The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1918-09-27

Mich, an officer of 20. M. made up
mostly of Owosso and Shiswassee coun
ty men, who has inst returned from
France where he led the company into
the battle near Chateau Thierry July
81. when several of the men were killed
and many seriously wounded, told In
the most impressive way at the Baptist
church ut the union service Sunday
evening. the thrilling story of the bat
tie in which the boys showed their
wonderful heroism and in which he
narrowly escaped death repeatedly
He had risen from the ranks, had
known the men in all the different con-
ditions. and they were TO him as broth
ers and he feft the death of them as
did their parents and brothers and sis.
ters. He broke down as he told of the
bravery and their upfiinching way of
facing the rain of bullets and shrapnel
Lieut.. Horrine, who is back in The
states as an instructor, had his WRIT
watch shot off. one bullet went through
his coat and the pack on his back con
tanning his blankets. was blown to
shreds.
Lieut.. Horrine, took his audience
with him from the time that the COM
pany landed at the French port of
Brete, until he left on August Is to
return to the states. He told of the
passage through various parts of
France, down into Lorraine, and of the
life in the trenches there, which was
quiet. 1t was here that the company
suffered its first casualties, Corporal
Gutenberg being killed and Corp.
John Quinn, Privates Carl Geney and
John Wade being wounded, when a
shell dropped into an advance observa-
tion post. The company got it's first
touch of trench life on June Ia in Lor-
raine. Captain Steck was called away
from the company on the night previ-
Gus to attend an officers school to
train for staff officer.
"We got our first barrage at this
time and the boys who had been talk
ing Of getting the kaiser's helmet to
take home as a souvenir, decided i'm
mediately that dubout was an aw-
fully good place to be. 1t isn't the
man who talks the loudest and the
most who stands the test under fire.
1t is usually the ones who are the
quiestest who are the heroes.
"It was here that a soft spoken
little fellow, Private Leonard Watson,
of Corunna, distinguished himself by
carrying the wounded men back from
where they lay, to places of safety.
He was under fire all the time but was
needless of the danger"
"On July 81 the division was order
ed to leave Alsace, their sector being
taken over by division of Czecho-
Slovaks. When the division started,
not even the colonies knew where we
were going. es-.,a,s
SAT Chateu Thierry, we saw some of
the work of the Hun. And what we
saw left no misconception in our
minds of what the skunks do to the
territory they occupy. They had loot
ed and plundered the town and raw
ished its women. The dugouts taken
by the French troops, which had been
occupied by the Germans, we found
furnished elegantly, with lace cur
tains, tapestry, brass beds, pianos,
wines and there were unmistakable
signs how the women prisoners had
been treated.
eve were taken up to the front in
Packard trucks and then given
chance to rest. We slept in woods
over night. Here Corporal Waldron
Fillinger, had a narrow escape from
death. He, and a number of other
men were sleeping not over ten feet
from where big shell hit, but they
escaped without scratch, while an
other man 125 feet away was wound
ed.
"On the afternoon of July 81 we
were ordered to leave the place where
we were and to take up a position on
a hill some distance from there, along
the Ourcq river. We did so and i'm
mediately dug in. Shortly thereafter
we got orders to attack clump of
woods, which seemed insignificant
enough. We continued on up the hill.
We didn't know it then, but we after
ward learned that the 42nd, or rainbow
division had attacked that position six
times and then had been thrown back.
"The position given Company M
to take, had been made particularly
strong by the Huns. They had it lit
terally sewed with machine gun nests,
and the trees were full of machine
guns. The Germans had created one
extremely strong point by digging a
hole in which were scores of machine
guns.
Company M was given orders by
Captain Frierson to attack. 1t was
the first time that the Owosso boys
had faced anything like real fire. And
as they swept up over the crest of that
hill, hail Of machine gun bullets met
them. For minute l didn't know
whether my feet would carry me for
word or whether they would insist on