Excerpts from William Pommerening’s WW I Diary (Editor’s Note: As Veterans’ Day and the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I approached, I was at a bit of a loss of how I could honor my grandfather, Capt. Joseph L. Bachus, and the millions of men and women who …
Trench Commander Post #5 EL PASO, TEXAS (January 18, 1917) — By the time winter weather hit El Paso in ernest, it was clear to the men of the Michigan National Guard that the excitement of chasing Pancho Villa below the border was unlikely to result in active service. Joseph L. Bachus and …
Trench Commander Post #4 EL PASO, TEXAS (August 10, 1916) — While Gen. Pershing was tearing around Mexico trying to find Pancho Villa, my grandfather Joseph L. Bachus got his best glimpse of the conflict south of the border through a series of postcards, the most popular of which were called Kavanaugh’s War …
Trench Commander Post #3 EL PASO, TEXAS (July 1, 1916) — One could make the case that Pancho Villa helped prepare the U.S. Army for World War I. On March 9, 1916, Pancho Villa’s renegade army of somewhere between 300 and 1,000 fighters attacked the border town of Columbus, New …
Trench Commander Post #2 EL PASO, TEXAS (Aug. 3, 1916) — What does the U.S. Army and National Guard do when a veteran soldier shows up on its doorstep to enlist? Joseph L. Bachus joined the Michigan National Guard on June 12, 1916, as a buck private, but he had recently served in …
Trench Commander Blog Post #1 Joseph L. Bachus spent the better part of four decades in nearly every branch of the U.S. military, but his combat experience in the trenches of France during WW I solidified his decision to dedicate his life to professional soldiering. His men called him “Smokey Joe” …
