Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-07-06
IN BATTLE,
HE ENLISTS AGAIN
American Lad Now Convalescent in Harrisburg Hospital
Joins Tank Copps to "Get" Hun Who Shot Him Down

Crippled for life. brutally. terri,
bly,. by German machine gun shrap-
mel. one arm pierced with Hun bay
onet. black-haired. responsive eyed
boy sits day by day in an invalid
chair on the green sward just in
front of the Harrisburg Hospital.
The Fastening pedestrian would pass
by this slender figure, uniformed
though he is, for he asks no SYM
pathy and in his helpless condition
rather spurns 1t. A casual glance
at his resigned countenance, his
crumpled, pathetic figure, would tell
nothing. But the nurses and attend
ants at the hospital know, and anon
you will see one approach the youth
full hero with pitying smile and de-
ference, unusual, for his narrative of
adventure and bravery is uncommon
even in these times of adventure.
Arthur 7. Lewis, 2S, whose father
and mother live at 625 Bedford ave-
nue., Brooklyn, heard the call to go
over far back in November. 1915.
The fact that his parents were born
in England made him all the more
eager to serve. but, as he told his
story with whimsical smile:
America seemed awful slow. and 1
could not watt Hearing that he
could get passage from Charlestown,
Mass. he worked there a while and
presently found a berth on the u. s.
s. Sycamore. loaded with horses for
France. The first spice of real war
developed as one horse after another
suddenly perished until nearly the
whole cargo disappeared. The cap
tain announced that a spy was at
work but he could not be located
until near the end of the journey
when, as far as Lewis knows, iden-
tity was fixed upon the pro-German
veterinary surgeon.
I'm nineteen days." he related, 1--WE
landed at st. Lazarre, France, and
German prisoners unloaded what
horses were left. We only remained
there a few hours, then went on to
Liverpool and 1 was paid off-one
quid, $3.50, for the whole trip. The
captain promised us a guinea, one
shilling more, but he would not come
across.
on For a "Good Time"
Immediately, 1 started trying to
sign up with some unit but when 1
said American there was nothing
doing. / became a Canadian for the
time and in this guise joined the
Eighth Battalion, Kings Liverpool
Regiment. Passed by the doctor,
was given six shillings to have a
good time on, and a leave of absence
At that time there was much drink
ing; you could get drunk on shill-
ing. Shifted soon to Blackpool l got
my first glimpse of German cruelties
for 1 saw Belgian girls there with
their breasts and hands cut off. They
had been sent to England to be taken
care of.
"It was odd to see women doing
everything at Blackpool where we
trained hard for some weeks. There
were lady BARRIERS, conductors and
bartenders. My lot was not easy as
l had to take much abuse for calling
myself American. The Americans
are too proud to fight they used to
say. When 1 declared that the
American Navy was ready to go into
action they thought it huge joke.
my unit was made up almost en-
tirely of Irish-Americans who had
come over in cattle ships; a scrap
ping lot. Once in France we had
more severe training, but eased 1t up
with plenty of baseball. Ordered
soon to the western front things .vent
swiftly. Our station was near Fes-
tuburt in France, and was part of
No Mans Land.
without any warning one morn
ing our colonel, T. T. Vernon. owner
of flour mills in Liverpool, gave or
ders. to go forward, along with Lam
cashire Fusileers and Scotch. The
fight opened with machine guns,
hand grenades and airplanes; then
the rifles. We had Just been ordered
to retreat when big husky German.
wearing a long mustache jumped on
me and he was big enough to make
mince meat of me. He looked some
thing like DIR. Kunkel at the hospital
only l hope the doctor never gets
a set of eyes like this Hun had.
There was nothing but hatred in
him. They're all that way. They
would sooner fight than eat, and