The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1918-10-26
,eo, ~Tuf91bud Sn Yarn About Marines at Beeau Woods
Went A,uQy From Florence, N. j. Eight Years
and Found 1t Over There Not Long Ago

the regulars and marines were OUT
ting on. There was Belleau WOODS
and Bouresches to gain. I cant TELL
much about BourescheG. because
wasn't in that part Of the fight. But
I know that twenty-four mon went
through the deadliest sort of a barrago
and got into the town and held 1t.
"Belleau Woods was different KIM
Of fighting. 1t was regular Indian
warfare. Different companies took
shots at it different days. There were
a great many Philadelphia and Penn
sylvania men. Lieutenant Colonel
Evans, major and adiurant OF the
Sixth, was. surely on the job. and Ma
jor Sibley and Lieutenant Bellamy are
names we won't forget These TWO
officers rcorganiZed company that
had lost all it's officers.
big attack was made. The whole
woods was alive with machine'sun
nests, and the men fell Off like flies.
America will live a long day to forget
the lives and hopes that went down
for her in Belleau Woods.
The day beforG we went IN, the
artillery went at the woods, and you'd
think all hell was let loose. Then we
were told to go in and clean It out
There was a wheat field between
us and the woods. We went through
It In waves. That charge seems like
dream, and yet I lived a thousand
years in those few hours. 1t was IN
dian warfare We crept from tree to
tree. There were grenades and ma
chine guns. 1t seemed as though the
whole world was being shot to pieces
and no fellow knew when his next step
or turn would bring the death wound
There would be bunch OF huns
hiding here. and another there. NO.
YOU aren't afraid. And dead men Drop
ming off beside you can't make you
stop. Companies lost their officers
and each man was going it alone
There was the roar that would nearly
sniff your eardrums; there were yells
and there was the occasional moan Or
a man-one more whose life stopped
forever there in Belleau Woods. 1t Is
hard to describe. Think it out 1or
yourself"
To a man or woman whose life IS
bounded on the north by Liberty
Bonds, but on the south by the good
old home town, war Is fully three
thousand miles away. Nothing brings
il closer than a man with crutches'
who sits very quiet when you do not
talk to him; whose eyes, fame IKE
steel but whose lips so dry when ne
tries to tell you in short. disconnected
sentences what war Is.
Capturing a Regiment
It has been said the greatest books
OF the war will never be produced con.
scIously. The entr'actes and the su'
preme shadows cannot be pinned to
paper at will. Sergeant Rainier. for
instance, will probably never compile
pages on Belleau Woods. But sitting
there, listening, one knows this is the
realest book Of all: the deed OF each
GRAND and rloriously common Ameri.
can linked up with that Of his brother.
making in all human document
transcendingly honest and deathless.
ANYWAY. the Germans were finally
wiped out" Rainier summarizes. In
one case 4 German major and his en-
tire regiment surrendered in q body.
The regiment surrendered first. Then
the major followed. He was a man
who had lived IN the United States
fourteen years ago. He said he sur
rendered because il would have meant
death for him if he went back without
his regiment. These were SaNons who
surrendered. They threw away their
helmets and said they were. through
with the war. 1t is the SaNonS VINO
are tired Of the war. was up against
two divisions of Prussians. That's
different matter. They don't surrender
so easy.
Our particular outfit took 500 pris'
oners and Iifty-eight machine guns