The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1918-08-15
TWINS IN THE WAR
VERY MUCH ALIKE
Officers Unable to Distinguish
One From the Other-Have
Queer Mixups.
BY FRED S. FERGUSON.

Onfto0 Fre68 0tdff correspondent
| With the American forces in PIcardy,
June f7.-(by mail) When you go to
war twice at the same time in the
same outfit, maybe you can consider
you really are doing your part to whip
the boche. Atieast Walter and Albert
Gr1erson are inclined to feel thaat way
about it. The only way 1t can be done,
however, is to be twin.
Walter and Albert are twins. Their
father and mother live alta 1912 Lucas
| avenue, St Louis. And il Mr. and Mrs
Grierson think they had hard time
telling Walter and Albert apart when
they were little. they ought to see the
sergeant and company commander try
ing 1t. After you know how to identity
the twins it's easy. Walter Cor is 1t
Albert? has a mole on one foot But
the sergeant can't tell the twins to
take off their shoes every time he
wants to pick one of them for some
particular job. The result Is that Wal
ter and Albert are fighting the war
both together and separately, for them
selves and for each other, and in ad-
dltfon are--and also ts-carrying on a
mail courtship.
They are writing Clendlne and Geral-
dine SmaIley. who live in Sheldon, III
Glendine and Geraldine are twins
Walter or Albert is writing Glendine
| and Albert or Walter is writing Geral-
dine.
Walter, or Albert-anyhow one Of
the twfns-first told the story as he
sat in the window Of the United Press
billet one warm evening in Picardy.
Wagons. guns and cannons were roll
ing and rumbling by. The twins are
too early yet for them to set out for
their work Of stringtng wire, and dig
ging trenches and dugoute. AS Walter
or Walter, talked Of DelmaT. the bridge,
the river and other things OF home, the
other one came up. It was like seeing
double. Their tin hats were even at
the same angle.
Nobody Knows the Difference.
You sec. it's like this" said Albert.
When Walter"-that identified AL
bert--'swhen Walter is working and is
tired and I'm fresh slip out and re-
ieve him and nobody knows the diff
ference. Then II get tired he comes
out and relieves me, ana SO long as one
OF us is where one or the other is sup
posed to be-well, there you are"
No one in the company knows one
fro mthe other. On one occasion new
sergeant was in charge of the detach-
nent working on dugout. Albert and
Walter were working from opposite
sides. Just as Walter left the dugout
with a wheelbarrow filled with dirt AL
bert left the other end of the runway
and came down another path with his
empty. Inc sergeant Ql0n,L Know LAere
were two Of them. Every time he looked
up he saw Grierson loading and
starting of with wfeelbarrow The
sergeant figured this man Grierson was
doing twice as much work as any other
man on the Job and went to the lieu
tenant to tell him about it. Then he
learned there were two of them.
Before enlisting in the army together
the Grtersons worked in different
banks In st. Louis. 1t so happened that
each was at the pass book window in
his respective bank. @Depositors with
accounts in both banks began to con-
slider taking the pledge if they went
from one bank directly to the other
until they learned how things stood.
The sergeant and the company COM
mander have given It up. They assign
Albert and Walter to work and so long
as Grierson is there, that is good
enough.
The twins are over mere because they
want to help win the war. They are
not yet 81, therefore they would not
have been drafted, but they are doing
the war double.