Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1917-11-22
is
In Line FOR A
BRAVERY MEDAL
Young American Officer
Stages Daring Exploit III
Broad Daylight
CROSSES NO MANS LAND
AND RESCUES COMRADE
Daring Soldier Is WestaKm
Boy, Graduate Of WyOnl
ing Varsity
BY J. W. Pegler

(Unlted Press STAFF correspondent
American Field Headquarters, France
Nov. 22.-The first congressional med
Ial of honor for conspicuous bravery
may go to young army heutenant
from Meeteetse, Wyo. 1t was expected
,at headquarters today that General
Pershing would make such recommenr
Idation for the officers rescue Of ono
of his men from No Man s land-under
heavy German fire.
The exploit occurred in broad daE-
light. The lieutenant had led q night
patrol He and his men had already
been on duty thirteen hours in the
trenches. They crawled out over No
Man s land and lay flat awaiting and
listening for German patrols. One Samr
lmy, utterly exhausted by the days
work and the exertions Of the nights.
fell asleep in shell hole close to tho
German wire entanglements.
When the American patrol returned
to its own lines just before dawn, tha
man Is absence was not immediateiF
discovered. It was not until daylight
revealed all of the tangled weeds and
holes Of No Man i land that count
disclosed one man absent. Then TIM
lieutenant, sweeping every inch of tha
ground with his glasses, located his
missing Sammy. tucked away in era
ter. It was about the same minute that
the Germans discovered him, too. The
soldier crouched down in his haven
while the Boches loosed their machine
guns and began hurling grenades at
him. His lieutenant, disregarding con-
Icealment, stood up over the trench ana
violently tried to wig-wag him on
how to creep back to the American
lines. But the Sammy was too busy
watching in the other direction to see
what his enemies were getting ready to
do
Then the lieutenant slipped over the
ton of the parapet and eraWled flat
on his belly down the ravine. The Ger
mans discovered him almost at once
They transferred all of their fire 20
his creeping figure. Back in the Ameris
can trenches the Sammies watehed
orcathlessly, firing as fast as they
could, a barrage to protect the SLOW
moving creener. In some miraculous
wav. fhe lieutenant reached his man
and the two turned back, scutlting
along close to the ground, with Oullets
cutting the high weeds all about them.
They made the trip safely and were
welcomed back with cheers and yeiia
of JOY no less than Of admiration Tor
the officers feat. The lieutenant who
thus braved the dangers of No Man >
land to rescue one Of his own boys
Is graduate of Wyoming university
Normal artillerying and rifle firing
continued over the American sector to-
dav. Another relief Of the front line
troops was accomplished without inei-
dent.
The tfoops now on the fighting line
are the fourth unit to be sent there
{ finishing off ~ of the training for
war. The men they relieved were ex-
amined in small groups back of the
lines-a disreputable looking bunch
covered with mud. but all perfectly
willing to trade places with the boys
going into the line. Some of the evacu-
ated battalion Stunned the road and
took short cuts to the rear across era
ters. The Germans, however, did not
know relief was taking place and did
not fire An American patrol eneount-
cred four Germans in font of No Mans
land the other night and fired. The
Germans fled.