Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-11-26
IMMORTAL DEED
OF Marines AT
Marine is TOLD
Rock island Boy Wounded at
Chateau. hicTry Tells OF
Thrilling Battle.
ORDERS TO GO BACK DEFED
~RetreGt Hell, We Just Got Here,
said Colonel Catlln, Facing
Flower of Hun Army.

These are ne immortal words SAID
IN defiance Of orders % retreat IS
sue5 ny the French high command
10 the TWO regiments OF American
marines Who stemmed the Hun ad-
vance at ChGteau-Thierry and
turned tho tide OF the war IN favor
OF democracy.
According % Private Emil Vel
vaert. OF the United States marines,
son Of Edward Welvaert, 426 Eighth
street, .lis reply was made by Col
one Carlin. aGectio3steiy called
The Ola Man" by the boys, and
was echoed by every man OF the
$4,000 marines thrown IN BY the
French against the victorious
march Of the Hun ,egtona.
Ne.vaeFt Wa at Chateau
Thiorrv n the tuickesJ of the fight
lie was wounded IN the f1eshy part
OF the left leg on June S. He was
wounded agein On the second day
Of the Ean1 counter thrust July 10,
whe- he received "a piece Of Ger
man high explosive she'll IN the
Ieft breast. He arrived IN Rock
Island al noon yesterday to spend
3o-iay furlough from q marine hos
pital q, Brooklyn, y. Y, where he
has been confined for the last
month under he care Of army med
ical office
while N the hospital he has IN
dergone TWO operations. both sue
eessiul. IN which steel shell frag-
ments were removed from his
breast. Private Welvaert is the
first Rock Island boy IN action al
ChaJcGu-Thierry TO return home
from france. He Is y years or
age.
Asked by an Argus representa-
live his opinion Of It all Welvaert
said, Il wouldn't have missed it for
me world" He enlisted in the ma
rfnes in Rock Island On May 2,
1917. soon after the United States
declared war. After a four months
training period at Paris Island. s.
C., ana later az QuantIco, Va, his
battalion embarked for France on
the Won Steuben, former the Ger
man liner the kron-Prinz Fred
erick. While yet far out CT sea,
running without lights. the Won
6tuehen rammed the Agamemnon,
and was in such condition follow
ing the collision that she had only
80 hours to make port. The feat
wgs accomplished and 4 landing
made at BrGst, France,
Final training was given Vel
vaeTt and his comrades near Bor-
Goaux, IN southern France. and
they we're sent 20 the FeTdun sec
tor. quiet at that time. for their
baptism Of fire. II was about this
tine that the Germans launched
their big offensive. a supreme last
effort 10 bring victory before the
arrival of the Yanks. AS the Hun
hordes crushed through the French
and British, seemingly irreBlstible.
a hurry call Vas sent for Amer
Jeans. Only the two regiments Of
marines were IN condition to re-
spond and they came.
GThey Shall Not Pass"
II was on June that the Yanks
relieved the French before Chateau
Thierry. The Germans were at
lacking furiously. spurred forward
by their officers again and again to
certain death. Hands blistered by
hot machine guns, outnumbered,
yet not outfought, that pitifully
small band Of determined men re-
fused TO 20 back an inch. sticking
to their posts without food or
water for many hours at stretch,
content TO die there with the fam
ous French battle cry of Verdun.
They shall not pass" upon their
lips
Enraged at the unexpected oppo-
Eitiou. and thinking that the men
opposing them were Canadian
4rr-~-- n &C. ~f4EecE q Sr- he
Germans hurled their Bavarian and
Sa xon shock troops, the flower Of
the Hun army, forward in mass for
nation time after time. And they
went down in mass formation" de-
claTed Welvaeru grfmly. six big
attacks in four days Just preceding
July 9 gained them nothing. Then
on July IS the Old Man gave the
order TO advance. That was what
We had been waiting for and fight
ing for and you should have seen
every mans face light up under
mud, sweat and blood as the word
was passed around that we were
going over. And we went, and kept
on until the order to stop was
given, IN spite of Bavarians, Sax
ons. Austriana, Bulgarians and
Just plain Huns who tied to halt
US. and tho next DAY we started
again. but the cusses got me then. "
On sept g. Private Wclvaert
left 2 French base hospital for
B-ee+, whore ne boarded q United
States transport bound directly for
home He landed az New York and
has been confined at the marine
hospital at Brooklyn since that |
time.
Origin Of Marine Nickname.
Private WeIvaert tells Of the in /
ctGeEt through which the marines .
were 'ntckuamed Devil dogs" 4
force o. I. 900 picked Germans. per /
laps Of the same order Of person
rel as the famous French foreign
Iefion, called by allied troops the
travelling circus had been terror
fzing British ard French soldiers
along the battle front for many
months by unexpected and dare
devil raids aad attacks BY acct
ce4I perhaps, the travelling circus"
struck those two reg .ments Of Yank
marines, and the travelling circus
ceased 10 exist.
Welyaerts regiment was given
citation five tines. only
three being required for earning q
regimaltal CTJ.x de Guerre. He
yeas the regulation marine uni
form On his left breast IS pin ned
3 campaign bar, with the allied |
colors. ard those designating over
-asE service Two gofd CHa,yrrue