{"id":2278,"date":"2017-08-10T16:36:43","date_gmt":"2017-08-10T22:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/?page_id=2278"},"modified":"2023-12-08T15:39:28","modified_gmt":"2023-12-08T22:39:28","slug":"john-mcgavock-grider","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/the-biographies\/john-mcgavock-grider\/","title":{"rendered":"John McGavock Grider"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

(Sans Souci, Arkansas, May 28, 1892 \u2013 near Houplines, France, June 18, 1918).1<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Oxford<\/a>\u00a0\u272f\u00a0 Grantham<\/a> \u00a0 \u272f\u00a0 Thetford & London Colney<\/a>\u00a0 \u272f\u00a0 Turnberry, Ayr, Hounslow<\/a>\u00a0 \u272f\u00a0 With No. 85 R.A.F.<\/a><\/p>\n

Grider grew up at the family home and farm, Sans Souci, on the Mississippi in northeast Arkansas. His great-great-grandfather, John Harding, had purchased thousands of acres on the west side of the Mississippi in Arkansas in the early 1830s. He presented a large parcel to his grandson, John Harding McGavock, when the latter married in 1853. McGavock and his bride, Georgia A. Moore, saw the erection of an elegant house on the property, and Sans Souci became a prosperous and profitable plantation. During the Civil War the house was used as a hospital for Union soldiers. There were hard times after the war for McGavock\u2019s widow and his only surviving child, Susan John McGavock. However, by the time Susan married William Henry Grider in 1880, the outlook had improved. Their children, John McGavock Grider and his two sisters, Josephine and Georgia, were born into a land-rich southern family in a house and on land to which they were deeply attached.2<\/a><\/p>\n

Grider\u2019s mother died in 1901. The previous year, the family had purchased a house in Memphis, thirty-five miles to the south, \u201cthat the children might go to school,\u201d and at some point Grider began studying at the college preparatory Memphis University School.3<\/a> In Memphis he met Marguerite Samuels; they were married in 1909. A first son was born in November of the following year, and a second in 1912.4<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The
The front of Grider’s draft registration form. The other side indicates he is of medium height; his eyes are blue, and his hair color “light.” He is described as “stout,” which on the evidence of photos, did not mean “fat.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Grider registered for the draft on June 1, 1917, he was divorced and had returned to Sans Souci to farm part of the family land. About three weeks later, having made financial arrangements for his lands and crops with a partner, Gene Farley, and with a friend at the local bank, Emma Cox, Grider was in Champaign, Illinois, beginning a course at the University of Illinois\u2019s School of Military Aeronautics<\/a>.5<\/a> His acceptance in the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps had been facilitated by Jacob McGavock Dickinson, a relative on his mother\u2019s side who had been Secretary of War under Taft.6<\/a><\/p>\n

Grider had his first taste of flying around June 25, 1917, when an instructor took him up: \u201cI got so used to flying in so short a time, that I had the feeling that if I got out of the car I couldn\u2019t hardly fall but would float down like a leaf.\u201d He goes on: \u201cNow I am studying trig day and night, trying to make good on the lie I told about college.\u201d7<\/a>\u00a0He succeeded. Grider\u2019s class<\/a> graduated August 25, 1917, and, according to him, he was one of only seven \u201cchosen for this expedition\u201d to Italy.8<\/a> That only seven were originally chosen is corroborated by a remark in a letter of his classmate, Marvin Kent Curtis (\u201cI was one of only seven picked to come to Mineola\u201d).9<\/a>\u00a0 The opening diary entry in War Birds<\/i>\u00a0recounts how Laurence Kingsley Callahan, with whom Grider had roomed at Champaign, was originally bound for France, but was added to Grider\u2019s group, with strings pulled by Grider and Elliott White Springs. In the end, a total of twelve of the twenty-nine men who graduated August 25, 1917<\/a>, from the S.M.A. at Champaign set sail from New York on the\u00a0Carmania<\/i>, on September 18, 1917, as members of the 150-man strong \u201cItalian\u201d or \u201csecond Oxford detachment,\u201d bound, as they thought, for Italy.<\/p>\n

