would imagine that he became more depressed. Thoughts of home made it just as miserable. The only thing that seemed to get his mind off the situation was A&M and thinking of how the football team was doing, as football season was in full swing last he had heard & that Fightin' Texas Aggie football team was having yet another unprecedented season. So, being wet, cold, hungry, homesick & in mourning, he decided to rehearse some of his favorite yells from A&M:

Farmers, Fight!
Sky Rocket!
Hullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck!
Warhee, Warhee! Look at the team, Look at the team! Look at the A&M team!!

Then it came to him. He thought about putting some of his favorite yells into a song. After all, Pinky was a musician at heart and he was a natural musician, as he could play any instrument presented to him, as long as he had scales to play it. Unfortunately, I inherited none of his musical abilities.

The lyrics "Hullaballoo, Caneck, Caneck" came immediately to him. His hate for the Germans would only be replicated by his distaste for the T-Sips over in Austin, so he thought "Goodbye to the Orange & the White". About this time, the rain stopped for a moment, so he pulled out a letter from home out of his oil pouch and with a pencil, he scribbled these words on the back of the letter:

"Hullaballoo, Caneck, Caneck" &
"Goodbye to the Orange & the White"

Here's a pic from his 1917 yellbook:




He folded the letter back into the pouch. It was time for him to move forward.in more ways than one.



Next stop: more hell & circumstances that helped forge the song.

Love reading the stories, but please stop calling the Marines "Soldiers" - there is a difference and we dislike being called that.

We are Marines - Live like Soldiers, cuss like Sailors, and slap the hell outta both of them.

will do, Helms. I'll adjust from here on out.

As a non-military man, I simply do not understand these Military differences.

Please pardon me as being ignorant.

Thanks for the info & thanks for your service!

I thought mfbarnes' great grandfather wrote the war hymn?

War Hymn Aggie, first I want to say thank you very much for sharing your grandfather's story..any Aggie with any Spirit is waiting for the next installment. I was fortunate enough to meet Pinky prior to my commissioning into the USMC and still have his autograph on one of my Aggielands. It was a very special moment for me and several of my classmates who also went into the Marines. We knew somewhat of his story and where he wrote the War Hymn and the fact that he served in the trenches in the Argonne Forest, but nothing of his life and story, only that he was an Aggie Legend and a Marine . He truly is also a Marine Corps legend having fought in the Argonne Forest wher the Marines were given the nick name "Teufel Hunden" ..."Devil Dogs" by the German's, they said the Marines fought like "dogs from hell" We still proudly consider ouselves DevilDogs to this day, he was part of that great heroic group. Thanks for sharing this with us, thought you might like a little USMC history of what he was apart of. Truly Heroic...


Semper Fidelis

Even tho the conditions were grim, Allied forces were actually making progress. The Germans were retreating quickly and the marines kept pursuing. As Pinky settled down for a rest later that day, he began to think again of his fallen friends and of Texas A&M, so he pulled out his paper and began to write "Good luck to the dear old Texas Aggies, they are the boys that show the real old fight". He folded the letter up again & put it back in his oil cloth. That night, it was another cold & wet night and continued throughout the day. Enemy fire, hunger, weather elements, lack of sleep & now, Spanish Flu was decimating the ranks. It was so bad that the the battalion camped in the woods for several days without moving while they waited for food, replacements and (hopefully) warmer, drier weather. The Germans were still retreating and were no better off than the Allied forces.. Finally a field kitchen arrived which helped feed to starving soldiers. After eating, Pinky collapsed due to exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep in his foxhole, even tho it rained most of the night.

After a hot breakfast the next morning, Pinky felt much better & there were periods of time that the rain would stop for awhile, so he pulled out the letter & tried to work on his song again. He tried to think of some more yells, but he was stumped. He started thinking about songs about Texas & he immediately thought of "The Eyes of Texas are upon you" but immediately debunked that thought because the T-Sips had used that song for several years, but then he realized that they didn't have the rights to that song at all. That song was popular for several years before the horns had "pirated" it , so his thinking was the song really belonged to ALL Texans., but since that's the song that they "stolen" from his fellow Texans, then he would give them credit for the theft and say "that is the song they sing so well". And then he included "so good bye to Texas University, we're going to beat you all to hell".

IMO, by including this last sentence, Pinky basically showed how much hatred he (& likely many of his fellow Aggies) had for t.u @ the time & it also showed how much love & pride that he had for his future alma mater.

In these modern days, many might object to my grandpa's sentiment at the time it was written, but back in his day, there was great animosity between these 2 schools & knowing the history, I can understand why Aggies despised Longhorns for so many years & vice-versa, but that's an entirely different discussion for others to elaborate on.....

So now, we have in writing:

Hullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck
Hullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck
Good bye to Texas University
So long to the Orange & the white
Good luck to the dear old Texas Aggies
They are the boys that show the real old fight
The eyes of Texas are upon you.
That is the song they sing so well
So Good bye to Texas University
We're going to beat you all to hell

That was it for now. The song would have to wait to be finished on another day.

BTW, how many of you cannot read the bold phrases listed above without singing it in your mind. I, for one, cannot do so.

Next up: The end of WW1 & of the beginning of a completed song.

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They are the boys that show the real old fight

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This is awesome.

Can't wait for more.



Stories like this where:
1. someone (like his rifle instructor) hear A&M and immediately have high expectations and thoughts of the person
and
2. The love people have for A&M, so much that they think of A&M when in extreme circumstances when a college should be the last thing on their minds.

Remind and reinforce why I love A&M so much and why it is much more than just a school.

OregonAggie,

Always leave 'em wanting more, eh? I guess, I've succeeded at that.

Had a day off from work today & had planned to post more,but temps were so mild that I spent most of the day landscaping/tidying up the yard instead of piddling inside the house. Have plans with the wife tonite, as we celebrate her birthday so no updates until tomorrow eve & should complete the story by Memorial Day....IMO, an appropriate day that honors all of our fallen heroes that made this country so great.

BTW, Memorial Day took on a different tone in our family 10 years ago, as my brother-in-law was killed in action in Afghanistan while serving our country as an Army Ranger. On Monday, I ask that ya'll will take a moment to pay homage to those Americans who sacrificed their lives for the rest of us & for their country.

Thanks & God Bless the USA!