Rouge Bouquet is a part of the Forêt de Parroy near the village of Baccarat, France. It was the site of a German artillery bombardment of American trench positions on 7 March 1918 at 15:20 on the Chausailles sector of the Western Front during World War I.[1] [2] The bombardment resulted in the burial of 21 men of the 165th Infantry Regiment (originally the 69th Regiment of the New York National Guard), 42nd Rainbow Division of whom only a few survived. The 22 men, including their platoon commander 1st Lieutenant John Norman, were assembled in a dugout when a German artillery shell landed on the roof of the dugout. Major William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan quickly began a rescue attempt to dig the men out, but the effort were hampered by mud-slides and continued enemy shelling.[2] [3] Two men were rescued and five dead were recovered before efforts had to be halted. The voices of other men could be heard for a while, but the remaining fifteen men died before rescue efforts could resume.[3] Donovan was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for his actions during the attempted rescue.[3]
Poet and literary critic Joyce Kilmer, a corporal at that time, wrote the 1918 poem "Rouge Bouquet" (also called "The Wood Called Rouge Bouquet") as a eulogy to commemorate the soldiers in his regiment who died.[4] [3] The poem was first read by Chaplain Francis Duffy at "the funeral service held at the collapsed dugout, the tomb of the regiment's first men slain in battle" a few days later.[5] [3] It first appeared in print in the American servicemen's newspaper Stars and Stripes—published two weeks after Kilmer died in combat in the Second Battle of the Marne on 30 July 1918.[6] [7] [8]