Grider, like a number of members of the detachment, kept a diary (among the sources Springs later used when he wrote\u00a0War Birds<\/i>): \u201cThis is the damn fool diary of a son of the South & of rest. I hope he don\u2019t weaken & forget to write in it.\u201d10<\/a>\u00a0Grider wrote the first entry on September 20, 1917, when the\u00a0Carmania<\/i> was at Halifax, preparing to join a convoy for the Atlantic crossing: \u201cWe are 150 aviators in embryo commanded by Major [Leslie] MacDill who every one of us loves.\u201d Grider shared a stateroom with Callahan\u2014the detachment was travelling first class, a perquisite credited variously to MacDill and to Fiorello La Guardia, who was travelling with them. The latter undertook to teach the men Italian, with, in Grider\u2019s case, limited success: \u201cI am getting tired of this damn Italian I cant understand a damn word of it yet and wont ever be able to I know.\u201d11<\/a>\u00a0 The men had no real obligations until about a week into the voyage, when they were tasked with keeping submarine watch. \u201c[N]ervousness has been growing for the last few days about subs. . . . We have had to wear our life preservers ever since yesterday morning. They are damn uncomfortable too I can tell you.\u201d12<\/a> On September 29, 1918, they welcomed the presence of a guard of destroyers as they approached land: \u201cEvery body felt funny until this evening about 4.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. I went up on deck and the sea was swarming with Submarine chasers. Lord how happy every one was at the sight of them.\u201d13<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Oxford<\/a><\/p>\n

When the\u00a0Carmania<\/i>\u00a0docked at Liverpool on October 2, 1917, the cadets learned that their Italian lessons had been for naught, as they were to stay in England for their training. There was initially considerable grumbling about this change of plans, particularly when the cadets (as they were now called) realized that they would not begin flying immediately but would be put through ground school again. However, England in autumn soon cast its spell. Grider was enchanted with the countryside rolling past as the train took the cadets from Liverpool to Oxford. His farming background is evident in his October 3, 1917, diary entry: \u201cThe greenest fields imaginable and no fences just hedges & occasionally a stone wall. We did see some fences too but very few & they were boards no wire. I think the biggest field I saw was about 60 acres & they ranged down to 1 \u00bd & two acres. Most of the fields were pasture land or seemed so. They were covered with this intensley [sic<\/i>] green grass. I saw a good many hay stacks so I guess they must cut this grass to cure it. In fact I saw some fields freshly cut.\u201d14<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A
The cover of Marse John Goes to War, the biography and edition of Grider’s letters published in 1933 by his sister, Josephine Grider Jacobs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From Oxford Grider wrote his banker friend Cox: \u201cNo flying yet. We have another ground school here and our hopes of Italy are dead. The latest is, we will fly in Egypt, but there are so many rumors flying around that you can\u2019t tell anything positive. Our work is as easy as can be.\u201d15<\/a> They were now at the Royal Flying Corps\u2019s No. 2 School of Military Aeronautics at Oxford University in a holding pattern until places were available at training squadrons. Grider gravitated to fellow southerners: he shared a room at Christ Church College with Springs of South Carolina, James Whitworth Stokes of Nashville, and Callahan (from Chicago, but from an old Kentucky family).16<\/a> With an undemanding schedule Grider was able to explore Oxford and made several bicycle rides into the countryside, on one occasion visiting Blenheim with Callahan, Marvin Kent Curtis, and Charles Edward Brown.17<\/a> He also apparently enjoyed tea at Sir William and Lady Osler\u2019s (\u201cI went to tea at Lady Somebody\u2019s house yesterday\u201d18<\/a>).<\/p>\n

