-
Leo Enlists in the Army
Leo Bailey enlisted in July 1917. He was assigned to Company M, 9th Infantry, 2nd Division. He trained at Ft. Slocum, New York, and Syracuse, New York. Bailey was deployed with the 2nd Division to France in the fall of 1917. -
Leo Arrives in France
Leo Bailey arrived in France after two weeks of sea travel. He got seasick once. The fleet made a stop at an American port for supplies. He realized the voyage could have been faster if they didn’t have to wait for the other boats. -
Training in France
Bailey was deployed with the 2nd Division to France in the fall of 1917. Training in France until the spring of 1918, he used his days off to become acquainted with the French language, people, and customs. Bailey saw combat at Belleau Woods -
Leo Gets Injured
Leo was injured in an artillery attack. He was hit by a shell as he was jumping into a hole. He survived the attack. He was in the hospital for 2 months. -
Leo Gets Reassigned
Leo was assigned to a prisoner-of-war escort company. He served as a guard to the German prisoners they had captured. He said how he would have rathered been sent home than this assignment. -
Leo's Still in France
Leo was still in France guarding German prisoners. This far after the war, Germany has not yet accepted peace. Leo wanted to go home. He celebrated a French holiday. -
Leo became Sergeant
Leo became a sergeant in Prisoner War Escort Company 85. After the war, the prisoners had no hatred towards the guards. Leo maintained correspondence with one of the three younger Germans in the POW group. -
Leo Arrives at Home
Leo finally arrived home after almost 3 years in France. -
Leo Receives the Purple Heart.
Leo received the Purple Heart for his injury during the war. He was then promoted and honorably discharged the same day. -
After the War
After the war, Bailey returned to Pennsylvania to teach Agriculture, receiving his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Agriculture from Pennsylvania State College. He moved to upstate New York and resided in the area for the rest of his life. Following his service, Bailey wrote a memoir of his World War I experience titled, "The War as I Saw It." -
Leo Revisits His Past
Bailey and his wife embarked upon a three-week trip, according to his memoir. They explored “as much as possible all fields, places, and people that I had known 1917-1919 and all the battlefields of the Ninth and cemeteries in which former members of Company. M are buried and a visit and prayer at each grave.”