He hated the name 'Norman', and according to Nancy, when he was little, he and his sister Elva went to the back yard one day to discuss his name, Norman. He explained to her (I gather he was about 6 then) that he disliked his name and she asked what he would like to be called. He told her "Bill" -- and that was that -- from then on even his Mother and Father called him Bill!
As a young man Norman, anxious to get into WW1 and do his share, joined the Ambulance Corps. Since the United States was officially neutral at the time, that was practically the only way young people could actually serve in the war effort.
Norman passed away in 1975, but he left a written record of his service. I will just let him tell of his wartime experiences in his own words. (I will insert a few pictures that I got from Nancy.)
FIRST WORLD WAR RECORD OF N.W. VAN AUSDAL - NOV. 1916 TO NOV. 1918
A general description ofthe type of war waged from 1913 to November 11, 1918 is first necessary to understand the activities of any soldier engaged. The German Armies were lined up against English and French Armies from Flanders through France to the Swiss border from 1914 to 1918, in trench warfare. Both sides had continuous trenches from one to three miles apart with several back-up trenches backing them up, in case of not being able to hold the front line.
These trenches were always muddy and wet - and due to this condition American troops acquired the name of "DoughBoy."
The Germans had large numbers of submarines, mostly surrounding England, which had
to have heavy imports both of food and munitions to live and fight the war. There was no convoy system as ships were not available to guard convoys as in World War II.
The United States was the principal source for munitions and food.
In 1916, large numbers of ships from the U.S. had been sunk and public opinion was
veering toward the U.S. entering the war against the Kaiser. Opinion on this crystalized in early May, 1917 and the U.S. entered the war on the Allied side.
In November of 1916 the Pure Oil Co. was organized by B----? G. Dawes of Marietta,
Ohio; Charles G. Dawes, a brother and Chicago banker, and Fletcher Heath of Oxford, Ohio. The Pure Oil Co. Organized an Ambulance Drivers Unit of 20 men to send to France as soon as possible.
In addition to the 20 men, 22 Ford Ambulances were to be sent under the auspices of the Red Cross which was considered a non-combatant service as the U.S. was not involved at that time. These American Field Service units attached to the French army, reached a total of about 2000 men before the U.S.entered as a combatant, and about Sept. Of 1918 were all taken over by the U.S. army as combatant units. Enlistment was for six month periods and on expiration of enlistment were discharged, returned to the United States or enlisted in Europe in
any service of their choice. Most returned to the United States to get the necessary training.
Our unit left the States in March of 1917 with 14 men from Marietta, Ohio, College and six from Miami who had been selected by the Dean of the Senior College and Fietcher Heath of the Pure Oil Co., and I was picked as one ofthe six men. We received our diplomas with our 1917 class in June.
On arrival in France we received a training course of about one month. However, by this time it was a certainty that the U.S. would enter the war, and we were assigned to combat duty with the French army driving heavy Pierce Arrow trucks hauling ammunition for the "Chemin des Dames" campaign to break the German trenches in the Soissons area about 70 miles north of Paris. Our duties consisted of convoys of about 10 trucks, all at night and driving without lights. (Below is a picture of The living quarters assigned to Norman and his friends)
Generally speaking, we did not go to the front line trenches, although cross roads were under almost continual shellfire. When the need was urgent we risked the loss of trucks and went as far as we could go, often near the front line, where the ammunition was needed.
2.
For one such mission, our unit received a French army citation from our area corps commander, General Petain.
In the second world war he became head of the infamous Vichy German collaborator government. Unfortunately, I had been up all night before the ceremony, thereby avoiding being kissed by the most infamous man in history after Hitler.
The famous LaFayette Escadrille was stationed on our front at this time, about a mile from our camp.
During rest periods we spent much time at this camp and of course became aviation addicts. During this period I met many men who subsequently became famous and have photos which I hope can become a part of this record: General Billy Mitchell, now considered the father of American aviation; Norman Hall, who wrote Mutiny on the Bounty with Nordhoff; Raul Lufberry, the leading Ace of the time; Bill Thaw, a cousin of Harry Thaw, who killed Sanford White in a very famous murder trial; Kiffen Rockwell, a brother of Norman Rockwell, and several others, all of wealthy and prominent families. Not to mention Whiskey and Soda, their famous mascots - not so small lion cubs.
This unit was broken up and taken into American service. On December 10, 1917, I arrived back in the U.S. Unfortunately my younger sister died about two months later or I might have joined the British Flying Corps. Knowing she was ill and dying was a restraining reason, so I joined the U.S. flying program early in 1918.
The U.S. air service at that time had no combat planes, and only one training plane,
known as the Curtiss Jenny - which could do only 80 mph without a tail wind - not suitable for combat service. As a matter of fact, the war ended and the U.S. never had a combat plane, and very few of their own aviators, in France - all using French Spaads and British Sopwith Camels .
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After some active service in France, this part of my war experience was anti-climax and disappointing. I spent 6 weeks at Ohio State University in Cadet Ground School - which was closed and our class shipped to Austin, Texas after about half had already flunked. I graduated from Austin Ground School after another 6 weeks and was sent to a holding camp at the, Dallas, Texas Fairgrounds. All flying schools were overloaded with men, and there was a wait of two months here. While there I got the job of chauffeur to the Colonel Commandant. Unfortunately, he was in the same hospital in which John Kennedy was pronounced dead at a much later date. Most of that time I spent taking the colonel's wife to visit him each afternoon from two to four.
Finally I was sent to Fort Monroe at point Comfort, Va., where I received my training in flying at Langley Field. This consisted of 8 hours of solo flying to receive a flying commission as second lieutenant. I finished this training in early November of 1918, but the Armistice was signed on November 11, so I never took the commission, or more correctly perhaps they gave out no more commissions as the army was disbanded. In any case I was discharged later in November not long after the end of the war.
After the war, Bill worked as the European Representative for Delco-Frigidaire. He traveled Europe, and a good part of the rest of the world, setting up distributorships for them. Actually, my friend Nancy was born in Australia while he was working there. She had a difficult time proving her American citizenship.
When he returned to the United States and went to work for Hobart Co., he was always called "Van" (or the men called him The Green Hornet because of the color of the truck he drove to work sites.)