A fair amount of alcohol was consumed. Grider, in the course of describing the dining hall at Christ Church College, wrote in his diary (the all caps are his): \u201cWE HAVE CHAMPAIGN [sic<\/i>] with our meals,\u201d19<\/a>\u00a0and his diary entry for October 22, 1917, provides an account of Walter Andrew Stahl\u2019s bibulous birthday party, which was in part responsible for all the American cadets being relocated from Christ Church and Queen\u2019s Colleges to Exeter College.<\/p>\n

The powers that were at American Aviation Headquarters in London and at the Royal Flying Corps continued to look for ways to occupy the cadets.\u00a0 Places for twenty men became available at Stamford\u2019s No. 1 Training Depot Station in early November, and Springs, charged with selection, chose mainly men who, like himself, already had flying experience. The remaining men, including Grider, went to machine gun school at Harrowby Camp near Grantham in Lincolnshire, with the exception of Stokes, who, according to the November 6, 1917, entry in War Birds<\/i>, remained behind to be operated on for appendicitis; according to Grider\u2019s diary entry for that day Stokes was \u201cin the hospital at Oxford for Hernia.\u201d Grider wrote to Cox in early November that he \u201chad a chance to stay here [Oxford] and accept a non-flying commission, be a supply officer attached to a flying squadron.\u201d Presumably this option was offered to all the other cadets; as far as I can tell, all, like Grider, \u201cturned it down cold.\u201d20<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Grantham<\/a><\/p>\n

At Grantham Frederick Joseph Stillman, Jr., was \u201cin charge and I am now a platoon leader and eat at the head table with the other NCO\u2019s and the english officers.\u201d21<\/a> Grider shared a hut with Leslie A. A. Benson, Callahan, Thomas John Herbert, Clarence Horn Fry, Finley Austin Morrison, Joseph Raymond Payden, and John Howard Raftery22<\/a>; he missed \u201cold Jim Stokes and Springs. [T]his is the first split I guess it will be pretty tough to part from all the boys and I know it will be hell when the hun starts bumping us off.\u201d23<\/a>\u00a0Classes and machine gun practice occupied a good deal of time, but weekends were free for trips to Nottingham<\/a>, the nearest large town, which the cadets found notable for its large population of unattached women.<\/p>\n

In mid-November Grider wrote Cox that \u201cWe have been on the range all day and I am as deaf as a post. I feel as cheery as can be, however, there is a brand new rumor and it sounds good. 50 of us will be posted to a squadron next week!\u201d24<\/a> This rumor turned out to be true\u2014\u201cThis is the final bust up of our old \u2018Italian Detachment\u2019\u201d25<\/a>\u2014but before leaving Grantham, Grider, on November 18, 1917, enjoyed \u201cthe best day I have spent in England.\u201d He \u201cWent out to Stokes Castle this noon for dinner and stayed for tea. . . . I met a Mrs. Chapin out there from Louisiana. She is a real sure enough old Southern aristocrat. She reminded me so much of Granma. . . . I surely enjoyed talking to her. It was like a visit home. She gave me her address in London and I surely am going to look her up. She made me promise that from now on we are fast friends. She is really a wonderful old Lady. She said I was like her brother. The description of her brother was quite flattering.\u201d26<\/a>\u00a0The woman Grider met was Ad\u00e8le Le Bourgeois Chapin, who was staying with the Christopher Turnors at their Lincolnshire home, Stoke Rochford<\/a>, just south of Grantham, and enjoying a respite from her work directing the American Hospital for English Soldiers at Caenwood Towers in north London. She later, in her memoirs, recalled meeting Grider: \u201cIt was on one of our visits to the Turnors that a young American airman from Arkansas came to Stoke. I was much attracted by his Southern speech, . . . He had a vivid, amusing way of putting things. I remember at luncheon a distinguished guest asked him in a rather formal and pompous manner what he thought of England. And he said: \u2018I think it\u2019s the prettiest little country I ever saw. I\u2019d like to put it in my pocket and take it home with me\u2019.\u201d27<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Thetford and London Colney<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
The men posted to Thetford, as recorded by Fremont Cutler Foss in his diary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The day after this visit to Stoke Rochford fifty of the men were dispersed to various R.F.C. training stations, and Grider was one of ten posted to Thetford in Norfolk. The short journey from Grantham to Thetford took over six hours, as the men missed their connection at Peterborough; Grider took advantage of the delay to see Peterborough Cathedral where he was much impressed by the fan vaulting.28<\/a><\/p>\n

