The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1918-09-26

4
bestowed on the regiment was
one that has never before been
given an American command.
There is not a man in the regi-
regiment today who is not filled
almost to bursting with pride
over the achievement Of its arms
and the distinction awarded that
achievement.
/ saw Pershing and Bliss for
the first time at the division
chateau last night. One Of the
fellows and myself passed by the
group consisting Of Pershing,
Bliss and Bell. We pulled off a
snappy salute and oil three came
to attention and returned it.
That made us feel pretty good,
as you imagine. Then this morn
ing we went over to the division
only a short half mile from our
billets, for the ceremony. BY
scouting around I found out
where the big stunt" was going
to be pulled off and we placed
ourselves accordingly, as a re-
suit we saw the entire affair in.
great style, the King passing not
more than 20 feet from where
we stood. His slightly bumped
back and pointed goatee were
identical with his pictures. /
also could have recognized Cen
eral Pershing had I not seen him
before, nor known who he was.
On his breast were two rows
Of service bars; while around
his shoulder hung the blue and
gold ribbon Of the Legion Of
Honor, the honor of honors re-
Gently bestowed on him by the
French. Shortly after the cere-
monies, the party left the cha.
teau on an inspection of the A
front where the recent great ad-
vance of the combined American
French-B British armies was sue
cessfully made. ]
Our regiment has participant
ed in this drive and won further
honors for itself. On the 9th
the whole front from A. to
NJ was on the advance, save
for the town of M where a
German machine gun nest held
out. The 131st infantry was Sc
lected to clean out the nest that
the advance might continue all
along the line u~nhampered. On
the night of the 9th it attacked,
and although the casualties were
heavy the town was cleaned out
and the advance continued two
miles beyond the town. The Sec
ond battalion of the regiment
was almost wiped out, the cas-
ualties reaching well over 300.
There were very few dead, how
ever, the majority Of the cas-
ualties being wounds in the legs
and arms. In E company, my
old company, only Is men came
out unscratched. This Is the
company as you may have read
Of in the papers, that distin-
guished itself on the 4th when
five of my old pals were left dead
in the wake of the advance.
Eight of the ten who received
medals this morning were mem.
bers of E company. Two others,
also, were to be given the decora-
tions but were in hospitals recov-
ering from wounds and not able.
to be present.
Saturday I went up with the
ration lorries' to The front lines,
that is within 1000 yards Of the
front lines, and the sights I saw
on that day, like those Of today
in their properties Of memories
retention, I shall never forget.
Ruined villages and cities, blast
ed fields torn with hastily dug
trenches and riddled by shell
fire, the stencil, the horrible
stencil of the dead who lay sing
~ and in piles, friend and foe
alike, equipment Of all sorts
scattered as chaf is tossed about
before the wind, huge shells
screeching out their message OF
death overhead, airplanes buzz
ing in midair like flies, and two
miles to the front Of us the noise
Glamour and smoke Of battle as
the advance was.being continued
this is the picture that | saw
and that can be but poorly de-
scribed on paper. In the ruined
city of c. the lorries stopped
LA. L.