Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-05-28
COL. THOMPSON
TELLS OF 10th
Former Senator Holds Close
Attention of Big Audience
in the Senate Chamber


mand of the 10th Infantry. was ac-
corded the honor of a special session
of the Senate to hear him tell OF the
2sth Division last night. The colo
mel is a former Senator and an old
National Guardsman. The House
adjourned to hear him and marched
in a body to the Senate chamber.
He held the close attention of big
audience for an hour and a half.
God bless the American dough-
boy. 1 think he is the noblest crea-
ture in Gods world. He is the salt
of the earth"
Such was the tribute that Col.
Thompson paid to the members of
the Keystone Division and the men,
bers of the American Army in gen.
eral. Like every other American
soldier who has been asked to tell
of his experiences in the great war,
Trained from using the pronoun II
and instead talked OF the work of
the Keystone Division and it's var
ious units. At times, too. he referred
to the heroic actions of some indi-
vidual but never without remarking
such an act only exemplihed the
work of every individual in the
Keystone Division.
The Division Story
Col. thompson tTdceu thS aSSN'-
ties of the Pennsylvania division
from the time it went to Camp Han
cock until its return. Speaking OF
the fighting of the division, Col.
Thompson would not say that the
work of the Keystone Division sur
passed that of other divisions but he
made certain references which would
indicate that the Pennsylvanians
were there every minute" and the
several hundred in the hall knew
full well that the division stood sec
ond to none.
IT just read several days ago
where a certain division, will not
name it, claims the record for gain
ing the most amount of ground"
said Col. Thompson. "In the woods
north of the Ourcq river we ad-
vanced two kilometers while that df-
vision, which was next came up from
the rear and gained thirty or thirty
five kilometers. Our casualties in
that fight were 1,100. They never
took a man or a gun either. Why il
it hadn't been for the Keystone Di-
vision that division would have been
lost"
Col. Thompson told of the battle
of the Marine in which companies of
his regiment participated. He told
of how Company B, of New Brigh-
ton, and Company G, of Somerset,
had been placed between companies
of the French infantry. Here the
colonel pointed out one of the differ
ences in the fighting of the Ameri-
cans and the French. The French,
he said, when they would take up a
division, would retire a short dis
tance and take up another position
If the Boche were too strong and
fight from the new location. The
Americans would never retire un-
less licked" he said, and added that
he had never seen this" In the
Marine fight. in which the Western
Pennsylvania companies were bri-
baded with the French, Col. Thomp.
son said, word was sent by the
French commander that retire.
ment was to be made to another po-
sition where the battle would be re-
sumed. We're put up here to fight
and we're going to stick" was the
word sent back from the command
ers of the Pennsylvania companies.
Such actions" said Col. Thompson,
mot only proved the worth of the
Twenty eighth but the entire Amer
ican Army. The result was that not
a single Boche crossed the river at
that point"
The Way They Fought
"I recall the work of one of the
boys in the regiment" said Col.
Thompson, who killed eighteen
Germans. And he knew whore their
bodies were to be found. A detach-
ment of our men was sent out and
he would say, Now you will find two
bodies behind that tree and another
back of the next and in a short
time twelve of the Germans were
found. There is no doubt but that
H. lis .,.@
shows the caliber of the men who
make up the Pennsylvania National
Guard"
Colonel Thompson told, too, of a
little Irishman, Sergeant Lynch, of
Philadelphia, who called for volun-
teers to set out to beat back an ad-
vance of a detachment of Germans
In a minute, he said, seventy-five
men surrounded him and the Ger
mans were sent back. Col. Thomp-
son spoke on the work of the Penn
sylvanians around Chateau Thierry
and said that the 56th brigade had
taken two strategic points north of
that place for which it has not
been given credit. He said that he
simply referred to this in the hope
that historians will correct the error
in writing the history of the big
struggle.
Don't Know Defeat
The fighting qualities of the Penn
sylvania soldiers can best be de-
scribed, Col. Thompson pointed out,
by the Germans themselves. He
told of a batch of prisoners being
brought in. among them come who
could speak English. "One of them
said that the Americans know moth
ing about warfare. If you had been
the British or the French he said,
we would have known what you
were going to do, but you Americans
don't know when you're licked"
German troops were fearful OF be-
ing taken prisoners, Col. Thompson
asserted, because of the propaganda
which had been spread among them,
A number were taken on a certain
day and when they were led behind
the American lines by Pennsylvania
boys, they were shaking like leaves,
he said. In reply to questions re-
garding their nervousness, they said
they had been told that every Ger
man taken prisoner would be scalped
by the Yanks. When assured that
such was not the case and that men
captured would be treated as hon
orable prisoners of war they were
much relieved and two of their num-
ber volunteered to go behind the
German lines and spread the correct
story.
Col. Thompson talked. too. on the
fighting qualities of the officers of
the Twenty-eighth Division. A Har-
risburg officer, he said. who had
fallen as the result of an explosion
of shrapnel, had his wounds hur-