Once at Thetford, the men were assigned to No. 25 and No. 12 Training Squadrons there. Curtis wrote his father from No. 12 T.S. at Thetford that the \u201cboys here with me are Grider, the Arkansas boy you met in N.Y., Callahan of Chicago, Brown of Lake Forest, and Fry, of Columbia, Tenn.\u201d29<\/a> In a letter to his sister dated November 26, 1917, Grider wrote that \u201cI am posted to a squadron at last and fly whenever the weather permits, which isn\u2019t often.\u201d He goes on to describe the training planes, Maurice Farman S.11 Shorthorns or \u201cRumpties,\u201d and then flying itself: \u201cIt\u2019s beautiful to see a sunset from about five thousand feet, you cannot imagine anything like it. You wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see God any time. I absolutely can\u2019t describe it.\u201d30<\/a> \u201cI am now learning the gentle art of looping, spinning, turning side slips, tail slides, flat spins and vertical banks.\u00a0.\u00a0. . My only objection to flying at all is the loneliness. You stay up an hour and thirty minutes and come down expecting to find all of your friends married and raising large families.\u201d31<\/a><\/p>\n

Not long after his arrival at Thetford, Grider had some leave and, prompted by the need to have his teeth seen to, made what was apparently his first visit to London: \u201cThat London is some town.\u201d32<\/a> He made friends and partied with theater people; he was also invited to lunch at the Belgravia residence of Irwin Boyle Laughlin, secretary of the American Embassy.33<\/a><\/p>\n

On December 6, 1917, Grider noted in his diary that \u201cI have been flying the last 3 days & Capt Harrison says I can solo tomorrow if its [sic<\/i>] calm. I tell you it is a great great life. I am absolutely ruined for anything else I wish I could describe it. The thing most surprising to me is your feeling of complete safety. I have put in 2 hours 30 mins & made about twenty five landings I would have soloed this evening if I hadnt [sic<\/i>] made two awful landings.\u201d It wasn\u2019t long after that he finished \u201cmy four hours solo on rumpteys and am done with them for ever.\u201d34<\/a> On December 16, 1917, along with Callahan, he was assigned to No. 56 T.S. at London Colney, near St. Alban\u2019s.35<\/a><\/p>\n

The proximity to London was welcome; on the occasion of one of many parties there \u201cWe had the cast of \u2018Cheep\u2019 up in our suite at Savoy & they brought Lord somebody with them. Cal sallommmed before him & I shook hands & said Howdy Jesus. He was very much shocked.\u201d36<\/a> On January 13, 1918, Springs, who had been at Stamford since early November, reported to London Colney; Grider, Springs, and Callahan\u2014the \u201cthree musketeers\u201d\u2014were back together.37<\/a><\/p>\n

By early February 1918, Grider had \u201cabout 8 hours dual and 13 hours solo to my credit having about nine hours solo on avros. I have looped many times. And today I rolled an avro rather a difficult thing to do I am told. I cant do really good vertical turns yet but I am learning and hope to get by soon onto Pups.\u201d38<\/a>\u00a0The next day he did his altitude test: \u201cWent up through thick clouds to 8000 feet and damn near froze. The buss was covered with ice where it had been wet by the clouds coming up. The sky up there was the bluest I ever saw. Absolutely glassy blue with just a few cirrus clouds about five miles up. Snow white and this beautiful snow white plain [sic<\/i>] of clouds beneath me. I could see I know at least 100 miles.\u201d39<\/a><\/p>\n

