Trip Report: Visit to U.S . World War I memorials in France
Published: 3 November 2025
By John Scanlan, COL, US Army ret,
Special to the Doughboy Foundation website
Scanlon header image
(left) Keeton (Scanlan looking on) affixing US flag atop 371st monument. Top of monument damaged by German tanker, June 1940. (right) Keeton and Snead with 369th monument, at Sechault.
SUBJ: Trip to 371st INF and 369th INF (US Colored) on 10-11 OCT 25
Participants: John Scanlan, COL, US Army ret, (Author); Steve Keeton, CW4, US Army ret, (Flag placer); Ron Snead, COL, US Army ret, (driver/photographer)
(1) Scanlan and Snead took Keeton on his first trip to Europe as visitor via Space A (USAF), Oct 1-16, 2025.
Keeton at Freddie Stower’s grave
(2) Points of interest: Dachau Concentration Camp; Eagles Nest – Obersalzberg; Oktoberfest – Munich; Normandy; Mont St Michel; Belleau Wood, Croix Rouge Farm, Oise-Aisne Cem (Joyce Kilmer), Quentin Roosevelt crash site, Sechault (371st + 369th Inf); CPT Harry Truman movement to contact (vic Varennes); Lost Battalion; Sgt York trail; Montfaucon, Meuse-Argonne Cem (Freddie Stowers); Verdun et al; St Mihiel Cem; Montsec memorial; 1 day loop thru ‘Bulge’ in Luxembourg and Belgium; then back to Ramstein AFB for trip home.
(3) Our visit to the 371st Infantry Regiment monument on a semi-sunny October 10 allowed Steve Keeton to renew the American flag. The Germans were routed from this ridge, 2 miles west of Sechault early in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, 26 Sep thru 11 Nov, 1918.
Corporal Freddie Stowers was killed rallying his compatriots to complete their mission. He was awarded the French Croix-de-Guerre by the French Army. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for these actions in 2015. Steve planted another flag at his grave at the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery the next day.
(4) Sechault is also the home to the 369th Infantry Regiment monument. One of its soldiers, SGT Henry Johnson, also belatedly won the Medal of Honor for his actions during a vicious night fight with some Germans in May 1918 near Sechault.
(5) Both the 371st and 369th regiments were Negro units led by white officers. Both Negro divisions, the 92d and 93d, were destined to be dispersed as labor battalions. Their white commanders fought with AEF headquarters for combat assignments. GEN Pershing, himself a veteran of the 10th Cavalry, finally relented and assigned both divisions to the French Army. Those regiments acquitted themselves exceptionally well in combat for over 190 days, far longer than the majority of US units.
Scanlan eating salt marsh grass fed mutton at Mont St Michel, Normandy.
(6) Mission complete.
