The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1918-07-03
YANKEES PROVE REAL
CHIPS OFF OLD BLOCK
American Troops in France Have Shown Their Superiority Over
Germans as Fighters-The Yankee Knows He Is Up
Against the Biggest Game the World Ever Knew
and He Is Eager to Do His Bit.

They know what Il means TO be sent
= out to invade the territory Of the en-
eiay at midnight, when misstep
means death. They know what it
means to sleep with gas masks on:
what it means to march 80 miles in
mud hnf way TO the knee and sleep
in barns, stables and in open wagons.
They don't know what pcSsimism is.
Ihoy don't know what fear is. L
have seen them in their dugouts right
up within one thousand feet of the
enemy, rolling cigarettes, playing cas-
! iH1 singing such songs as i've Been
working on the Lcvee," "Way Down
fonder in the Corn Field" and other
melodies which lend themselves read
lily to simple NEGOTIATIONS known as
barber Shops writing letters home
by candle light or reading letters and
news from home. | have marveled at
their spirit. 1t is all new to them.
They have seen enough to realize
fully that war is the most serious,
grim thing in the world and that its
toll of death is very heavy.
In the hospitals the Yankees show
n spirit which amazes the surgeons.
There was Il young chap-a Russian
by ancestry-frOm Bridgeport, Conn.,,
who was terribly wounded in the affair
1T Siecheprey. He furnished a most
wonderful example of courage. He
was doomed from the start, but he
thought he would live. When he was
finally told that his death was mat
ter of but Il short time, he dictated q
short letter to his sister, the conclud-
ing sentence of which was:
Il am sorry can't see you any more,
but you are in a country where you
will have your rights"
Buried by Shell UpheavaI.
Then he told the nurse to thank the
Red Cross man who found him in No
Mans Land. That was the end of this
young Russian. He was buried by an
upheaval of earth from large shell
and was terribly injured. For two
days and two nights he lay with only
his head exposed, with no food or wa
ter, with shells breaking around him
'''' iti'Ni WIN ptlllldlilS-lOE lie WAS
in territory held by them-constantly
passing him. The assumption appar-
emily was that he was dead, for his
head rested sidewise and he kept his
eyes closed. A hundred times he was
almost stepped on. Then on the third
day Red Cross litter bearer, crawl
ing about in the land of death, found
him and dragged him to a receiving
station.
L saw another case where a young
man had a badly shattered leg. 1t
was a question whetherNt should be
amputated or not. He heaSd the dis
cussion, and with a smile SAID:
$50 ahead, take it off. I'll ret a
wooden one and that will do me-" -.
The boys had their first big test at
the engagement of Siecheprey when
ilfteen hundred picked shock troops in
vaded their lines in the wake of a fu-
rious barrage. So fierce was the gale
of heavy shells that the boys could
not emerge from their trenches and
the assault Boche troops swept over
them.
Then there came hand-to-hand fight
ing in the village and in two pieces of
woodland and the Americans showed
that in hand-to-band conflict they
are far superior to the Hun, even when
the latter uses his shock troops. There
are scores of stories of individual bra
very told of this minor, but to thu
Americans at that time, important, n
clash. All show Enthusiastically that
The American soldier does not knOwR
what fear is and that as soon as he
gets acquainted with the subleties, lie
hey may be called that, of war, he
will be just as dangerous a fighter as
he Roche has yet faced.
AS with the Canadians and Austrn-
ians, the Americans may be handi-
'apped at the outset with too much
mpetuosity, but that, by the French,
S said to be most commendable fault
because 1t is quickly rectified and so
eadily nodded into vital requisites of
and fearlessness.
The American soldier is all right.
lie Is giving a good account of himself
wherever he Is placed. He worships
he French. He loves France. He
'nows he Is up against the biggest
'ame the world has ever played and
he is ready and eager to "do his bit'
md do IL right.