Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1918-12-24
LETTERS FROM YOUNG
CIFIlERS IN FRANCE
FULL OF INTEREST
Lieutenant Lamar Tooze Tells
OF Bravery OF American
Soldiers.

- ~ - y ~ 4A@A4SA ASo<4k
Soldiers.
The following letters have been re-
eeived by the editor of the Journal
from well known young men who are
serving their, country in France, and
tell some things OF interest to te people
over here:
My Dear Mr.. Fisher:
My brothers death was marked by a
splendid devotion to duty and fear,
lessness which inspired the brave and
loyal men of his plaloon to make an ad.
vance through one Of the heaviest bar
RACES Aalr. burst shlapnel) | saw on the
Argonne front, through woods infested
with machine guns operated by Ger
mans who were under orders to hold at
any price, to a point where, finally
late iii tho a;lc-.. On, just as dusk was
setting in, a German sniper, concealed
in some brush, singled out my brother
ffum the rest Of 'ne men and sent the
bullet which brought his life to close.
Where he fcil lGaiACd the point of far
thest advance made by our regiment
The platoon few minutes later re
treated several hundred yards to tn /,
edge Of Lhe woods. When my brother
was missed, volunteers were called for
to 60 out after him-every man re-
sponded. Four fellows, disregarding the
hail of bullets, went back and recov-
cred his body and stood guard over it
all that night until the next morning
when the situation allowed me to lcav;
my duties as battalion scout officer and
20 to my Dro.her. Theirs was a typ
of devotion which was so usual in that
battle. tell YOU. Nr. Fisher, every man
who went through those eight days of
fighting, Of l:vln, Id Loles with thos.
hellish II. 4. IS "hunting" for you, sick
with dysentery, filthy with muck, and
living on cold canned meat and hard
bread-he was hero. I've been in
two act:,.:s slncc Il en-, here in BELGIUM
but they cont compare with the A
gonne fight.
When | get back to the states / will
certainly see you and tell you in de-
tail about that fight. l will tell you
now about one brave lad, Pvt, Elmer
A. Lye Of California. Lye was snip
er in the battalion intelligence Section.
When l performed the sorrowful duty
of interring my brother L asked him to
60 with me because he had been so kind
to me and SO comforting during the IA
hnT,po xUbinh oil frn,,, ba
learned of my brother IS fate to the time
could leave my post and 60 to him,
With his own hands he carved the cross
which we placed over the grave.
After the simple but impressive ser
vices we started back for the front lines
about 1000 yards away. The Huns laid
down heavy barrage i'll field which
we had to cross. We took cover in a
shell hole and waited for them to
switch German artillery runs in eye
les). Finally, we decided it was safe
to continue. We started across the
field, Lye in the lead; l was about ten
PAGES behind and corporal, who also
accompanied me, about the same dis
tance behind me. We had gone about
200 yards when without much warning
an Ii. h. sailed through the air and
landed at Lye's feet. The corporal and
/, as soon as we heard the screech,
dropped to the ground, which probably
saved us Us :he . urst Of an Ii. q. .
something like the spray of fountain
and it always best to fall flat when
they come your way. | saw Lye had
been hit and rushed to him. Blood
was streaming from cash in his neck.
] caused a clot by placing my thumb
over it, but he continued to bleed in
wardly. "Don't worry about me, Lieu
tenant, just make me comfortable and
I'll be all right I'm q goner."
tried to cheer lila yp and sent the cor
poral to the dressing station for a
streteher. All the time, Lye remained
conscious and kept up continuous
conversation. He actually smiled when
he told ~ - W:t:r IL his mother. Will
in As minutes he was on his way to
the hospit:,l aad .he next evening hc
passed away. Consummate bravery!
And 1 saw that same bravery exhibited
on every hand. 1t would do your heart
good to have seen how our brave boys
charged those spitefully deadly ma
chine guns-charged them with almost
parade ground precision.
The American boys know not the
meaning of fear-I have yet to see al
instance Of cowardiee.
We hope to be back to Oregon soor
though we are all determined that oui
job must be thoroughly done before We
leave here. A few precautions now, il
this formative period may save us from
trouble later. Though this war tech
nieally was ended by an armistice, in
reality it was ended by the armed
forces of America and her allies-and
America s oart IN it was the weight
that swung the balance.
My best wishes, Mr.. Fisher, for 9
Merry Christmas and a Happy New
Year. Sincerely yours.
LAMAR T00ZE.