Floyd Henry Allport
Floyd Henry Allport
Address: 27 Everett St., Cambridge, Mass.
Occupation: Teacher.
Military Service: Entered Plattsburg Officers' Training Camp in May, 1917; discharged as 1st Lieutenant, January 1919.
Married: October, 1917.
A BRIEF SCENARIO
1916: Dull in my books in graduate school at Harvard, grinding out a research in psychology.
1917: Call to arms: May — Plattsburg seems a long way from France. August — at least I am a shave-tail of Field Artillery (though I should have been a Captain), September — early arrivals at Camp Devens, all unsettled. Two days later — joy — transferred to 103d F[ield]. A[rtillery]., waiting embarkation orders at Boxford, Mass., Dreams of future heroism. Cold nights but not feet. October — orders to embark. A sudden madness seizes me. I write a poem, and then rush into matrimony, just three days avant de partir! I decide to live if possible; if not, to die beautifully. November — Coetquidan, artillery training came in Brittany, France. Assigned as Radio Officer — don’t know radio from reveille, but have a good Sergeant under me. Judge Advocate — nasty work.
1918: January — attend British Artillery School near St Pol IVth Army. Very soft. Learn that a British officer is a gentleman even when drunk — but Americans (?). February — St. Marguerite, near Soissons. Rejoin regiment life in "chambre des rats" — air raids and mud. Became balloon observer attached to French VIIIth Army Corps. Don’t observe much. Learn that it takes four minutes to come down a la parachute, and is not bad if you don’t think of the possibility of the belly-band slipping. March — On the road — billeting officer — can put the Colonel where I want him — sanitary hay for privates — old bags for Majors — fair damoiselles for my friends. April — Toul Sector — assistant to Regimental Adjutant at Boucq at time of Seicheprey fuss. Am involved in nothing but the noise. May — home again. Assigned radio instructor at Camp Jackson, S. C. Am at last promoted to 1st Lieutenant, Sept., 1918. November — in charge of liaison work of 14th F. A. Brigade, Camp Custer, Mich.
1919: January — the soft life is over. Discharged (I trust honorably) and back at Harvard with better half. Process of study and domestication. Two rooms — electric cooker — infinite bliss. June — Ph. D. In psychology — folks all very proud. Languishing summer in Cambridge. September — transition from student to teacher.
(7) Handing out considerable bull myself now — students call me "sir" just like when I was in the army. Am an instructor, an aspirant to a definite seat on the faculty — sometime — but that’s up to President Lowell.
