Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1901-08-10

service.
zone day Lamkin himself came to
me when l was at his headquarters.
He was in trouble.
"'This boy, ST Tucker, he said, is
the son of one Of the best friends l ever
had in the world. The boy is a cow
ard. He literally lives in rathole. l
have repeatedly pulled him out by the
legs, only to have him crawl back
again the moment l let go of his an
kles. / don't know what to do. It's
my duty, of course to prefer charges
Of cowardice against him, and if do
he will certainly be shot, and his ia
ther is my best friend
''He paused, and then said with eager
ness in his voice: why can't you take
him?'
Il agreed at once. I told him would
take the boy with me to my pits and
make either a soldier or a stiff out of
him within the next twenty-four hours.
l was under no obligations to his ia
Their; I had never even met any of his
relatives, and l had seen too many
years Of service to have much patience
with cowardice.
1.-THE boy was sent for and ordered to
go with me. We walked down toward
Blanford Church. At the proper point
we turned out of the Jerusalem plank
road across the fields toward Fort Lam
kin. Half way there, and on the top
Of little hill, which was especially
exposed to the gaze of the sharpshoot-
ers, l made ST Tucker sit down by my
side. There we came to an under
standing. l told him he had been as
signed to me to be shot out of hand, or
to be court-martialed for cOWardice,
which, at that particular juncture of
the war, meant very much the same
thing. | explained to him that he was
about to join a detachment composed
for their courage-every one of them a
volunteer for what was deemed a pc
culiarly dangerous service. l explain
ed further that | should require him
to do his duty as they did theirs.
You have managed to make for
y ii
coward. You have now one last
chance to redeem yourself. You must
do that or you must die.
''The sharpshooters were meantime
picking at us most uncomfortably as
we sat there. My experience as an old
we ought to move. The position was
of that kind that military men call I'M
tenable. Nevertheless, I thought it
best to keep ST Tucker there minute
longer, for purposes of observation if
nothing else.
AT our pits, I said, we have one
uniform rule of procedure. When a
bombardment begins the men go to
their guns | take my stand on the
top of the magazine mound to watch
the enemy's fire and direct our own. II
| see that a mortar shell is about to
fall into one of the gun pits 1 call out
the pit number and the men run into
the Dombproof until the explosion is
over. No man ever goes into bomb
proof till this order is given. You must
do as they do. If you run to bomb
proof before | have given the order it
will be my imperative order to shoot
you then and there, and I shall GER
tainly discharge that duty. Do you
fully understand that, 81?
HE thought he did, and as the sharp
shooters were by this time becoming
pestilently personal in their attentions,
we resumed our walk Half an hour
after our arrival at Fort Lamkin bonn
bardment began. didn't want to shoot
that boy. distinctly preferred to make
a soldier rather than a stiff out of
him. SO, instead of taking my custom
airy stand on the mound of earth over
the magazine, l ordered Joe to that
post and placed myself in the gun pit
to which 81 Tucker had been assigned
taking care to stand between him and
the mouth Of the bombproof. l spoke
to him as | passed.
Remember what / told you. If
you forget, it is instant DEATH
HE remembered. For nearly two
hours he stood there, quaking and shiy
ering, but not daring to seek safety by
retreat to bombproof. By the time
that the outburst was over, ST Tucker
had learned his first lesson in war. He
had learned to realize that a man may
endure a lot of very savage fire and
yet come out of it alive. A few hours
later, when the guns were at work
again, ST was steady enough in his
nerves to carry shells to the guns. The
next day he was even able, during a
bombardment, to cut fuses-a delicate
operation, requiring steady hand.
Within two or three days he had be-
come as good soldier as we had in all
that band of men specially picked for
their unfinching courage.
When the great mine explosion oc-
CURED few weeks later l had occa-
sion to rebuke 81 Tucker for fault
quite unrelated to cowardice. We had
been ordered to go with our mortars as