The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1919-02-26
circumstances Leading Up
10 Decoration For Bravery
Of Lieut.. Fred Mendenhall

his camp with IS men--4 wounded, |
to sent back with them, and 6 who
mad forgotten to rise out of the first
line OF fox-holes that they had gone
IN in the morning and whom Fred'I
had not noticed until too late. They
mad attached themselves to another
unit later when the heavy Smelling
was over. But in actual losses, he
had gotten through with none killed
and wounded and had accomplished
his task. He had started out with 30
as already mentioned.
AS to the other three platoons on
similar tasks-they had gotten to the
top Of the ridge first mentioned, when
the fire got so hot that they started
digging in instead of going forward
as Fred had done.
And now you will ask "How did the
Colonel know Of the difficulties under
which Fred had to work." It is the
question I asked. And the answer Is
another line to the honor and glory
of the French soldier. There was
French Lieutenant forget his
name, but all honor to him!-who
was attached to the regiment as liza
son officer. He had been at the front
since August 1914, and SO was no
longer gun-shy, so he decides within
himself to nose around and see the
fun on hts own hook. AS fortune
would have it, he arrived at spot
not far from where Fred was operat-
ing, and sat down to watch the whole
performance. That night he report
ed with true Gallo enthusiasm that
it was the most marvellous, courage.
Gus, and skillfully executed piece of
work he had seen during the entire
war Fred had Immediately recon-
mended his IS men for the D. S. G.
but the Lieutenant stated that, while
the men were equally brave, the
credit belonged to the man who was
able to coolly direct his men, as we'll
as inspire them to do their tasks, un-
der such fearful conditions. The
men all received Divisional citations,
but Fred was the only one to get the
, d. S. C.
: After the job was finished and he
, was safely back in his billet, he
, threw himself on his bunk and cried
like baby for half an hour.
As to the other half Of the citation
: the building the BRIDGE could
never get Fred to expand upon 1t and
I SO can give little more than what
, appeared In the citation . But a mum
, Der of the Divisional forces witnessed
!. it, and so he didn't have to depend
| lon the accident Of a French Lieuten
} ant being present.
Now for personal adventures.
Sister and left here about the 18th
of January for our Z days leave-ar
rived back January 81! Ran arount
by Pau and Lourdes, so as to get {
view of the Pyrennees. They ar
beautiful this time of the year whel
covered with snow. Lourdes is tn
modern Mecca for the Catholic world
} They pulled off miracle there II
! 1858, and have been having pilgrim
I ages there from all over the worl'
1 ever since. The Cathedral Is beau
! tiful, but distressingly modern an
garish as compared with some of tn
older ones. Then we went to Carcas
son which has one of the few remain
! ing perfectly preserved walled an
Fortified cities nearby. From Their
! we went on the Marseilles where W
! connected up with Fred. Spent
) day there, and moved on to Nice an
Z the Riviera. 1t is marvellously bea'
Z tiful along there. The mountain
Z rise right out of the Mediterranean
! and for the first several hundred fe'
Z of elevation are covered with dar
Z green foliage In among these al
I the sparklingly white stone villa
J and houses, with the beautiful win
] ing French roads all between. III
( Mediterranean itself is intensel
! blue and where 1t dashes against Il