The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1919-01-02
LEAVE
TO join FIGHT
TANK Soldiers Anxious to Be in
Thick of It.
CASUALTY LISTS DELAYED
Our Boys Are Willing to Give Up
Weil-Earned Rest and Go Into Ac-
ton With Relief Units, Sometimes
French or British Troops-Wounded
Men Josh and Laugh in Spite of the
Pain They Suffer.

A problem in compiling accurate
casualty lists without delay, problem
that probably has not occurred to the
| American people, was revealed by
| George w. Titus of Mishawaka, Ind.
/ on his return from six months sery-
ice with the Y. NJ G. A in France.
frequently, he said, American soldiers
are killed in action or wounded Sc
yerely many days after they were
| supposed to have left the front for
a leave resort Just how this might
happen, he explained as follows:
Our boys are so willing to give up
the rest and easy time which they
have earned by hard work in the
trenches that very often they remain
at the front and go into action with
relief units, sometimes French or Brit
ish troops, days after they should
have been In leave camp recuper-
ating for another tour of duty at the
front. AT Scissors / saw many wound
ed men come back to our field hospital
after their own units had retired to
the rear.
Separated From Units.
ut is difficult to understand why
this could happen unless one had seen
how fighting men may become separat-
ed from their units in hard battles.
They go over the top together but
after that anything may happen. Thus
1t may turn out that when units are
withdrawn to make way for relief
forces, small groups will become de-
tached from their own companies.
While waiting around for some of
their fellows the lure of the battle
will become so strong that they rush
back into action with units that they
have never seen before.
Il recall particularly one case where
1t was necessary to divide a company
that was scheduled for leave and de- |
tail half of the men for reserve duty. |
The captain stated the case briefly and |
asked for volunteers. 1t is all the |
more remarkable when you consider |
what those men had survived to know /
that every man in the company volun-
him near the front"
Titus said that the thing he would
recall most often from his store of
experiences in ~" work was the i'm
pressiye spirit of the fighting men AT J
Cantigny, he explained, men were COM
ing out Of action practically shot to
pieces. But as they lay on their cots
IN the field hospital they joshed and
laughed in spite of the pain they suf-
tered.
AT one moment" he added, "a
man would groan as a sud-
len pain darted through his body, and
he next minute he would be laugh
ng and saying: Cad, did you see
hose Huns rum
Source Of Wonder.
the walking wounded were always
/ source Of wonder to me. l cannot
imagine how some Of those men man
Iged to make their way back to the
lressing stations without assistance.
saw one man with both arms dan
ling helpless by his side-I know that
My by supreme nerve was he over
oming the pain he safferedCand 1
card him tell two stretcher bearers
ot to mind him but to keep on and
ring in man whose legs wouldn't
ring him."
Titus was with a trench mortar bat
cry at Cantigny in May when the bat
cry threw 776 big bombs into the
illage in one day. He said that these
-ench mortars, which never had been
sed before by the United States
,rces, were most destructive and sent
he Germans on the run in such
urry that heavy guns which they had
were found loaded and
lady to be turned upon them when
lie Americans captured the village.
He brought back priced treasure, a
watch that was purchased in Toul q
: the men OF the battery and pre- h
'nted to him with purse that con- n
ined 500. v