The sun., 1918-12-25
LA FRANCE ARRIVES
LADEN WITH TROOPS
Christmas Eve Landing Of g.
700 Men Inspiring, but
Pathetic.
MANY WOUNDED ABOARD
Members Of One Whole d.
vision Decorated for Cad
lantry in Action.

C0l. (ASneT miner OIL Nlihcoudtic'
Pa. and almost 9,7o0 other rip snortin'
flEhtin' folk from France came into
town yesterday aboard Ia France.
And while the Pussy river winds were
blowing 40 hard that the rain couldn't
hit the United States Of America the
olive drab clad lads stood out on the
stormswept deck and said happily
ana reverently-that yesterday was
the most wonderful Christmas Eve
since that mighty night almost 1000
years ago when the star began to CLINT
above Bethlehem.
Col. Asher Miner leads this chron-
icle OF the arrival Of himself and troops
yesterday because leading is the best
thing he does. He Is, or was until
Uncle Sam called him. one OF the lead
inc coal operators ana financiers of
Pennsylvania His forebears were
gentlemen and soldiers and leaders OF
all that was best in Colonial stock ever
since the days of our Revolution. when
the Indians swept down In ITS upon
the little block house at wyoming
Pa, across the Susquehanna from the
SPOT where generations later Col.
Asher Miner was born and all but an
initiated Zeb Butler and his little band
OF colonists during the Massacre OF
Wyoming"
wwounded bat Fought On.
And Col. Asher Miner, remembering
the traditions Of his family and always
going true to form, dropped his vast
interests when America entered the
war and thereafter was a leader Of
men from the time he set foot on
France.
Still in his prime so far as years go,
Col. Miner will go back among his
Pennsylvania townsmen--who cheer
at mention Of his name--physically
broken ana shattered. AS some one
put 1t when La France locked at the
foot of West Fifteenth street yester-
day, "the most banged up scrapper
that has come into this port since the
troops began to come home Is a
Colonel named Asher Miner of the
Twenty-eighth Division: and he's a
wonder, boys, a wonder"
Always Well Up In Front.
Twice the Huns ripped bullets
through his left leg. Each time he
would pull himself together, and with
a choice Of being invaded home or
going back to the front again would
go to the front. With his T'wen-
ty-eighth Pennsylvania) Division
which as shock troops got so many
knocks that as the story of the TWEEN
ty-eighth Is being told the feeling
dawns upon America and Manhattan
that other units besides the marines
and the old Sixty-nlnth had a part in
the winning of the war with The
Twenty-eighth steadily headed hell
bent toward the Rhine, Col. Miner was
always leading an active part of the
fracas until the last hours OF the war
During those last fighting hours
Hun shrapnel scattered and skittered
all over the area where Col. Miner was
fighting. The shrapnel tore his face
open He fought on until he dropped
unconscious from loss of blood. And
he came into the stormy bay and up
the wind swept river at midday yes
terday through the noise OF the Groom
of the whoops of all the whistles along
the waterfront of the greatest port
with a kindly "home again" smile on
his battered face and the always to be
envied Distinguished Service Gross
for gallant conduct" OH his jacket.
The Grip OF q Brave Mans Hand
Reporters aren't supposed to men
ton themselves. Nobody Is wildly ex-
cited about what reporters think OIL
feel; all the reporter IL supposed to d.
is to tell impersonally the bare fact.
OF what he saw. But II the readers O.
THE Sun and the other citizens of thu
United States who are interested onl!
in the arrival OF troops will grant .
reporter for once in newspape
mans life permission to talk abou
himself, the reporter would like to sa.
that the best Christmas present whicl
came his way was the feel Of Col
Asher Miners hand in the reporter
outstretched mitt.
The mistake should not be mad
that Col. Miner was the only soldie
aboard when the France got in yes
terday. Among the fightin' folk
from Europe, for instance, who jam
med the decks and crowded even tn
rain wet rigging OF La France were
TO mention out q rev, young EdI
Porter, an American flier who hale
from Omaha, who wore not only tn
Croix de Guerre but also the DIS
tinguished Service Cross because Il
had done things high in the atmos
phere above the scissors battle from
last October.
Had n Fall of $4,000 Feet.
There was Lieut. Nathan c. Pos
of 1908 Somerton road. Cleveland Ohi'
who had to hobble ashore with tn
aid Of a cane because while flying
France he twice had been shot u
while more than two miles in the al
On one eventful day Lieut.. Post fe
a trlfe more than $4,000 feet out {
the clouds, and lived happily eve
after. so happily that yesterday. ono
the France had dQcked. he was abb
to speak pleasantly about the zinc
dent" He has been cited for the Wa
Cross of France.
There was Major Earl Il. Hockwa
of Easton, Pa, OF the Seventh Fiel
Artillery, First Division. who lay bee