The Monroe journal., 1919-05-09
Seen and Heard Around
the Streets Of Monroe. -
By HENRY BELK

by hENhl bELh
Who should drop into the office tEe
other day bur Mr. J. Grant Duncan
of north Goose Greek township. after
having been officially reported as
missing in action in France months
ago. "Forsooih. says we. this is
either Grant Duncan or his ghost" a"
After he had finally convinced us that
he was himself We wanted 10 know
how IL was that he was reported as
missing. Following are the facts In
his story related to us: He was a
member of the l05th Engineers. the
boys who rebuilt bridges and rail-
roads which the Heinies blew up. On
the morning of October 10. last year.
he. with seven other men. was dis
patched 10 repair a damaged building
al Fremont II was TO be an all day
job. and when the work was begun
the German artillery was giving the
place the go-by Suddenly the Ger
man gunnerS seemed To change their
mind and began TO see how many
shells they could drop into the village
in The smallest fraction of time. \
she'll exploded near Mr.. Duncan.
Duncan. knocking a building down
and almost hurying him under the
. debris. Hastily he scrambled up and
darted behind another building. The
Shelling of the place continued and
then between an intermission of the
explosions Mr.. Duncan started out to
lok for his detachment. from whom
he had become separated when the
first shell exploded. As he wandered
up the shell-tom street 4 captain in
the Medical Corps poked his head
from a place of safety and yelled al
the Union county man TO know what
he meant by venturing out in such a
barrage. Looking for my detach-
ment." replied the member of the
l05th, Get to shelter and let your
detachment 90" shot back the cap
tain. The shelling RECOMMENDED and
Mr.. Duncan dived into a convenient
hole where he spent the day and
good portion of the night.
Early the following morning he
began to search for his company. and
finally came upon four of the Engin-
GERS who had been left behind 10
bury a comrade who had been killed,
and with them he returned 10 his
company. The shelling of the village
where Mr.. Duncan had spent the day
and night had become so severe that
all troops in it had been removed.
Mr.. Duncan was probably the only
living creature that spent the night
there. After he had returned TO his
company and reported to his captain
and told his story. how he had spent
the day and night without food or
water. instead of getting the "bawl-
ing out" expected. the captain said,
You were damn lucky to return.
Duncan did not know that when he
failed to return that night that he
had been reported as missing and did
not learn of the fact until some time
later he saw his own name confront
ing him from the casualty list in a
newspaper received in the company.
But" he concluded his story to us,
Il believe | would have been missing
vet had not found those men who
had been left to bury their dead com
rade.
"Still water runs deep" says the
old adage But we are informed that
the water which comes from the stills
hidden in the briars and brush heaps
around the edges of the county will
make a fellow run all sorts Of ways.
Union county boys in France pass
ed through experiences which they
will remember viyidly To the last day
Of their lives. There was not truer.
braver bunch of soldiers in the Amer
lean Expeditionary Forces than these
boys from Union. We will say, yet
maybe. the barber since their return
calls their attention TO gray hairs and
suggests dye. In their dreams they
live over again those days in France.
The first night after Mr.. Brown
Helms. who was a member of sig
nal battalion returned home. he
dreamed a dream. A big Boche rails
ed his arm to throw hand grenade.
For protection Mr.. Helms leaped
backward into what he thought was
q shell hole He awoke to find him