Thankful Thursday: Remembering WW1 Thru the Eyes and Words of 1918 Warriors: Thanks Mrs. Schiller

Last May saw the beginning of uploading a series of old newspaper articles from the 1918-1919 time frame which were originally published in Pittsburgh by one of their cracker jack reporters who spent time in France with the troops. These articles were transcribed by my geni-buddy Lynn B. 

Thought you'd enjoy seeing one of the articles as we get ready to honor the women in our lives.  After reading this article, check out the other 50 or so we have found at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~paallent/

You're sure to be needing your hanky, or at the least, an American Flag to salute and a mama to hug!

THE GAZETTE TIMES

Jan. 19, 1919

Charles J. Doyle

Special Correspondent of The Gazette Times in France

NURSING IN FRANCE MORE ATTRACTIVE THAN SOCIETY TO THIS PITTSBURGH WOMAN

Mrs. William Bacon Schiller Works Every Day in Hospital – Many of Her Patients Heroes of Old Eighteenth Who Fell in Terrific Combats.

Paris, Jan. 17. – (Delayed) – Fifteen months of tireless work nursing American doughboys finds one of Pittsburgh’s most prominent women, Mrs. William Bacon Schiller, still smiling at her post in France.  But her labors of mercy are almost finished now, and she is planning to leave for home in a few weeks.

That was and suffering bring out the finest qualities is strikingly shown in the case of Mrs. Schiller.  She is the wife of the president of the National Tube Company, a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation.

About 18 months ago Uncle Sam issued an urgent call for volunteer nurses.  Among the patriotic women and girls who heard and heeded that call was Mrs. Schiller.  Although she always had been accustomed to every comfort that ample means and an assured social position could give, this mother of three fine boys volunteered and was accepted.

Mrs. Schiller knew nothing about nursing when she placed herself at the disposal of her country.  In fact, she knew practically nothing about hospital work.  But all this has been changed, and when I saw her today in her strikingly becoming nurse’s garb, almost engulfed in bandages, dressings and other surgical paraphernalia, it was quite evident that her capability had been developed into splendid harmony with her devotion.

She was busily engaged arranging medicines for the morning round of the hospital as I entered and we had our talk while she worked.  I tried to induce Mrs. Schiller to tell me some of her remarkable experiences during her long term in France, but she evaded any personal touches and insisted on dwelling exclusively on the great work done by others.

Mrs. Schiller, I learned, has been “on the job” for six days a week since she came to France, sometimes seven, but she evidently feels fully repaid by the appreciation shown by the gallant Yankees.  She spoke of having attended a number of Pittsburghers, mostly members of the Eightieth Division.  While she avoids allusions to her own part of the work being done at the hospital, she is ready enough to talk of “the boys.”

A visitor to the hospital who sees Mrs. Schiller as she goes about her work, looking in every way the typical Red Cross nurse, finds it hard to realize that she has a son old enough to be in the service.  This is the case, however, Morgan Schiller being an ensign in the Naval Aviation Corps.  The mother had hopes that her boy would be sent to France and they could enjoy a happy reunion, but he was instead detailed to Seattle.

The hospital where Mrs. Schiller has been giving her time and labor is one of the finest operated by the American Red Cross in France.  It is known as No. 1, and is located about three miles from the center of Paris.  It is an imposing structure, designed to house a magnificent college, but had not been completed when the war started, and the building was turned over to the Red Cross.

While walking along a corridor of the big building I noticed a ward furnished by the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company.  One of the many comfortable cots was donated by Mrs. Henry W. Oliver of Pittsburgh, whose name appears on a neat plate above the bed.  Lying on this cot was a smiling doughboy, Private Harry Seymour, who told me he was a farmer from New York state.  He has been occupying this cot since October 28.  He received a severe shell wound in the leg, but has so far recovered that he is able to walk on crutches.

