Conklin, Sherman Lindsley
edited by Alissa Renales, Juan Martinez Aviles, Elijah McDaniel, Steven Mai
Mss: 
https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3MC92RK
Biographical note
Sherman Lindsley Conklin (RC 1916) was born January 26, 1894 in Fairfield, New Jersey, to Reverend John Woodruff Conklin (1851-1909) and Elizabeth Jane Lindsley (1852-1937). He was the youngest of four siblings; brothers Robert and Archie were also in service. Known as “Cub” by his friends, Conklin engaged in a long list of social and sporting activities while at Rutgers: football, swimming, Glee Club, editor at the Targum, member of the Junior Prom Committee, the Interscholastic Debating Committee, the Delta Upsilon fraternity, and so on.
At over six feet tall, Conklin’s physical size undoubtedly helped in his role as ambulance driver for the American Field Service. Break-downs and blown-out tires were frequent, for the roads were in ruins from the constant artillery fire and rain. All of the American ambulance sections were on duty with the French Army. Consequently, many in the Ambulance Corps came to adopt French terminology in their writing, speaking of blessés for wounded and ambulanciers for drivers. The unforgiving task of evacuating the injured from the Front meant the Ambulance Corps experienced a casualty rate second only to infantry.
Conklin was known as the poet and scribe of his section, Section Sanitaire (États-)Unis (SSU) 635, writing frequently for the American Field Service Bulletin. His comrade J. B. Calvo described him as indefatigable, kind, generous, and utterly devoted to duty. Conklin clearly saw the fate that would await him, composing many poems of both a serious and humorous nature, like “A Military Graveyard” and “The Song of Dead Ambulance Men.”
After a retreat from the Chemin des Dames that began on May 27, 1918, Conklin’s ambulance section went back over disputed territory with a French dismounted calvary division. While the section was in Montgobert on June 12, Conklin’s friend and comrade John (“Nip”) Nazel was shot through the leg by machine gun fire, and shortly thereafter, Conklin himself was hit in the head (or neck—accounts differ) by a shell fragment, dying instantly. Nip was the very same friend whom Conklin had saved a few months prior from a gasoline fire by smothering him with his own body, and for which Conklin was awarded the Croix de Guerre. While both Conklin and Nazel recovered from their burns in that incident, Conklin would not return from the attack in Montgobert. A distinguishing element of Conklin’s file is a letter of condolence to his mother, signed by every member of SSU 635, including many who were still recuperating in the hospital. His remains are in the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery.
Conklin’s parents were missionaries for the Reformed Church and had spent seven years in India. His older sister, Elisabeth Woodruff Conklin, was born in 1885 in Madras, India. Devotion to duty (or a desire to keep occupied) clearly ran in the family, as Conklin’s mother moves about constantly through her correspondence with Silvers about the obituary to appear in the Rutgers Alumni Quarterly. In the fall of 1918, she invites Silvers to write to her at the International Institute of San Antonio, Texas, where presumably she was assisting the YWCA with women and girls of different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds.
Say, give us the ghost of an ambulance and let us drive away / Somewhere, where there’s an angel-fight, and there, by the Lord, we’ll stay.
Sources
- Lévêque, Guillaume. 2009. “Le Service de santé aux armées pendant la Première Guerre mondiale.” La Cliothèque. January 4, 2009.
- "Rutgers Graduate Who Saved Life of Friend in France and Won Coveted Croix de Guerre for Bravery Under Fire is Resting Comfortably in Hospital," The Central New Jersey Home News (New Brunswick, New Jersey), March 3, 1918, p. 13.
- "Rutgers Man Falls While in Action," The Central New Jersey Home News (New Brunswick, New Jersey), July 11, 1918, p. 1.
- Seymour, James William Davenport, ed. 1920. History of the American Field Service in France. Vol. 3. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Subject tags
Elizabeth J. Lindsley to Earl Reed Silvers, November 25, 1917
NEWARK N.J.
NOV25 1917
10—PM
THIS SIDE OF CARD IS FOR ADDRESS
Rutgers College
New Brunswick N. J.
(Mrs)
, Newark
Various to Elizabeth J. Lindsley, June 17, 1918
Copy
S.S.U.NO. 635
June 17th 1918.
