The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-03-15
YANKEES ARE
REVIEWED BY
PERSHING ON
GERMAN SOIL
Commander in Chief Has
First Sight of American
Troops in Combat Forma-
ton on Enemy Territory.
.LAUDS SERVICE RECORD
fBy Associated Pressl

SoDLEI>L, FTludy, MARCH 14.-Gen-
eral John J. Pershing, who is inspect
ing the fighting divisions of the Amer
lean army of occupation had his first
sight this morning of American troops
in combat formation on German soil.
On six hundred acre plateau on the
east bank of the Rhine, overlooking
| Coblenz and the winding river, he in
spected the second division and pre-
sented more than eighty decorations.
He later reviewed the division, which
passed before him in massed forma-
| ton, the marching time of the twenty
| four thousand men being about twenty
minutes.
Mounted on dappled gray cavalry
horse, which was presented Brigadier
General John l.. Hines, commander Of
| the third army corps by the British
mission, General Pershing inspected
the supply trains, ammunition units
and motorized artillery and then pass
ed on to the infantry.
Questions Commanders
The commander-in-chief in this part
of the program, walked along the lines
of soldiers, devoting more than an
hour to the work. He questioned COM
pany commanders as to their quarters
end in reference to conditions general
ly. He talked to scores of doughboys
who wore wound stripes, inquiring if
they had fully recovered, and asking
others if they wanted to go home.
Without exception, they were eager to
return to America as soon as possible
for family and business reasons, but
all were perfectly willing, they said,
to serve as long as it is necessary for
| ho yrif to{n 10
in Europe. In reply to a query as to
whether he was willing to stay over
here, one soldier replied:
81 have a job waiting for me in the
States, but want to stay here as long
as the government needs mo-"
At-the head of the~line of those yer
ceiving decorations and for the mo-
ment outranking two generals, was
Sergeant Louis Van Israel Of Newark,
N. j., whose mother is living in Hol-
land. He was given the congressional
medal of honor. During the battle of
the Argonne, he crossed the Meuse,
fell into a German trap, escaped and
again crossed the river with valuable
information as to the enemy's forces.
Awards Honor Medal.
Major General John A. LeJeun, COM
mander of the second division, was
given the distinguished service medal
and received the insignia Of command
er of the French legion of honor. Brig
adler General w. c. Neville, command
er of the marine brigade at Belleau
wood was decorated with the distin-
guished service medal. Seventy-eight
soldiers received distinguished service
crosses.
AS surprise, General Pershing
brought with him a congressional
medal of honor for Private John J.
Kelly of Chicago, Ills, sixth marines,
as a reward for attacking a machine
gun nest in the Champagne. Kelly,
however, was on outpost duty and
was unable to be present.
The plateau where the review took
place was used for years by the
eighth German army corps for the
same purpose.
This afternoon, General Pershing
inspected and reviewed the first di-
vision, which he helped to organize in
Washington for service in France. The
review took place at Montabauer, the
headquarters Of the first division and,
in addition to visiting the troops, the
commander in chief presented a num-
ber of decorations among them being
d ulSlllS ulSueu SSTNlCc ulSudl lOT
Brigadier General ]. D. McLachlan,
the commander of the division.
Praises Army Record.
After the review the commissioned
and non-commissioned officers assem-
bled in the center of the field and
heard General Pershing tell of the
part he took in the formation of the
division and recount some Of the fine
performances of it's men during the
war The general reminded the men
that when they returned home they
would receive especial attention for
their gallantry in France and ex
pressed the desire that they should
uphold their fine, clean records as
soldiers when they become civilians"
He spoke of the entry Of America in
to the war and the effort exerted in
securing the peace which now is be-
ing dictated by the allied adding that
American troops have won the respect
of all the allied armies.
General Pershing dined with Gener-
al Dickman in Coblenz tonight