Although the government changed the designation of the old Eighteenth Regiment, N.G.P., to the One Hundred and Eleventh Infantry, there is a sentiment and pride in the old organization that leads to the use of the old name by the thousands of Pittsburghers over there who have followed the career of the regiment during the past year.  The old Eighteenth say great fighting at a number of critical points, and the importance of the achievements of the Pittsburghers and the whole Twenty-Eighth Division is partly indicated by the long list of heroes who gave their lives in France under the Stars and Stripes and the flags of the Allies.

IN DESPERATE FIGHTS

Among the good people of France, particularly the surviving defenders, the memory of the Pittsburgh fighters will be forever recalled by the names of Chateau Thierry, Fismes, St. Mihiel and the Argonne Forest, all desperate conflicts where the sterling Keystone State guardsmen contended and fell in valorous exploits.  At present the infantry and artillery are divided by hundreds of miles.  The doughboys are, with the division headquarters, billeted near Toul, 200 miles east of Paris, while the artillery, which recently operated in the Belgian sector, has been moved to the area between Paris and the seacoast.

About a month ago the Twenty-eighth Division was ordered into Germany to form part of the army of the occupation.  One regiment was already on its way to Luxemburg when the first orders were countermanded and it was brought back.

Sergt. Allen McCombs, 927 Beech avenue, North Side, Pittsburgh, an athletic youngster who was a member of the old Eighteenth, is a fine specimen of the type of soldiers that constituted the regiment.  Almost fully recovered from a machine gun wound in the leg, Sergt. McCombs and I met in the beautiful Red Cross hospital where, he said, “a man couldn’t be sick if he wanted to and didn’t want to leave when he got well.”

BROUGHT DOWN BY A BULLET

Sergt. McCombs is a graduate of the Scottdale High School, where he played on the football eleven.  After leaving school he took a position with the Pennsylvania Railroad and joined the Eighteenth as soon as he was old enough.  He was leading a platoon of Company I in rushing a nest of machine guns during the terrible fighting in the Argonne woods when he went down with a bullet in his leg.

“But one day’s treatment since I was struck is worth all the hardships we went through,” said the sergeant, who has all sorts of vivid tales of the actions of his division.  When he recovered sufficiently he was given clerical work in the hospital, where he seems to be a prime favorite with patients and nurses.  In the parlance of the doughboys, the handsome soldier “has it pretty soft.”

Private John Danknichy, aged 21, a flaxen-haired Slavish boy of McKees Rocks and Esplen, is another who is manfully upholding the traditions of the old Eighteenth.  He is recovering from a severe machine gun wound in the thigh received near the Aisne River.  It was an exceedingly ugly wound.  When located by the stretcher bearers it was found difficult to get him to a first-aid station, but because of the seriousness of the case they started back through a heavy shell fire.  For a time he lay between life and death, but the wound is now healing and he is able to walk with a cane.  John was an employee of the Pressed Steel Car Company.

Ahh, genealogy.  Here's to you, Mrs. Schiller, and all the other women who have served America and our veterans.  I like to think you were there nursing my grandfather when he was wounded and gassed in France.

©2012 AS Eldredge

Day 5- Remembering World War I : Victory First

Every day as I read the stories written by Doyle of the daily life of our veterans in France in the fall and winter of 1918, I have to decide which story to use.  They are all so wonderful and serve to bring the old ways of fighting military to mind.

Our doughboys were terrific.  Hope you've been enjoying reading the articles printed almost 100 years ago....


THE GAZETTE TIMES
Oct 20, 1918, page 24


OFFICER TELLS THRILLING TALE OF BATTLE


Lieut. Lewis Describes a Bayonet Clash – Small Yank Kills Giant Hun.


BOCHE BARBAROUS


Washington, Pa., Oct. 19. – Buried alive half an hour in a trench along the Marne River and alive to tell the tale is but one of the thrilling experiences of Lieut. James A. “Pud” Lewis, of Elizabeth, Pa., and former Washington and Jefferson college student, recently returned from the French battle front.


Lieut. Lewis left college in his senior year at the declaration of war in April, 1917, and enlisted as a private with Company H of the old Tenth Regiment, Pennsylvania National Guard. In his company he was promoted to corporal, sergeant and mess sergeant. He was then sent to the officers’ training school, won a second lieutenancy, and was assigned to Company B of the One Hundred and Ninth Infantry, a Philadelphia regiment, with which he has won high honor and promotion to first lieutenancy. He tells a story of a marvelous bayonet fight.


