The Cordova daily times., 1918-12-31

COPPER RIVER MAN IS HERO
 OF ARCONNE

J. II. Bair, at one time station agent for the Copper River railway at Me Carthy. recently returned to Seattle, where he was a hero in one of the big battles there, and the Post-Intel- ligencer publishes the following inter- esting article about him:
 Jus; hack from France. where he helped mop up the Huns in the Ar gonne forest as a member of the fam ous 36lst regiment of the equally fam ous Wild West division, J. II. Bair was given a rousing welcome by employees of the Alaska Steamship Company, from president to telephone girls. yes terday. He was the only employe of the company to get into the big fight over there. and there is rejoicing in turn, and many eager requests for him to repeat the story of the fight in iiIN IT h' "'ii lli' Spit i'ii i'' wears on his sleeve. denoting that he has been wounded.
 Bair went 10 France five months ego as d memtcr of Company A ot the now famous 3G st, and took part in the bitter ArEonne fighting until he was wounded on October ?. when helping clean out the last thousand yards of the woods
 Westerners Were Giants
 "'I wouldn't have missed it if l had to travel in a wheel chair all the rest of my life he says. But it is fine to get back home again. It was great to see how the men of the Wild West division loomed up in comparison with the men of other outfits. Compared to the shop and office men of the East ern states we were huskies; compared 10 the English Tommy and the French poilus We were giants
 "Bair went over the top with his comrades at intervals of few days and escaped injury in the hail of bull lets with such regularity that he says he was puzzled. It seemed almost un- c@nny to him. But it was in the last thousand yards of woods, just before the Americans scored their breakz through. that he received the wounds that put him out of action.
 Wounded in Charge
 "While charging q machine gun nest he was knocked down with shrap- mel and sustained broken left elbow, the latter the rcault O. q machine gun bullet The Huns made their last des- perute stand in the last strip of woods, he says. and it was there that Major George w. Fadwell of Seattle was killed while leading his men Bair s,w the gallant officer fall
 After his own wound, Bair, weak throw himself down for protection from bursting shells and creeping bar rages, walked nearly five miles to the rear to d dressing station. After first aid treatment he travelled thirty hours by train to d base hospital
 Armistice Brings Jubilation "Bair sailed from France the day n nr bn prtpigtiFa nd declared the rejoicing in France was indescribable. French brigadier gen erals, locked arm in arm with Yank privates, British Tommies and 'Ital- ian non-coms, paraded the streets with all the hilarity of an old-time New Years celebration.
 At the time of his enlistment Bair Was city freight solicitor for the Alaska Steamship Company. Prior To that he had been freight clerk on several of ;he companys steamers to Alaska, and at one time was station agent on the Copper River railroad 2t Mccarthy. Alaska. He reached San Francisco on December with d party of fifty wounded soldiers He is furloughed to Seattle until after the holidays. when he will return to the Letterman general hospital at the Prosidio to undergo an operation on his injured elbow"