By the end of February, Grider had completed the first stage of his R.F.C. training and was entitled to several days leave, which he took in Bournemouth.40<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Around the same time he qualified for a commission, and Pershing\u2019s cable recommending a first-lieutenancy is dated March 5, 1918.41<\/a> Meanwhile, along with Curtis and others, he served as a pall-bearer at the funeral of Joseph Frederick Stillman, Jr., who had died on February 23, 1918, some two weeks after a crash at London Colney.42<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Turnberry, Ayr, Hounslow<\/a><\/p>\n

Sometime in the first half of March Grider travelled to Scotland where he initially attended aerial gunnery school at Turnberry: \u201cThis is a wonderful place! The flying corps has taken over this wonderful summer hotel<\/a> and we are billeted in it. My window overlooks<\/a> the sad sea waves on one side, and on the other, one of the most famous golf courses in the world.\u201d He goes on to note that he had \u201cput in about twelve hours on the meanest thing with wings, known as a \u2018Spad\u2019.\u201d43<\/a> From Turnberry Grider went to the School of Aerial Fighting at Ayr, apparently sometime before March 20, 1918.44<\/a>\u00a0There he would have trained on S.E.5s.<\/p>\n

Springs, also at Ayr, wrote in his diary for March 25, 1918, \u201cMac [Grider] gets orders to depart for overseas. I go down to London with him.\u201d45<\/a> Springs was determined that he, Grider, and Callahan should remain together and on April 1, 1918\u2014the day Grider learned he had received his commission\u2014Springs was able to write of his success in his diary: the three of them were assigned to No. 85 Squadron R.A.F., an S.E.5a squadron that, under the command of Billy Bishop, was at Hounslow preparing to depart for France.46<\/a>\u00a0It appears that Grider arrived at Hounslow on or before March 29, 1918. Eugene Hoy Barksdale notes in his diary for that day: \u201cMac Grider came over [to London Colney] from Hounslow in Avro and took 2nd<\/sup>\u00a0Lt Webber (American) up for a flip and put wind up him properly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grider wrote to Cox on May 10, 1918, from Maidenhead\u2014a town west of and within easy flying distance of Hounslow\u2014about his commission and reported that \u201cThree of us, \u2018The Three Musketeers,\u2019 are stationed in London, or almost, and have been living in a house in Berkeley Square.\u201d \u201cWe are in the squadron we want to be in and all three together. . . . We are going with the fastest, keenest crowd in London, and I have gotten away with the handsomest, most charming and sought after girl in the drove\u201d; this was the actress Billie Carlton. In the same letter he remarks that \u201cWe are getting a good deal of flying now\u201d and goes on to recount a crash in a Sopwith Pup in which he was not injured, but the plane was \u201cwritten off.\u201d47<\/a>\u00a0In the same letter, he laments the death of Fry, who had been with him at Thetford and London Colney: \u201cEmma, I lost one of my best friends last week, a boy named Clarence Fry from Columbia, Tennessee. Killed in a Spad.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. Poor fellow, one of the\u00a0very best<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>With No. 85 Squadron R.A.F.<\/a><\/p>\n

On May 22, 1918, the pilots of No. 85 Squadron set off in S.E.5a\u2019s for Lympne, not far from Dover. From Lympne they crossed the Channel to Marquise, and then flew to Petite Synthe near Dunkirk.48<\/a> Grider and the other pilots of No. 85 spent until the end of May familiarizing themselves with the area and practicing gunnery. On May 26, 1918, Grider wrote that \u201cI started over to have a look at the Great War today, when my engine cut out at twelve thousand feet.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. Major Bishop was taking Springs and me over before anybody else and of course I had this kind of luck.\u201d49<\/a> When the squadron became operational on June 1, 1918, they flew patrols down to Ypres and escorted bombers into Belgium. On June 8, 1918, \u201cMac distinguished himself by filling a Hun full of lead bullets\u201d; both Springs and Grider provide lively accounts of this \u201cdog fight.\u201d Although the German plane was last seen \u201cdiving vertically to the ground\u201d (Grider), \u201cheaded towards his future home and breaking all records\u201d (Springs), it was not seen to crash, and Grider apparently did not receive credit.50<\/a><\/p>\n

