Floyd Boyce Phillips was one of millions of boys from the United States who were sent across the Atlantic to the Old Country to fight in the Great War. In this series of posts, we follow the 101st anniversary of Floyd’s journey and get glimpses of what was going on at home while he was over there.

Many thanks to Coralee for providing me with artifacts throughout the years and especially for the stack of WWI-era letters that were delivered to me on 31 May 2019. They have provided countless hours of family history entertainment.

– Denise

Though the actual fighting stopped in November 1918, it took another six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference until the final peace treaty, called the Treaty of Versailles, was signed on 28 Jun 1919. Just a few days later, Floyd finally was able to board a ship for the trip back to the United States.

Getting the boys home from Europe after the war was somewhat of a logistical nightmare. They had millions of soldiers to return to the US. The following table, from A history of the transport service, shows the number of troops making the trip home in 1919.

Floyd was transported back to America on a ship called the Cap Finisterre. They cleared the port at Brest, France, on 3 July 1919 and arrived at a pier in Hoboken, New Jersey, ten days later, on 13 July 1919.

The trip back was overcrowded. Newspaper articles reported of crowding and anger.

Next…

Honorable Discharge

Sources:

WWI Interactive Timeline, The National WWI Museum and Memorial ( https://www.theworldwar.org/explore/interactive-wwi-timeline : accessed 3 Jun 2019)

Albert Gleaves, A history of the transport service; adventures and experiences of United States transports and cruisers in the world war (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1921), 245; digital images, Archive Org (https://archive.org/details/historyoftranspo00glea: accessed 5 Jul 2017)

“Four Transports Bring 15,600 More Troops Home,” Norwich Bulletin (Norwich, Connecticut), 14 Jul 1919, page 1 ( https://www.newspapers.com/image/320400020/ : accessed 17 Jun 2019).

“Troops on Transport Angered at Crowding,” The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California), 15 Jul 1919, page 2 ( https://www.newspapers.com/image/380548204/ : accessed 17 Jun 2019).

Ancestry.com, U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939 (Lehi, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016), Ancestry.com, http://www.Ancestry.com, The National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland; Lists of Incoming Passengers, compiled 1917-1938; NAI Number: 6234465; Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985; Record Group Number: 92; Roll or Box Number: 69. Record for Floyd B Phillips.

The Phillips Family

• Publication date: September 2015
• Pages: 432
• Formats:
  • Hard cover
  • Paperback
• This book traces our Phillips ancestry. It follows the Phillips family from 18th century ancestors in New York to more recent asparagus farmers of Illinois. Five generations of descendants of Wilhelmus Philip are covered. The families of Jacob W Phillips, his son Albert Aveldo Phillips, his son Guy Allison Phillips, and his son Floyd Boyce Phillips are followed in detail.