Jackson County journal., 1918-11-22
poris.-"Will the Irish tight?"

I0rlS.-W w Ill tilG lIlSu nSIt
The same old answer may be made.
They will. 1t can be made on the rec
ords Of two famous lriSh-Amerlcan
regiments in France. 1t is record
that makes men Of Irish blood hOiG
their heads high. 1t is Il record that
betters the brightest page OF Ameri-
cas- most glorious military annals
These two regiments Cone used to
be the old Ninth Massachusetts and
the other the Fighting SiNty-ninth OF
New York; were in every bad scrap
the American army has been in. The
tales of their prowess are just now
filtering back to Paris. They may be
tcld because the censor at headqlar-
ters has now ruled that regiments may
be s.amed for their part in such hSht-
ing as preceded that on the Rlver
Vese.
The Ninth and the SiXty-ninth were
In almost all of it. The story does not
come from official reports. 1t comes
from the lips of two men. one doc
tor in the Ninth and the other chap
lain in the Sixty-ninth, who saw what
they relate. These two have seen
many soldiers die. They know what
bravery and courage and cheerfulnesS
are.
Lieut.. Simon Kelleher of the Ninth
was in Paris the other day. He tells
the story of his boys. And most of
the time he is either laughing, or tears
involuntariy creep out the corners OF
his eyes and drop unashamed down
his Drowned cheeks.
Lieutenant Kelleher's stories show
that the Irish boys of his regiment,
the boys of Boston, South Boston. RoX-
bury. Cambridge and Charlestown
fought with the cool courage that held
the fire on Bunker Hill until those
Americans of an earlier day saw the
whites of their eyes" They show that
these bOyS-and most of them were
mere boys-died face to the front, q
grim smile on their lips. fighting. doing
their soldiers duty to the last breath
of ebbing life. Each heartbeat of the
nll-tOo-few left thrObbed but to On'
purpOSe-tO fight. No man Of the
Ninth died. says Lieutenant Kelleher
without taking toll and more Of en-
emy lives with him.
One for Each Shot.
"Just now the names of these heroes
may not be mentioned. But "Kell,
and Burke and Shea" are there, all 0
them, and many more. Lieutenan
Keleher says nothing of his own gal
lantry. But his stories show that he
too, served. He was not called on 70
the supreme sacrifice. But he Offere,
his life thousand times on first ait
dressing expeditions to the farthes
outposts and beyond.
I'D been told there was a woundc
man in an advanced traverse" h
says. 81 crawled slowly up to get hin
l heard his Iabored breathing in IN
lulls of the gunfire. And then l rOunt
ed the corner of the trench. Their
he sat, propped against the wall Hi
breath came in tearing gaSps and wit
each one the blood gushed from hi
chest; for he had been shot throus
the lungs. He WAS boy | ha
known all NY life.
They got YOU bad, Pack | sal
as | tried to help him.
"'They sure did, Sine he reptile
Rut looka there
u followed the wave of fhc empi
pistol he still held in his hand, an
there stretched across the oppos
parapet We're six dead Germans. ol
for every shot in his gun. They h
got him only when the gun had EN-
tied. ! stopped the bleeding as be
1 could and we got him back to ,
ambulance. But he died four hou
later. l guess his life was well pa
for.
1T was this same sharp raid of IL
Germans that produced one of Il
coolest bits of desperate courage
ever saw. One Of our boys had be-
captured by three Germans and
was being led off as they retreate
one on either side of him and O