The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-07-21
Sergeant Lanckton..
Orderly to Him for
a~Decade, Reveals
Humans of Com
handing General
By WILLIAM ATHERToN DU PUY.

WHEN Thomas Carlyle asserted that
" mo man is o hero to his own
valet" the days of the great war had not
arrived and be was without information as
to Sergeant Frank Lanckton, for ten
years orderly to Gen. John J. Pershing, in
command of American troops in France.
Sergeant Lanckton has just been telling
me much of his General have it from him
that he is the greatest military leader in
the world; that he is destined to assume
q precedence that is beyond compare, to
win for himself position as directing
genius Of the armies of humanity. His
personal orderly, the man who sends his
shirts to wash and retrieves his collar
button when it rolls under the bunk, tells
me 50, and this aid knows him as does no
other human being.
With Pershing Around the World.
And why should Lanckton not have the
measure Of the capacities of General Per-
shingf Was he not with the General in
the Philippines through those gruelling
years in Mindanao, during which they bat
tied for the shbjugation of. the Moro
Mohammedansf Did he not travel to-
Japan and Borneo and all around the
world with his chief Did he not live
with him at the Preside by the Golden
Gate, in the bosom of his family, and was
he not the military preceptor of Warren
Pershing, only surviving child of the Gen.
eral, when that youngster at the age Of
3 drilled his first awkward squad with his
sisters in the guise Of rockies; Finally,
was he not with the General in that fierce
dash into Mexico, and has he not been at
his elbow through year of intense activ-
ity in Francei
Who would know the capacities of the
General if not Sergeant Lanckton, and
why should we not give heed to a plain
fighting mans measure Of his chiefi
Lanckton himself at the age of 80 might
be selected as an artists model of the
typical American soldier. Slim, 1.-the,
blond, blue eyed, hard as naas, a son Of
the middle West, with bit of a dash of
wildness, he is already veteran Of sixteen
years Of service. He lacked eleven days
of being 16 when he enlisted away back in
1901, and be has been In the service ever
since.
Active Now, at First Moved Slowly.
Life with the headquarters battalion in
France, Lanckton tells me, is one of great
activity. 1t was not 80 at the beginning.
Gen. Pershing admitted himself an anna
teur at this sort Of warfare, a rookie
a new game, and at first moved
slowly. 1t was necessary that he should
be shown many things, should be brought
to understand new and complicated stu
alton. 1t was here that fast action for the
orderly first made its appearance.
Gen. Pershing must 60 everywhere,
must see everything. He had his train,
and his fleet of automobiles. When the
train moved it took the automobiles with
it. When it could 60 no further they used
the machines. Sergeant Caesar Sauntini
is the personal chauffeur for Gen. Per-
shing. He was French speed king be-
fore the war, but he enlisted in the Ameri-
can army in New York and has been con-
stantly with Gen. Pershing. He is a
master driver, and knows the
roads of France as Lanckton does the
streets of Marion, Ind, where he was
born.
Gen. Pershing, Lanckton, Sauntini--
this is the trio in the car of the command
er of all the Americans as it threads the
roads of France on its innumerable mis-
sions. Usually there are other cars, but
This one leads. There are no speed laws
to be observed, and Sauntini chooses his
own pace. He drives like he used to in
the old racing days. But he is infinitely
careful and there is safety at high speed.
When the three are in the car the Gen
eral says:
"You may proceed, sergeant"