Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-09-15
l6 RHOENIXVILLE
BOYS WOUNDED
Lads Charged F m e
Throwers and Advanced
on Marne
TOOK TOLL OF ENEMY
"N.t So Many Fritzes Now y
Dne Writes Home From
Cot in Hospital
TOOK TOLL OF ENEMY

Even LIQUID Are rallied to stop the
rroenixville boys Of Company D, Elev-
eth infantry, in the Marne fighting.
Id on by the spirit of the heroes OF
valley Forge and the traditions Of the
hills from which they come, these lads
threw themselves into the inferno of
IN almost continuous deluse OF shells.
. thrspnel. gas and outlets. And they
advanced, batterine the fleeing Ger
mans.
h How well they fought is attested to
by the stories Of sixteen Of the eighty
men from Phoenixville In the company
who were sent back to hospitals. wound
ed, sassed or suffering from shell shock
They charged those batteries Of flame
throwers and machine guns. and. cap
turing them, turned the machine guns
on the beaten foe. drove them on as the
triuniphant Americans fought their way
to the Vesle.
In their letters home these heroes be-
little their wounds and yearn for the
tim. when they will be well and back
into the hghtng ranks for another
crAdt at Fritz"
Took Toll Of Germans
These are some of the Phoenixville
boys who took their toll Of the German
ranks before they were put out of ac-
tios:
First Lieutenant Walter Il. Ettinger,
Sergeant Arthur II. Tompkins, Corporals
Samuel J. Fitzcharles and William
THOMAS, Privates John Edinger, stephen
vSat -t,lr
and James Harrington, wounded.
Privates Robert A. white, Joseph
Rrechlin. Joseph NJ. Adams, Charles
wase. william Smith and Vincent Tag
CERT, eassed.
Private Wayne A. Peppcl shell
shocked.
All these Proenixville boys are Of
Company u. except Sergeant Tompkins.
Of Company c. The casualties were
suffered during the hghting from Cha-
teau-Thierry to Fismette.
I'VE were fighting in a small town,
in and out Of doorways, and you could
get a shot Mt d German any minute
writes Lieutenant Ettinger, revealing
details of some of the close hand hand
fighting in which the Phoenixville boys
were engaged.
Writing to his mother from base
hospitsl Corporal William Thomas de-
scribes how the Pennsylvanians charged
the fame throwers.
"Ovr boys did great work, but we
paid heavily for it," he says. land there
are not so many Fritzes left"
Fog Helped Him Escape
Ater he was wounded, Sergeant
Tonpkins had to lie In a dugout for n
dat to escape German snipers A fog
fniliy made it possible for him to hob
BILE across the Vesle to the ambulance.
Private Robert A. White, gassed
whites to his mother that he Is glad
hs can come back at the Germans
asain" when he is all right.
Private Wayne A. Peppel. shell
shocked, writes TO his father:
II was sitting on the edge Of my dug
o,t when a shell burst almost over my
head, wouhding five or six men
Private John Edinser, who lost ar
cyl, writes: But l can see all rlgh'
ou, of the other one"
sergeant Jacob Stockburger. Jr.. o.
Alhntown, whose father Is a veteran ol
the Franco -Prussian War, has beer
kilhd in action. ,.
Hoth of Stockburgers sons enlisted
In he army, and now one OF them ma:
been killed,
~, O,ly seventeen years cid when HI
emitted. Private James Troutman, o.
Reaiing, has been wounded in action
W,IIam Singleton. of Norristown. ha:
beer wounded. as has John Richmond
OF Summit Hill.
Sergeant Edwin Lundy, Of Lancaster
with Company A, 109th Machine-Gui
Battalion. has been killed In action
Melvin Mohr, of jamestown, mas peer
killeI, Corporal George NJ. Lightner
OF York, was killed. and his brother
John Lishtner, was gassed