This Military Service Page was created/owned by
1LT Theodore Jensen
to remember
Jensen, Joseph Blaine, Pvt.
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Contact Info
Home Town Brigham City, Utah
Last Address 2916 35th Street Sacramento, California
Date of Passing Aug 25, 1960
Location of Interment Newburg Cemetery - Fortuna, California
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Biographical note: After severe attacks with mustard gas, Blaine suffered chronic stomach problems the rest of his life.
MEMORIAL PAGE
For the Squad mates of Pvt. Joseph Blaine Jensen, Battery C, 146th Field Artillery Battalion, 66th Field Artillery Brigade, 41st Infantry Division, A.E.F., U.S. Army
WORLD WAR ONE
Blaine Jensen’s Army records were destroyed in an Archives fire in 1973, So I can find no official record of what medals or ribbons he earned, Probably also destroyed were the records of his squad mates of Battery C. Idaho national guard record shows him as fighting in 4 major battles, so deserves Victory medal with 4 bars. Maybe medal for Mexican campaign and Purple heart. French general sent unit commendation letter to his CO after batle of St. Mihiel, so maybe should have some French medal.
On his death, Blaine left behind His war diary, the two French texts he used to teach himself French, and numerous photos from the war, including several of unidentified squad mates of his from C Battery during their battles across France and into Germany between 1918-1919.
Those have all been donated to the World War One Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. However I have copies of all the photos and his war diary pages, and would like to find living members of his squad mates’ families who might want them.
One document was not destroyed by the fire, the final pay voucher of the men of Battery C from June 26, 1919, the day they were released from the Army because of the end of the war. It lists all their names and dates and places of their enlistments.
If anyone seeing this memorial has clues as to where their families are today, please email me at profetedjensen14@gmail.com or phone at 406-534-6019 so I can send the photos or more to their family members. I would also appreciate if if his famoly could send photo of a squad mate's ribbons if they have one, to help me see what medals Blaine should have had.
Blaine’s son and Vietmam vet Theodore W. Jensen Jan 2016
Battery C, 146th Field Artillery. 66th Field Artillery Brigade, 41st Division, A.E.F..
John G. Harem Enlisted 1917 in Terrry, Montana b. 27 June 1890 in Norway, d. 3 May, 1961 Dewitt Hasbrouck Enlisted 29 Mar 1914 in Nampa, Idaho, d. 26 Apr 1981 Clarence O. Harbert Enlisted 26 July 1917 in Denver, Colorado b. 29 Oct 1893 Bryan A. Huff Enlisted 2 Jun 1915 in Sand Point, Idaho. d. 18 Aug 1972 Lee W. Johnson Enlisted18 Apr 1917 in Sand Point, Idaho Earl D. Johnson d. 24 July 1958 Enlisted 28 May 1917 in Boise, Idaho Joseph Blaine Jensen Enlisted 19 Jun 1916 in Twin Falls, Idaho. b. 7 Apr 1897 in Brigham City, Utah.
May have fought and been shot in abdomen as an Idaho guard infantryman In Pershing Mexican Campaign. Served as Battery C’s liaison and French Interpreter and commander of 30 Americans with French Battery of 240 mm guns. for several weeks. Came home with chronic stomach pain from mustard gas. d. 25 Aug 1960 in Sacramento, CA bur. in Newburg Cemetery, Fortuna, Humboldt County, CA.
Aften W. Kidd Enlisted 17 Sept 1917 in Twin Falls, Idaho Fought as Sgt. in WW II also. d. 1983 in LA County, CA ,l buried Westminster Memorial Park Cemetery in Westminster, Orange County, CA. Ray R. Liddiard Enlisted 5 Jun 1917 in Boise, Idaho, d 1972 Severin D. Larsen Enlisted 1 Nov 1917 in Garfield, Utah . b Apr 1889 in Hunter, Utah. d 16 Sept 1950 in Hunter, Salt Lake Co, Utah, died in VA Hospital. Never married. No family. bur. Elysian Burial Gardens, Mill Creek, SL Col Utah .
