The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-07-01
HE REFUSED
TO RETREAT
Captain Williams Of Marines Killed
Six Days After Giving Famous
American
Reply.

WASHINGTON. July 1-"Retreat7
I"Eell, MOI"
This famous American reply to a
French order when Americans moved
into the Chateau-Thierry sector for
their test of fire, has at last been very
| clearly traced to a marine captain.
! 1t was stated authoritatively today
| that the emphatic Yank answer, attri-
buted for months to Gen. Omar Bundy,
| I'd division commander at Chateau
| Thierry, despite his repeated denial.
came from Capt. Lloyd M. Williams,
| 51st company, 9Th marines.
Six days later, Captain Williams,
gassed and torn by shrapnel, died as
! he was placed in an ambulance.
| A French division, exhausted by
days of desperate fighting against tho
relentless German advance, was with.
drawing down shelltorn roads around
Ghateau-Thierry, past the relieving
I'd division.
| Captain Williams company Of the
I'd, half doughboys and half mArines,
with sprinkling Of navy medical men
was awaiting the Withdrawal Of the
French. They were taking for the
first time the frontline positions
which Americans were to hold against
the pick of the German shock troops.
A French major, moving with his
battalion along the dark road and be-
lieving a general withdrawal had been
ordered, told Williams to follow.
| "Retreat?" the American asked.
Hell, MOI"
Williams reported the incident to
his battalion commander, Colonel
| (then major) F. w. Wise. The mes
sage, according to officers who said
they saw it, was:
French drawing back through us.
French major ordered me to withdraw
with him. l told him to go to hell.
/ Williams, c. o.
| The company with the rest of the
| I'd. completed their relief and formed
a line the Germans never broke. Cap
tain Williams was killed six days later
June u, 1918. Gassed and wounded
by shrapnel, he was carried to the
rear by four German prisoners. On
the way back, shell struck nearby
. Two of the stretcher.bearers were
killed and Captain Williams was
thrown to the ground. He lived, how
ever, until he was placed in an am
! bulance.
L "a Seo ~
ltraordinary heroism was sent later ia
his home at Berryville, Va, where he
had lived before he graduated from
Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Since
1910, when he entered the marines, he
had made his home at Washington.
Though every hour of the following
four weeks was filled with excite
ment, officers and men who heard OF
/ ipc
and repeated it. Then it followed the
usual course of stories.
First the saying was attributed te
the battalion commander, Colonel
Wise; then to General (then coloneD
w. C. Neville, commanding the 9Th
! marines; then to Gen. James G. Har
bord, commanding the marine brigade
Of the I'd division, and finally to Gen
eral Bundy, division commander, &C
cording to officers.
General Bundy, now in command OF
Camp Lee, Va, when interviewed al
Camp Lee by a United Press cores
pendent, denied emphatically he hac
made the statement He refused tt
discuss the incident for publication.
Officers of the I'd division declared
fatty that Williams made the state
Iu0nC, ana THAI phSSeu iiOHB Wy woi>
Of mouth, It's authorship had beer
credited to increasingly higher Off
GERS.
The message was part Of the rec
ords of the I'd battalion, 9Th marines
! now a part of the army Of occupa
tion-was stated. The fact that 1t dit
not come to light before was because
few men knew Of it, and they, in thu
| Eel cyo
unable to stop the international pub
licity given it, 1t was said.
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