Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-04
DELAWARE TROOPS
WERE COKSF |CUOUS
IN THE Bic DRIVE
Many Boys From This State in
the 18th Division, Which Gov
cred Itself With Glory.
w. r. PYLE TELLS STORY

Many soldiers from Delaware in the
18th Division, have seen hard fighting
and won n name for themselves over
there" for stiff fighting and endurance.
Clarence W. Pyle of Seventh and Harrison
streets has just received IN interesting
letter from his son, " illiam r. Pyle. from
France, together with clipping from the
Paris edition of the New York Herald
Young Pyle il member Of the 18th
U.ightIng Dlvisionl composed Of Iela-
ware, New York and New Jersey soldiers.
He was among the boys IN the draft Of
April !. for Delaware They werG sent
to Camp Dix and he was first assigned
In the 59th Pioneer delaware Regiment,
but subsequently,. with about 300 others
OF the $50 who sent awny at that time,
young Pyle was assigned tn the 18th
Division. rs were other Delaware boys.
This is what the Paris New York
Herald has 10 say about the 18th.
Two of the National Army Divisions
which saw rs hard fighting ~ any units
Of this organization. were made M Of nen
mostly from New York and immediate
vicinity These two were the 77th and
18th. The signing of the 1rnistlce found
them fighting side bv side These men
had been on the Job IN the line for 2 long
time, and the men gave q splendid account
Of themselves all the wav enduring the
hardship and strain as well as some Of the
units who drew from the farming country,
where the men are supposed u be
harder
The 18th is the division IN which arc
many Delaware men, and the Paris New
York Herald says this about it Three
Tunes the 18th attacked Grandpre ami the
citadel just beyond it, before this strong
point Of the Roche was finally ken.
nix tunes q brigade of the 18th doughb0ys
drove through the Rois de Toges, patch
of woods about a kliometrc square, before
II was finally cleared Of the Boche and -
thoroughly fumigatcd nv our artillery FIRE
that II was made hablfablc Further
on the paper says n hc bIg operation
which finally wiped out the Bois do Ioges
and carried the Americans forward forty
kilometres was started on November
with the 77tb and 18th Weeping ahead,
side by side
Just before the arrnisfice was signed,
the fighting is described as follows
At zero hour the 18th stepped off from
Grandpre and IN front oi the Boie de Loees
Machine guns stopped one brigade tempo
rarliy as these typewrItcrs belched their
spit Of death, but little artillery concen-
tration fixed the patch Of woods, and the
amIstlce cav the New York and Delaware
boys once more side by side
RAlDEn by SUBMARINES.
On November 81. set aside BY the sol
dlers and sailors In France as Father
Day. young l'vie wrote his father letter
from Sefnur, which il in the central part of
France lie saws After leaving Phila-
delphia We sailed up the coast Of Halifx,
where we stayed over night We saw
the remains OF the big explosion where
the ship went up. Then we hit the high
seas. and about hall way across we were
raldcd twice by submarines. / think
the dcstrovers OF about three OF them
Well. we landed safely in England at
Tllbury Docks after l7-day trip. We
were attached to the British Army and
we're sent 70 4 British front. Then We
were sent to the Arrao front. in town
called Rollecourt Here every clear night
Jerry came over with an AFRAID. You're
lucky YOU don't know what they are j
Then we were transferred 10 the American
sector, getting away lron the British
ratl0ns Of tea, Jam. cheese and rabbits
from Australia frozen, We went on to
LlmeY. Here Is where we hit real lighting
IN a woods near Theocourt, when We
we're HttQulE ip4 4utt/- we got SISIe0
every day and night They sounded
hike six-lnch shells, gas and high explosive
Then lerrv cs.lac ever with p.aneS and
machine guns then to Chatel-Ch hehery,
where Jerry had mined the dugouts, > in
all Two, three and four day went up.
In some he had shells and oils and gas
stored that ne had to leave behind IN his
retreat 1t night YOU would think the
house was coming down on YOU Here is
where the merry chase for the finish
started Our division, the 18th, had the
heaviest fighting
Further on, young Pyle had q bit ABOUT
English and french prices, as, Il am en-
closing i clipping OF an English paper
about the price OF eggs, sd <5pcnre} or
10 cents IN American money, that Is,
ST 20 4 dozen They are about the same
here lseur, Erancel when you can get
them. Flowers 2e, 6d = shllllpgs, s
pencel or TO cents piece Peace seems
to be very welcome Il certainly IS
great to get back to whole town with
civilians IN It, electric lights. stores, parks
Pyle does not know when the 18th vlH
get home, but hopes it viii BE soon