Other Comments:
The families of the following squad mates of Joseph Blaine Jensen have been found and photos and other info provided as of 2016:
Dewitt Hasbrouck
Earl D Johnson
World War I/Aisne-Marne Campaign
From Month/Year
July / 1918
To Month/Year
August / 1918
Description Aisne-Marne, 18 July - 6 August 1918. Several days before the Germans launched their abortive Champagne-Marne drive, the French high command had made plans for a general converging offensive against the Marne salient. Petain issued orders on 12 July for the attack to begin on the 18th, with five French armies-the Tenth, Sixth, Ninth, Fifth, and Fourth, placed around the salient from left to right-taking part. Spearheading the attack were the five divisions of the French XX Corps (Tenth Army), including the American 1st and 2d Divisions. Early on 18 July the two American divisions and a French Moroccan division, jumping off behind a heavy barrage, launched the main blow at the northwest base of the salient near Soissons. Enemy frontline troops, taken by surprise, initially gave ground, although resistance stiffened after an Allied penetration of some three miles. Before the 1st and 2d Divisions were relieved (on 19 and 22 July respectively) they had advanced 6 to 7 miles, made Soissons untenable for the enemy, and captured 6,500 prisoners at a cost of over 10,000 American casualties.
Meanwhile the other French armies in the offensive also made important gains, and the German commander ordered a general retreat from the Marne salient. The French Sixth Army, on the right of the Tenth, advanced steadily from the southwest, reaching the Vesle River on 3 August. By 28 Judy this army included the American 3d, 4th, 28th, and 42d Divisions. The 4th and 42d Divisions were under control of the I Corps, the first American corps headquarters to participate in combat. On 4 August the American III Corps headquarters entered combat, taking control of the 28th and 32d Divisions (the latter had relieved the 3d Division in the line on 29 July). By 5 August the entire Sixth Army front was held by the two American corps. East of the Sixth Army the French Ninth and Fifth Armies also advanced into the salient. The Germans retired across the Aisne and Vesle Rivers, resolutely defending each strong point as they went.
By 6 August the Aisne-Marne Offensive was over. The threat to Paris was ended by wiping out the Marne salient. The initiative now had definitely passed to the Allies, ending any possibility that Ludendorff could carry out his planned offensive in Flanders. Moreover, the success of the offensive revealed the advantages of Allied unity of command and the fighting qualities of American units. The eight A.E.F. divisions (1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 26th, 28th, 32d, 42d) in the action had spearheaded much of the advance, demonstrating offensive capabilities that helped to inspire new confidence in the war-weary Allied armies. About 270,000 Americans took part in the battle.
On 24 July, while the Aisne-Marne drive was under way, Foch had outlined his plans for the remainder of 1918 at the only conference of Allied commanders that he called during the war. He proposed that the immediate objective of the Allied offensive should be the reduction of the three main German salients (Marne, Amiens, St. Mihiel), with the goal of improving lateral communications behind the front in preparation for a general offensive in the fall. Reduction of the St. Mihiel salient was assigned to Pershing at his own request.
The excellent showing made by American troops in the Aisne-Marne Offensive gave Pershing an opportunity to press again for the formation of an independent American army. Preliminary steps in the organization of the American First Army had been taken in early July 1918. On the 4th Lt. Col. Hugh A. Drum was selected as chief of staff and directed to begin establishment of army headquarters. After conferences on 10 and 21 July, Foch agreed on the 22d to the formal organization of the First Army, and to the formation of two American sectors-a temporary combat sector in the Chateau-Thierry region, where the already active I and III Corps could comprise the nucleus of the First Army, and a quiet sector farther east, extending from Nomeny (east of the Moselle) to a point north of St. Mihiel-which would become the actual theater of operations for the American Army as soon as circumstances permitted concentration of A.E.F. divisions there. Orders issued on 24 July announced formal organization of the First Army, effective on 10 August; designated Pershing as its commander; and located its headquarters at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, west of Chateau-Thierry.
Stabilization of the Vesle River front in early August led Pershing to alter his plane for forming the First Army. Instead of organizing it in the Chateau-Thierry region and then moving it eastward for the St. Mihiel Offensive, he secured Foch's consent on 9 August to a build-up of First Army units in the vicinity of the St. Mihiel salient. Tentative plans for reduction of the salient called for the concentration of three American corps (about 14 American and 3 French divisions) on a front extending from Port-sur-Seille westward around the bulge to Watronville. Three American divisions would remain on the Vesle front.
Meanwhile Allied forces, including American units operating in other sectors of the Western Front, were making significant gains in the preliminary phases of the great final offensives. For the sake of clarity, the role of American units in the Somme Offensive (8 August11 November), Oise-Aisne (18 August-11 November), and Ypres-Lys (19 August-11 November) Campaigns will be described briefly, before considering in more detail the activities of the main body of A.E.F. troops in the St. Mihiel (12-16 September) and Meuse-Argonne (26 September-11 November) Campaigns.
The eight A.E.F. divisions (1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 26th, 28th, 32d, 42d) in the action had spearheaded much of the advance, demonstrating offensive capabilities that helped to inspire new confidence in the war-weary Allied armies.
