World War I Trench Boot

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From Utah Division of State History Artifact Collection: These World War I trench boots belonged to George Grimshaw, who was in the U.S. Army, 13th Field Artillery, IV Division in Battery D. Originally from Beaver, UT, Grimshaw was part of communications in his Battery on the Western Front. He also remained in Germany in 1919 as part of the American Army of Occupation. Grimshaw was nicknamed “Cinderella” by his Lieutenant for his unusually small feet, and his army boots were a source of grief for him more than once. In a letter home dated June 1919, he wrote “I was pretty sore for I’ve never yet had a pair of field shoes to fit me and was rather anxious to get something on that would be a little support to my feet.” Not only could the boots be uncomfortable, the metal circles on the soles made a loud clanking noise whenever a soldier walked, to the point where Grimshaw took his shoes to a German cobbler while part of the Army Occupation to get some rubber heels. He wrote in the same letter that “now I feel quite natural when I walk down the street and don’t hear all the clatter of hobnails.” A collection of Grimshaw's items and papers were donated to the Historical Society in 1991 by his daughter, Eleanor Heywood. To read more of Grimshaw’s letters home, see George Grimshaw Papers, 1914-1918, MSS B 518 Box 1-2 at the Utah State Historical Society.