My dear Mrs. :
We, the members of whose privilege it has been to work with for many happy months, desire to convey to you our deepest sympathy. To have known Sherman was to have loved him, and this we all did and,we think, he returned our affection, so that we also have suffered a great loss. Sherman's unfailing good nature, his ready sympathy and his eagerness to be always doing something for someone else, were to us all. In all the time we have known "Cub", as we called him, not one of us ever heard him say one word in anger noe [sic] express even one unkind thought of anyone. Indeed, the memory of his great heart and larger nature will always remain one of our most cherished possessions. Our sorrow and our loss are too great to be conveyed in words, but we want you to know how much we loved Sherman, and that we can never forget him. We shall be always guided by the example he set us, and when we most miss him, we shall try to remember that his call found him ready and unafraid to answer, and that he gave his life in the greatest work of this great cause, the relief of pain and torture. If we could be of any service at all to you, please let us know.Sincerely,
Ethelbert D. Warfield, Jr. R.B.Johnson, James W.D.Seymour,
William A.Edwards, Albert L.Gandy, James F.Hunter, Berbard A. Bridget
Chas.M.Peck, John K. Tellien, Hugh Ward Lutz,
James Palmer, William W. McCarthy Carleton Day Wright,
John V.Ward,Jr., Edmund J. Coolidge, John C. Farmer, Samuel Bernstein,
Chester McArthur, C. Hayne Walton, Charles S. Richardson,
Guy C.Bishop, Walter G. Garritt, William H.Richards,
Gouverneur Smyth, Edwin W. Gheer, Charles H. Christian, J. DeWitt Toll, Jr.,
W.B. Wood, Lewis W. Mustard,Jr., William P. Church, James F. Hunter, J.P Fletcher
(over)
Howard W.Vander Voorth, J.P. Fletcher, .
1st Lieut. B. K Niftel.
John M. Nazel,(in hospital),
Sidney M.Eddy, " "
Herbert Harvey, " "
Robert Ogden, (in Officers' School).
Do not return
Elizabeth J. Lindsley to Earl Reed Silvers, n.d.
Woman's Board of Foreign Missions,
REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA.
Editor of THE MISSION GLEANER,
Mrs. John W. Conklin,
247 Belleville Ave., Newark, N.J.
My dear Annie —
has a Captain’s Commission!
EJC
J. B. Pelletier to Elizabeth J. Lindsley, August 5, 1918
August 5, 1918.
Madam,
It is a Catholic Chaplain attached to the who addresses these lines to you. Kindly pardon me; but I thought you might be happy to know that he who writes you this was with your son when the shell exploded. I liked very much, so serious a nature and so artistic a soul. We were rapidly becoming friends in spite of the fact that our acquaintance was so recent. Your son, Madam was very conjenial [sic] to me. We happened upon one another before , in the forest not far from . We were chatting peacefully in spite of the shells that were exploding around us. Alas! It was to be our last conversation. A shell fell in our midst and several men were struck, among them your dear son. After the first shock, I went to him, made the sign of the cross upon his forehead as a last benediction and repeated a prayer in the name of his mother. Your son, Madam, was as though he slept. Some of the men unfortunately were wounded: . After having carried these off with the assistance of , a friend of Herman's [sic], I returned I did my utmost to bring the body of our poor comrade to his American friends who buried him at . These particulars, Madam, may be of interest to you. Permit a Catholic priest to express to you, Madam, his feelings of sincere condolence. May God be with you in your great sorrow.Kindly accept, Madam, the assurance of my deep and religious respect.
(Signed)
, S.J.
Charles Peck to Elizabeth J. Lindsley, August 16, 1918
Aug. 16, 1918
My dear Mrs. Conklin,—
I cannot express my regard for the bravery of you have sacrificed so much more than a mere physical life. I know appreciates it with all the vividness of his present understanding. Nothing could have been nearer to Sherman’s desire concerning, if necessary, than were the actual circumstances. He was waiting for his load of wounded at our farthest post in front of the village of , a little north of the . At the time he was speaking to a French priest who is attached to one of the regiments. The shell struck in the midst of the little group killing Sherman instantly and wounding several others. He died as he had wished with a smile on his lips, and for the lives of the men who fall. The body was laid at rest the next day in the little village cemetery of and the spot is marked with a cross. The French Catholic mass was read while cannon roared in the valley at one side and shrapnel burst over the other side. Our hearts are all with you in your great sacrifice, tho' we can express our sympathy only in clumsy words.Very sincerely yours,
Elisabeth W. Conklin to Earl Reed Silvers, September 12, 1918
Newark, N.J.
Sept. 12, 1918.
Mr. ,
New Brunswick, N.J.
My dear Mr. Silvers,
The original of the above came to Mother in this morning’s mail, and I am hurrying it at once to you, if you can and care to, include it with the letters Mother has already sent. I am also enclosing the original of a letter from the priest to whom Sherman was speaking at the time. As I am unfamiliar with French, I dare not copy it. Of course you realize how very precious this letter is to us, and I know you will not let it go out of your hands, and will return it at once to us, please. And may I ask that you have it translated very accurately please, for in the article the "Home News", — "blessè" [sic] was toYours sincerely,
'Miss.'
P.S. If you cannot use the enclosed snap [?] shot taken the day before, please return it at once to us, in the enclosed envelope. E. W. ConklinEarl Reed Silvers to Elizabeth J. Lindsley, September 3, 1918
September 3,1918.
Mrs. J. W. Conklin,
,
Newark, N.J.