Lieut. Lewis wears the ribbon of the French Croix de Guerre, awarded for valor in action, but modestly declines to wear the medal itself. During the second battle of the Marne his company was sent to take and hold a difficult position. The company became divided in the battle and Lieut. Lewis found himself in command of 92 men, with whom he held the position for two days and two nights without food or water, until relief came. For this feat the French general in command awarded the cherished cross. He also has medals for services with the English and the French and the ribbon indicating participation in the second battle of the Marne when the Hun was thrown back in retreat to Germany.


We’re Fighting A Barbarous People


The 300-members of the Washington and Jefferson Student Army Training Corps assembled in the gymnasium last night to hear Lieut. Lewis drive home the meaning of and reason for military discipline. He told of the atrocities of the Huns which had come before his eyes, and by the valor of the American soldiers.


“We are not fighting merely the German government, we are fighting the German people,” declared Lieut. Lewis. “They are the same uncivilized race that sacked the City of Rome centuries ago and I cannot agree with some of the things I read in the press of this country after meeting them face to face. The race which has pillaged and burned unprotected French and Belgian towns, tortured and murdered innocent children in cold blood and carried young women into slavery with no military advantage accruing, is not to be dealt with as a member of this world’s civilization. And they are not. All these things I saw with my own eyes.”


Lieut. Lewis was in more or less constant touch with the One Hundred and Tenth Infantry, being in the same brigade. July 3 the brigade was billeted 13 miles behind the front line. The Allied high command anticipated a new German drive either July 4 of July 14, the French holiday. The German expected to find his enemy celebrating.


Discipline Prevents Mutiny


Of all this the junior officers were ignorant. The Pennsylvania boys had prepared baseball diamonds and tracks for a big field day on the Fourth. Lieut. Lewis describes what happened.


“About 3 o’clock in the morning, I wakened and heard some one climbing to the top floor of the French home in which Lieut. Warren, my company commander, and I were sleeping. A knock at the door and a voice said, ‘Lieut. Warren, I have orders for you.’


“Those orders were to go to the front immediately with the usual two-day iron rations. The brigade was formed, hiked to the front, skirmished for about three hours, and was ordered back over that same 13 miles. The boys wanted to stay there and fight, and I thought there would be a mutiny in camp. All were tired, restless and talking among themselves. Where was the discipline and obedience of the eight months of training at Camp Hancock.


“Lieut. Warren stepped in front of the company and called ‘Attention.’ Every man clicked his heels together and straightened his tired back. But two words were spoken to those men at that time and they went away quietly when dismissed. Lieut. Warren said ‘VICTORY FIRST.’ Such discipline is not to be found with ray recruits.”


Is Buried By a Shell


Washington boys have written home that July 4 would never be forgotten, but this is the first time the story has been told.


Only of his experiences in being buried alive would Lieut. Lewis speak of himself. His other stories are of his men. The expected German attack came July 14 and the Pennsylvania boys were there to meet it. From that time until August 11 when he was ordered to the United States as an instructor at Camp Logan, Tex., Lieut. Lewis said the Iron Division was under fire.


“I was sitting in a trench,” he related, “telling two of my sergeants of the attack we were about to make, when a shell it a bit too close and caved in the trench. I was bent over, but sufficient air space remained to keep me alive for the half hour it took the boys to dig me out.


“On another occasion I was sitting talking to Lieut. Tom Bridges of Washington, when we were unexpectedly ordered into the fight. Tom and I both had on trench boots and no time to change them. When we got to the firing line I was surprised to find a remarkable concentration of fire in my direction and caught a machine gun bullet in the leg. Then I discovered the boots, which indicated to Fritz I was an officer. I soon got them covered with the wrapped leggings of a man who had fallen. I believe Tom was wounded the same day and for the same reason.”


Sees a Brother Killed


“When the battle started July 14 the boche planes bombed us at will, for there was not an Allied plane to be seen. He would swoop down within 100 years of the ground, tip over and let go one of the ugly black bombs. Our machine guns were our only defense.


