Omaha daily bee., 1918-12-01
WOUNDED HERO
BACK FROM WAR
Tells Of FIGHT
John Aaron, Trench Veteran,
Has Notches on His Gun,
Service Stars" for
Dead BocheS.

Sol HulllDeE OF tHem ana tnat / am
still worth a dozen dead men, re-
CARELESS OF the fact that | may go
through life with limp in my
walk" said John Aaron, wounded
y San Francisco boy who Friday was
III Omaha few hours on his way
home.
Noung Aaron was among the first
OF the American boys to 60 over
seas. He enlisted in San Francisco
and landed in France more than
year ago as a member of Co. K.
Eighteenth infantry and was at once
assigned to the first army corps.
From that time until July 20, this
year, most of his time was spent
in the trenches and while he is not
Boosting OF it, there were a number
of notches cut on his gun stick, each
representing German who was
made to bite the dust.
Wears Gold Chevron.
July 20, the third day of the battle
of Scissors, Aaron was wounded
and after emergency treatment sent
to a Red Cross hospital in Paris,
where he remained until sent home.
With many other American wound
ed he was sent home on the steam
er Mercury. From New York $50 of
the men came on to the Des Moines
hospital. Aaron was able to travel
and Friday noon came to Omaha,
leaving for the west during the
evening.
On each arm the young soldier
wears a gold chevron, one being
for wounds received in battle and
the other indicating that he has had
years overseas service. His
wounds are not of a character that
will cripple him. During the third
day of the BATTLE of Scissors. when
the air seemed to be filled with high
explosive shells one of them burst
above where Aaron was standing
and fragment struck him on the
left leg, below the knee, cutting
away a portion of the bone.
Friday afternoon, while sitting in
the parlors Of the Young Mems
Christian association building, re-
hearsing to an interested audience
incidents of the war, Aaron said:
1T was a great life and well
worth the cost. | would not have
missed the fun of my year in France
for anything. Of course, l will
have to walk on crutches for time
and probably will never be able to
box again, but | got some exper-
fence that was worth fortune.
Over With the Tanks.
"The battle of SCISSORS was great.
For two days and nights we re-
NAMED in the trenches, giving the
Germans better than we took. Dur
ing all this time there was the con-
tinuous roar of big and little guns,
with the air filled with airplanes.
"At 4:30 o'clock, the morning of
the third day of the fighting, we
got orders to go over the top. The
most noisy and terrific barrage that
could be imagined was laid down.
This was followed by the big and
little tanks that went numbering
along, crushing down the wire en-
tanglements and smoothing down
the German trenches that were
about 900 feet away. As soon as
the tanks passed, we got the word
to 60 over and with a yell that was
heard in the back line trenches, we
started. We were across the 900
yards Of open field in record time
and commenced bayonetting the
Germans as they poked their heads
above the ground.
Huns Run Like Rabbits.
while we got a lot of boches
with our bayonets, we got still more
with our machine guns and rifles.
We chased them over the field, they
ran like a lot of scared rabbits. 1t
was apparent that they did not in
tend to make a stand and they were
driven back more than mile, all
the time shot and shell pouring into
their rear ranks. The ground was
piled with their wounded and dead,
and all the time this was going on
great numbers of them were run
ming back toward us holding up
their hands and crying 'Kamerad.'
Finally shell from the German
rear passed over where | was stand
ing. 1t exploded in the air and a,
piece struck me in the leg. had
to take the count. | was done for
and away I went TO the hospital,
but not before | heard the cheering
that indicated that we had won and
that the German advance had been
\ crushed"
/ Huns In Ranks Brutal
Young Aaron does not love the
Germans. While he blames a good
" portion of their hellishness upon
the officers, he says the men in the
ranks were just as brutal and in re-
counting instances he said:
THE stories of the Germans pois-
oning wells and streams has been
denied. but ! know that they are
true. Time and again after We had
driven them back, tests of the water
in the sectors that they had oc-
cupied showed that it had been
poisoned. We never dared eat any
food they left behipd. Many times
we found they had put poison into
this. Behind them they left all
kinds of Internal machines that
would explode if wires connected
with them were touched.
81 know of my own knowledge
that they destroyed churches and
hospitals simply to be devilish. Dur
ing the day they would send air
planes over the lines of the allies. To-
: eating the hospitals. At night they
would return and bomb them.
Young Women Abused.
"Ail through the territory from
which we drove them back, they
carried away the young women and
abused them. The older women
were taken along and made to do
work, digging trenches and doing
the most mental work for the Off
cers and soldiers. The ears and