Grand Forks herald., 1918-09-20
LIBERTY LOAN
SPEAKER LAUDS
: u. S. SOLDIERS

SO, 0O NvAD AA1A NJ
Corporal Keegan Describes
: Conditions in France at
Present.
New Rockford, N. D.. Sept. 90
to give up the fighting. was the
France to which Corporal Henry F.
Keegan of the American engineers,
landed in France last December.
Five weeks ago when he quit
French soil. sent home because Of
wounds that incapacitated him for
further service, the spirit of France
could not be bettered. Her people
are confident today in the outcome of
the war; the old war WEAKNESS of the
time before America became a factor
day-only of the victory they see just
a short distance ahead.
Corporal Keegan arrived in New
Rockford yesterday to speak in North
Dakota in the Fourth Liberty Loan
and he opened his, speaking, cam
paign here last night.
Arriving in France in December,
Corporal Keegan, native Virginian.
went into the front line with an en-
gineers' regiment in February, when
the Americans took over the Toul
sector, and he was wounded in June.
Subsequent to that date he has been
in ten hospitals, and still is in the
service. He carries his left arm in a
sling, the result of injuries received
when the ammunition train he was
driving on narrow guage track from
the supply base to the artillery was
wrecked in hole created by German
shells.
1T was wonderful. the reception
the French accorded us. I'll never
forget it." said Corporal Keegan.
In an engineers regiment with the
26th division, Corporal Keegan's work
kept him in the area between the am
muniton supply bases and the artil-
lery. region almost continuously un-
der fire of German artillery because
OF the importance of keeping supplies
from the opposing artillery.
THE AmVtcans work in this dis
trict almost without regard for the
German Shells" said Corporal Kee-
gan this morning. Their behavior
under fire is remarkable, and has ex-
cited the admiration Of the French
Germans alike. The Germans, ac-
cording to their prisoners. Of whom I
have seen many, thought they would
without effort, but they found differ
emily when they went up against our
boys, particularly at Chateau Thier-
ry.
"The Americans, while they lost
heavily at Chateau Thierry, stood
through ground againae dense waves
of German soldiers, whom they now
ed down like wheat before q binder.
That is the story as the American
soldiers told it in the hospitals where
was a patient when they came in.
The spirit in the hospitals is re-
markable. I have seen lines of SOL
with each other. I'm better off than
you are. I've only lost an arm,' one
soldier will say to another, with the
veryelikely comeback from the other
that I've got far the best Of the argu-
ment: I have lost only a. lgg.' It's
the spirit that can't be beat.
when one goes into the front
trenches for the first time. it is only
natural that a feeling of nervousness
is experienced. After week or two,
however, that wears off, apd one is
ASoAy AO4 "AdlOVSI Ndy COI1I0.
German Outrages.
II went to- France only partially
convinced that stories of Hun brutal
ity are true. / have seen enough,
however. to convince me that the
worst things said of the Germans are
mild in comparison with some Of the
things they have actually done. Bel
gian and French refugees from the
conquered districts tell, gruesome
stories Of German horrors: Of little
babies snatched from out the arms of
their mothers. and dashed to y the
stone pavements and killed; of little
sword; Of crimes against women that
are unspeakable.
THE American soldier knows these
things are true. He is possessed of
but one idea-that af going straight
through to Berlin. The American
soldier fights when he is mad-and
the American soldier in France today
hates the Hun: hates the Hun so
thoroughly that any peace without
absolute surrender won't set we'll with
him.
THE boys are there to do a certain
thing: they are determined to see it
through. Under fire, they are calm /;
in the face of danger, they are spirit
ed and brave soldiers. The Ameri-
can soldier as q fighter has bested the
best the Hun has, and he has done 1t
SOY effectively that Germans can no
longer discount the Yankee as fac
II have seen hospitals In which
German shells have killed doctors
and nurses while they were operating
on wounded men; have seen schools
in which little children were killed
a.. h 81 I'D
churches in which praying women
and children were shelled to death.
Iehave seen 500 French refugee wom-
en- and children. babies for whom
mothers had no food, cared for by
the Red Cross. 1t Is the same thing
that other American soldiers have
seen. and it has left with them but
the one idea, to beat to earth the
brutes that have brought such woe
and misery into the world.
An American Air Victory.
"In the section where we were
stationed. we had an opportunity ,of
seeing an American airman conquer
and kill a German aviator and his
companion in a hot fight directly
overhead. One Of three German ma
chimes searching out our base of sup
plies passed through the barrage fire
and got we'll behind our lines. Then
came an American airman on I. the
scene, riding considerable below the
German flyer.
'.The German opened hre, the
American doing q loop into a dense
cloud that obscured him from the
German dived to follow, the Ameri-
can. who In the meantime quickly
went up, with the result that the
American was soon above the Ger