“My platoon was within a few hundred yards of the 110th headquarters building when it was bombed by a German plane. It was there that Leonard Whitehill of Washington was killed. I sent one squad of my men to move the men from the debris and learned later that 18 of the 60 in the building were killed. Little did I think at the time that a college fraternity brother had paid the price before my eyes. My platoon was ordered forward immediately.


“We started up a hill one day and not a shot was fired until he had passed the edge of a road which ran around the hill. Then the machine guns broke loose. The road was our only protection, and not much at that. We hung in behind it while other organizations cleaned up the woods at the top. That night there was not a mess pan in my whole platoon that would hold the good old army beef stew the cooks had for us. Those machine gun bullets had been grazing over the backs of my men and had filled their haversacks with holes. We got new mess kits. In fact, whenever we come out of the line we can get everything new from head to foot if we want it.


Beautiful Bayonet Fight


“The tiredest [sic] man I saw in France was ‘Pete’ Redinger, from Washington. I found him one day trudging along, 10 miles away from his company, which he had lost. He slept with me that night and started out bright and early to catch up with his company.


“The best story I can tell, and it must be about the last,” Lieut. Lewis continued, “is of a little hand-to-hand skirmish we had with Fritz and the clever work of the smallest man in my company. It was a bayonet fight and there the American soldier is supreme. My pistol was empty when I saw this powerful six-foot Dutchman making for our 130-pounder. It was David against Goliath. The boy stood in an easy position. His rifle was broken and there was no time to grab another. The German made his deadly bayonet lunge and our boy caught the bayonet with the outside edge of his right hand, throwing the blade past his shoulder. He grabbed the German’s rifle and gave it a couple of little clever twists we learned in camp. The German fell dead on his own bayonet. It was the gamest thing I ever saw.”


Lieut. Lewis said that while he did not see many of the Washington boys he heard always of their various fortunes and tried to keep in touch with them because he started his career with them. He knew nothing more about any of them than has already been learned here. He did not talk of peace, but of getting back to France, to be there to help put the finishing touches on the enemy. His company was composed entirely of Philadelphia men.

This article brings the efforts of my grandpa more to light as he was in the 110th and was wounded.  Was he in the building at the time of the bombing?  I don't know.


Ahh, genealogy.  Remembering our veterans is always in style- so take time to sit, reflect, and then pray for our brave warriors.

Special thanks to Lynn B for her gracious permission to have her transcriptions included here.


©2011 AS Eldredge

Remembering WWI- Thru the Eyes and Words of 1918 Warriors- Day 4

The wonders of our great World War I doughboys continues-

Today is Day 4 of my journey to remember our veterans who have fought for our country.  Memorial Day is just around the corner, so start preparing now for how you will remember our grandpas.

American veterans are just, well, all heroes in my book.

THE GAZETTE TIMES
Nov. 14, 1918


Charles J. Doyle
Special Correspondent of The Gazette Times in France

TALES OF HEROIC ACTS ARE TOLD AS ARMISTICE HALTS RUSH OF LEGIONS


Battle Stories Show Great Achievements of Western Pennsylvanians and West Virginians in Desperate Fighting During Closing Hours of War – Bullet Fails to Stop Determined Preacher.


With The American Expeditionary Forces, Nov. 11 – (Delayed)- Although the armistice which has ended the great war has silenced the guns and stopped the steady push of the American armies and their Allies, it is hard to realize that fact. Especially at night one still listens for the bombardment to commence and thinks in terms of war. One still hears little except battle yarns and incidents, and stirring charge, stubborn advance or study resistance to counter-attack, are what are most talked about. These, too, are the most vivid recollections.


Details are coming out regarding the recent operations of the Three Hundred and Nineteenth and Three Hundred and Twentieth Regiments, splendid young chaps from Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Keeping right up to the dashing (deleted) division on their immediate right, some 5,000 of these boys “jumped off” from the temporary stopping place on a farm along the Somme. Closely following their barrage they swept through the German defense line, captured the town of Imecourt, and gained their objective at Buzaucy.