On June 10, 1918, the squadron was ordered south to St. Omer, where they arrived the next day; their patrols now extended from Ypres south to Nieppe. Assuming Grider flew the same patrols as Springs, he flew a practice patrol on June 12, and then was over the lines every or nearly every day thereafter. On June 17, 1918, Grider, by Springs\u2019s account, shared credit with Springs and Callahan for shooting down a two-seater. They had gone out on a patrol as a threesome just before 7 a.m. and encountered the lone enemy plane ten miles inside the German lines south of Merris.51<\/a><\/p>\n

\"An
This report is signed by William Avery “Billy” Bishop, who this same day was ordered back to England.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next morning the three set off again. Callahan turned back with engine trouble. After another encounter with an enemy two-seater near Menin (Belgian Menen, about twelve miles east northeast of Armenti\u00e8res), Springs made it back through clouds to the aerodrome, but Grider did not. Springs wrote several accounts of this patrol, in his flight log, his diary, an undated narrative, a letter home, and a letter to Grider\u2019s sister. Details vary, but the essence is always the same: Grider was following Springs back towards the lines and then disappeared from view.52<\/a><\/p>\n

A casualty report was filed with the information that Grider had left at 9:15 a.m. and that he was \u201clast seen over enemy Lines near Menin by Lieut Springs, who with Grider had engaged an E.A. No conjecture as to fate.\u201d Springs claimed a German two-seater plane over Menin at 10:05, which suggests an approximate time for his last sighting of Grider.53<\/a><\/p>\n

According to Grider\u2019s sister Josephine, Grider\u2019s father received a telegram on June 21, 1918, informing him that his son was missing.54<\/a> On July 11, 1918, he received a letter dated June 19, 1918, from 85’s acting C.O., George Brindley Aufrere Baker, holding out the possibility that Grider was a prisoner of war.55<\/a> Springs, recuperating in Paris from injuries sustained in a crash landing, tried to get news of Grider through the Red Cross around July 25, 1918, without success.56<\/a>\u00a0But at the very end of the month, reassigned to the U.S. 148th<\/sup> Aero at Capelle, Springs wrote his father that \u201cNews has been received that Mac Grider was killed in action but we can\u2019t figure how.\u201d57<\/a> There is another letter to Grider\u2019s father from Captain Baker dated August 14, 1918: \u201c.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0you will have learned that the worst, I fear, has befallen your son.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. We had hoped with hopes we thought well founded that he was alive, but it seems from a message dropped over the lines, that although the name was misspelled, the name referred to was his.\u201d58<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A
One of casualty cards for Grider at the RAF Museum in London. It was usual to designate U.S. pilots “Colonials.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A casualty card for Grider includes the notation: \u201cReport from B. M. Mission states this Officer was brought down dead on the 18th<\/sup>\u00a0June \u201918 near Houplin. No further information to hand.\u201d A second casualty card has the notation: \u201ckilled between Houplin and Armantieres [sic<\/i>].\u201d59<\/a> \u201cHouplin\u201d was presumably Houplines, less than a mile west of Armenti\u00e8res.\u00a0 The source of information on this second casualty card may have been a notice<\/a> published in the Gazette des Ardennes<\/em> on Jun 27, 1918.59a<\/a><\/p>\n

There have been efforts to match the disappearance of Grider and his plane to German victory claims, but always with discrepancies as to time, place, or type of plane, leaving open the possibility that his plane was shot down by ground fire or suffered some catastrophic structural or engine failure.60<\/a><\/p>\n

Grider\u2019s body was not recovered. His is one of forty-three names memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Flanders Field American Cemetery, at Waregem, Belgium.61<\/a><\/p>\n

\"An
From the Tablets of the Missing at the Flanders Field American Cemetery. \u00a0The photo is taken from the “Courage & Heroism Tour” web page.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

mrsmcq August 10, 2017; revised to reflect Griders\u2019s diary, April 14, 2021<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Notes<\/h3>\n
\n

