The Irish standard., 1918-10-12
Father nanIey
And Doughboys
Hold Bird &c

Jack Remington, war correspondent,
under a London date of September Z,
writes thus:
"The Rev. ]. F. Hanley, a regular
army chaplain, who resides in Cleve-
land when he is not caring for his
mem in uniform has succeeded in
backing the famous Eerstius clear off
the pages of histos foratius, it is
true, held the pss out he was not
required to far ys;s5re of active ma
chine gupssf hands of the enemy
or .dod~s shower of aerial bombs
whicN 80 festive Boches flying over
lad set loose. The method Of
wing war has changed considerably
Il nee Horatius' time, anyhow. But in
spite of the devilish tricks of the Hun
the army chaplain held the bridge.
Here is the story as related to The
Tribune correspondent by Minnesota
officer of the Rainbow division:
ct appears that a platoon of infan-
try from one of the regiments of
the Rainbow division had been ordered
to hold a certain bridge, and that the
Boches were equally as anxious to
force a crossing of the bridge. The
officer in charge of the small infantry
detachment saw that his force was too
small to accomplish the desired task
and he was anxious to obtain rein
forcements. He asked Chaplain Han
ly if he thought his detachment could
hold the bridge without the reinforce
ments.
"'I can hold it myself with a club
the chaplain replied.
His reply sifted among the Amer
lean fighters and they developed so
much pep that the Huns had to fall
back before reinforcements arrived,
and when the Minnesota artillerymen
of the Rainbow division finally caught
the Boches with a barrage Chaplain
Hanly, Sans club, and the small group
of Yanks were holding the bridge.
Later the same day a sergeant in
the chaplain's regiment was shot The
man fell on the German side Of an
embanlzment behind which the Yanks
were peppering the Boches. Father
Hanly went to the rescue of the
wounded man and was caught in a
German machine gun barrage and him
self wounded in the leg. In spite of
the wound he brought the wounded
sergeant back to shelter within the
American lines. The chaplain was SO
weak that he was ordered to a hos
pital back of the lines for treatment
"To cap the climax Of his days eX
periences Boche airmen bombed the
hospital that night and all the wound
ed had to be removed. Father Hanly
helped to carry the men who were
wounded worse than himself to the
ambulances for transfer to military
hospitals further back of the fighting
lines.
The regiment of which Father Han
ly is chaplain halls from an Eastern
state and there are many men of Irish
nationality i'm the unit. Father Hanly
was accompanying squad of men I'M
der an Irish sergeant one afternoon,
their mission being to clean out a ma
chine gun nest which had been par
ticularly bothersome to the Yanks.
The sergeant discovered Boche
strapped in tree top with machine
gun ready for action, this being a ia
vorite method with the Germans in
covering a retreat when the Americans
make it too hot for them. Pulling his
automatic pistol from his holster, the
Irish sergeant threatened the Boche
with seven varieties of death if he
did not come down to terra firma at
once. The Boche paid no attention to
the sergeant's threats. AS he was
about to shoot the chaplain suggested
perhaps the German had been
wounded.
"'We'll give him chance, anyway,
said the sergeant, who ordered two OF
his men to scale the tree. They found
the Boche was dead, having been shot
through the heart by an American
sharpshooter earlier in the engage
ment