New-York tribune., 1919-02-13
Hayward I4auds
Old.
On His Return
Continued from page l

the country. In like manner casual
ties were replaced, so that the unit now
comprises about 200 New Workers and
1900 from other parts.
Hayward Proud of Men
"I'm proud of my men from the
ground up" were Colonel lIayward's
first words to the newspapermcn.
Then he told their story. IL was Ike
some old saga Of the Norsemen, full of
deeds Of wondrous valor, of Ia aIghter in
the face of death, of fearful carnage
wreaked among the foe, Of the chldllk,
pride of race close to nature in the
homage their Allies raid them and now
and then, an incident replete with the
bubbling darkey humor that is the
same whether it finds its outlet on the
cottontields of Dixie or the battlcflclds
Of France.
eve were the lost children of tac
American army" said Colonel Hay
ward, explaining that not cnce hai
the 369th fought under United States
general.
The regiment was first brigaded with
the French on the Aisne, the French
him several thousand Moroccan ne
g1oes. He placed them on the opposite
side of the river, fearing they would
quarrel over religious differences
However, it was useless to Try to pre-
vent determination between the french
ard American black men.
"Craps" Aided Finances
There were no religious disputes.
Nor is it of record that Colonel Hay
wards soldiers made any attempt to
But they did initiate their turbaned
comrades into the mysteries of shoot
ing "craps" and they, like all begin
ners, experienced derable hard
luck
81 don't know what the boys would
have done except for this remarked
the colonel, "for many of them had
received no pay for several months" "
From April till the armistice was
signed the 369th was fighting most
of the time. 1t holds the record
among American regiments for length
of time spent continuously under fire
-191 days.
Never was there a whimper from
one of them" the colonel resumed.
"Thcy were always ready to go wher-
ever there was a job to be done, re-
gardless of the danger. And they
fought like TIGERS
The Germans shared the colonel's
opinion of his troops. "Blutlustige
Schwartzman" was their nickname for
an American negro soldier. Blood
thirsty black man" is the translation.
Sergeant Tells His Story
Sergeant Henry Johnson, Of Albany
did more perhaps than any one man in
the regiment to earn that sobriquet
the frightened Boche applied to the ne
groes.
Colonel Hayward sent an orderly for
Johnson that he might himself for the
first time tell the story Of his exploit
that has already been told many times
by others.
A much -abashed black man confront
ed the reporters when the sergeant had
responded to his colonels summons.
"rcll these gentlemen about your
fight with the raiding party" said the
colonel.
hesitated and stammered little.
"Go on. Henry"
"Yessuh, but 'talnt 50 much TO tell
abaht"
"Sergeant johnson is modest" inter
rupted the colonel, "but he's one of the
finest soldiers in the American army
There's none finer"
"Thcrc wasn't nothin' so fine abah
what All did" the sergeant protested
"Jes' fought TO- nah life. A rabbi
would O done at.
Predicted "Tall Scrappin'"
"Well, anyway, me an Needhan
Roberts was on patrol duty on May
49," he resumed Round midnigh
the sahgcnt brought two green men tt
relieve US. Good Lohd,' All says
'shoIy yo'rc not goin' ter put those
felas heah. There's German sniper:
ben shotin round disaway tonight
and we'll all be killed less yo' have
men on the job what knows then
rifles He SAID ct was nah magma
ton. but anyway he took those greer
men way and left me an Necdhhm al
de post.
"Prctty soon there was mo- firin, an
when Sahgcnt Roy Thompson come
along All tol' him.
"'What'sa mattah, men" he asked
me. You scared ?"
"'No, All ain't scared All says. 'Ah
came ovah hcah to do nah bit and
Ah1l do it. But All was jcs' lcttin' yo
know there's li'bc to be some tall
scrappin' round this hcah post to-