Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-08-24
UPTON SOLDIERS
MAKE THEIR MARK
First Division of Its Kind
to Get Into Real
Battle
TEST OF DRAFTED MEN
Work of Men Justifies Faith
America Has in Its
Army
EST OF DRAFTED MEN
BY EDWIN L. JAMES
Special Cable to Evening Public Lea

Special Gable to Evening Public Ledger
Copvrioht. 1918. bv the Nc,c York Times Co.
With the American Army in France,
Aug "a.
That division of the American army
known as the New York division. and
sometimes as the Metropolitan division.
has made good. This division trained
Mt Camp Upton. Yaphank. Its numer-
ical appellation the censor does not per-
NIT me to give, although II is we'll known
In New York, and by this time also in
Germany.
1t is the first of the divisions of its
kind to get into a real battle, and Il
has justified the faith that America has
placed in her great military experiment.
The Metropolitan divisions record in its
first taste of war was eagerly watched
by the leaders of our army because 1t
represented that test.
This division when 1t reached France,
went into training with the British.
Later 1t was moved to the American
sector near Luneville, and recently has
! done that which showed that its train
ing was to good effect.
No division in the American army
! better illustrates the fact that all the
world fights the boche, for 1t Is made
up of men from Manhattan, The Bronx.
Brooklyn, Long Island and Westchester
County, and in 1t about every race is
represented and almost every known
creed has its adherents. Rich and poor
! jew and GENTLE, high and low. all fight
side by side. Truly, those who love to
call New York the melting pot" would
call this the melting pot divisions"
| When this division first took its place
in the line the eyes Of the world were
on 1t, for the result of the war and
/ the future of civilization hang on what
this division and those like 1t are to dc
to the Germans. Our higher officers
were most eager to see what these new
soldiers would do. How would they take
the first withering fire of German ma.
chine guns? What would be their be-
/ havior when they caught hell in theft
! first real barrage? What would be
! their conduct face to face, man to man
! with the Germans on the field of battle
These questions have all been an
swered. They did what they were ex.
| pected to do. and that means that they
| did we'll. They fought with bravery
and calm that showed a power and will
equal to the taking the war into Ger
! many. a task which will be laid upon
the American army next spring. The
officers of this division report enthusi-
astically upon the behavior of their men,
mere are no poor no rICll men, Hu
prominent men, no unimportant men in
| this division. They are all American
soldiers now. The bootblack from Park
Row hunks with a buddy" who used tc
live on Riverside drive. and each Is
proud of his pal.
One interesting thing is told by the
officers of this division. Perhaps the
best disciplined of all their men, those
who aid the most in effectng disciplinary
organization are men who. back in Man.
! haitian, used to be gangsters. Former
| members of the Gopher gang and the
Gashouse aggregation are second to none
in the fierceness of their fighting wher
! hand to hand with the German, and yet
back of the front line they are the most
| amenable to discipline and the strongest
/ supporters of military rule. The officer:
say that whenever any trouble start:
the ex-gangsters can be depended upol
! to preserve order.
| The men of this division all seem tt
| regard the war as a sort of persona
affair between themselves and the Ger
mans and they will talk of how man,
boches they expect to get They meal
| every word of 1t. too. All the stories o
! what a terrible fellow the boche is hav
not gotten under their skin at all, an
they have perfect confidence that ma
for man they can lick any soldier tina
Hlndenburg commands.