(For complete bibliographic entries, please consult the list of\u00a0works and web pages cited<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

1<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider\u2019s date and place of birth are taken from Ancestry.com,\u00a0U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917\u20131918<\/i>, record for John M Gavock Grider [sic<\/i>].\u00a0 The photo is a detail from a group photo<\/a> taken August 10, 1917, of the men in Squadron F at the School of Military Aeronautics at the University of Illinois.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

2<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0On Grider\u2019s family and their plantation, see Strange, \u201cThe Civil War and Reconstruction in Mississippi County: The Story of Sans Souci Plantation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

3<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, pp. 26-27.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

4<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>., pp. 32-33.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

5<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0On Farley and Cox, see Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, pp. 40 and 43.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

6<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>., p. 44.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

7<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>., p. 47.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

8<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See \u201cGround School Graduations [for August 25, 1917]\u201d and Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 54.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

9<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Curtis, undated letter to Josephine on Hotel McAlpin letterhead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

10<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Grider wrote his diary in at least two separate notebooks; on a possible third notebook, see David K. Vaughan\u2019s remarks on p. 288 of Springs,\u00a0Letters from a War Bird<\/i>. The first notebook, with entries starting September 20, 1917, and ending October 1, 1917, was transcribed by Callison on pp. 244\u201355 of \u201cThe Literary Achievement of Elliott White Springs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

11<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, diary entry for September 29, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

12<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

13<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

14<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0This is from the second diary booklet kept by Grider, now among the Elliott White Springs papers in the South Caroliniana Library; it covers the period from October 3, 1917 through February 7, 1918.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

15<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 62.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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16<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>., p. 63.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

17<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, diary entry for October 3, 1917 (evidently continued over several days).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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18<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 64; see also p.74.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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19<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, diary entry for October 3, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

20<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>., pp. 65\u201366.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

21<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, diary entry for November 6, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

22<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, diary entry for November 14, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

23<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, diary entry for November 6, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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24<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 70.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

25<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, diary entry for November 14, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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26<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, diary entry for November 18, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

27<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Chapin,\u00a0\u201cTheir Trackless Way\u201d<\/i>, p. 301.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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28<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Jesse Campbell, diary entry for November 19, 1917; Grider, diary entry for November 20, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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29<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Curtis, letter of November 21, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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30<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 73.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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31<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>, pp. 75\u2013 76.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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32<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, diary entry for November 25, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

33<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 74; diary entry for November 25, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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34<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, diary entry for January 1, 1918.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

35<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See The National Archives (United Kingdom),\u00a0Royal Air Force officers’ service records 1918\u20131919<\/i>,Record for Lawrence [sic<\/i>] K. Callahan. Grider, in his diary entry fo January 1, 1917, indicates that he and Callahan finished up and moved on from Thetford together.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

36<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, diary entry for January 1, 1918. \u201cCheep\u201d (not \u201cCheap,\u201d as\u00a0War Birds<\/i>\u00a0has it) was a review by Harry Grattan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

37<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0For Springs\u2019s assignment to London Colney, see his diary entry for January 13, 1918, reproduced on p. 77 of Springs,\u00a0Letters from a War Bird<\/i>. He refers to himself, Grider, and Callahan as \u201cthe Three Musketeers\u201d in a letter to his stepmother dated February 9, 1918; see Springs,\u00a0Letters from a War Bird<\/i>, p. 84.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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38<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, diary entry for February 5, 1918.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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39<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, diary entry for February 7, 1918.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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40<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 79.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

41<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Cablegram 678-S.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

42<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 79; Curtis, letter of February 27, 1918.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

43<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 86; Jacobs does not provide a date, but prefaces the quoted letter with the statement: \u201cMarch found the cadet flyer in Ayershire, Scotland, from which he writes:\u201d (p. 85).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

44<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0In his letter of May 10, 1918, to Cox, Grider implies that Cushman, who died on March 20, 1918, had been his room mate at Ayr; see Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 92.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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45<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 Springs,\u00a0Letters from a War Bird<\/i>, p. 108.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

