Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-10-14
CROIX DE GUERRE GIVEN
TO "SCARED" u. s. FIGHTER
Corporal Here Wh Peg Heroes Aid Loan Proud Though
He Calls IL "Bunk'-kissed BY French Officer.
FOUNDED Forty.seuen Times

GOH, IT was nothing at all. just
" stuck TO my gun with the rest of
the fellows and the first thing I knew
French maj jor was kissing me on both
That is the way Corporal j. y. Walker.
OF Baltimore, now in charge of the Per-
shing heroes who are helping with the
Liberty Loan drive in Philadelphia
Guerre. But his many friends are more
generous in their description of his
bravery at the front. where he received
forty-seven wounds during his third bat
tie on May !.
Paul Lamorele and Philip Hunt,
both of wayne. Pa, were in my platoon
in that fight said Corporal Walker
1T was our first one, March g." He
sank back into the luxury of a big divan
at the Hotel Adelphia. with the home
papers and Il letter on his lap and an
unlighted cigarette in ms fingers, as he
told of those months at the front.
ou Stt, lltIF was just lily DldlDOH
| in the trench between two traverses,
when the telephone in my dugout rang
and. in code, the message came from
| observation post that some five or six
hundred Germans We're coming, 1t was
just before daybreak. when most such
attacks come. We rushed to our trench
mortar and opened fire. We couldn't
see the Germans coming but their ar
| tillery fire was on u.s. We lowered or
| raised our barrage. according to tele-
phone instructions from the observation
! post. But somehow or other we man
| aged to hold those Germans till our in
fantry met them, just fifteen feet from
the trench. and chased them back
| through their third line trench, through
tunnel and clear into town. Lord
| 1t was great !"
The CrOix de Guerre
But your Croix de Guerre," the cor
| poral was reminded.
"Oh. 1t was given me that same day.
| The French major came to the trench
| and asked who was in charge. I re-
piled that I was and he grabbed my
hand and shook 1t while he told me a
lot OF stuff about being brave, and all
the time / was thinking to myself. Good
Lord If he only knew how scared
| was"
"They gave us three hours leave that
! afternoon to go back to the little
French village behind us, and while
| bands were playing in front of Ameri-
| can and French lines a half-doZen fell
lows were given the CroiX de Guerre
| oh. yes. you sure get kissed ~
The big. clean-cut face of the Amer
lean soldier flushed, and he grinned
rather shee plshy at the memory. Lot
o. bunk" he murmured, half audibly
| and then he FASTENED to add: "Oh, OF
course. | appreciate 1t. But we Ameri-
can fellows don't prize it half so much
as the French.
"It was a great bunch Of fellows"
the corporal went on. He was speaking
of the 117th Trench mortar Battery OF
the Forty second CRainbow) Division
"Most of them were Maryland fellows
and wonderful fighters Our American
soldiers are deadly effective, you know
would bet on one American against
three Germans any time. our boys are
accurate shots. and that, added to their
quick wits, makes them wonders.
Saved by Quick Wit
There was one instance when one
of our men was captured in the early
morning by five German shoppers in No
Mans Land. We could see them taking