Dear Mrs. Conklin,
We are anxious to have Sherman's picture in the October issue of the together with a full account of his life and death. We shall be very grateful if you will send us a photograph of him; also whatever details you may have about his death. perhaps a letter or two from his comrades, or a letter from Sherman himself. Everything will be well taken care of and returned to you undamaged within a week of its receipt. Sherman's death was a big shock to his many friends at the college. His life was so full of promise that it seemed wrong, somehow, to have it cut off so abruptly. But it must be a world of comfort to you to have had such a son. I am sure that he died with a smile on his lips, and with the knowledge that he had not made so splendid a sacrifice in vain. We Rutgers men are very proud of him.Very sincerely yours,
Elizabeth J. Lindsley to Earl Reed Silvers, September 9, 1918
Glastonbury, Conn. Sept 9. 1918
My dear Mr , —
I am very sorry for this delay, but I have not been home and your letter has just reached me — I will send at once this evening or tomorrow morning, a photograph of Sherman — with copies of letters from the section and from him. I cannot[2]
get them together just now in time for this mail — but will send them within twenty four hours. I know your time is limited if you need copy for the October number. I have sent to the for a copy of the June issue containing[3]
six poems by Sherman. It is to come to you direct. I cannot think of Sherman as gone. He has not gone for I know he is very near me all the time.Yours very sincerely
Elizabeth J Conklin
Newark, N.J.
Earl Reed Silvers to Elizabeth J. Lindsley, September 27, 1918
September 27 1 9 1 8
Mrs. J. W. Conklin
,
Newark, N.J.
My dear Mrs. Conklin:
Owing to the unusual pressure of business accompanying the opening of college I have been unable to have the enclosed letter translated until now. I am, however, sending you a translation which was made by of our faculty. Thank you very much for your kindness in sending it to us.Very sincerely yours,
Enc.
Elizabeth J. Lindsley to Earl Reed Silvers, October 4, 1918
My dear Mr. —
Thank you for the letter ＆ translation from the French Priest.— Will you send us at least one dozen copies of the Alumni Quarterly and let us know the cost? If before Oct. 12 — at . After that my address will beThanking you for your kindness, I am
Yours sincerely
Elizabeth J Conklin
OctoberElizabeth J. Lindsley to Earl Reed Silvers, October 6, 1918
October 6. 1918
My dear Mr. —
I am sorry to trouble you — but can you return the photograph used in making the cut? It’s the only one I have of that kind. & it would take some time to replace it —Yours sincerely,
Elizabeth J Conklin
I am leaving for Texas on the 12' but mail sent to 313 Summer Ave, Newark will reach meEarl Reed Silvers to Elizabeth J. Lindsley, October 10, 1918
October 10 1 9 1 8
Mrs. Elizabeth J. Conklin,
,
Newark,N. J.
My dear Mrs. Conklin:
I am sending you under separate cover Sherman's picture. I am sorry that I have not returned it sooner but it has been necessary to hold it in order to have the cut made.Very sincerely yours,
Earl Reed Silvers to Elisabeth W. Conklin, January 2, 1919
January 2,1919
,
313 Summer Avenue
Newark, N.J.
My dear Miss Conklin:—
Thank you very much for your letter of December 22nd enclosing check for $4.00 for the Alumni Quarterlies which were sent you. I hope you do not mind, but I am returning your check. It is very good of you to send it but the Alumni Quarterly is at present self—supporting and we are only too glad to be able to serve in sending to Sherman's family copies of the magazine containing his 'In Memoriam' article. It is very little that we can do but I trust we can do that much for him. I am rather at a loss as to how to answer definetely your question about securing copies of the . If you will give me allittle [sic] time I shall try to find out the best way in which we may gather together all of Sherman's writings. I shall try very hard to find some way which will not necessitate yur [sic] coming to New Brunswick and doing the work yourself and shall write you just as soon as I can conveniently arrange things. Under separate cover is going six copies of the Quarterly to .Very sincerely yours,
Elizabeth J. Lindsley to Earl Reed Silvers, January 24, 1919
135 East French Place
San Antonio
Texas
January 24, 1919
My dear Mr. —
It was very kind to let us have all of those copies of the Quarterly, and I cannot half thank you — I feel as if I should not ask for any more copies without paying for them — There are so many of Sherman's friends, who would not see the Quarterly to whom I want to send copies — I am thinking of the men in his Ambulance Section in France, and of others. Would it be possible for us to have more copies? I will be so glad to pay for them with kind regards & thanks for your great kindness, and memories of hearing of happy hours Sherman spent with you [?]I am
yours sincerely
Sherman's mother
Elizabeth J Conklin
Earl Reed Silvers to Elizabeth J. Lindsley, January 31, 1919
January 31, 1919
Mrs.Elizabeth J. Conklin
San Antonia [sic], Texas
Dear Mrs. Conklin;—
I would gladly send you fifty copies of the October issue of the Quarterly if we had them, but calls have been so frequent and many that there are only twenty left. For college records and filing purposes, we should really have more than that number. I think, however, that by dropping a line to a few of Sherman’s classmates, I can gather a few extra copies together. Under separate cover I am mailing you six. Please do not bother about their cost. I am very sorry that I cannot send you a great many more. Just as soon as things are straightened out here at the college, I shall take up the matter of collecting . What a splendid tribute to him appeared in the current Christian Intelligencer.Sincerely yours,