46<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>., p. 111. See Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 89 on his learning of his commission; the cablegram from Washington (979-R) was dated March 25, 1918; it was typical for some time to elapse before the news trickled down to the man commissioned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

47<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, pp. 89\u201392.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

48<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Springs\u2019s flight log and diary entries for this day, cited on p. 131 of Springs,\u00a0Letters from a War Bird<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

49<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 96.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

50<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 104; Springs,\u00a0Letters from a War Bird<\/i>, p. 154. Grider\u2019s letter indicates this encounter occurred June 8, 1918; Springs\u2019s letter and flight log indicate June 10, 1918. It is possible that there were two separate encounters, but the two accounts are similar enough to suggest they are describing the same incident.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

51<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Springs,\u00a0Letters from a War Bird<\/i>, pp. 158\u201359, 160. Grider does not receive credit for any victories in American lists; see the entry for him in Munsell,\u00a0Air Service History<\/i>, p. 232 (39). See also \u201cIndividual Victory List: Confirmed Credits of All U.S. Air Service Officers for Enemy Aircraft Destroyed\u201d and Thayer,\u00a0America\u2019s First Eagles<\/i>, pp. 315-31. Perhaps the victories were not confirmed; perhaps there were problems transferring R.A.F. records to American records; perhaps the victories did not meet American criteria.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

52<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Springs,\u00a0Letters from a War Bird<\/i>, pp. 160, 161, 162-63; Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 107.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

53<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See The National Archives (United Kingdom),\u00a0Reports on aeroplane and personnel casualties<\/i>, 11 June 1918 – 20 June 1918. See also The National Archives (United Kingdom),\u00a0Pilot and observer casualties: R.F.C. France<\/i>, 01 February 1918 – 31 July 1918, p. 373, which notes that \u201cCapt. G. M. Grider [sic<\/em>]\u201d in S.E.5a C1883 was \u201cLast seen in engagement with E.A. 1.50 p.m.\u201d; the time is likely a clerical error. I am grateful to a Great War Forum member for copies of these documents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

54<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 106.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

55<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMcGavock Grider Missing.\u201d Captain Baker\u2019s initials are garbled in the printings of his letters. Hillier, ed., on p. xxv of Springs,\u00a0War Birds: The Diary of a Great War Pilot<\/i>, indicates that George B. A. Baker was temporary C.O. of 85 at this time; the index of names at Pentland,\u00a0Royal Flying Corps<\/i>, provides the middle names.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

56<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Springs,\u00a0Letters from a War Bird<\/i>, p. 186.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

57<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>., p. 190.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

58<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 108.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

59<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See \u201cGrider, J.M. (John McGavock).\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

59a<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 The Gazette des Ardennes<\/em> has been digitized at the Gallica Digital Library of the National Library of France.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

60<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See the relevant entry in Franks, Bailey, and Duiven,\u00a0The Jasta War Chronology<\/i>; \u201cJohn MacGavock [sic<\/i>] Grider\u201d; \u201cMac Grider done in by Degelow?\u201d; \u201cMannock’s SE5a\u201d; and the relevant entry in Henshaw,\u00a0The Sky Their Battlefield II<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

61<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See \u201cJohn Mc G. Grider.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Sans Souci, Arkansas, May 28, 1892 \u2013 near Houplines, France, June 18, 1918).1 Oxford\u00a0\u272f\u00a0 Grantham \u00a0 \u272f\u00a0 Thetford & London Colney\u00a0 \u272f\u00a0 Turnberry, Ayr, Hounslow\u00a0 \u272f\u00a0 With No. 85 R.A.F. Grider grew up at the family home and farm, Sans Souci, on the Mississippi in northeast Arkansas. His great-great-grandfather, John Harding, had purchased thousands of … Continue reading “John McGavock Grider”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2287,"parent":30,"menu_order":51,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2278","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2278"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8714,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2278\/revisions\/8714"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}