The daily commonwealth. (Greenwood, Leflore Co., Miss.) 1916-1919, 1919-05-01
CITATIONS SHOULD
STIR CIVILIANS To
EMULATE TROOPS
sABOvE AND BEYOND THE CALL
I OF DUTY" A PHRASE OF
DEEP MEANING.
SERVICE TO UTTERMoST

Fhseoedssaof eavs4eue!sMFranee A.
ford an Inspiration for Victory
dsr1Yser SIS xdaEst.:st
s~.,c.vs.. ,
Consider the gal]eptH ,9fCorp. John
c. v%illepigue of South Tarolina. On
0c10AeI r. 121S,>.he was sent with
Two men toIscodt through the vii
!age POI. vauxAndisny. Machine guns
*opened,, splitting death, killing one of
his men and. ,wounding the other. The
corporal vent on alone. Without any
said or. support he pressed on 500
yards in advance of his platoon, with
shell fire breaking over him and ma
chine gunners sniping at him. He met
-four Huns and killed all. of them with
a hand grenade. He pressed on $50
yards further. rushed a machine gun
nest and killed four and captured six
Boches. With his prisoners and two
light machine guns he rejoined his
command. He was severely wounded
in the arm.
These were the sort of men We
were backing with our Liberty Bond
drives and our war work Of 1918. How
) small the efforts of the stay-at-homes.
the last line of defense, seem when
compared with the things these men
did. 1t is to back up the deeds Of
heroism that were done by these and
fNndreds of other Americans that we
are asked to float the Fifth Liberty
Lbah, h Victory Loan Of the pres
emit. 1t is our time to show that we
Fare. .as willing and las p%atrioiotic as
these lads who gave all they had to
Fgive~in France.
There is a citation of First Lieut..
Samuel Woodfill of Fort Thomas, Ky.
that reads like a leaf from romance.
1t is told in the same terse, plain
style as the other citations:
Like Leaf From Romance.
s"While Lieut.. Woodfill was leading
his company against the enemy at
Canuel, France, Oct IL, 1918, his line
came under heavy machine gun fire
which threatened to hold up the ad-
vance. Followed by two soldiers at 7S
yards the officer went out ahead Of
LIS 411ol E11IS lOWdIu d "dCu1Q0 RO0
nest and worked his way around it's
flank while the two soldiers remained
In front. When he got within 10 yards
OF the gun it ceased firing and four
of the enemy appeared, three of whom
were shot by Lieut.. Woodfill. Tho
fourth, an officer, rushed at Lieut..
Woodfill who attempted to club the
officer with the rifle in his hand. Al
ter a hand-to-hand struggle Lieut..
Woodfill killed the officer with his
pistol. His company ~thereupon con-
tinued to advance until shortly after
ward another machine gun nest was
encountered. Calling upon his men to
follow Lieut.. Woodfill rushed ahead
of his line in the face of a heavy IRE
from the enemy, and when several Of
the enemy appeared above the nest
he shot them, capturing three other
members of the crew and silencing
the gun. A few minutes later this Of
ficer, for the third time, demonstrate
ed conspicuous daring by charging
another machine gun position. killing,
five men in n machine gun pit with
his rifle. He then drew his revolver
and started to jump into the pit when
two other gunners, only a few yards,
away, turned their gun On him. Fail
ing to kill them with his revolver. he,
grabbed a pick lying nearby and killed
them both. Inspired by his excep
tional courage his men pressed ON to
their objective under sever shell and.
machine gun fire"
1t is up to us to finish the job for
which these men fought and died
that the United States of America 10
now calling on all patriotic men and
women to subscribe to the Victory
Loan" And it vas these men who
made it the Victory Loan"
Had it not been for their sacrifices.
we would have been facing a Fifth,
Liberty Loan. and maybe a Sixth and,
a Seventh Loan. There would have
been no eac had not these mon
fought their way through the Ar.
tsonne, along the elbow of the Neuse
river, up through Cheppy and Exer~
mont and on to Grend Pre- and thence
TO Sedan. Montmedy and Buzancy,
cma hing the German HindenburE
and notwithstanding lines and
tearing the German gate from III
, hinges.
Their Immediate Task.
The Woodfi1ls. Skinkers, Robbe.
Villepigues. Roberts and others OF the
deathlessly valiant made all this DOS
sible for us. above and Beyond the
Call of Duty was the way these men
saw the immediate task in front of
, them. # their lives were required
Of them, they gave their lives.
IF the American noon.n $anklA &h>