Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-08-23
STATE SOLDIERS
UNDER HUN FIRE
DID NOT FALTER
Leader of Company A, 109th
Machine Gun Battalion,
Relates Pursuit


advance under fire is described by
Captain william C. Rehm. of Ian
caster. commanding Company A.
This battalion, attached to the
Fifty-sixth infantry brigade. was
formed of companies from Lancas-
ter. Columbia. Bethlehem, Allen
town and Philadelphia.
Day and night we marched
through mud, rain and sunshine,
best and cold" says Captain Rehm.
I'VE were continually under gun
fire and gas attacks, without being
able to get any guns in action.
The enemy's rear guard defense
was the only thing that saved him
/ from annihilation or capture. Pass
ing over the battleields, we were in
constant observation from airplanes
and balloons, and as a result he put
down a heavy barrage that worked
the devil with us.
Il wish you could see my boys.
Such a ragged. dirty, determined
looking lot of fighters. full of grim
courage. They all received their
baptism of fire at Chateau Thierry
and behaved splendidly, while shells
high explosives, shrapnel and gas
were dropping every minute every
where.
| No One FaItered
| NO one faltered or turned tail
On we went, ducking when shells
approached, dropping on our bellies
when half a house tumbled down.
1t was hell. and it kept up all night,
and yet not a man showed a yellow
streak. It was our first experience
Since then we have become used to
st"
Up to July 81, the captain wrote,
the battalion had suffered no casual
ties. Since then word has been re-
ceived that Private Howard w. Shue
OF Company H, has been wounded
His home is in Schaefferstown.
Two Lancaster men in the 10Sth
machine gun battalion. of the same
| division, are commended for brav-
cry in a letter from Sergeant Her
man H. Mes, also Of Lancaster
They are Carl McConomy and Harry
| Greiner, both with the medical de-
tachment of the battalion.
These two men went out under
heavy shellfire to rescue wounded
Earl Ryan, also of Lancaster, OF
the 151st machine gun battalion, has
| been wounded for the second time.
we went through a pretty rough
campaign" he writes, but we drove
the Boche back and are happy"
In his last Letter to his home al
Milton, Lieutenant Colonel Wallace
W. Fetzer, killed in action, described
some of the terrific fighting through
which he had passed. Colonel Fet-
ger was superintendent of schools
at Milton.
Safe and WE'LL" he wrote on july
26. In all seriousness 1 say Thank
God 1 suppose you read of the
battle beginning July 14-15 at mid
night, and not yet over, although
things are quiet just now. Let me
| say I was in the first line in one
of the fiercest parts of the fight from
Sunday night to Tuesday morning,
attached to a French regiment with
some of the American troops and the
French colonel told me we had
passed through one of the fiercest
bombardments he had ever been in.
Il have had high explosives burst
ing around me, machine gun and
rifle fire at my feet and around my
head. Americans are brave men,
and America can feel proud of her
soldiers.
IACAiNll ICdTlSSS SnucT Fire
Il admire the French soldiers ]
saw. They are absolutely fearless,
l saw them walking about with their
canes swinging as though they were
walking down Broadway. Shells were
bursting and machine gun fire was
likely to strike them any moment.
We lay out in the open all night un-
der fire and slept through it"
Colonel Fetzer was with the 10th
infantry of the Iron division. Addi-
| tional casualties reported from this
regiment indicate the terrific char
acter of the fighting through which
it has passed.
Duncan Mcintyre and Bernard
Robson, of Company G., Altoona. are
missing. Private Willis L. Strouse.
of Sunbury. a wagner with the One
Hundred and Tenth, waS killed in
action.
From the One Hundred and Elev-
enth Infantry, B. T. Smith, Jr.. of
Company B. whose home is in West
moreland county, is recovering from
a gas attack. From the One Hun
dred and Twelfth, Clair J. Fry. of
| Company NJ, of McVeytown, was
wounded July Is.
I'VE have the hellish Boche on
the run and are after him with a
| vengeance, writes Captain H. c.
Harper. of New Castle. a medical
| officer with the Iron division,
Charles T. Evans, of Pottsvilie.
with Company c, One Hundred and
Third Engineers, has been wounded.
bringing the total casualties of this
company up to fifteen. Company D,
of the same unit. recruited at Potts
vile, has had nearly fifty casual
ties.
Lieutenant, Charles B. Seely, of
Williamsport, a dental officer with
the One Hundred and Third En-
gineers, in a letter written July 81.
tells of the part the Pennsylvanians
played in the Marne fighting when
majority of these casualties oc-
Cured
This regiment was the first of the
Twenty eighth division to get into
action, and NATURALLY the first to be
at the 'front.'" says Lieutenant Seely.
I'VE also had the first casualties.
When the Hun started the often
sive on July Is. we were busy for
thirty-six hours straight, but there
were very few serious cases-mostly
minor and gassed cases.
"The outlook for the war for the
Allies is very promising. think it is
only a matter OF time. The French
claim December will end it, and |
think it will soon break. The French
say the American infantry are crazy
because they are so fearless, and the
American artillery, they say, are
drunk because they shoot so damned
often and accurate.
1.-THE colonel just came in telling
US 1t is all of. The artillery bonn