And these are the boys who only about a year ago were hard at work in the mills and offices, the stores and fields of the old Keystone State, spending their leisure time largely in neighborhood athletics. Their admirable work in this sector, which led to some of the greatest open fighting in which the Yanks have yet participated, was their second great operation. As a result the One Hundred and Sixteenth Brigade, made up of the regiments named and under the command of Brig. Gen. Lloyd M. Brett, was given special mention by the commander of the First Corps.


There were remarkable deeds of daring during this plunging rush over wide rolling fields plowed and pitted with shell holes. The hero of one of them is a real fighting parson, Capt. T. W. Hooper, a Methodist minister from Culpepper, Va. While leading his company, K of the Three Hundred and Nineteenth, a machine gun bullet grazed his neck, inflicting a slight wound. The nervy parson flatly declined even to hesitate in his advance, but kept right up with his men, largely Allegheny and Mercer county Pennsylvanians. Needless to say his boys are devoted to him.


I heard the story – not from him however – when I came up with the regiment resting. I met him in a shell hole taking pot luck with his men when he could easily have been taking his well-earned rest in a safer spot. It was thoroughly typical of the men.


The Gazette Times correspondent spent one night at the headquarters of the Eightieth Division, barely a quarter of a mile back of the artillery line. There was not much sleep during the early part of the night because of the intermittent bombardment and we had just settled down when a vicious barrage was laid down. By 3 o’clock in the morning the ground fairly shook with the fury of the guns and the darkened horizon flared into brilliant flame. The doughboys crouched for three hours under the shelter of the protective fire of the American batteries and then, the two arms co-operating splendidly, the advance started.


By 7 o’clock I saw the first prisoners coming back, the wearied Boches trudging down the road guarded by two proudly grinning Yanks. In less than two hours the improvised cage held several hundred Fritzies, many of whom were openly rejoicing at their good luck in being captured. Before night more than 700 prisoners, including 30 officers, had been reported to the division headquarters.
Those of the boys whose duties took them near the cage did a thriving business in souvenirs. Nearly every Heinie had some souvenir that he was only too ready to “swap.” Bits of chocolate were the favored medium in these trades, the Germans taking them eagerly in exchange for trinkets, pictures, etc.


THE GENEROUS DOUGHBOY


“Unbeatable and uncomplaining.” That accurately describes the great American doughboy. And he is as generous as he is daring and resourceful. I came up with one company a few evenings ago. They were in open country, getting such shelter as they might in shell holes and a few old dugouts after a victorious drive of three miles, which included a good deal of open field fighting. The Yanks were hungry and cold, but there was no complaining.


Stumbling along with a lieutenant, who was acting as my guide, I met Private Brown. Not so long ago he was a member of a fast independent baseball team at Woodlawn, Pa. Now he is just as good an infantryman, with the same spirit that characterized his former sizzling battles for supremacy on the diamond.


The big field in which we met had been riddled with shells and Jerry was still sending over a good many. Most of the boys were sleeping in shell holes or darkened dugouts, where they were safe enough except for a chance direct hit, but Brown was pacing about the muddy field.


“Why don’t you lie down and get some rest?” the lieutenant asked. “Haven’t you had enough exercise today?”


Brown grinned cheerfully, but replied softly: “I’d rather walk, Sir. I’m tired and hungry and the dugout seems a bit oppressive. I feel better here.”


As it happened I had some chocolate in my bag. It was only a little piece; a baby would have made a mouthful of it. Yet when I have it to him Private Brown promptly broke it in half and wanted me to take one piece, saying:


“Probably you are hungry yourself.”


And he had had nothing to eat for 24 hours, the advance having been so rapid that the boys outran their supplies.


That’s the American doughboy.

Ahh, genealogy.  Remembering our veterans is always in style- so take time to sit, reflect, and then pray for our brave warriors.

Special thanks to Lynn B for her gracious permission to have her transcriptions included here.


©2011 AS Eldredge

Remembering WWI- Thru the Eyes and Words of 1918 Warriors - Part 3

Forget the parade, the President--  lonely boys away from home prefer to find their friends from Pittsburgh!

