The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-06-15
ALL BASES ON WESTERN FRONT WI7E4
 HANK GOWDN SCORE EBYBOZEMANBULG GER

i old French right back at you. too?'' "Oui, Out Mon cher lieutenant" Hank countered, "C'est vrai," and with that he cut loose laugh that must have made everybody in the building feel good.
 "I guess that stopped him on the /, French thing, ehg' Hank bantered, nudg- ing me in the ribs. ''Oh, I've got little of the Frog stuff as well as the IIeinie"
 immediately he had chance to aug ment the polity by trying out his Ger man. little chambermaid came in to l straighten up the room. She was tiny woman. Her weight couldn't have been over 100 pounds. Such little women are unusual in Germany, and she immedi- ately attracted our attention. But she didn't look at us at all. Her gaze was on the floor and fixed. The expression on her face was mixture of awe, ad- hands were puzzled. Then Runyon and Rice broke into a laugh, and, catching | the object of their mirth eventually, l l joined in. But not Hank
 | The little German woman was lock | ing at Hanks feet.
 The chambermaid had never seen feet like that. Moreover, she had
 never seen many men like Gowdy. His | giant stature and that pair of No. t2
 
 toed, steel-hobbed hiking shoes seemed 1 to fascinate her.
 Sergeant Gowdy reddened with em-
 barrassment. grinned sheepishly, and 1 then explained to her in German that his feet did not really look that way when he was dressed As a civilian. l The little woman went away murmur-
 ing something in German to the ef- 1 feet that if all the Americans were
 as big and strong as this man that we 1 ought to lick the world in short order. i Then, turning around. she took oas l more look at those wonderful feet and
 disappeared
 As in all such impromptu gatherings
 the joy of meeting gradually calmed dowr and Sergeant Gowdy drfted into | "reminiscences of his great adventure e. 1 It kept up internationally for the four | days that he remained with us in Co., 1 blenz
 1 I am not certain. but I think Run yon wrote story in which he men tioned the visit of Gowdy to our head quarters. At any rate, there arrived cablegram just before Hank started l back to Rolandseck suggesting that 1 Gowdy's story of the war be written l in the form that you now see it. We talked the plans over briefly 1 and on the afternoon of Christmas eve Sergeant Gowdy, having completed ms duties at our headquarters, caught the train and went down the Rhine to Rolandseck. His broad shoulders 1 and mighty arms were laden with 1 packages that Santa Claus was taking l to the two little German kids who had 1 been so good to him in his Boche, b,i- 1 let. Also there was a queer lookiag shawl-like contraption of many colors l that he said was for the old German l mother who had broken the rules to ! give him couple of fried eggs. 1 That old lady" he said, had a son i who was a machine gunner and he's missing. I think she's trying to make
 herself believe I am like the missing son so she'll have somebody to
 mother"
 At the beginning. Sergeant Henry
 Gowdy, 166th infantry. impressed upon l me that under no considerations did
 he wish to be considered hero His wishes will be respected He is more 1 Chan hero. He is a soldier. a real
 soldier In the army to call a man a soldier with emphasis means more to the fighting man than the ordinary public use of the word hero Soldiers l squrm from that word It suggests 1 something of glamor and does not
 carry with 1t that thing that enables
 man to look another in the eve l,