Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-08-17
Sketches of the Heroes

he enlisted In the old Third Regiment.
n. q. p, in June, 1916. He served
through the Mexican border campaipn.
and when the regiment returned to
Philadelphia he stuck with the colors,
being in the company ordered to Silver
Lake, Pa. near Pittsburgh. for guard
duty.
In August. 1911, his company was
sent to Camp Hancock and was turned
into Company X. of the 10th Infantry
Captain Kernaghan commanding The
10th went over" in May Of this year.
Kluth's parents. Mr.. and Mrs Richard
kluth, live at 1910 North Redfield street
In his last letter. received only few
days ago. Kluth said IF any one wants
to know how like army life tell them
would not take a million dollars for
the experience I have gained during
my twenty-five months of service
Missing Mans Mother widow
Private Harry Atlas. reported miss
ing. lived with his mother. Mrs Anna
Atlas. at 4S7 North Sixth street. He
was drafted last fall. trained at Camp
Meade and later at Camp Hancock. and
went to France in May of this year. He
! was twenty-five years old. His younger
brother. Abe Atlas. was drafted in July
! last. leaving Mrs. Atlas. who is a widow.
| alone in the world
! She has never received cent Of
! itarry'S pay nor n cent of the Govern
ment allowance. she said and in fact
! mas forwarded money to Harry whenever
! She mad been able to- earn any. On
| Monday of this week she sent him
money order for 81 and Tuesday re-
ceived word that he was missing.
Private Leslie II. Crabtree, reported
| missing, was drafted April this year,
and sent to Camp Meade He made
such rapid progress that when twenty
five men were needed to fill company
In the 1o9th Infantry, to be sent to
France in May. young Crabtree was
among those chosen.
He was only twentv-three years old
! then. but made up his mind to earn
promotion. and shortly arer landing in
! france. passed an examination. He
lived with his parents. Mr.. and Mrs.
James a. Crabtree. 3703 Barring street.
| and was a graduate of the Northeas st
High School. where he played on the
baseball, football and basketball teams.
He was also an expert amateur sailor.
and won many cups with his fathers
yacht, the Sunbeam, at Cape May, At
lantic City and Ocean City.
After graduating from school. young
Crabtree borrowed money from his
father and bought a mica mine in Vir-
ginia. supervised it's operation and dis
posed of his product to talking machine
manufacturers. He made good. and in
three years had paid back the money he
owed his father, had nearly $4,000 in
bank and owned $4,000 motorcar and
$500 worth of Liberty Bonds.
Before leaving for Camp Meade he
| told hic rnpfher that ~ anythipu ham
pened to him, to give his automobile to
the Red Cross The last letter received
from him. a week ago told OF the Ger
man attempt to cross the Marine on
July II and IL.
Ready For "Big Push"
Prisoners tipped us off that the big
push was coming on those nights" he
| wrote, "and we were prepared ! am
| sitting in a front line trench as / write
this, with the shells sailing over my
head at the rate Of about fifty to hun
! dred a minute. Our platoon is right up
against the river and in the forefront
of everything. There Is a wonderful
French battery right behind our line
sending messages of death to the boche.
We watch the shells go over and wonder
how many Fritzes they will account for.
Il had narrow escape few
minutes ago while coming up the road
here / heard the whiz of a shell and
threw myself fiat The shell exploded
near us. making a hole about five by
five, and six feet deep. We are getting
used to such things now, and are not
Worrying so much since we have met
Frenchmen who have been in the war
from the beginning, and are still un-
wounded. We figure everybody has
! chance.
Last night one of our big shells hit
a German ammunition dump. The noise
was like nothing you ever heard or could
IMAGINE. 1t was stupendous. A wh'le
ago an American battery got bridge
that the Germans had built during the
night, drawn up tight against some
trees and camouflaged so they hoped II
would get by. They meant to crop II
at the given hour tonight ana coh'e
piling over on top OF us.
This is some game, believe me, folks
7 would not have missed 1t for anything
Well. | must break off now and get
ready for the fireworks that Will come
toward dawn" .
His company gave a fine account OF
itself in the attack that came, as ne
had predicted, toward dawn. Whe'hel
he was missing after that attack or III
some subsequent skirmish, Is not kioMii;
| Private A. D'Alessandro, reported
missing. formerly lived at s24 South
| Eighth street, but the house has peeh
taken over for Government purposes
and his family moved without leaving
any address. D'Alessandro was araiteo
last winter, but was quick to learn ana
was soon picked from the ranks or the
rockies TO help fill up the lO9th infantry
| lust az was Crabtree. He was parper'
CORPORAL George W. Laird, Company
7, 10th Infantry, was killed when the
American forces pushed across the
| Vesle River on July 80. He was twen-
tv-one years old and was chemist,
IN the employ of the Atlantic Refining
| C,ompany. before he enlisted last Sep
tember. He was a graduate OF the Cen
trail High School. Temple University ana
Draxel Institute. The last letter re-
10 and told of having been under hre
while leading a scouting party through
NO Mans Land
priyat. James G. BrawIey died on
JuIy IS the day on which the Americans
ard the French started their victorious
| sweep.
This information was contained in an
ofticial notification received yesterday by
his mother, Mrs. William j. Brawley.
He was twenty-seven years old, was
drafted on October 8. 1917, and was a
member of Company B, 103d United
S,ates Engineers. Before entering the
service the young man was chauffeur
In the employ Of the Commercial Ex-
change.
Mother Breaks Down
The mother broke down when the