Today is the third entry in the series of remembering the brave actions of our grandpas through the words of Doyle.  90 plus years later, and the story of World War I continues to captivate.


THE GAZETTE TIMES
Dec. 17, 1918


Charles J. Doyle
Special Correspondent of The Gazette Times in France


DASHING FIGHTERS HAILING FROM ALLEGHENY CONTY SEE PRESIDENT BUT MISS OLD PALS.


Members of Three Hundred and Twentieth Infantry, Recommended for Commissions Because of Bravery in Action, Say Absence of Comrades Mars Enjoyment of Paris Festivities.


Paris, Dec. 16. – There is one bunch of Allegheny county doughboys in Paris who are disappointed, although they saw the wonderful spectacle connected with the arrival of President Wilson. They are members of the Three Hundred and Twentieth Infantry who had been detailed to an officers’ training school near here. They are disappointed because they have not yet seen their pals of the old regiment, which, they had been told, were to be detailed to Paris in connection with the President’s stay in the French capita.


The Army orders instructing the Pittsburgh boys to report at the capital did not say when they were to come or exactly what they were to do. There were no soldiers of any description in the party which escorted the President from the railroad station, although thousands of French troops were used as guards along the line of march.


The Western Pennsylvania fighters have all be given new uniforms, shoes and arm decorations and have been assiduously drilled, so they are ready for any event, no matter how pretentious. The regimental officers say they think there will be a review later and are holding the regiment in readiness.


The embryo officers in the vicinity of the city, who secured short leaves of absence to witness the big spectacle, were all up bright and early. By 6 o’clock in the morning they were out hunting for the boys with whom they fought in the severe battles for the Argonne forest. They are all members of the splendid Three Hundred and Twentieth Regiment and, following the first two drives made by that command, were recommended for admission to the training school in preparation for commissions.


I happened to meet up with a party from the training school. Shortly before they had encountered two pals from the Three Hundred and Twentieth, who were going back to join their outfits after recovering from wounds. Fine husky-looking soldiers they were, all of them, and they asked The Gazette Times to convey their wishes for a “Merry Christmas” to their friends back home.


These fellows who made me very welcome were: William Keifer, Iten street, North Side, Pittsburgh; D. C. Hill, Halsey place, North Side, Pittsburgh’ P.V. Speer, Vandergrift; Sabin Boltin, Collins avenue, East End, Pittsburgh; James Palmer, Bellevernon; Charles Ernst, Rial street, East End, Pittsburgh; William Collignan, Michigan avenue, South Hills, Pittsburgh; T. K. Brennan, Hotel Henry, Pittsburgh, and George Costello, Coltart square, Oakland, Pittsburgh.


All these men won distinction during the hard fighting immediately preceding the final actins of the war and were recommended for commissions. It was their behavior under fire that attracted the attention of their superior officers. Although all of them have finished the prescribed training, they told me they would be willing to forfeit their pending commissions if allowed to get back to “the old outfit.” They are lonesome, and want to renew the warm friendships made in the ranks of the Three Hundred and Twentieth, preferring them to military honors. Most of these men were sergeants during the time they were fighting in France.


Charles O. Mebie, a well-known Fayette county resident, whose home is near Uniontown, was one Pennsylvanian whose presence in Paris came to the notice of the public. He disregarded all parade traffic rules in his efforts to find the youthful son of Carl. L. Bemies, a member of the Three Hundred and Twentieth Regimental Band, but has had to postpone the reunion for a few days. Mr. Mebie is on his way to Russia on a special mission for the Y.M.C.A.


It is evident here that the folds back home are reading the special stories in The Gazette Times. A number of clippings have come to the boys of the Three Hundred and Nineteenth and the Three Hundred and Twentieth, and they are not only being passed around among the men, but are being read with interest by the officers.


Ahh, genealogy.  Remembering our veterans is always in style- so take time to sit, reflect, and then pray for our brave warriors.

Special thanks to Lynn B for her gracious permission to have her transcriptions included here.


