El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-09-04
platoon LEADER
WHO WILL. WIN
Americans Like This Are
Going to Force Kaiser
to His Knees.
nr JoHN ,I,HUGH sTUART.

Paris. France, sept. At was on
I the Boulevard The opera was but
scant half block away And it was
dark, both the opera and the Boul-
ward. The only light came from the
kiosks advertising Paris newspapers.
patent boullion and talcum powder.
! There 7 heard the typical story or
| the American second lieutenant the
platoon leader who's doing q wonder
Z full bit i'm winning the war
Gail him Prettyman. which isn't his
name. He was deputy superintend-
ent Of banks before the war As he
said himself he'd never been out IN
his life after I in the morning, eN-
cept in taNicab. He used 10 earn
$4,000 "a year. have his bath every
morning and a cocktail before dinner
He is O. typical successful young New
Yorker.
Gosh he said. I'm the proudest
man in this army. I've got Two kinds
Of itches at the same time
There was no Plattsburg in his. He
was drafted. because he had a father
and sister TO support. and felt he
couldn't 20 until the last minute. But
having gOne-he went He got 10 be
q second lieutenant six months after
he douned olive drab- And in the
meantime
Going TO War.
we came over on the Justicia, the
one that was torpedoed the other
day" he said I'VE were Crammed in
every nook and corner Of her ] was
only a corporal and we slept in ham,
mOcks slung so close together that
you couldn't stir without waking the
man next % you. Underneath us were
the tables where we ate and over our
heads were the hooks where hung all
%
And they speWed us out AZ an
English port at II o'clock one night
and at il the next night we were back
of the lines in Flanders. Then we
were moved TO Alsace and there we
got our first taste Of war. Incident
ally there I got TO be q platoon
leader.
Out in No Mans Land.
Here's what il was. Up in the first
line the Heinies were just about so
yards away one night the order came
for q patrol. Now, it's hard TO tell
you about patrol standing here in
the boulevard. out there it's as black
as the inside Of your Shoes It's into
that that patrol is supposed 10 go.
And we went sure / was scared.
Scared green / didn't knOA where
was, and had the lives of 90 men in
the hollow Of my hand But we went
We laid for II hours right up against
the German wire and we located ev-
cry machine gun they had. and every
man jack Of US got back 10 our own
lines safely.
My God, It was different from
New York. It was a lot different from
Paris Il was hell But when the
Heinies came over the next day we
knew where they were coming from. /
And We sloshed them.
His Last Wish.
And, say, feel they're going 10 /
get me- I've got my second lieuten- B
ancy and I'm goinE barz up TO the
front i'm few days. And I have /
hunch that / won't come back.
I've got little sister and q dear
father that I'D like 10 20 back 10. but ]
there's something bigger than that !
4 m wearing the uniform, am. I'll
DON make a bit OF difference il 1 die, I
because there are four. five. as many
millions as you want, more. Only I
when 1 do die I'm going TO take az I
least i've Heinies with me. And I'm
going 10 handle the so or 90 or the 4
10 men under me 50 they'll do the I
same.
sure. I get awful impatient with 4
the French sometimes because they
aon understand our language. And l
the British sometimes rub me the 7.
wrong way. I've had fist fights with 4
en- both-before got TO be an Off
Ger. BIT they're all in the same came
and you can tell the folks back home
that they're damned good soldiers.
those British and French. every one
OF them Only were going 10 20
them one better"
And he STROBE across the street and
disappeared. His job ahead Of him
10 do, fun knowledge OF the cost az
that Job, and proud 20 pay the price
lemanded-even 10 the ultimate. He's
he platoon leader. the C.S-A. platoon
leader that's going 10 win this war