Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-11-29

WITH THE FIRST AMERICAN ARMY
wv FRANCE, Oct. 14.-All the tankers
W say that Jim Heady of Iowa-Corpor-
al Jim Heady, thank you rotten
temper. He is apt to get irritated in battle.
Some little thing happens to him, like get
ting shot or sticking his tanks nose in soft
bank, or Outrunning the infantry which is
supposed to be in support, and whichStake it
from the tankers-very rarely is, and Jim
Heady's Iowa temper goes blooie.
HE just runs that tank around like 1t
was a squirrel" his admiring associates as
sert, jumping on boches and things and
paying no attention at all to what his gum
ner says to him. His gunner says that up
at Varennes he kicks this Heady guy in the
back.
"You stop horsin' around with them boche
and pay attention to me-" his gunner said,
cor I'll blame we'll drag you outa this tank
and knock your dang block off,"
HUNDRED TANKS BUSY.
The tanks had considerable of an innings
in the fight which opened on September 25
between the Meuse and the Argonne. More
than 100 or Of them were employed at their
usual job of breaking down wires and root
ing out machine gun nests. That job was
complicated and thickened on this occasion
by the fact that a heavy mist chung to the
ground when the tanks began work at dawn
on September 26.
Hardly ndu Iu6y CldIJST6u over LIS uTSI
line than they were lOst-lost from each
other and the doughboys and the high COM
mand and the aerial patrols and the runners
and every one else. They fought the first
hours of that battle on their own hook, each
tank for itself, rumbling and snOrting
through the mist and grinding over enemy
nests. Hours passed before the sun came out
and cleaned away the fog, so they could give
and receive signals.
Jim Heady's gunner was found at Warren
mes. On TIE third day of the fight some of
the battered tanks limped into this battered
town to rest up. Not much was left Of
Varennes, except little piles of broken stone
that had been walls and streets that were
filled with stone the American shells had
broken and that the doughboys were
now clearing away, and here and there
the mouths of dugouts. On the sunny brow
of the hill in which troglodyte colony OF
German officers had once lived in under
ground burrows the tanks gathered to be as
suaged and petted. One is always tempted
to compare these uncouth devices to I'M
familiar beasts. In action in the open tank
reminds one of charging rhinoceros, as
seen through the pages of Stewart Edward
White. Like the African terror it losses dirt
on its snub brow, and is low and ugly and
powerful and uncannily quick.
LIKE TIRED BEASTS
So on this bright hill in dusty Varrennes,
hidden from enemy eyes under the warm
SnoItGr OF q DlC Oh shattered WALL IuSy SSeH-
ed tired and happy beasts. One almost ex-
pected to see one Of them stretch an appre-
ciative nose toward the friendly hand or wag
an absurd little steel tail. Their masters
hung about them jealousy. A tank might
seem deserted, lonely, altogether empty-lts
scars of rust and oil and fire raw in the pitt
less sun-but if stranger ventured near the
doing creature man was certain to ma
terialize from the vague background Of ruins.
He never spoke first, but went about his pet,
rubbing his hand over it, turning something
perhaps opening q door. He seemed to re-
sent a strangers familiarity.
"This is my tank" his manner indicated.
eff you want to play with tank, go get
tank of your own"
After listening to the other tankers 1t
seemed necessary to find Corporal Jim Heady,
of Iowa, but he had disappeared. The gen
eral conviction was that he had crawled into
a dugout somewhere to sleep, few of the
tankers having. had more than ten minutes
sleep at time in four days and nights. BY
petting the Heady tank, however, his gun
ner was discovered. Corporal Joseph Eccles,
of Harrison, n. j., rose from the warmest
corner of shell hole and came over, rub
bling his eyes. He said he didn't know where
this Heady guy was and he didn't care.
ST never saw him before got into the tank
with him." said Corporal Eccles, land won't
write home about it if never see him again.
All know about him is that he comes from
some place in Iowa. and that he gets mad If
any little thing happens. That's a hell Of
way to do
OFFICER TOOK HIS TANK
Coporal Eccles' own tank had been taken