©2011 AS Eldredge

Remembering WWI- Thru the Eyes and Words of 1918 Warriors - Part 2

What men of valor our grandpas were!

The following is the second in the installment of remembering World War I through the words of Charles J Doyle, Special Gazette Times Correspondent in France.


THE GAZETTE TIMES
Nov. 3, 1918


Charles J. Doyle
Special Correspondent of The Gazette Times in France


Pick and Shovel as Well as Bayonet and Gun Help Pennsylvania Boys Win


With the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Nov. 1 – The Western Pennsylvanians of the Twenty-eighth and Eightieth Divisions are winning renown over the entire Allied front by charging the Boche with pick and shovel as well as with bayonet and gun. Skirmish after skirmish and drive after drive they have won literally with these tools as well as with their weapons. The history of their two-fold prowess at Argonne (in the wood and in the four days’ fighting beyond) has already become a classic of the war. Since July they have gone forward 20 times, and the records show that each time they have achieved their own objective.


That is 100 per cent fighting efficiency.


It is the more remarkable because these men were thrust “green” into the very heart of the most violent fighting Yankee soldiers have done in this war.


I saw 500 fellows from Pittsburgh and Allegheny county make one of those famous self-supporting drives at (name deleted by censor) near the Meuse today.


Three hundred of them carried shovels strapped to their backs. The Boche met them with a murderous machine gun fire and then, as they dashed on in spite of it, he split his front, so that half his force ran to the right and half to the left as the Pennsylvanians approached. Straight on to the knoll where his machine guns had been ran the Americans, firing right and left; then as they reached it the riflemen formed a great square about the knoll, and while they poured a merciless hail of bullets and their own machine fire into the Huns at either side, the others unlimbered that battery of picks and shovels and in one-half hour’s time the entire American raiding force had dug itself into the newly won position and was waiting for orders for another forward drive.


A French colonel, standing beside us as we watched, said simply: “That is the way to win war, M’sieu. Valor, the gun and the shovel – the three together – they are invincible.”


Incidentally the military experts have by no means left the Pennsylvanians’ achievements out of their review of the work of the First American Army. Paraphrased that review says: “In a month’s activities the long Argonne siege developed the most violent fighting the Americans have yet seen in France. And in this great drive the Pennsylvania soldiers of the Twenty-eighth and Eightieth won particular renown for their valor and initiative.”


Again in the most recent smash, continues the review, the Eightieth Division machine gunners, composed largely of Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia soldiers, fought magnificently through the dense woods in spite of the most unusually effective Hun defense.


Col. B. M. Gordon, a former Mercer (Pa.) boy with the Three Hundred and Twentieth Regiment, told me that he did not believe it lay in any many to fight with more heroism, intelligence and determination than did the lads of Mercer and Allegheny counties. “They were marvelously effective, especially with the machine guns,” he said. “In the fights where they beat off the counter-attacks of the desperate Germans their work passed beyond all praise.”


The Eighteenth has been especially commended for taking dugouts that were said to be insuperable. Some of them had been held by the Huns four years when the Pennsylvanians routed them out.


CAPTURES AND FEEDS COUSIN


Private Ernest Roeck of St. Clair Borough, a member of the Three Hundred and Nineteenth Regiment, discovered his cousin, Karl Potrafke, among the prisoners captured at the end of the third day’s drive out of Argonne. Private Roeck, who had been one of the first over the top and who had made several prisoners on his own account, was detailed at the end of the day to search and take back to the rear some 50 Heinies who had surrendered. Going through the pockets of one of them he came upon some papers that referred to a town in Germany where he knew he had relatives. Questioning disclosed the cousin’s identity. He belonged to the Thirty-second German Division. His captor gave him the first square meal he said he had had in two months.


It may now be said that the Pennsylvanians in the Eightieth Division first went to the front near the famous Dead Man’s Hill.

Ahh, genealogy.  Remembering our veterans is always in style- so take time to sit, reflect, and then pray for our brave warriors.

Special thanks to Lynn B for her gracious permission to have her transcriptions included here.


©2011 AS Eldredge