The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-09-28
HOW KILMER DIED
JOYCE KlLMER WAS SHOT IN THE
HEAD-coMRADE TELLS HOW
MACHINE GUN KILLED POET
LEADING HIS MEN.

An eyewitness story of how Joyce
Kilmer, of the Sixty-ninth, met death
at the front was told last week by
Lemist Esler, a sergeant major, who
served side by side with Kilmer in
the Marine advance. and found Kill
mer's body after the writer had been
shot through the head by bullet from
a German machine gun. Joyce Kill
mer was convert and the most
promising among American Catholic
poets.
Joyce Kilmer met his end in the
heroic performance of his duty" said
Sergeant Esler. During the Marine
advance, the First Battalion of the
old Sixty-ninth Regiment, to which
we were both attached, penetrated a
village which the Germans had eyacu-
ated
Being attached to the intelligence
department, it was the duty Of Kilmer
to precede the battalion and discover
the possible location of enemy guns
and enemy units The last time / saw
him alive was on that morning after
he had crept forth alone into No
Mans Land, and had come back on a
brief errand into the village.
"A party of us moved out with him
the battalion slowly following, Then
the commander sent forth a patrol
with Kilmer in the lead to establish
the exact location of the machine
guns which were punched in the
woods. lost sight of Kilmer, and a
couple of hours later the battalion adj
vanced into the woods to clear the
| spot of the enemy. In the course of
| this advance | suddenly caught sight
of Kilmer lying on his stomach on
a bit of slipping ground, his eyes just
peering over the top of what appeared
| to be natural trench. Several of
us ran toward him. thinking he was
alive and merely lying there with his
attention fixed on the enemy.
/ "We called to him, but received no
answer. Then | ran up and turned
/ him on his back, only to find that he
was dead with bullet through his
brain. What had happened was obvi-
ous He had crawled ahead Of his
patrol to scent out the guns and had
reached the ridge Of ground behind
which he held himself concealed from
the German gunners until, no longer
able to resist the temptation, he stuck
his head over the ridge to get a bet
ter view of the enemy. In that posi-
ton the bullet found him.
1T is not rule to bury enlisted men
with officers. But Kilmer had won so
much admiration and respect not only
from the enlisted men in his company
but also from the officers, that the
commander of the regiment authorized
that his grave be dug on the spot
and that he be buried next to the
| grave Of a heroic lieutenant who had
| just lost his life.
Joyce Kilmer left an impression
upon his comrades" Sergeant Esler
said, which can never be erased. On
our arrival in France, he was constant
ly on the lookout for something to do.
The front was his goal, and one could
see that he would never be happy un-
til he was right on the firing line do
4 ing his duty with the men who were
in the thick of it. At first he was at
tached to the Regimental Adjutant's
|. office, doing statistical work. But he
fretted under the task. 1t was in the
/ intelligence department that he was
, elevated to the rank of sergeant.
was supply sergeant at the time, and
i Joyce Kilmer was a perfect trial to
me. He would always be doing more
than his orders called for--that is,
getting much nearer to the enemys
positions than any other officer would
ever be inclined to send him. Night
after night he would lie out in No
: Mans Land, crawling through barbed
wires, in an effort to locate enemy
positions, and enemy guns, and tear
! ing his clothes to shreds. On the fol
!. lowing day he would come to me fol-
new uniform