Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-04-23
AMERICANHEROES
OF BATTLE FIELDS
ARE FARMER BOYS
Even Captain of Small Lune-
vile Section. Titled Soil Near
VeIiSka, Iowa. Before join
ing PerShing'S Forces

WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY NEAR
LUNEVILLE, March 20.-(By Mail)-
If out of the toll, the sacrifices, and the
confscation of this year, you have not
got thrill have not felt proud of the
sort of men living about you, have not
been stirred by the thought that the
spirit of the men of Lexington, and OF
those who opened the west and fought
the Civil war, still lives-then you
should see the American boys go over
the top.
You should talk to them upon their
return. Your respect for what is in the
heart and the soul OF the man who left
the desk next to you or for the man
who moved out of your block to come
over here. will become greater, and YoU
will realize that in the farmer boy you
pass on the road you are passing a
hero who has only to be put to the test
to show The qualities first displayed by
his grandfather or great-grandfather
who helped TO build the nation.
1t was after the big raid against the
German lines of March 9. The CORE
spcndent's automobile was hidden away
behind a bullying. 1t was waiting for
an Iowa farmer. He was sitting az a
woo d table. writing out a report OF what
had happened the night before, for his
superior officer. lis lieutenant colonel
called hin: Charlie" and patted him af.
fecIionately on thu shoulder. The Iowa
farmer was Captain Charles Casey His
home is in Neliska. His massive shout
ders were bent far over the table as
he wrote a plain. colorless statement
TO the effect that he and his men left
their trenches at SOS the afternoon be-
fore; that all detectives were reached
anc that they had returned to their
own lines on scheduled time
1t was what would be called a minor
operation" il a military sense-merely
a raid. But this is q super-war, and
during the brief time the operation
lasted il was probably as violent as
Americans have ever seen. How the men
vaulted over the parapets, how thew
dashed through a hell of fire, found
the dugoUts and trenches of the Ger
mans demolished by artillery: human
flesh splattered against the sides of
trees and hanging from jagged limbs
how an airplane Swooped down on them
until the grinning face of the aviator
plying his machine gun could be seen
all this has beer told.
The boys who went through this are
simple farmer boys again, though in
uniform and in soldiers billet. The
men who led them are simply Ameri-
cans; such live all about you.
Captain Casey finished his report. The
machine was waiting to take him to
little shattered town farther back of the
lines, where he has a bare room, the
plaster knocked from it's walls in spots,
the exterior nicked and torn. For a
time ii is home-a place to rest
"All right, let's GO" ard Casey banded
his report tc the colonel, saluted and
started for the door.
The boys were great, weren't they?'
farmer
the open road.
1T was the hardest thing I ever did
in my life-thst blowing the whistle
that sent them over. 1 know they wanted
to go, every one of them. They were
spelling for it. But to look out there,
to know what they were going into
by George, it was hard"