New-York tribune., 1918-04-29
Gallant Fighters Return
From Trenches to Tell
People of the War
Three of Old 69th
Are in the Party
California Youth Tells How
He Fired First Shot
at Germans

year ago was just another student in
Lowell High School, San Francisco
Then came the war. On October 2a
last, from the hills of Lorraine, Cor
poral de Varilla, the nineteen-year- old
schoolboy, fired the first shot in the
war from the gun of an American
soldier.
The youthful soldier is in New York
now. In a party Of fifty of General
Pershing's veterans, the corporal has
returned to America for brief time
to explain what war is. The soldiers,
virtually all of whom have been in
the first line trenches for six months,
range in age from seventeen years to
sixty. All Of them have been either
wounded or gassed. Several have won
the croiX de guerre. The men received
reporters yesterday at the Liberty
Loan headquarters, at 12O Broadway,
for they are here to stir. up the folk
at home to subscribe for bonds.
Corporal de Varilla, a sturdy, red
haired youth, typiied the spirit of his
comrades. He had no desire to come
back home and tell of great deeds
done. When the great job across the
sea is over de Varilla and the other
forty y-nine heroes may tell reminis-
Gently and with pride about their
personal feats in battle. But yester-
day the soldiers exuded the spirit that
feels the task is only now begun.
Tells of Firing First Shot
When the men did talk about going
into the German first line trenches or
running through No Mans Land to
carry food to a comrade, or about fir
ing the first shot they spoke ditfident-
ly and in -perhaps-routine manner.
Under the barrage of pointed question
ing the tale of the epic days of Amer
|ica's entrance into the tremendous
conflict flowed from their lips.
Near the town Of Bath Lcmont. IN
Lorraine, Corporal dc Varilla said,
Battery C Of the 9th Field Artillery,
of which he was a member, drew up
toward the German line on October
in command. Under cover of dark
ness, they pulled their rs millimetre
guns up a steep incline and planted
them on slope which had previously
been carefully camoufaged with trees.
The Teutons, complacently believing
that America was merely bluflng about
the war, did not know that American
troops had taken over a part OF the
French front. At a. m. all was ready.
The gun was placed and pointed. Cap
tain Lendon and his crew of twenty
five awaited the order to fire. 1t came
at nine minutes after 6. A minute
1.A. roup1c of ch rapno1 IUopt
screaming into space across 4,lOO yards
of No Mans Land and into an enemy
communication trench of the first line.
Corporal de Varilla, who fired the gun,
could not ascertain whether it had hit
its mark, but the American and French
observers later informed him that he
had done his job we'll.
Will Be Glad to Go Back
'I felt pretty good" the young cor
poral remarked, "when that old shell
went sailing out over the hill. The
only thing VIC were all sore about was
that we couldn't see where it hit and
had to take another mans word for it..
1t made it sort Of an impersonal war.
When the Germans began to fire back
we got some real thrills. I didn't have
time to think what it would mean 1t
their gunncrs got our range, and l
guess the other men telt about the
same way. Nobody appeared nervous"
The corporal added that the enemy
gunners found their concealed battery
about fifteen minutes after the first
American shot was hurled at them.
The German range was poor, and
their shots fell several hundred yards
to the left of the mark.
Dc Varilla, continuing his story, said
that the Americans served the guns
for two weeks before going back to rest
billcts. They fred, on the average, of
sixty or seventy rounds day, he
added, and the Teutons replied with
approximately the same number of
messages.
The CORPORAL, whose home is at 1895
Valencia Street, San Francisco, seemed
to enjoy the opportunity to catch a
glimpse Of the States once one. "All
Of u.s." he declared, "will be glad to
20 back again, but you can just bet
we will enjoy every minute we are
on leave" The boys all expressed the
hope that the War Department would
arrange to give them a sixty-day fur
Tough, so that they can visit their
relatives.
Veteran at Seventeen
The men who arrived from overseas
on a transport Saturday night are back
in the United States as the result of an
order by President Wilson, it was an
nounced, and, while sixteen will remain
in New York, the rest will tour the
country to let America know intimately
n., cnk De-.